Curry's/Dixon's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

letsbehonest

This is not really a rant just an account of foolish practice. We went out to buy new washing machine today, like most I checked out the net first same machine same model at Curry's and Dixons both the same company?? Curry's £80 dearer, price match I said you are both the same group, answer No!.. went next door to Comets they got the business. Sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

indierocker85

I work for currys, Dixons and Currys are both owend by DSG-I Retail as is PC world and the link.

Comet are often keen to beat either as they are our main competitor

stugib

It's because Dixons was specifically set up to be a web-only business to compete with other online retailers, which is something they couldn't really do if they had to match with the in-store price.

I can beat that though - Currys had the TV we wanted at the weekend for £530, Currys.digitial 2 miles down the road had the same TV for £500 (they hadn't replaced the offer ticket that had finished 24 hours earlier) but were out of stock. They offered to sell it to us at the lower price if they could get some of Currys stock but couldn't get an answer on the phone, so told us to go back to Currys and check if they'd do the same deal. They refused and lost a sale for the sake of £30 and a few hours since they themselves were selling for the lower price. Getting the same TV from Richer Sounds tomorrow for £500.

indierocker85

Think you'll find Dixons went online because there is less Tax implications ;-). They were online with both currys and Dixons anyway when Dixons was highstreet. As both stores when they were on the highstreet were selling the same stuff. It made more sense for them to rebrand Dixons as currys.digital and sell the same stuff online via dixons site and be able to knock VAT from the price and cut price due to less overheads etc.

If you go to airports as well you will see Dixons stores (dixons tax free) anything bought is shipped to Jersey or Guernsey and then onto you. Thus you don't pay VAt or duty. This is the same with all online retailers, the main reason they are cheaper is because a lot of the goods are sent to and then shipped from the channel islands. Resulting in a clever little corporate tax dodge

letsbehonest

I can even beat that one,
4 years ago I saw a Sony TV in Alders £200 cheaper than Curry's, I asked Curry's if they price matched, "yes sir but we are the cheapest you must be mistaken" this was said with much sarcasm, See their faces when they had to sell me the TV at price match £200 quid cheaper,,,,, priceless. I should have asked for £50 quid to go back to Alders then they would have saved £150.

stugib

Just to add, when we said we weren't interested at that price the assistant we were negotiating with started chasing after us saying "You won't get it at £500!". Very odd!

sparklygemster

We went into Currys on saturday to look for a TV, saw one we liked and asked if they price matched Dixons as it was cheaper there...was told they didn't as they get their stock from Dixons

marms

indierocker85 wrote: »

Think you'll find Dixons went online because there is less Tax implications ;-). They were online with both currys and Dixons anyway when Dixons was highstreet. As both stores when they were on the highstreet were selling the same stuff. It made more sense for them to rebrand Dixons as currys.digital and sell the same stuff online via dixons site and be able to knock VAT from the price and cut price due to less overheads etc.

If you go to airports as well you will see Dixons stores (dixons tax free) anything bought is shipped to Jersey or Guernsey and then onto you. Thus you don't pay VAt or duty. This is the same with all online retailers, the main reason they are cheaper is because a lot of the goods are sent to and then shipped from the channel islands. Resulting in a clever little corporate tax dodge

If your goods cost more than £18 you have to pay VAT even if shipped from Jersey or Guernsey so no savings there when buying large electrical appliances.

alleycat`

The total idiocy of it is that the TV (if you order it from dixons online) is delivered in a "currys branded" van by the same people that would deliver it if you bought it from the shop and asked for home delivery.

What now happens is that people:-

Look at it in the shop (currys) - use their staff time to demonstrate / show various features etc and then buy it from their online arm (dixons) at a much cheaper price point.

Takoda

Twice now I've gone into Currys to look at TVs in the flesh after reading online reviews. Twice I've chosen the model I wanted and asked an assistant about it. Twice they have been out of stock of the one I wanted. The first time I kept going back to check and ringing to check. The second time I knew that Curry's is just for looking at TVs then you actually buy it from somewhere else.

Good prices on the whole but no stock!

letsbehonest

Further to original post, boy did I make a big mistake with Comets, still lesson's learned.