pc world Whateverhappens

deanos

As far as im aware they are not allowed to discount the insurance thats why they take it off the product instead.

Its a good way of getting a bigger discount they often will take extra money off if you buy insurance , eg i got a TV last year and they took off £50 if i got the insurance , when i got home i cancelled the policy and still had the £50 discount off the product which they couldnt take back

Great way to get a extra discount if you know how the systerm works

Freddie_Snowbits

fruitree wrote: »

Hi everyone
thanks for replys busy at mo got crime team here amazing what happens when you shout loud enough :rotfl:now im off to speak to trading standards:T
fruitree

Good, lets get the fuzz out there with their Jack Boots and close these stores down. I cannot for the life of me undestand how they get hold of peoples card details so easily. A week in the slammer will do the world of good.

Besides, we should also send OPs teachers there asw well, because it is obvious that during their early years they did not get an education

fruitree

Freddie_Snowbits
"Besides, we should also send OPs teachers there asw well, because it is obvious that during their early years they did not get an education"

Diagnosed dyslexic at 32yrs after much heartache, hate posting on forums because of it
will now close this thread and not post again fruitree

Esqui

deanos wrote: »

As far as im aware they are not allowed to discount the insurance thats why they take it off the product instead.

Rather than "not allowed" it's because that figure is the monthly figure. Back when I had just started, I discounted the wrong part, and set someone up with a direct debit for £0.00 each month

fruitree

From: PC World Customer Services <sales@pcworld.co.uk>
To:
Sent: Thu, 25 February, 2010 18:37:08
Subject: PCW751933CR, RE: Re: PCW742687CR, RE: whateverhappens complaint

Message

[EMAIL="sales&#64;pcworld.co.uk"]sales@pcworld.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Dear

Thank you for your email dated 22nd February 2010.

I am concerned with the service you received from our Watford store. I have sent a copy of your email to the Store Group Manager responsible for the Watford store. Actions will be taken to ensure that other customers are not disappointed in the same way.

We would like to offer you a £20.00 payment voucher as a goodwill gesture. If you accept this, please reply to this email. I apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused regarding this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Tracy Keady
PC World Customer Support Team

Murdoch2345

I started working at PC World last week, thought I'd shed some insight on why this sort of thing happens. Be aware I've never seen anybody fake a direct debit mandate for the "whatever happens" insurance, but I have witnessed from apparently our stores best salesman, actions which I would consider fraudulent.

The customer advisers are set fairly strict targets to reach, which are called Key performance indicators (KPIs) these are almost exclusively based on how many "extras" you sell. When you are first employed you are given a 12 week trial, although common practice with many employers, this acts to wean out anybody that is incapable of meeting these set targets or takes moral issue with them, like myself.

The main problem lies in the fact that the targets have no real correlation to what the customers actually want, we are expected to sell whatever happens at least 50% of the time on any Laptop, PC, TV and indeed on all products that have this cover available, we are expected to sell it like it's the best thing since sliced bread. In reality, it's only of benefit to a minority of customers, the more savvy customer knows there is a 12 month warranty as standard and that home insurance will cover most accidental damage, and indeed that the price is not proportionate to the actual risks involved with the purchase (having worked in electrical retail for quite some time, I can safely say my experience of faulty goods is well below 5%, probably as low as 1-2%).

Regardless, apparently 50% of the customers NEED this cover, and we are under considerable pressure to achieve these targets. We first have to try sell the cover on its own merits, by name dropping it early, asking the customer if they are a whatever happens member, using a prescribed sales technique called "fives", this apparently "plants the seed" and gets customers thinking about some exclusive club they could be part of. After we have heard the customers "story" and they have decided on a particular product, which will no doubt have been sold along with Norton anti-virus (FYI this software is next to useless) we are taught to hard-sell this using scare tactics and since it's again a targeted measure, it's relatively difficult to offer customers a better alternative and still meet our targets. Especially because many special offers are included with Norton, for example package deals offering cheaper MS office when bought along with it. Once we have decided on the product and the extras, we can then start introducing the cover, if a customer seems keen and actually thinks it's of value then fair enough we will explain it all then proceed to the checkout and everything will go through fine and off trots a happy customer. Note that these so called "perfect customers" account for maybe 10% of the people buying a product.

Now if a customer doesn't like what they are hearing about "whatever happens" we will still talk through it, with preset arguments for any common responses; it's too expensive, or it's covered by manufacturers warranty. We are essentially taught to hard-sell it, with scare tactics about how much a laptop screen would cost to replace, or that if it goes wrong under warranty it could disappear for months while being repaired by the manufacturer, you get the idea...

