Customer Service vs. Lowest Price?

[Audioholics]

<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>J.D. Power and Associates </FONT><A href="http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/?epi_menuItemID=989a6827590d7dda9cdf6023a0908a0c&amp;epi_menuID=c791260db682611740b28e347a808a0c&amp;epi_baseMenuID=384979e8cc48c441ef0130f5c6908a0c&amp;ndmViewId=news_view&amp;newsLang=en&amp;div=-368872822&amp;newsId=20041117005247"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>today reported</FONT></A><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> on how consumers will be looking for specialized service from salespeople rather than just the lowest price, particularly when making high-end electronics purchases. The study, which measures customer satisfaction with electronics retailers based on responses from more than 9,600 recent purchasers of digital cameras and high-end televisions, is based on four factors that define the customer experience. In order of importance, they are: sales personnel, store services, store environment and store merchandise.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The inaugural study finds that consumers buying high-end electronics seek more information about the products and technology from the retailer and are&nbsp;willing to pay more for these products if they also receive the one-on-one service necessary when buying technologically advanced products. After reading the study, this orientation is found at specialty electronics retailers but doesn't address the large number of consumers who are increasingly making their electronics purchases online.</FONT></P>

 

[Tom Andry]

If you spend any time at all on this site, you are not looking for a sales rep to "sell" you something. 90% of the time you probably know more than the rep anyway!

 

[zumbo]

Funny how people in the "they say" crowd never ask my opinion.
That is about like people buying a new car with the "best" warranty from a "good" dealer. PLEASE! Buy the best made car your budget can handle from the place that will give you the best deal.

 

[Az B]

Last night on PBS they had a long documentary about free trade, China, and Wal-Mart. One of the examples was a US TV manufacturer who was suing the Chinese manufacturers for dumping. Wal-Mart was backing the Chinese.

But what most people don't realize is that the Chinese government and economy are set up specifically for them to succeed. I know from experience in the furniture industry that the Chinese workers are paid poorly, have horrible and unsafe working conditions, and there are thousands of people lined up to do the work. How can we compete in this country when we have OSHA, EPA, unions, and fair labor and pay laws?

But this all goes back to the service vs. price. What's more important, value for your money, or the bottom dollar?

 

[Leprkon]

<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>J.D. Power and Associates </FONT><A href="http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/?epi_menuItemID=989a6827590d7dda9cdf6023a0908a0c&amp;epi_menuID=c791260db682611740b28e347a808a0c&amp;epi_baseMenuID=384979e8cc48c441ef0130f5c6908a0c&amp;ndmViewId=news_view&amp;newsLang=en&amp;div=-368872822&amp;newsId=20041117005247"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>today reported</FONT></A><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> on how consumers will be looking for specialized service from salespeople rather than just the lowest price, particularly when making high-end electronics purchases. In order of importance, they are: sales personnel, store services, store environment and store merchandise.</FONT></P>

The issue with high end electronics is, more often then not, the concern of returning or exchanging them for a more suitable model, making it alot more important that you can work with whoever you bought them from...

It doesn't take many posts on these pages to see that most purchasers are extremely well-informed (or go out of their way to get there) and sophisticated enough to demo a number of options.

That's not the kind of issue you see with a toaster...

 

[Stefan]

I consider mysef quite well informed about audiovisual electronics and do a lot of research both on-line and by reading magazines. When making significant purchases I very much prefer a specialised local store with salespeople I can relate to. I may be able to get a lower price at a big retail chain but the lack of educated salespeople and personal service really doesn't do it for me. There are two stores in Vancouver where I purchased all my home theater equipment. I know salespeople there, I can walk in any time and get a demo of equipment I may be interested in or just have a chat about home theater with people who have the same level of interest than I do. Since they know me as a regular customer now I get great service and deals that rival the large retailers in price.
I buy books, CDs and DVDs on-line these days but for specialised things like home theater I still prefer to deal with a mature sales person who knows what he or she is talking about.
This was confirmed again last week when I got bitten by the Halo 2 bug and went out to buy an Xbox and some cables at Future Shop. The sales guy who latched onto me and insisted on selling me a $160 Monster component video cable to hook up the Xbox to my HDTV turned me off so much that I put everything back on the shelf and walked out.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I'll do that, too, Stefan. If everyone would reply to the overly aggresive & rude attempts to "upsell" by simply putting down the merchandise and walking out, the practice would stop, and fast. It's so bad sometimes at Best Buy that I will simply go buy it at Wal-Mart. Hey, bash Wally World all you want, but tell me that they've ever tried to sell you something you can't afford, don't need & don't want.

As for the Chinese trade issue...I always groan when I see this. Yeah, they don't have OSHA, min wage, etc etc. But they do have a billion people and nuclear weapons. Do we really want them backward, poor and hungry? Maybe this is a gory way to view it, but I think more trade will equal a better Chinese economy, and a more prosperous China in general. Prosperity almost always tends to lead to capitism & democratization. Before you know it, the Chinese will be complaining about some other 3rd world nation undercutting them.

Some American companies doing business in China implement virtually the same safety & working condition standards that workers in the US enjoy, albeit at the local wage. Just ask Mark Shchifter of AV123 (the guys that make Rocket speakers & Perpetual Technologies DACs) about their Chinese factories.

 

[Audioholics]

The sales guy who latched onto me and insisted on selling me a $160 Monster component video cable to hook up the Xbox to my HDTV turned me off so much that I put everything back on the shelf and walked out.

This is usually easily diffused by:

Option 1) staring at the guy and laughing openly at him.

Option 2) making them do an A-B comparison on the spot... Tell him if he can show you by just switching out some cables that it will sound $160 better then you'll buy them... Too lazy and no facility for it, so he'll most likely go away.

Option 3) looking them straight in the face and say you would never EVER consider spending a paltry $160 on cables and ask if he has any silver teflon coated cables with chicken fat.​

Seriously, you gotta have some fun with these guys. Since we're in a world of mass market consumerism, there's no way you'll get these stores to change by refusing to shop there - there are simply too many stupid people out there who will fall for this stuff. that's why we still have:

- spam
- new car price negotiations
- extended warranty plans
- spam
- 3-5 credit card offers per week in the mail
- spam​

It's a game - might as well have fun with it...

 

[Leprkon]

Do we really want them backward, poor and hungry? Maybe this is a gory way to view it, but I think more trade will equal a better Chinese economy, and a more prosperous China in general. Prosperity almost always tends to lead to capitism & democratization.
.

it may not lead to capitalism and democratization, but a happy camper is one who is unlikely to be taking stuff from the guys next door. It wasn't the Kuwaittis who invaded Iraq....

 

[TPERIOD]

Service vs. Lowest Price

YUUUMMM! 1 large Uno's sausage pizza. Now to the point...Of course we do research. Yes we know more than 90 per cent of the sales personnel. So! So what! I still don't want to deal with a mindless idiot. I want good customer service. Call and get a friendly voice. Visit and get nice people. Have a problem? No drama. I could care less if the sales person has less product knowledge than I; I expect that. What I do care about is the sales person being honest and fair about the deal we are about to make. A/V sales are made long before we enter the store, so; What's left? People skills!

 

[rgriffin25]

This is usually easily diffused by:

Option 1) staring at the guy and laughing openly at him.

Option 2) making them do an A-B comparison on the spot... Tell him if he can show you by just switching out some cables that it will sound $160 better then you'll buy them... Too lazy and no facility for it, so he'll most likely go away.

Option 3) looking them straight in the face and say you would never EVER consider spending a paltry $160 on cables and ask if he has any silver teflon coated cables with chicken fat.​

Seriously, you gotta have some fun with these guys. Since we're in a world of mass market consumerism, there's no way you'll get these stores to change by refusing to shop there - there are simply too many stupid people out there who will fall for this stuff. that's why we still have:

It's a game - might as well have fun with it...

I have always wanted to mess with these "know-it-alls" I usually decide not to at the last second. Maybe if I consider it to be more of a game it would be easier to follow through.

 

[Leprkon]

YUUUMMM! 1 large Uno's sausage pizza. Now to the point...Of course we do research. Yes we know more than 90 per cent of the sales personnel. So! So what! I still don't want to deal with a mindless idiot. I want good customer service. Call and get a friendly voice. Visit and get nice people. Have a problem? No drama. I could care less if the sales person has less product knowledge than I; I expect that. What I do care about is the sales person being honest and fair about the deal we are about to make. A/V sales are made long before we enter the store, so; What's left? People skills!

no fair teasing people who have to drive 180 miles to the nearest Uno's !!!

If cats don't know math, how can they always find the geometric center of a bed ??