Interesting sales experience at Dick Smith

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3075 posts

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#475300 29-May-2011 01:00

A while ago, maybe a couple of months now, I went to DSE to get a Netbook for parents to replace our old family computer that died on us since I knew what I was looking for. Found the model I researched online, found no cheaper ones in store, $449 I think, asked a rep. for one and he went and got it for me, while he did that I went and got my graphics calculator for level 3 stats, $130. Took it to the counter, they asked if I wanted anything else today, no mentions of extended warranties or anything, put it in a bag, and wished me a good day and I was off. Lol. Couldn't have been easier.

Far better than my experience at Harvey Norman. Before I knew about the CGA and we were sucked into buying one for about $100 I think by the rep. who told us the CGA offered little protection. So we believed him. But the CGA came in handy when the MBR or something broke in the laptop a few days later. Laptop was away for over a month and we started waving the CGA around and they sent us a completely new laptop (HP did this, not Harvey Norman. They were useless in this.) I will never buy a product from Harvey Norman again because of this.

trig42

5814 posts

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#475320 29-May-2011 08:15

I owuld buy an extended warranty if it were cheap enough (ie, less than $50), but I know that they have huge margins and are only a way for these stores to recover the margin they lose by the huge discounting they do. It is not my problem that these stores (and they all do it, not just DSE) discount the hell out of these products and then have to make their margin targets by upselling high margin items (when I worked in retail 10 years ago, 1 $199 extended warranty cost us about $40).

Loismustdye

928 posts

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#475326 29-May-2011 08:56

trig42: I owuld buy an extended warranty if it were cheap enough (ie, less than $50), but I know that they have huge margins and are only a way for these stores to recover the margin they lose by the huge discounting they do. It is not my problem that these stores (and they all do it, not just DSE) discount the hell out of these products and then have to make their margin targets by upselling high margin items (when I worked in retail 10 years ago, 1 $199 extended warranty cost us about $40).

+1

I've had Agee friends work in tech retail and they have all said the same, the warranty costs very little in comparison to the price the store tries to sell them at. often though you can get big discounts on accessories such as laptop bags etc if you get them at the same time.
The only thing I'll get a warranty on is a car, I.e mechanical warranty,basically because you never knowwho has done what to it before you buy it.

alasta

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#475342 29-May-2011 10:27

nigelj: Even better was when we went on & on about how the extended warranty was only $30-$40, where as taking DSE to Small Claims would cost $50+.

Well, that's a valid point isn't it? I'm no fan of retailers pushing people to buy extended warranties that they don't want, but if they're going to offer a dirt cheap extended warranty on a high value product then surely there comes a point where it becomes economically viable even if you are an advocate of the CGA legislation.

Regardless of that, the experiences in this thread demonstrate why I buy my gear direct from Apple's web site rather in order to avoid dealing with salespeople in big box retailers.

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#475346 29-May-2011 10:40

alasta:
nigelj: Even better was when we went on & on about how the extended warranty was only $30-$40, where as taking DSE to Small Claims would cost $50+.

Well, that's a valid point isn't it? I'm no fan of retailers pushing people to buy extended warranties that they don't want, but if they're going to offer a dirt cheap extended warranty on a high value product then surely there comes a point where it becomes economically viable even if you are an advocate of the CGA legislation.

.

I agree, that is kind of a shortcoming with the CGA in that it takes weeks to sort the problem out, and then weeks for the arbitrator to make up his/her decision, and then the laptop goes in for a fix. I got an extended with HN and have used it on 4 occasions, granted if it happened again I was going to make them replace the entire laptop. This laptop is almost 3 years old and has done more mileage than my car!

KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek

#475355 29-May-2011 11:04

I dont respond well to pushy sales persons.

There was a thing on...im sure it was Fair Go, but it may have been Target talking about the extended warranties.
They talked about the bigger stores pushing to get there 'standard 1 year warranty extended to a 3 year' in regards to fridges, tv's...They looked mostly at whiteware.

Of the items they looked at that came with a '1 year store warranty', after reading the fine print they found that ALL of them had 3year manufacture warranties (depending on band/item some had 5)
And that under the CGA the retailer is required to do what is necessary to have the item repaired. even if its after there 1 year warranty (as long as its still within the 3/5 years)
ie, they said that if you brought it from them and 2 years latter it broke, as the seller they were responsible to getting it back to there supplier to be fix...you only had to get it back to the point of sale(the store normally)

it was a while ago that the show was on, but that's what i remember from it...i wouldn't 100% quote it

granturismo

2 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#475371 29-May-2011 11:39

lol typical dicksmith saleman. That's why they named themselve DICK+Smith

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jbard

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#475375 29-May-2011 11:46

It was annoying, i have never had a problem returning items to DSE. They have always tried their best to fix an item or get it replaced and it has never taken to long.

But basucally what this guy was implying was if i brought the item back without an extended warranty then they would make it more of a hassle to get the item replaced/repaired.

