'Mrs MSE's a Robo-shopper!' blog discussion

jgriggle

I think it depends on the shop.

If it's somewhere that the staff know nothing about the products and I'm finding information by looking at the product and reading the information tickets then I probably would go online for a better price.

If I've been talking to somebody in a showroom who's clearly very knowledgeable on their products, spent lots of time with me and has given me really good advice I'd actually consider it quite rude to then ask if he or she would price match honestronsmegabargaindiscountwarehouse.com.

I don't mind paying a little extra for quality personal advice - something you won't get from the internet.

If you're getting specialist advice, the salesperson is probably working on commission. Don't think of salespeople as money grabbing types who'll sell you anything to get their commission. For the most part the opposite is true - they'll want to get it right otherwise you'll return the product and they'll lose any money they've made, not to mention your repeat business. Someone who's on a flat rate won't care what, or if, you buy.

If you get advice knowing beforehand that you've got no intention of buying from that person, you're robbing them of their time and money. Commission is how they keep a roof over their heads and feed their children!

musicmonkey1

DettaWalker wrote: »

If the customer doesn't like that future, then it won't come. Consumer behaviour drives the way companies act.

Once the first "showroom" with an entering fee goes live, customers will go to the ones that are free.

How many of us like call centres and interactive Voice Response? yet we are still stuck with those. The customer doesn't always get what they want.

[Deleted User]

The shop I used to work in has a high street and online presence.

I had a customer a while back, a very pushy woman who spent an hour grilling me on every aspect of a product, then decided she was going to buy online because it was a few pounds cheaper.

Came in a few days later to get help setting it up.

Got told, in the politest of terms, to bog off, and pointed in the direction of the user manual. While I could have helped her, there was no goodwill in the equation.

On the other hand, the gentleman who said he was going to buy online to save £10, but split the saving with me as a tip in the form of returning to the store with a coffee and donut for me because my advice had been genuinely helpful, still gets all the free support he needs, whenever he needs it.

Moral of the story - you pay peanuts...

jgriggle

billbennett's comment reminded me of the time I worked for a Hi-Fi shop.

A customer would phone to make an appointment to listen to some kit in our demo room.

On the day we'd spend at least an hour setting it all up, the customer would turn up with some CDs, sit on our nice comfy sofa in our very expensive, specially designed listening room, drink our coffee and eat our biscuits. We would then spend another hour or two going through the different options and using our years of experience to make sure he got exactly the right combination of kit to suit his needs.

After all that he'd say "well I'm interested but I can get better prices online. Can you match them?"

Moneysaving or rude?

Discuss...!

Oopsadaisy

Be warned...DFS and the like now classify your 3-piece suite as a 'bespoke item, specifically and custom made for you' [even though most are modular and come from the same warehouse].

This is so that they can exclude it from the DSR returns process.

Personally I think MSE M should have a look as they are obviously looking to rob people of their online rights!!!!!!!

MSE_Martin

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

Be warned...DFS and the like now classify your 3-piece suite as a 'bespoke item, specifically and custom made for you' [even though most are modular and come from the same warehouse].

This is so that they can exclude it from the DSR returns process.

Personally I think MSE M should have a look as they are obviously looking to rob people of their online rights!!!!!!!

we'll investigate

atush

I don't think in the case of a sofa, this is the right approach.

Given what it would cost to return the sofa "if you didn't like it" (as the buyer pays this when it isn't faulty) it is much more money friendly to bag some sort of cash discount. If I walk into a shop to buy something expensive and they won't give me a disoucnt for cash, I just use my credit card who will then charge the retailer around 3-5%. They give me that discount, I'll pay cash, cheque or debit.

In the case of smaller, lighter, easier to return items this is a good idea.

Of course, if buying something like a sofa it makes sense to see it in a shop first if you can just to make sure you did actually want it.

Oopsadaisy

atush wrote: »

Given what it would cost to return the sofa "if you didn't like it" (as the buyer pays this when it isn't faulty)

they won't give me a disoucnt for cash, I just use my credit card who will then charge the retailer around 3-5%.

Er...... not sure the first bit is correct.

3-5% is deffo wrong - the typical retailer charge is about 1-1.25% and for Visa electron etc it's about 20p [irrespective of amount]; and i'm sure the big retailers will be getting a better deal than that.....so cc charges are not a big driver for discounts.

Obviously for a smaller shop [owner-managed] there may be other other reasons why cash gets a decent discount...:D:D

IL2L

This is brilliant! I like already do a little bit of "Robo Shopping" but I think from now on I will always do this. Its great to find out all these little helpful tips and tricks to know your consumer rights.

spikeydudeuk

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

Be warned...DFS and the like now classify your 3-piece suite as a 'bespoke item, specifically and custom made for you' [even though most are modular and come from the same warehouse].

This is so that they can exclude it from the DSR returns process.

Personally I think MSE M should have a look as they are obviously looking to rob people of their online rights!!!!!!!

If you're buying furniture that's made to order, you have to be careful. Regulation 13 of the DSRs states that the right to return within 7 days doesn't apply to contracts:

(c)for the supply of goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised

Maybe DFS are stretching this, but a lot of furniture, and particularly sofas, are definitely made to order - and if this is the case, it's fairly clear that the DSRs won't apply. If you're ordering from Argos or Tesco, you're probably fine - but other retailers (including M&S) build furniture to order. If it's built to order, then don't rely on your right to return it!