bit of a moan: some experience from highstreet retail stores

p1tse

p1tse

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,391
Edit My Images
No
1) Jessops - I buy almost £600 of gear and they can't throw in a memory card to get me started.

ok, fair enough, i then asked for a discount on a memory card, and NO was the answer. I then asked if you would price match places like Play or Amazon, and a quick NO.

As i wanted to play straight away, I ended up getting a 2GB Scandisk from Asda for almost half Jessops price!!

Also, they wouldn't budge on price on a display model item i wanted.

2) Schu (I think that's how you spell it), but a shoe/ trainer shop.
So they have a sale on, and i pick two pairs off the shelf. Both reduced to £35 each, and they didn't have a fresh new pair in the size i wanted and one of them had a mark, and I asked for a discount, if I brought these two pair. They said no, as was in sale. I was amazed.

I kindly said I can't decide, but would be happy to take the two even when one was had a mark and not a fresh pair, if i had some sort of discount, again NO.

However, they said they could get new fresh pairs in or delivered to any address for the same price. So, I ended up buying the two pairs (being on sale and thought i would treat myself), delivered for two fresh pairs.

Crazy, when Parcel Force (that they use) will cost a few £s, over no discount from store.

As a Consumer am I asking too much from these retail stores?
No wonder so many going bust, as not competitive enough or have the customer service to justify the extra cost
 
to be fair to jessops, if you shop online and then collect in store you can get some good deals, i got a 8gb card chucked in for free with my 50d buy getting it online and hunting down a voucher code, the bundle was the cheapest in the uk too.
 
p1tse said:
1) Jessops - I buy almost £600 of gear and they can't throw in a memory card to get me started.

ok, fair enough, i then asked for a discount on a memory card, and NO was the answer. I then asked if you would price match places like Play or Amazon, and a quick NO.

As i wanted to play straight away, I ended up getting a 2GB Scandisk from Asda for almost half Jessops price!!

Also, they wouldn't budge on price on a display model item i wanted.

2) Schu (I think that's how you spell it), but a shoe/ trainer shop.
So they have a sale on, and i pick two pairs off the shelf. Both reduced to £35 each, and they didn't have a fresh new pair in the size i wanted and one of them had a mark, and I asked for a discount, if I brought these two pair. They said no, as was in sale. I was amazed.

I kindly said I can't decide, but would be happy to take the two even when one was had a mark and not a fresh pair, if i had some sort of discount, again NO.

However, they said they could get new fresh pairs in or delivered to any address for the same price. So, I ended up buying the two pairs (being on sale and thought i would treat myself), delivered for two fresh pairs.

Crazy, when Parcel Force (that they use) will cost a few £s, over no discount from store.

As a Consumer am I asking too much from these retail stores?
No wonder so many going bust, as not competitive enough or have the customer service to justify the extra cost
Click to expand...

Well if they start 'dealing' they won't last much longer, imagine the fixed costs of these stores, they are there to sell goods and make a profit.

If, in your opinion they are not competitive enough then the answer really is quite simple - GO SOMEWHERE ELSE !
 
i know shops have overheads, but no flexibility at all is to me is not competitive and without the customer service one might expect.

cheapest compact flash from jessops is:
Jessops 1GB Compactflash Card @ sub £13, and they couldn't or even tried to offer this to me at any discount.
hence, you're right, i went else where. but seriously, what's the margin on a memory card these days, huge!
 
p1tse said:
i know shops have overheads, but no flexibility at all is to me is not competitive and without the customer service one might expect.

cheapest compact flash from jessops is:
Jessops 1GB Compactflash Card @ sub £13, and they couldn't or even tried to offer this to me at any discount.
hence, you're right, i went else where. but seriously, what's the margin on a memory card these days, huge!
Click to expand...

I am sure the margin is huge, most likely hands are tied though, I can't further discount what I sell, does that mean my customer service is crap ?

I had a customer before Christmas that was saying I/we should drop our prices because of the credit crunch and he was struggling - yeah right, thats going to happen, in fact the prices have just gone up 5%, he ain't going to like it !
 
just saying the opportunity was there for more revenue, but i guess if a rule of thumb, no further discount allowed fair enough.

but when spending £600 from body, lens, flash etc. what's a small discount on a £13 memory card going to loose?

also, with the trainers i bought, £70. surely a £5 discount say, would be less than man power to track down items, pack it, and sending it?
 
p1tse said:
just saying the opportunity was there for more revenue, but i guess if a rule of thumb, no further discount allowed fair enough.

but when spending £600 from body, lens, flash etc. what's a small discount on a £13 memory card going to loose?

also, with the trainers i bought, £70. surely a £5 discount say, would be less than man power to track down items, pack it, and sending it?
Click to expand...

I can only speak from personal experience, I've never had a problem getting discount. It is never in high street retailers though. I've always found that independent retailers are more able and willing to compete for my business by offering discount.

Smaller shops are always looking repeat business and the majority of them will be staffed by their owner.
 
if you want discounts and 'freebies' maybe turkey is a better place to shop than the high street.

most likely the assistants hands are tied and they are not allowed to discount items further.
 
i guess, rule of thumb for many high street retailers, no discount.

however, i bought fifa 09 new from game shop and picked up a gran turismo used game selling at £15 and asked if he could do that for £10, and he did. non of my askings are stupid requests i feel, and i only asked about this one, as i saw another shop having had the game for a tenner so save me going back to the other shop.
 
