kulfi Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I just hate spending large amounts of money on equipment and struggling to get good service. With the whole financial / economic crisis progressing I can only see this trend of JB like service spreading throughmore and more industries, and true specialists who offer specialist range and knowledge slowly dying out.And much of this forum has changed into price threads. There are many very knowledgeable people ready to make comments, and help with problems, but the main problem seems to be tight @sse5 who are prepared to pay a fair price. No wonder people get led down the monster path - it's the only way to make money. We need true "specialist" equipment in terms of display panels to justify the existence of specialist retailers. When the bulk of the world's display panels are coming out of mass-market box-packing factories operated by Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sharp, can we name even one "specialist" TV manufacturer ? Pioneer doesn't count because of their association with Panasonic. Even the so-called "luxury" brands in TVs like B&O use panels from the mass-market guys. We can rattle off the names of specialist brands in the audio/home theatre space and it's correct to assume that knowledgable people selling middle-to-high end audio products can command a premium. However, there's no justification for the so-called specialists commanding a premium for a mass-market TV, just because they have superior knowledge. Flat-panel TVs have become a commodity and in such a situation, it's obvious that the bulk-buyers and box-movers will win. What I don't appreciate is that box-movers hire a bunch of useless staff members and allow them to run the place. I've done odd jobs in my time but I took my job seriously. Some of these new generation people (Gen Y or whatever you want to call them) are just a bunch of tossers. Scandals like a mobile phone sold in a Dick Smith containing nude pics of the sales staff will come up more often as these people want big bucks for casual jobs, casual relationships and casual lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ageha Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 (edited) I have no problems with spending more for a good shopping experience and a good after sales service. The problem is all dealers I visited so far in Sydney are giving me the feeling they have no interest in the products they are selling and no interest in me as a customer as well. And why do they always try to sell their fishy warranties? It's like opening a bank account in the UK... Scandals like a mobile phone sold in a Dick Smith containing nude pics of the sales staff will come up more often as these people want big bucks for casual jobs, casual relationships and casual lives. Where can I buy those mobile phones? Edited January 10, 2009 by ageha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanks Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I have no problems with spending more for a good shopping experience and a good after sales service. The problem is all dealers I visited so far in Sydney are giving me the feeling they have no interest in the products they are selling and no interest in me as a customer as well. And why do they always try to sell their fishy warranties? It's like opening a bank account in the UK...Where can I buy those mobile phones? Uhhh....Dick Smith apparently...D'oh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kulfi Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I have no problems with spending more for a good shopping experience and a good after sales service. The problem is all dealers I visited so far in Sydney are giving me the feeling they have no interest in the products they are selling and no interest in me as a customer as well. And why do they always try to sell their fishy warranties? It's like opening a bank account in the UK...Where can I buy those mobile phones? They're selling extended warranties because (as nis200979 says), with customers who shop around and bring the prices down, that's a way to make money. The other way being conning customers into buying Monster cables for $300. In reality, they're selling extended warranties because their managers have told them to. Margins are absolutely massive in that area and retailers love to rip off the customer in all possible ways. If not on the TV/HT system, then on warranty. Case in point - I visited a DSE yesterday and looked at a Yamaha HT system. The salesman quoted the sticker price and immediately said he was willing to throw in a 2-year extended warranty at that price. The same system was ticketed at 80% of the price in JB and Bing Lee. A warranty isn't worth 20% of the price of an item. And just to be safe, I didn't look at DSE's "fully loaded" mobile phones. BTW in case you haven't opened a bank account in Australia recently, it's become exactly like the UK. The staff will try to sell you all kinds of associated products, like credit cards, personal loans, health insurance, home insurance, car insurance, income protection insurance, superannuation, foreign exchange, stock market investment packages, "wealth management" products etc. The only thing that they will not sell to you is a pill to cure you of the migraine that they just brought on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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