GREAT 'WHAT SHOPS DON'T WANT US TO KNOW" HUNT

kobi_3

I recently changed car breakdown cover from AA to AutoAid (due to the article elsewhere on this web site). However, while closing the AA account the phonesales person was willing to cut the cost from ~£150 to £75 for the year!

daveboy

merdekaorang1125 wrote:

Re till displays customer side. I agree - till displays are, I am sure having run my own store for a while, legally required to be visible to the customer. Ever buy a lottery ticket? Ever ask at the lottery till to have a ticket scanned for the result? How do you know whether the clerk is spoofing if you are told it didn't win? I know about the till tone changing for a winning ticket but half the time it's not audible in a busy store. So I always write my last name and postcode on the back and tear it up if it's said to be a loser, given the chance. Another case of stuff the customer.

You obviously wouldn't realise, or realise that those that work in shops are human, that if a lottery ticket is a winning ticket, a receipt is printed immediately by the machine for the store to keep with the winning ticket.

If you couldn't hear that then you'd have to be deaf as it's a similar noise to when a ticket is printed. Yes, I do know, I've used a lottery machine before.

Additionally you'd have to be lazy to not check your numbers beforehand anyway. Or unable to count to 49.

nojvak

purplegirluk1 wrote:

If you buy a coffe in Mcdonalds you are entitled to as many free refills as you like as long as you use the same cup! Don't like coffe or Mcdonalds but its a little known fact that always seems to confuse the staff but its in their hand book and most managers know about it :-)

Hi, this is no longer the case since the introduction of Premium coffees (Fresh ground rather than filter) most McDonalds no longer advertise or honour requests for free top ups.

Terry_D

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ask for a discount if making an expensive purchase. I bought a new car just over a year ago (I know you should never buy a brand new car - depreciation etc. but I wanted a diesel model and they were so new there were none available second hand). I did some homework on the net, got a quote from one of those supermarket places and took it with me on my second trip to the showroom. The sales guy was not best pleased, but when I said "what can you offer" he went off to talk to his manager. Came back 5 mins later and offered me £1500 (6%) discount straight off. He got his sale and I was well happy!

vaderag

Same thing applies with watches - got a new watch for my birthday recently from a specialist watch shop, asked for a discount and the gave me ~15% discount

jellyhead

Pete wrote:

Not sure if this is the right thread, hope so.
I use to think McDonalds all charged the same but have noticed that some are dearer. For example happy meal in Bedford is £2.09 whereas most places it is £1.99.

yes that was mentioned in a mcdonalds thread a while ago. i don't know why the charges are different, perhaps they pay higher wages in some areas. mine pays minimum wage.

gizmoleeds

Terry_D wrote:

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ask for a discount if making an expensive purchase. I bought a new car just over a year ago (I know you should never buy a brand new car - depreciation etc. but I wanted a diesel model and they were so new there were none available second hand). I did some homework on the net, got a quote from one of those supermarket places and took it with me on my second trip to the showroom. The sales guy was not best pleased, but when I said "what can you offer" he went off to talk to his manager. Came back 5 mins later and offered me £1500 (6%) discount straight off. He got his sale and I was well happy!

Before you buy a new car, always go on the what car website (https://www.whatcar.co.uk) or buy a copy of what car first and look for the model you are buying (there is a list of every car on sale in the UK in the back of all issues). This will include a "What Car Target Price" - this is the lowest price official dealers are known to be selling the car for (it will often be several thousand pounds below list price).

Print this out and take it to the dealer with you (make sure it is the exact same model you wish to buy) and demand they meet it. If they don't, what car have a number you can ring (you might have to buy the magazine to find this) and they will put you in touch with an official dealer who will match the price.

laurence2163

Quite a number of Macdonalds are franchises, therefore there is scope for changing prices, accepting (or more to the point not accepting) certain vouchers. Most notable are maccy d's in service stations prices are much higher there.

braken2000

With regards to Jessops. i think they have started to change their codes as too many paople now know their code structure. One thing that i think still that still holds true is that on second hand items if the code starts with any letters then avoid like the plague as it is either returned or repaired stock, not genuine second hand.

just to put right what people are saying about jessops. The codes are changing as the till system has just had a major replacement.

The code structure can be known by anyone. I asked a mate who works there and he tells customers if they ask.

Also if the codes start with SHS (or letters as you have said) then it means the stock is refurbished, come from a store who does not require it anymore, or it could also be a 'dead' or discontinued model. Any second hand stock is clearly marked and customers can ask where the equipment originally came from. I work in another store which sells second hand equipment, there obviously has to be a mark up so profits can be made and overheads met. The store does not promote price mathching (off the internet per say) because they do not guarantee to match, but they can but try. And pricce watching is the local area, which is checked daily.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

purplegirluk1

nojvak wrote:

Hi, this is no longer the case since the introduction of Premium coffees (Fresh ground rather than filter) most McDonalds no longer advertise or honour requests for free top ups.

Yes this it true, I emailed them and was told that they no longer ran a policy that covered every store, however they did say that it was down to the particular store and if they offer coffe from a pot, ususally done in the mornings them all refills are free so the moral of the story is, you don't get wnat you don't ask for!