High Street Haggling Discussion

LisaLou1982

Interesting to read some of the stories on here.

My OH has been wanting a pair of Pioneer CDJ 2000 Nexus Decks for a while and on looking around, we became very aware very quickly that Pioneer have a set price for this item. At £2950 for a pair, we were looking to get some money off, but they best we had managed to negotiate was £100 off, and that was after previously getting £50 off at one place and asking if a different company (closer to home) would better it.

In the end, we found them at the NEC Gadget show on a stand. The company (DJKIT.com) had a pair on display and were selling them as a pair for £2800 which was cheaper than we had seen elsewhere. After speaking to a salesman, who pointed out that they were already reducing them by £75 each (which i already knew having done my research ) i said that i was happy to buy but that was just too much and could he do anything else? He went away to call through to the office and we were offered £2700. We walked around for 30 mins and went back and agreed £2650 with some bits thrown in!

Couldnt be more pleased - this was a great bargain for us, especially as we already knew from contacting lots of places previously that the price is set by Pioneer and as they are Industry standard, the price v rarely moves

Thank you DJkit.com - youve made my OH extremely happy and we will definately be back later this year to purchase some extra goods

Ynayesta

Bought a scooter recently on finance for a small fortune.

I needed a lot of things to go with it, helmet, chain etc. I had mentioned this to the person I was dealing with along with a "I would like to get X from here, but my budget is only X" As a result my first wonderful reward was a free CBT which knocked £145 off my bill.

a few days pass and I'm in there again to finalise and pick up my "twist+go" I do need to buy a helmet, and I know what one I'm after, they actually have it cheaper here (where I'd already tried one on, so knew what I needed) than I'd found online. I mentioned about how I wouldn't be comfortable riding without a jacket, and again mentioned about my budget.

In total I'd got a few items, and was able to get an amount knocked off everything saving another £40.

So have saved £185 and spent only £260 on £445 worth of extras. it certainly makes me feel better about taking out finance. Everything else I needed I knew I could get FAR cheaper on eBay, and did. Saving a further(judging on the price they were there for and the price I bought them for) £250. total saved: £435 I think.

All it took was a little searching for sympathy, not even slightly ashamed, my budget was £800.

____

Just to add, this was my absolute first time trying to haggle and while I certainly felt nervous with my "I wouldn't feel comfortable without this, but I've already gone over my budget (lie)" I'm going to have to practice, maybe next time I need a computer, though I think i'll skip the truth twisting next time.

dreamwise123

Interesting chat on haggling.
I recently went to Ireland and they haggle in shops all the time there.
When I got back I thought I'd try it out.
Had to get a repair done on my car, went to my usual service dealer. Cost was £351. I, with humour, asked when they were going to start a loyalty scheme for regular customers, so we could get a discount. He laughed, but when the bill was being totted up, he said he'd take £50 off. I said why and he said, because I asked!! And this is a big car dealer outfit!!
A couple of days later I wanted to buy two new tyres. Searched the tyre sites for a good deal and found one at £127 for the two tyres. Kwik fit were offering 25% off this month, so I asked what they could offer me on the same tyres-with the 25% discount, the tyres would still be £158!! I told them about the other price and they said they'd match it, as long as I had some proof . so they did!!
It really does pay to ask-not sure if I'd have the confidence to try this out in shops like Homebase etc, but I might give it a go, next time I want to buy something big.

justcat

I couldn't believe this in Curry's/PC World today!

I went in and saw a laptop that I really liked. Asked if they could knock anything off of the price. They said no and I asked if the could throw in a case. They said no to that too so I walked out with no deal.

Then I went to another Curry's/PC World that is local and said that I wanted to buy the laptop. They checked stock and the only one they had available was the display model and he check stock at all other stores and they were the same. He also said that they couldn't order any more in either as it wasn't available.

I thought that I was in a great position!!

Unfortunately, when I asked a senior member of staff if he could knock down the price for it being display he said no. He didn't even agree to throw in a case! I really wanted the laptop so I said that I would take it. He then said that he would need to wipe it (currently has Windows 8 demo) and set it back to factory default which could take up to an hour. I was not happy! I said forget it and let the store rather annoyed at them being so non flexible.

In the end I went to Tesco Home, got it for £30 less AND got Clubcard Points.

I'm very disappointed though that he wasn't able to entertain any sort of discount. Not even a good will gesture for it being a display model.