I'm sure this wouldn't actually be the case if i took it back, but it was so pushy of him that it was almost like he was threatening me.

It also doesn't make me very confident in a product when he suggests i will almost certainly need to use the Extended warranty at some point.

A point i didn't mention was his lack of computer knowledge, he asked me what i wold be using the laptop for - and just to see his reaction i said i would be playing Portal 2 and waiting for the next oblivion - now this is a $600 laptop and their is no way these games would run even on low settings.

His response was this - "Oh yes this is a great choice for gaming - this will be able to play the latest games for a good 2-3 years"

ENZvince

49 posts

Geek

#476062 31-May-2011 07:59

alasta:
nigelj: Even better was when we went on & on about how the extended warranty was only $30-$40, where as taking DSE to Small Claims would cost $50+.

Well, that's a valid point isn't it? I'm no fan of retailers pushing people to buy extended warranties that they don't want, but if they're going to offer a dirt cheap extended warranty on a high value product then surely there comes a point where it becomes economically viable even if you are an advocate of the CGA legislation.

Regardless of that, the experiences in this thread demonstrate why I buy my gear direct from Apple's web site rather in order to avoid dealing with salespeople in big box retailers.

I guess everyone's experiences differ. The worst customer experience of my life was with Apple.

We bought 2 Macbook pros for the office. One worked fine on arrival, the other overheated about 30secs after i switched it on. Contacted Apple and followed their procedures, sent it back for repair. 2 Weeks later it was returned with a new hard-drive and still had overheating problems. This went on 2 more times until i asked for them to replace the Macbook......did not go down well. They told me everything from "replacing the entire Macbook does not garuntee it will resolve the overheating problem, we would prefer to keep trying to fix it" to "at Apple we have higher quality products than you are used to (i had admitted these were my first Macbooks) and as such needed a different approach to just replacing" and when i pointed out the CGA the rep actually said that Apples t&cs overrule the CGA....unbelievable!!!

In the end i had to just keep repeating "are you going to replace it?" "no" "then put me through to your manager"

After speaking to five different people someone finally agreed to replace the unit. This whole process took 3 months....unacceptable

b0untypure1

1426 posts

Uber Geek

#476078 31-May-2011 09:01

even if it is a bad sales experience, i will still shop at DSE if the prices are cheap.
On their mac sale just been, i bought a macbook air. Yes i was offered the warranty like 400 times and offered a bag and all these other things, but i just stood their face down at the eftpos machine and said nothing. soon enough the machine lit up and i paid for the mac , left and said no more.

problem solved, do your research (like jbard did) and ignore the salesman :)

oxnsox

1923 posts

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#476109 31-May-2011 09:56

Its easy to refuse an extended warranty,simply by mentioning that your purchase is covered by the CGA. When salesfolk have suggested to me that it doesn't apply I take the polite high ground, and simply ask them if they have the legal training to be sure of that.....

ENZvince

49 posts

Geek

#476173 31-May-2011 12:32

oxnsox: Its easy to refuse an extended warranty,simply by mentioning that your purchase is covered by the CGA. When salesfolk have suggested to me that it doesn't apply I take the polite high ground, and simply ask them if they have the legal training to be sure of that.....

nice answer, have to remember that one :)

dacraka

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#476201 31-May-2011 13:41

It will be a crack-up if some one recorded their next in-store "Interesting sales experience" on their phone for all to hear as it seems like there is a high chance of getting them : )

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#476208 31-May-2011 13:54

itxtme:
alasta:
nigelj: Even better was when we went on & on about how the extended warranty was only $30-$40, where as taking DSE to Small Claims would cost $50+.

Well, that's a valid point isn't it? I'm no fan of retailers pushing people to buy extended warranties that they don't want, but if they're going to offer a dirt cheap extended warranty on a high value product then surely there comes a point where it becomes economically viable even if you are an advocate of the CGA legislation.

.

I agree, that is kind of a shortcoming with the CGA in that it takes weeks to sort the problem out, and then weeks for the arbitrator to make up his/her decision, and then the laptop goes in for a fix. I got an extended with HN and have used it on 4 occasions, granted if it happened again I was going to make them replace the entire laptop. This laptop is almost 3 years old and has done more mileage than my car!

I only buy extended warranty on business items.

Sometimes an extended warranty actually proves less protection than the CGA. When my remote headphones on an ipod developed a fault, I was told that headphones were consumerables and not covered under the extended warranty. I had to get them replace for free under the CGA instead. Also the extended warranty may have terms in it that says that they will only pay it's current market price, and it will be a cash settlement. This can leave the buyer out of pocket when they have to buy a new one.

mrbluesky

32 posts

Geek

#476996 2-Jun-2011 11:42

Dick Smith is completely hopeless. I just quit going there. I always find everything overpriced...when I actually find something I am looking for. They don't carry the electronics stuff that they used to. Their IT suggestions are rubbish 99% of the time.

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