If the salesperson has still failed to convince the customer they will proceed to one of the quieter tills at the back of the shop, where they will begin to process the sale, now it gets interesting... They will again stress the value of whatever happens and state that if you're still unsure you can have a free month, to make your mind up, you can use it to gain advantage from the software support telephone line, or just incase your product breaks on install, then you can simply cancel the cover and you will have paid nothing. Most of the customers at this stage think, ok, a free month nothing to loose, so agree. The salesperson, then subtracts the first months cost of whatever happens from the price of the product which essentially cancels out the cost of the first months cover. They will then process the sale without explaining that to gain the free month the customer needs to sign a direct debit mandate, they can then print out the form, and get the customer to sign and date it, usually bringing up small chat at the same time to distract the customer from actually noticing they are signing a Direct Debit mandate, saying something along the lines of "this is just incase anything goes wrong". They will then place the customers copy in some of our leaflets, and hope the customer doesn't realise what they have just signed up for.

I've witnessed a few variations of this technique depending on the customer, some haven't had anything explained at all, and have had their account numbers and sort codes taken from their card, then signed a form not realising what they've signed; if you're are asked to sign something while making an expensive purchase I can see how easily it would be for some people to think it's just standard practice. On other occasions the customer will be told about the mandate but are told that they can get money off a mouse or carry bag, provided they sign up on the day, and then they can just cancel it within 14 days and it won't cost them anything. Knowing full well that more often than not, the customer forgets to cancel it.

It's hard for me to criticise the sales guys, genuinely they are actually really nice people. They have been taught these techniques somewhere along the way and are under pressure, most are students and simply need the money, they are not on commission, but receive small bonuses from their profit margins, something along the lines of 1% of margin (average £50-100 a month). It's a systemic problem that comes straight from management, and their unrelenting obsession with targets. For me personally i find this business model deeply at odds with what they actually say they are trying to achieve and entirely outdated considering the vast amount of retail alternatives on offer to people. They've tried to distance themselves over the years from their pressurised sales reputation, and management would never advocate or condone these practices, however it's deep rooted in the business and when you walk through that PC world door you have a pound sign above your head, and they will want to bleed you for everything they can get. Under the pretence that you are being sold a "complete solution" which essentially means, not just a laptop but you know, all the extra stuff you probably don't need...

But !!!! it, the extras have the biggest profit margins for us and we will sell you them!

Their motto is "right solution for every customer, every time" or some other generic !!!!!!!!. It should read, "right solution for every customer everytime, provided they are buying the !!!! we actually want to sell them". Seriously, test this out, walk into a store, say you need a laptop with Norton Anti Virus, MS office, a carry bag, and whatever happens, then as the sale proceeds, just say you've changed your mind, and you just want the laptop... watch the sales guys face, and his subsequent attitude towards you.

In short, I'm not surprised by what happened to you, fruitree. From my short experience, similar actions from staff are common place. As you can gather I will probably be leaving this god awful company fairly soon, perhaps I will partake in some covert action first, see if I can expose their shady undertones. It's a shame really, cause it has the potential to be a fairly decent company, it's just being run under such misguided management.

bargainbetty

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Besides, we should also send OPs teachers there asw well, because it is obvious that during their early years they did not get an education

Uncalled for, inappropriate, and contains a spelling error. Poor show, this place is supposed to be about support.

fruitree

"If the salesperson has still failed to convince the customer they will proceed to one of the quieter tills at the back of the shop, where they will begin to process the sale, now it gets interesting..." Murdoch2345
Thank you for your post the quote above is exactly what happened to us. But we would never have realised that even where we made the sale was part of the sales pitch. I must admit that when we spent our "sorry" voucher in curry's (ps3 wireless controller) there was a customer in front of us who had brought a laptop and had been sold "whatever-happens" policy. With great interest we listened in to the sales assistant and to her credit and our amazement, She asked the customer to sign a separate piece of paper to show she had agreed to a continuous credit card payment for a whatever-happens policy. And the sales assistant even highlighted the phone number to ring to cancel the policy.
So it is possible for some sales assistants to play fair. But I hope between us both more people will be more savvy when parting with there hard earned cash.

bargainbetty
Thank you for your positive post. I had only wished to warn others. I know many people are irritated by bad grammar or spelling .But as a general rule those are the people who never have to think about spelling or grammar but to those of us with a disability it's akin to asking a blind person to see.:)

Takoda

Great thread. Thanks fruitree and everyone else who has posted helpful stuff.

Esqui

fruitree wrote: »

So it is possible for some sales assistants to play fair.

Quite true. I'd never use sneaky tactics on people, and I still do pretty well. Might be because I actually use the things I sell, and not just read off the training material.