A reason not to shop at dick smith

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#817319 14-May-2013 11:54

dsnz1: Get ready for extra pushy sales people, dick smith is only going to give their sales people any commission if 15% of their sales have extended warranties on them. so long as the item is over $50 and doesnt already have a 3 years or more warranty they need to sell extended warranties on 15% of sales or they get no commission for two weeks.

It's obvious extended warranties are profitable in the extreme.

It is also obvious you oppose this commission targeting as a Dick Smith sales person. What are own your reasons for objecting, in detail?

networkn

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#817322 14-May-2013 12:04

gzt:
dsnz1: Get ready for extra pushy sales people, dick smith is only going to give their sales people any commission if 15% of their sales have extended warranties on them. so long as the item is over $50 and doesnt already have a 3 years or more warranty they need to sell extended warranties on 15% of sales or they get no commission for two weeks.

It's obvious extended warranties are profitable in the extreme.

It is also obvious you oppose this commission targeting as a Dick Smith sales person. What are own your reasons for objecting, in detail?

Personally I think his reasons are outlined above pretty well.

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

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#817329 14-May-2013 12:14

Sales people will be more pushy about warranties to get their commission; most customers are annoyed by this, that much is fairly obviously from the thread

As for them being extremely profitable, I thought DSE sells that responsibility onto another firm to deal with all claims for them? Warranties would be no more profitable than having a 50% off HDMI cables sale in that case

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#817331 14-May-2013 12:17

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: Sales people will be more pushy about warranties to get their commission; most customers are annoyed by this, that much is fairly obviously from the thread

As for them being extremely profitable, I thought DSE sells that responsibility onto another firm to deal with all claims for them? Warranties would be no more profitable than having a 50% off HDMI cables sale in that case

Exactly.

mattwnz

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#817341 14-May-2013 12:27

Just say you are buying it for personal use, not business use. Extended warranties are best for business users where you don't have CGA protection. DSE no longer price match, so I don't bother there anymore, as they are now just another appliance store.

NZCrusader

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#817350 14-May-2013 12:36

DSE is a waste of space.

-Most of their employees know nothing about the goods they are selling. (There are exceptions - hence the "most". This is my experience for most of the Chch stores)
-Its pricey.
-They refuse to price match, or beat other prices.

Thanks for giving me another reason not to shop there OP.

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gzt

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#817353 14-May-2013 12:39

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: As for [extended warranties] being extremely profitable, I thought DSE sells that responsibility onto another firm to deal with all claims for them? Warranties would be no more profitable than having a 50% off HDMI cables sale in that case

Nope, I can't follow your logic there at all. For the most part retailers have a chance to sell an HDMI cable (or other overpriced accessory item) only in relation to some product combinations. Also there are costs for carrying that inventory.

In contrast there is no inventory/carrying cost for extended warranties (only transaction cost). It is very, very profitable. A retailer can add on accessory sales AND add on extended warranty sales.

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noc

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#817360 14-May-2013 12:53

NZCrusader: DSE is a waste of space.

-Most of their employees know nothing about the goods they are selling. (There are exceptions - hence the "most". This is my experience for most of the Chch stores)
-Its pricey.
-They refuse to price match, or beat other prices.

Thanks for giving me another reason not to shop there OP.

This is my view exactly. I see no reason why I should shop there anymore. The fact that they stopped the price matching put me off them completely. Now they'll have pushy sales people? I would be surprised if "Dick Smith" still exists in another couple of years if they keep going like this.

surfisup1000

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#817363 14-May-2013 13:01

noc:
NZCrusader: DSE is a waste of space.

-Most of their employees know nothing about the goods they are selling. (There are exceptions - hence the "most". This is my experience for most of the Chch stores)
-Its pricey.
-They refuse to price match, or beat other prices.

Thanks for giving me another reason not to shop there OP.

This is my view exactly. I see no reason why I should shop there anymore. The fact that they stopped the price matching put me off them completely. Now they'll have pushy sales people? I would be surprised if "Dick Smith" still exists in another couple of years if they keep going like this.

I think it is good having Dick Smith around. They still sell a few unique items you cannot source elsewhere and occasionally they offer a bargain. And, you can still buy a fuse/house alarm battery from them at least.

As for extended warranties, I sometimes play cat & mouse and string them along for while :) It is entertaining to hear them try and justify very expensive extended warranties.

1eStar

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#817378 14-May-2013 13:12

A house alarm battery for $60 which you can get from ideal or Cory's for about $25 which wholesale for about $13? I enjoy looking around a dse store but rarely buy anything there.

Jaxson

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#817388 14-May-2013 13:21

With regards to the customer service comments above, I'm amused at stores that have the 'greet the customer within 30 seconds rule'. It's a great idea in some ways, probably pushed by some training consultancy etc, but it often comes across to the customer as being extremely pushy/intrusive. It has a great effect on shop lifting though, as it conveys a sense of 'I'm watching you'.

I find warranty discussions can be a bit like the above. Most of the time they should not be needed. I'm of the opinion also as to why they would expect it to be so important. Like what's wrong with the quality of your products that you think so strongly that they are going to break? LV Martins 'It's the putting right that counts' falls into the same category, like how often does your stuff fail that you need to make putting it right the core content of your advertising?

But, as above, in some cases a warranty adds extra cover that the customer might find appealing. I'd say they're within their rights to offer it, but pushing it might have a negative reaction to many customers.

gzt

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#817399 14-May-2013 13:44

Yes, it's the fear tactics and misinformation which bother most people. The real question to ask and answer is: "What benefits does the extended warranty offer over and above the guarantees provided by the CGA?"

In some cases extended warranty offers things like 1 day onsite service and full replacement. Even where this is true the salespeople seem trained not to know this and focus on some fairly standard questions intended to provoke fear instead.

mattwnz

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#817404 14-May-2013 13:50

surfisup1000:

I think it is good having Dick Smith around. They still sell a few unique items you cannot source elsewhere and occasionally they offer a bargain. And, you can still buy a fuse/house alarm battery from them at least.

As for extended warranties, I sometimes play cat & mouse and string them along for while :) It is entertaining to hear them try and justify very expensive extended warranties.

It is, because it means more competition. Less competition potentially means higher prices elsewhere. There has already been quite a bit of consolidation in this area, with bond and bond going, and the warehouse buying noel leemings.

shk292

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#817430 14-May-2013 14:14

I have mostly positive experiences at DS. Bought a 32GB Nexus 7 there last week for $364, helpful but not pushy salesman also gave a good discount on a case to go with it. I expressed an interest in the 3G model, but he said was not really worthwhile if I had a smartphone to use as a hotspot (which I knew, but it was good not to have the hard sell). No mention of extended warranties
I only buy things there if they're low value or the best price available (as the Nexus was). Bought a couple of DSE brand MP3 players for the kids last year which were fantastic value

Hammerer

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#817437 14-May-2013 14:23

I have had many problems at DSE but they have always replaced defective products. I always keep my receipts as it makes it much easier to get the problem resolved. Sometimes I've even got a newer model. Usually the failure is in the first year of use so an extended warranty is not much use.

I would consider buying an extended warranty for any item over $1,000 which would be expected to have a long life such as a TV. I wouldn't bother with, for example, a router which I'm going to replace every 2-3 years anyway.

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