Carpets

Evangelion

Good morning,
Not sure if this is the right board, but worth a shot - I am buying a new build and am now organising carpets and was hoping for some tips.

Carpetright have been in and measured up an identical property and we are off to the showroom tonight to pick the carpets and go through costs etc.

Has anyone got any tips for negotiating the price down? We might go for remnants in a few rooms so that might help.

Is there anything we can say to them to try and get a good deal? We might go for the interest free option, but if we were to pay cash could we ask for a discount?

Any help appreciated! I know a few might say 'stay away from carpetright! but it's convenient for us due to time and also the fact they have a proper showroom is a big plus.

Thanks!

Red-Squirrel_2

If you're going for Carpetright for convenience, then you'll pay for that convenience in higher prices! Fine if that matters most to you, but there won't be much wiggle room I wouldn't have thought.

You can try to ask for a discount for cash, but they've no reason to give you one, the staff selling to you don't benefit from a cash sale in the way they would in a local independent place.

[Deleted User]

Tell them your budget is x (less than you expect to pay but not totally unreasonable) and see what they come up with.

I was surprised recently to go into a local carpet shop and I found their remnants much larger and less money than the remnants in CarpetRight. I think all the 'money off' signs can make you think you are getting a better deal than you are.

charliewocka

Even though they have measured up an identical property I would still get them to come in and measure yours. In my last house, the houses on the estate were all identical but there were differences in the floors and windows by a couple of inches. Don't' want to order anything and it be too small!

ellie27

As above, I wouldnt assume the measurements are the same even though it is an identical house.

Just wait til you have keys in hand then do your own measurements/get carpetright in to measure and go from there.

Evangelion

Well they've said they always add on 10cm to any measurements just in case, so it should be ok. If leave it until we have keys then this causes so many issues for us in terms of timing for moving and such.

charliewocka

10cm is only a couple of inches.....not a lot of room for manouvering if something goes wrong! What if you pay and arrange a delivery date and there is a delay on the completion of the sale? Will Carpetright be OK with you pushing dates out a bit - it might end up you have an even bigger delay because they might not have availability for a while.

Evangelion

We have permission to have the carpets fitted a couple of days before completion.

ellie27

Evangelion wrote: »

We have permission to have the carpets fitted a couple of days before completion.

Wow, thats impressive!

pinkteapot

My advice would be don't use Carpetright!

See if you can get recommendations for good local independents. We have an amazing place near us (Essex) which buys in whole rolls and sells from stock. They get good discounts by bulk-buying and pass on those savings. We got much better quality carpets from them than we would have from Carpetright at the same price per square meter.

Carpetright also have low headline prices, but then over-charge for the sundries (underlay, fitting, gripper rods, door bars, etc). They have a lot of wriggle-room so there's definitely room to negotiate if you do use them, especially if they're doing your whole house.

These big chains have well-trained sales staff and they can play hardball well when it comes to haggling. Don't let on you're using them for convenience. Do look at independents to compare prices - you need a good basis for haggling - ie what you can get elsewhere - not just "I want some money off". You need to play shops off against each other to get anywhere.

LandyAndy

I have used Carpetright in the past and got a substantial discount by asking for one.


However, I recently bought a new living room carpet and went to a local independent. They were much more helpful and flexible (eg obtaining an extra large sample to get a good view of the pattern) and they matched the 'sale' price from Carpetright without argument. And I didn't have to pay until it was fitted and I was happy with it. I would definitely use them again