Dick Smith in Continual Sale Mode

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#1096670 27-Jul-2014 16:47

mattwnz:
kiwiharry:
Happy that they finally honoured the deal, but getting there was a slog.

That amount of your life wasted, probably voided any saving you made. Sounds like poor service overall.

Partially my fault for placing the order without confirming price.

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GeekGuy

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#1096677 27-Jul-2014 16:54

Bought a Huawei phone around November last year online on the Australian website ... 5 weeks later I finally get it after I open a dispute with Paypal.
Fast forward to the present, I ordered a Chromecast for $39 on the 11th of July and 2 weeks later it still has not been sent. Opened another dispute with Paypal.
Definately learnt my lesson now ... never again.

JimmyH

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#1096692 27-Jul-2014 18:01

There have been a couple of previous threads on this before.

I used to spend quite a lot of money there 5 or so years ago. But I rarely bother to even check Dick Smith's pricing now, and only bother buying there if there is something I want at an extra special sale price.

Stock wise, they have pruned their range to the point that they don't even stock many of the things I am after. And they seem to have moved to a Briscoes pricing model - ridiculously uncompetitive headline pricing, but with frequent "sales" that offer a deep discount bringing their prices down to the normal price elsewhere.

Last few times I have been there I have been surprised that many of the shelves seemed virtually empty of stock, many items were out of stock, and the staff seemed to materially outnumber the customers. I suspected that they were about to fold at the time.

MaxLV

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#1096715 27-Jul-2014 19:14

KiwiNZ: I don't think a week goes by without sales with Harvey Normans, Noel leemings , Dick Smith and JBHIFI. It is a very competitive industry with minimal margins so they are all trying very hard to maximise volumes. We shouldn't complain the consumer wins with regards to price.

I have purchased quite a bit of stuff from both Noel Leemings and Harveys and never pay the ticket price.

I'd like to know what their 'minimal margins' are. These retailers often claim they run on minimal margins and they cannot possibly sell at the 'overseas' prices, but their sales prices are always a large percentage off the advertised prices, not just for a few items, but most of their stock. Some one id telling porkys when they say they run on minimal margins. A read of these retailers annual 'profit' reports and shareholders dividends proves that.

richms

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#1096720 27-Jul-2014 19:22

Thats why I am often buying things on ebay and amazon while I am in these other shops when they cant compete.

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#1096722 27-Jul-2014 19:37

richms: Thats why I am often buying things on ebay and amazon while I am in these other shops when they cant compete.

I only buy cheap things from there, More expensive things i buy here for service/CGA etc

Dunnersfella

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#1096749 27-Jul-2014 20:41

Things you don't want to be retailing anymore...
Computers / tablets / phones / CD's / DVD's / BluRay's / consoles / games / routers / printers... anything at DSE really.
It's cheaper on-line, and even if your customers aren't buying it on-line, the threat of them doing so will force you to drop prices to be competitive... otherwise you may end up like DSE.

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eXDee

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#1096751 27-Jul-2014 20:44

Dick Smith has cut costs everywhere mostly for short term gain - especially in experienced labour, that's for sure.

BlakJak

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#1096834 28-Jul-2014 00:02

eXDee: Dick Smith has cut costs everywhere mostly for short term gain - especially in experienced labour, that's for sure.

I was DSE staff from 1996 until 2000. In '96 they still had amateur radio accessories (in NZ, accessories only; in AU they were a distributor for Yaesu but the right to do so didn't exist in NZ and we couldn't sell other brands), a full range of components and the vast majority of the decent 'kits' they used to offer (some of their bigger ones had been retired at this stage).

During the next few years the wind-back began; they cited that what amateur gear they had, wasn't popular and not worth the cost of maintaining... what you've seen in the last 15 years is an extension of the fact that they want to sell what people want to buy. Electronics at component level or at truly technical levels doesn't generate the volume of sales relative to the cost in maintaining these things (I always had a strong dislike for the component section at stocktake time...!)

About 70% of the staff were hired for a small amount of technical nous and a larger amount of generic sales ability. The remaining 30% had some technical cloo, but possibly only 5-10% of those were truly electronics types.