The local Jessops i use sometimes are very good, i dont think i have ever paid listed price for anything. I am not talking major cuts though, sort of a little more then Warehouse express prices after postage. Paying a little more to not have to wait for postage is a major plus to me due to my job and living on my own. Think it depends alot on the manager of the stores.
 
Shop on a weekday and get them to call head office to ask for a discount. You may look a bt of a tit at the time, but it will work in lots of stores. just keep aiming higher and eventually they will say yes to get rid of you. As long as you can get the same or very similar elsewhere.
 
I managed to get a discount on my D200 when i bought it in jessops, sure it was £50 knocked off but it was worth it, also got £10 knocked off a 2gb Compact flash card.
As i was like well if you wont discount me it i will simply purchase it online and it was surprising how quick they hwere like oh yer lets see what we can do.
Only reason im doing this instore is because of the cover plan you guys offer, man expensive day that was £900 in all, then bloody 2 months later the price drops by £100 :(
 
just took our three month old heater back to machine mart.
one bottle of gas through it , and the motor packs up.
"sorry sir, cos its morew than 30 days old, we have to send it off to the workshops to be assessed .
they may just exchange it, or repair it."

i went apes***."why cant i get a replacement, or my money back?"
no. has to go to their repair centre in notts.
rang up head office and gave them grief too.
will be back inside a week.
yeah right.
not happy.
 
Last edited:
p1tse said:
just saying the opportunity was there for more revenue, but i guess if a rule of thumb, no further discount allowed fair enough.

but when spending £600 from body, lens, flash etc. what's a small discount on a £13 memory card going to loose?

also, with the trainers i bought, £70. surely a £5 discount say, would be less than man power to track down items, pack it, and sending it?
Click to expand...

I think its the fact that if they did do a discount for everybody that asked for it, then the combined amount of money that they lost would be most damaging. Even though to you its just one case of allowing it, if they do it for everyone then it turns into a problem in terms of losing money.

I do think they could have done something about the shoes with the mark on though!
 
inaneredstripe said:
just took our three month old heater back to machine mart.
one bottle of gas through it , and the motor packs up.
"sorry sir, cos its morew than 30 days old, we have to send it off to the workshops to be assessed .
they may just exchange it, or repair it."

i went apes***."why cant i get a replacement, or my money back?"
no. has to go to their repair centre in notts.
rang up head office and gave them grief too.
will be back inside a week.
yeah right.
not happy.
Click to expand...


i think that's the case with most things over 30 days.
 
HanC said:
I think its the fact that if they did do a discount for everybody that asked for it, then the combined amount of money that they lost would be most damaging. Even though to you its just one case of allowing it, if they do it for everyone then it turns into a problem in terms of losing money.

I do think they could have done something about the shoes with the mark on though!
Click to expand...

very true, but consumer spending and habit is changing.

think about insurance for cars. you get a renewal and rule of thumb is not to accept first renewal offer (why? , becuase usually it's not the best price possible)

consumers habits are changing with the power of internet and some retailers need to seek these risks and opportunities.

as for the trainers, i think it's barmy. two display items equate to £70 sell one which was marked (and both were display with the display item being looser in fit). they decide not to offer any discount and rather send out two new pairs at the same cost to my home address! which i fill fair enough, but surely as a store manager, he would have prefered to move stock round, so that he has more space for new stock etc.
 
The best bad deal I saw over Christmas was at a furniture store recently opened in Kendal called Smartwood.

Before Christmas we went in and saw a lovely oak table with chairs for £695.00. Table was labelled at that price and we asked the salesman if we could have a card on which he wrote his mobile no. and the price of the table and chairs.

My dad decided to wait to see if the table was in the sales afterwards so we went in again the other day. The salesman recognised us and said hello and we walked through to where the table and chairs was.

The table was now marked at £950.00 or thereabouts reduced to £730.00.

We queried this as we had his card with the price he had written on the back. He denied the price until we showed him the card, then he said if that's what he told us then we could have the set for that price.

My dad told him to forget it as the table should have been cheaper in the sale. He's not very tollerant of people trying to rip him off after a Comet / Currys scam some years ago.
 
HanC said:
I do think they could have done something about the shoes with the mark on though!
Click to expand...

Unlikely unless it's the absolute last pair in any size - they would have to put another new pair on display, which then run the risk of getting marked, then that's 2 pairs they have had to discount.
 
You might be moaning now because Jessops won't give you a wee bit of a discount, but trust me, you'll really be hissed off if/when Jessops go under and there isn't another specialist high street camera retailer to buy from and you end up having to either pay £50 more at John Lewis or Comet or buy everything unseen from some online shop...
 
no they seemed very friendly. almost happy to sell me stuff
 
You went in for a party cam, and they sold you the most expensive brand of disposable in the shop. ;)
 
What you say doesn't sound so unreasonable but I suspect in many cases those working on the shop floor just don't have the authority to make these kinds of decisions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top