Currys Sandstrom cables rip-off

RHemmings

tma1102 wrote: »

From the point of view of a Currys sales rep, most of us know that expensive cables give no tangible advantage but we have to sell them because we're targeted to sell Sandstrom cables with a certain percentage of our TVs and other AV products, just like we're targeted to sell TV stands/brackets, the Knowhow Care Plans, antivirus, cloud backup, setup services and mobile broadband. It doesn't matter two cents to the store which product you get, only what addons you get with it. We're not on commission by any stretch of the imagination, we just have to sell them or else we get put on Capability and eventually fired.

Of course it's not fun, but it's only a Saturday job for me. Don't blame the salesman next time he tries to hard sell you something to keep his job, blame the appalling way senior management has targeted everybody. Personally I reckon anybody going into a shop and talking to a salesman and expecting to be given impartial advice about products is slightly naive.

This makes me very hesitant to buy anything in Currys. As I know I won't buy any of the BS accessories or extended warranties. Meaning that I just make the poor salesperson's statistics worse.

BTW: I have received what (in hindsight) I know to be impartial and accurate advice from other types of shops, e.g. musical instrument shops and bicycle shops. Not always, but at least some of the time.

dacouch

RHemmings wrote: »

This makes me very hesitant to buy anything in Currys. As I know I won't buy any of the BS accessories or extended warranties. Meaning that I just make the poor salesperson's statistics worse.

BTW: I have received what (in hindsight) I know to be impartial and accurate advice from other types of shops, e.g. musical instrument shops and bicycle shops. Not always, but at least some of the time.

Receiving impartial and accurate advice is what tends to make customers stay loyal to shops.

I have many shops I use over (Often cheaper) shops as I either receive good / friendly customer service and / or impartial advice

keyser666

dacouch wrote: »

Receiving impartial and accurate advice is what tends to make customers stay loyal to shops.

I have many shops I use over (Often cheaper) shops as I either receive good / friendly customer service and / or impartial advice

Unfortunately dacouch this no doubt comes from the top

dacouch

keyser666 wrote: »

Unfortunately dacouch this no doubt comes from the top

I agree and the short term approach of the senior executives is why Currys / PC World have such a bad reputation and so many exposes on BBC Watchdog.

MarkBargain

tma1102 wrote: »

From the point of view of a Currys sales rep, most of us know that expensive cables give no tangible advantage but we have to sell them because we're targeted to sell Sandstrom cables with a certain percentage of our TVs and other AV products, just like we're targeted to sell TV stands/brackets, the Knowhow Care Plans, antivirus, cloud backup, setup services and mobile broadband. It doesn't matter two cents to the store which product you get, only what addons you get with it. We're not on commission by any stretch of the imagination, we just have to sell them or else we get put on Capability and eventually fired.

Of course it's not fun, but it's only a Saturday job for me. Don't blame the salesman next time he tries to hard sell you something to keep his job, blame the appalling way senior management has targeted everybody. Personally I reckon anybody going into a shop and talking to a salesman and expecting to be given impartial advice about products is slightly naive.

That is very interesting. If you could spare a few minutes to let BBC Watchdog know, that may be of interest to them: https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/contact Currys/PC World's response last week was that this is a training issue, whereas you are indicating it is in fact policy to sell these expensive HDMI cables. It should be exposed.

MarkBargain

tma1102 wrote: »

(our official company training tells us that the Sandstrom cables provide a higher picture quality than cheaper ones, for example.)

Do you have that in writing? I guess it was verbal, but it's just the opposite of what Currys/PC World told Watchdog.

No wonder people are shopping more online these days, where you can read customer reviews and reseach proper value for money.

Amazon's highest rated (5/5) cable is the "HDMIKing- 2 Meter (6.6 ft) HDMI KING Gold Plated, High Speed HDMI to HDMI Cable with Ferrite Cores" at £4.99 delivered. The best seller is the "Wired-up HDMI to HDMI Gold Plated Connectors 1.8m Cable v1.3A" at just £1.20 delivered with reviews of 4.5/5 (those who don't give it top marks are due to it breaking rather than picture quality).

Money-Saving-King

George_Michael wrote: »

And I reckon that any salesman such as yourself who knowingly admits lying to customers in order to keep their job should be ashamed of themselves.

Ok, well if you hate him having to do a job then I'm sure he'd be happy to quit on here if you agree to paying his living expenses in the mean time whilst he finds another job!

trukdiver

FrillyTilly wrote: »

£70! I paid £9.99 and I thought that was overpriced!

I thought I'd been ripped off by Amazon when I saw HDMI Cables in Poundland! Mind you, the £2.50 Amazon ones did include free delivery!

peter_the_piper

esuhl wrote: »

I've also got some nice USB cables -- $9000 for a metre-length or just over $15,000 for 2m:
http://www.thecableco.com/Product/Crystal-USB-Absolute-Dream#

I mean... No one would pay that kind of money unless they actually worked. No one would be that daft. So you can be sure that they really will make a difference! I accept credit card...

That's the sort of price that the Military pay, got to have the best you know.

Gertrude_Bognasty

Well I bought the Sandstrom Gold one because it looked prettier than the pink one provided by Sky with their new Sky+HD box. Aesthetics count you know (and I've got more money than sense).