Most often, the part-time guys that were studying during the week were more clooful in a real sense, than those who worked there Monday-Friday. More than once I had customers come to see me on a Sunday having been referred to me during the week because they wanted to talk about radio-stuff or electronics-stuff that they simply couldn't cope with.

Back in my time working for them I did often wish we carried more range in the 'consumer electronics' space (TV's, DVD players and their ilk) but the move to doing so has eliminated a lot of the hardware and componentry that gave DSE it's value to most tech-heads. Today Jaycar have pretty much taken over that space.

I used to wander through DSE every few weeks just to see what was new or different. In the last 3 years i've been doing it less-and-less - it's been several months since I entered a branch now. I just have no need to; Between PB Technologies, Ebay and Jaycar I can find most of what I want and at better prices. Heck for cellphone accessories if I want a cheapie I just head to somewhere like Looksharp now.... (you do get what you pay for at those places)

Not sure when exactly I stopped receiving email from DSE - but I did. Found out by pure accident several months back that the old 'trade cash card' means nothing 'real' anymore (not sure I ever received any formal comms about it).
I think the closure of their support office was the final nail in the coffin for me - at least the service guys there and the product buyers tended to genuinely know their own product lines. :(

Sad to see things change so much for 'dick smith' (not really DS_E_ anymore) - but all of the above combined with several episodes of just plain crap service, have really put me off.

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gnfb

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#1096886 28-Jul-2014 09:12

Maybe this is where they make there dollars?

DSE Cable USB 2.0 5M A to B 39.98

Cable direct (NZ) 5M USB 2.0 Cable Type A Male/Female Connectors. $4.54

Examples like this are endless on DS's Hey don't get me wrong Go the Capitalist!

I do however feel for the innocent non tec customer

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dolsen

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#1096887 28-Jul-2014 09:15

mattwnz: I had heard that they were also doing a lot of online only specials which they weren't offering to people who went into their stores. Maybe they wll eventually become an online only retailer, because most of what they sell, could be online only these days.

Yeah, really annoying when you have dse vouchers which, although written on them state that you can use them online, can't be used online (in NZ)...

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#1096892 28-Jul-2014 09:25

gnfb: Maybe this is where they make there dollars?

DSE Cable USB 2.0 5M A to B 39.98

Cable direct (NZ) 5M USB 2.0 Cable Type A Male/Female Connectors. $4.54

Examples like this are endless on DS's Hey don't get me wrong Go the Capitalist!

I do however feel for the innocent non tec customer

Ahhh yes I was pleased to see the Consumer NZ Report on HDMI cables when they were newish showing the premium cables that some chains including DS were selling were no better than the cheapie ones.

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xpd

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#1096894 28-Jul-2014 09:38

DSE dont seem to keep much stock on hand anymore, thats why the shelves always look empty.... my bother in law recently tried buying an Xbox 360 for one of my nieces birthdays from their local store in West Auckland, and sales guy proceeded to ring it up and take the money.... then turned around and said "oh, itll be here in about a week as we don't hold stock". After querying the store about it, turned out the unit would be coming from another store up North, but the store BIL was in couldnt confirm if that store even had stock and wouldnt guarantee it would be there within a week. BIL obviously wasnt impressed with this as he needed it for the birthday, and got his money back and went elsewhere....

I avoid DSE where possible now, they dont know their products, they dont have stock, and they are a pain to deal with when it comes to warranties.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Dynamic

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#1096908 28-Jul-2014 09:47

xpd: ...sales guy proceeded to ring it up and take the money.... then turned around and said "oh, itll be here in about a week as we don't hold stock".

I would have torn strips off the salesman and his manager for that. The salesman was either completely useless for not checking stock or was being deceptive by not disclosing there was no stock on hand.

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Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

BlakJak

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#1096989 28-Jul-2014 11:09

Dynamic:
xpd: ...sales guy proceeded to ring it up and take the money.... then turned around and said "oh, itll be here in about a week as we don't hold stock".

I would have torn strips off the salesman and his manager for that. The salesman was either completely useless for not checking stock or was being deceptive by not disclosing there was no stock on hand.

+1. That's so rude I don't know where to start.

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