Can I haggle a discount at Currys?

itsfrommark

joshtbh wrote:

thanks for the online codes but I can only buy on the high street.

Dont worry about that just take the online quote including the discount into Currys and show them. They will honour it so there you are....

best wishes Mark

heatproof

My wife and I wanted an American Fridge/Freezer. We chose a Beumatic from a discount store here in Birmingham. The total saving was £1000 yes £1000, and thats with free delivery and a 12 month warrenty. Look for your discount stores first---we did. Our appliance is very slightly marked on the doors leading edge---and I dont mind!!!

heatproof

Ref to my earlier reply----I paid with my Sainsburys credit card---intrest free, and gathered some Nectar points !!!

cosmicDolphin

joshtbh wrote:

I want to buy a specific laptop from Currys digital in the next two days for £549.99, but I would like to get either some kind of discount, or a freebie thrown in. I remember back in 1995 when buying my first PC for me my dad managed to negotiate a few freebies from PC World.

Has anyone got any advice on how I am best doing this, or if I am wasting my time as they wont give me anything? Any help is appreciated. Apologies if I’ve got the wrong thread.

I am a top salesperson who has worked for DSGi ( Dixons Store Group ) for 9 years at both Currys and PC World, so here are my insider tips to you:

PC World don't pay commission anymore ( see the press release on the DSG corporate website ) to Sales people which is why I transferred to Currys, so a PC World Sales Person probably isn't that bothered whether they make a sale or not, especially if it's someone asking for discount on a PC that doesn't make much margin towards their monthly store profit bonus.

Currys are phasing out commission soon also, which is why I am now looking for something else. At the moment you have to sell approx £7k per week before you get paid commission if you work full time, then you'll receive 1% of any sales above the £7k unless that sales is under £30. So you may be worth about £5.50 to the right person.

Although the same company , the different chains do sometimes have different prices so check both PCW & Currys. Discount is a bad word in both stores, and apparently discount has gone down dramatically since PC World stopped paying commission and changed the warranty package to a monthly Pay as you Go charge instead of a big lump sum. The reason is simply the margins on the type of products we sell are paper thin and the chain would go the way of some of our competitors ( i.e powerhouse - Time - Tiny - Byte etc. ) if we carried on the way we were going a few years back.

The cheapest price is usually online for both stores - and you can get this web price in-store at PC World by using the ' Collect @ store ' feature on the website, which reserves your product at the web price for you to go into store and pay ( however you like - credit - vouchers - cash) for and collect.

Currys don't have that system but at the managers discretion should match the Currys web price if it's lower - Just tell the sales person you've been told that 'you'll match your web price for me' and they should do it unless they're having a bad day for discount. The Currys web prices are currently being gradually aligned with store prices to stop excessive discounts so there may not be that much difference. All the better online prices have now gone onto Dixons website which is purely an E-tailer now. Rents are very high for retail property, hence the cheaper web only Dixons to compete with other online only stores.

Currys and PCW also have a price promise. At Currys they will match any local retailer that has the item in stock within a 10 mile radius and give you an extra 10% of the difference. This hardly ever happens though as most of the laptops are the same price in other retailers or an exclusive line to the Group, but do check as it does happen sometimes.

When looking at products, anything that has a yellow ticket in Currys is clearance stock, and has probably had a decent reduction already. It's usually the last one for sale off display and you may be able to haggle a bit more off if it's been scratched or has a part missing etc. so keep your eye open for those.

Some items have offers on that aren't known about generally, ask the sales person to look on the system for ' Customer Offers '...This is a button that lights up on the sales screen if there are any other packages / deals etc for the item. You should be able to it yourself when they type the product code into the sales screen, it's towards the bottom on the R/H side. If it lights up, get them to press it and check for any savings, often it'll be some extra stuff for a reduced price, but sometimes there's freebies to be had like a bag.

If there are no ' Customer Offers ' there are some generic ones for other things you might want with the laptop - like a half price Antler case - Half price Norton Anti-Virus etc, they should be trying to get you to buy these anyway if they're any good at building the sale. If you're lucky they might throw the half price bag in as it won't cost them too much discount for overall deal. Tell them something like ' my friend said she got one of these thrown in the other week when she had her laptop from you ' .