Well, I'm happy that I eventually got what I wanted!

kreativ

Last month was a haggle-luck month for me. Tried haggling at a number of stores and it worked just fine.
Ordered a skirt from Matalan online for store pickup, the security tag was not removed. Called the customer services and told them I have to specially visit for getting the tag removed. Got a free voucher for the inconvenience.
Matalan also gives a voucher if you return a product bought with a limited date discount code.

Also, at M&S and many other stores, I've always haggled successfully when a multi-part clothing item has a part missing and I don't mind getting it still. Always get few pounds knocked off the bill.

Haggled with Halifax for home insurance and with Sky for increasing costs, and got my monthly bills reduced by nearly £25 for an year. So total of £300 saving on bills this year :beer:
I'm surprised though that Curry's and PC world haggle! We tried getting some pounds off Sony Bravia TV deal last month, but they wouldn't give even a HDMI cable for free! :(

kreativ

giarora wrote: »

Last month was a haggle-luck month for me. Tried haggling at a number of stores and it worked just fine.
Ordered a skirt from Matalan online for store pickup, the security tag was not removed. Called the customer services and told them I have to specially visit for getting the tag removed. Got a free voucher for the inconvenience.
Matalan also gives a voucher if you return a product bought with a limited date discount code.

Also, at M&S and many other stores, I've always haggled successfully when a multi-part clothing item has a part missing and I don't mind getting it still. Always get few pounds knocked off the bill.

Haggled with Halifax for home insurance and with Sky for increasing costs, and got my monthly bills reduced by nearly £25 for an year. So total of £300 saving on bills this year :beer:
I'm surprised though that Curry's and PC world haggle! We tried getting some pounds off Sony Bravia TV deal last month, but they wouldn't give even a HDMI cable for free! :(

Oh, and yes at Sainsbury's. Goes back to a few years though.. Saw a TV table listed as 50% discounted, but the actual price written was only 40% of original price. Called the customer services and they did the deal at 50% giving me the benefit of doubt :T

touchtheflame

I wanted to price conservatories, I went to Homebase which had a large standing sign at the entrance saying 50% off today. So I approached the information desk to enquire. Whereupon I saw a large standing sign which said 25% off today. I was confused. . . So asked the girl at the information desk. She too was confused. She said go home and we will call you once we know which it is. She called later and said either or but not both. My husband and I returned the next day to argue the toss, their fault not ours etc. We haggled to the manager who was (eventually) very helpful. He gave us 75% off. Yes you read that correctly SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF!!!!!! And to top it off it was 10% day. So, a£12,500 conservatory for £2,600.
I always always always haggle for big items. Always!

ARBEE_2

I have bought Kodak ink cartridges from my local Currys/PC World several times over the last 3 months and have always asked for a discount. Sales assistant then offers 10%.
Also recently bought new lenses for my existing spectacles at Vision Express. They were rimless and fiddly to fit so the salesman said it would be an extra £59 'reglazing' charge. I told him that I could live with my old glasses for another year and he dropped the charge after speaking to his manager. It took nearly two hours for them to fit the lenses as well!

daffie

Do we really want to go down this route? I appreciate that some people save money, but given the hassle of shopping in countries where haggling is par for the course, I'd rather stick to what we've got. It's okay while just a few people do it, but if it becomes more common, retailers will bump their prices up to cover the difference, and more people will haggle, and the gap between the advertised price and what something is really worth will widen...

marksta

I just want to add to this that, when I worked in retail, I have been on the receiving end of some of the rudest, aggressive and belittling haggling tactics. Such as arriving at the store 5 minutes before it closed and refusing to leave until they had the item at the price they wanted to pay - leaving staff unable to close up and missing buses and trains etc, shouting at till staff, going on mini trolley dashes through the store, grabbing a trolley full of stuff and saying "I'm buying a PC so I demand all this stuff for free". Even being approached on my day off by a customer who had blagged his way to a decent deal the day before and mocking me in the street. Haggling has become a game of oneupmanship and is a horrible situation to be on the receiving end of.

Remember that the staff are human beings, and will happily negotiate sensibly with a customer but PLEASE don't start demanding stuff you are not entitled to, shouting and being rude or generally putting them down just to shave a few quid off your bill. It isn't worth it and frankly people like that are scum.

:mad: