Two can play that game – haggling for a tech bargain

Guess it depends how much the shoes were in the first place, and thus what percentage £10 or £15 is. Also it can depend on whether it’s a chain store or independent. It can be quite different depending on what you are buying. Some items, such as jewelry, can have a markup of 100% (ie it was bought in at half the price you see in the window), so you have some room for negotiation.

I guess Wedding and Engagement Rings are an area where the price should be halved and then add 20% as a starting point. You can always walk away, and given the economic situation, if there are massive profits being made, some of those staff will see declining sales and job cuts looming…

I recently bought a new dishwasher from John Lewis. The salesman totted up the price including disposal of the old machine and delivery to give a total of £410. When I pointed out that their website offered this for £349, they went into a huddle and waved bits of paper around and finally (one hour later!) agreed that they would supply at the lower price. As I am retired, the time taken was not important to me but I reckon that £60 saving is worth the time spent.

Dos that count as haggling?

I tried haggling in Sheffield’s branch of John Lewis with no joy.
I wanted to purchase 2 off Samsung smart TV’s, total value over £2.4k at the time.
I even spoke to the floor manager, with no success.
They lost my trade for the sake of 1 or 2% discount, or an extended warranty.
Walking out of the store is the best method of telling them the customer is always right.

Around 18 years ago, when DSG included Currys, The Link, Dixons, and PC World and they all acted as if they were separate businesses (whereas you now see ads showing Currys + PC World as one store, and Dixons is online), I wanted to buy a couple of PCs, which at the time were priced around £400. I asked a few contacts if they were interested, on the basis I’d see if I could get a reduction for buying several and had an eventual total of 5 (£2000).

I’d have thought that they could have offered a 10% discount, but no, PC World would only offer 2.5%, and Currys (remember, part of the same group) offered a discount of 5%. It was “better than nothing” and I doubt a small business in the town would have been willing to offer similar systems at anything close to £400 let alone give a better discount, but it did go some way in showing that the markup on technology might be lower than we think.

Not saying they are always the cheapest or everything is superb (sure there will have been some customers unhappy with them at some point) but check the Richer Sounds pricing, as they do some low cost extended warranties.

BBC R4 You and Yours had a piece years ago about how Currys/ Dixons had targets on how much insurance was to be sold, and it was something like 25% of turnover. Sales staff were disciplined if they didn’t reach their targets. I hope that has all gone away (because I would prefer staff to concentrate on knowing what equipment can and cannot ‘do’ for me, than be flogging warranties), and I look carefully at the options and compare as much as possible.

I feel sorry for staff is there is management pressure – in 1990 I remember having to sign a document when I was after a repayment mortgage and NOT an endowment policy – there was pressure at the Alliance and Leicester back then, too !

Quick follow-up to my previous comment, mentioning Richer Sounds – today had e-mail with their latest deals… 40″ Toshiba smart TV – 399.00 with optional 5 year guarantee at 39.90 – and a bigger, (46″) Samsung smart TV at 599.95 has 5 year guarantee included. (prices valid 23-29 January, in store only, and must mention the e-mail to VIP club members).

Be careful with Richer Sounds warranties. I purchased youview box with a 5 year warranty. Box developed a fault after 2 years. Took the box back and was told they would send it away for repair and it would take 2 weeks. After 2 weeks still not repaired told it can take up to a month. After many phone calls found out boxes not sent away, repaired in store and nobody had touched it. Finally agreed it was not repairable. Gave me a replacement bix that did not work on youview. Had to go back to store again. Told me despite advertising like for like they did not have the same box and offered an inferior box. After showing my displeasure I got a full refund. Never again

Well, to get a full refund after two years’ use is not a bad out-turn, Col. You are now free to buy a new model to your specification – it could even be cheaper than the original

What Col describes is very similar to the fun I had with Currys over a mobile phone, albeit years ago. I discovered that they had never sent my phone away for repair despite claims by two members of staff. I went back when another store manager was on duty and was given a replacement. Sometimes we may forget that retailers have rights, for example by expecting a replacement whenever a product fails during the guarantee or warranty period, but there is no excuse to keep customers waiting if a repair has been offered as a remedy.

I forgot to mention the significant advantage of this. Shop staff are often willing to give a greater discount on the headline price of the goods if you buy an extended warranty, because they make significant profit on the latter. Therefore you can take out the extended warranty in order to get a greater discount on the goods, and then cancel the extended warranty after purchase (within 45 days).

Surely, in the long run, that will encourage more exclusions, small print, or even higher charges, because insurers will alter their policy if the majority of people do this.

I don’t think I’d take this approach, personally, as I don’t go out with the intention of misleading someone. I’d prefer to reject the unwanted warranty, and see whether I’d be “comfortable” with the price (perhaps with a lesser discount, if at all), than say one thing but, later, do another.

I agree Peter. I’m very disappointed by this suggestion by NFH, who normally posts very helpful and sensible comments.

Up to a point – there are some places where there’s no chance of haggling. Like you, I tend to look at a price and decide. However, if I can pay cash, then given the shop would normally have to pay a handling fee of a few % for credit cards (and even PayPal take something like 3%) there’s a “margin” which would never go into the shop’s profits anyway, so it doesn’t all force price increases. Any pricing has to include some portion for “overheads”, so it depends on the business and whether they are willing to haggle – and you never know if you never ask!

See a few have voted this comment down, but don’t seem to be willing to explain why….

Possibly the wrong product line – Apple is notorious for wanting to earn a lot and there have been estimates of a 100% markup on the component prices for their products. They originally did an “exclusive” with O2 when they launched the iPhone so no other network had them initially, and I bet they hold on to every last penny they can, because the iPhone is a “must have” product for lots of people.

I am happy with Android, and while I have several Apple products (iMacs and eMac and an older Apple Mac ‘swollen 14″ TV’ model) I would never consider them good value for money at the high prices when bought brand new. I have used a £10 MP3 player which has image display and FM radio for a few years, while some may have spent several times that on an iPod…

My bank (The Co-op) only allows non-prerequested withdrawals of up to £2,000. A very young, so probably very junior, teller told me it was because they didn’t actually keep very much cash on the premises… 😀