Warranties are not supposed to be discounted, so sales staff often knock any discount off the product itself if they're trying to tempt you. Most of them do it the wrong way and leave themselves open to people cancelling the warranty which can be done up to 14 days in store or 45 ( I think ...check the small print) via the helpline, and thus keeping any discounts on the product. As the warranty can be paid over 10 months Direct Debit with just a ten pound instore deposit ( called easipay ) some customers have abused the system by getting say £40 off the machine - paying £10 deposit towards the warranty, and then cancelling their direct debits before it's due out the following month. This is abuse of the system and angers staff and managers but we don't design the system and can't stop it happening.

My other tips are:

Be nice - we like nice people

Don't ask for discount straight away it puts our backs up - why should you pay less than anyone else that day ??

Tempt the sales person, then come back later and say you've seen good deals in other shops, but you'd like to buy off that person as they've been the most helpful.

Payment method is irrelevant - It's quicker and easier for me if you just pay on a card.

Find a friend / relative who works for the group as we can now get 10% off the web prices too.

Hope this helps, but remember price isn't everything , it's more important to get the right laptop for what you want to use it for, so don't buy something purely on price. A good salesperson should help you with this.

deanos

Definately use the warranty for an extra discount, we got a cooker/hob recently, the store accepted a online discount code of £20 , i got free delivery and they took £30 off if i bought a warranty which i did and cancelled the next day

joshtbh

thanks for the advice all, I have an update for you using my new knowledge!

I went in to Currys last night knowing the exact model laptop I wanted, although got thrown a bit when instore by an ex-display one with a much higher spec was on offer for the same price. However it seemed to be overheating right before my eyes (!) so I didn't bother, and in the end reverted to plan A.

I chatted to the young sales guy about the laptops and built a rapport with him, then said I think we want to take this one, but what is your best price? I said this with a smile on my face, and he was honest and said that he can't really discount the laptop, although he could do me the Antler bag for half price (;) well done cosmicdolphin) I ummed and arred and said, no but thanks anyway though mate, and asked if there was anything else he could throw in.

This is where it got interesting, he said he would throw in the Antler bag!! (£35). I said, well I already have a laptop bag to be honest, I don't need another, I was a bit cheeky and with a smile on my face asked if I could have £35 off anything in store! he said no not really, and asked what it is that I'd like. now I've been after a George Foreman grill for ages, and asked if I could have a jumbo George (£60 on the ticket, marked half price in this store to £30) and he let me have it!

I am well happy, thanks to all who offered advice!

gerretl

cosmicDolphin. I have sent you a private message.

tik33

It's strange that this has come up - I was in one of the new curry digital's just a couple of days ago and I was eavesdropping on someone asking about better deals. The salesman was entering into the discussion so it clearly does go on - I always thought that was reserved for independent shops (aka tottenham court road in London), but having read the posts here and hearing that conversation - I guess I'd better change my opinion!

Sometimes going in with a printoout of the same model advertised cheaper on the net will help.

My concern with currys is that they have appauling customer service - but maybe that's just me.

joshtbh

tik33 - the sales chap who dealt with me was pretty pleasant to be honest.

Loobeylou

Within the past ten days we had an insurance claim for an old portable TV which slightly blew up during a particularly bad storm and was not working properly when we returned from holiday. We were given credit to spend only at Comet, and needed to put cash towards the final purchase.

We decided on the TV we wanted and tried to do a deal at Currys so that we could quote it back at Comet. We also looked at internet prices. Currys were willing to knock something off without too much asking. However, Comet just did not budge on the price, and still would not budge when faced with the opposition giving a cheaper price.

They even stated that because it was a part insurance jobbie, if they had matched the deal then the sale would have "flagged up" at head office they would have ultimately got into bother for doing it.

Leaving other shops aside, given the choice of shopping at Currys or Comet,
I would most certainly go to Currys to try to do a deal.