When I was 16 (18 years ago) I got kicked out of the "Virtual Reality" store in Cardiff and when I, quite upset, asked the store manager why as he was escorting me out in full view of everyone, he said, "for mesing around in the store last week". The problem with this explanation though is that I had only landed back in the UK two days previous after having been in Florida (Walt Disney World) for a fortnight with my Grandfather. Obviously I told my parents what had happened and my Dad went down with me in tow and had a debate with the store manager. My Dad won (boarding pass slips are qutie handy) and got me a nice free computer game for my Amiga as a gesture of goodwill. Needless to say I never did go back into the store to buy any games thereafter.
As someone who works in currys, which is the same kind of store i can tell you a lot of the stories you've mentioned here concern me, at my store (and company policy) we never sell something a customer doesn't need, we find a solution that is correct for them. Also we do not work for commision they stopped that in around 2006. And yes we do sell other packages with computers like AV and Office because most people need it and yes a fully fledged AV is much more secure than the free version of AVG etc. Also this is due to having to compete with internet retailers as the base latops themselves make single digit profit margins (often as low as 4%) The service plans on products may not appeal to you, you may not need the extra level of support, but i can tell you from experience there is a hell of a lot of people that do need it, use it and are very glad when they do have it and drop the bloody thing. Finally about asking things such as how much cache a certain laptop has, especially in currys, it's physically impossible to know the specs on everything in store, because not only do i need to know the specs for all the pc's, i need to know the specs on all the washers, washerdryers, tv's, surroud sounds, fridges, freezers, gas hobs, electric hobs, ovens, gas ovens, blenders, hoovers, irons etc. so don't look at them like they're stupid, because 99.9% of customers will have no need to know those kinda specs, infact 90% of people have no idea what duel core means. And finally, we're underpaid and have to meet very high targets, deal with rude and often aggressive customers, then to have people like you look down on us, a lot of staff are going to uni, have cracking a-levels and have more social skills and patience than most of the general public combined. So please don't make our jobs harder by re-arranging things or jailbreaking ipads, OR telling a customer they don't need a warrenty when you don't know their needs, we may of well spent half an hour finding out the needs of the customer. Hope this didn't come across as too much of a rant, but i felt the thread was a little one sided.
Seems I'm also one of those 90%. What will it duel against? Other cores? Phenom sounds badass, so that will probably fare well against the faceless Intel hordes, better get me one of those... On a more serious note, I'm sure not all of you people are inherently evil
That number reminds me of idiots who typically want a 20-30€ discount on a 150€ item - and they don't believe you that most shops work with single digit margin. For example i ordered 16GB RAM and a NZXT cable, for cca 120€ - they guy from the shop (he is a friend) told me that he had 2,9€ profit on that order... What i laughed last time i were in brick & mortar shop was when i was buying a new bag for my vacuum cleaner (<10€ item), but since i was already in talk with him, i asked for the iPods Touch i could not find (needed one for development). The other guy responsible for the MP3 players was so angry at the other guy for getting in his territory, i was expecting a fight . Luckily it didn't end up with one. I have yet to be kicked out of brick & mortar shop, usually because i just run through them (buy what i need, leave, have fun with the new item at home), and friends get my advice before .
GingerFox, I don't mind it if you sell items like av software, which I think is fine, unless they say they already have one . Its just when some staff are told to overhype items. That irritates me.
To run Solidworks. One of my colleagues just bought an 8GB RAM laptop so he could work overtime from home.
Sorry to be the pessimist, but how many people who go to one of those massive shops would even know what a VM is?
I was asked to leave my local pc world after openly laughing in the tech guys face over a price for some repairs for a laptop....and yes, i know that laughing in his face wasn't the most professional thing i could have done but this is what happened..... A mate of mine had dropped his laptop killing the screen and cooling fan and asked me how much i wanted to fix it, I told him i'll have a look for replacement parts and charge him £30 to fix it if he paid for the parts. So, 4 days later he had a working laptop for a total outlay of £100, £30 to me, £20 for the fan and £50 for a replacement screen (these were exact direct replacement parts from the manufacturer). I then went to pc world with my mate so he could see how much he had saved and the tech guy told us it would cost around £300 and take around 2-3 weeks........now, it cost £70 for the new screen and new fan, took me around half an hour to fit both and re-assemble the laptop,and another 10 minutes to boot into windows to check the screen had no dead pixels. How can large stores like pc world charge so much????
I agree with gingerfox. your not going to find someone with a techies level of knowledge to work in pc world for any extended period of time with having to take the **** they do and earning £5.80 an hour. I can also appreciate physical stores have massive overheads and very low profit margins. I am very lucky where I live to have my standard technicians job in a school, even though its a pain in the arse keeping it. Makes you think pcworld, currys etc need to change their business plan I'm not sure the one they have is profitable any more
I understand the not liking PC World, how many people here have an issue with the mac stores? Any stories about those?
GingerFox, I was in Currys when I was looking for my last TV, and the sales assistant spent the whole time trying to convince me to spend £40 on a HDMI cable - in the end I bought neither the TV or the cable, because he was so insistent and annoying. Although, in the spirit of balance, I had exactly the same experience in Comet; and they didn't get the sale either. I bought from a small independent shop who threw in a cable with the sale. I don't expect you to know every last detail of every product in the store but, when the question is asked, you have a choice. You can either be honest with the customer and go check the details for them (which most would appreciate), or you can try and bullsh!t them. The latter choice just reeks of the disdain some sales staff have for potential customers, so they shouldn't be surprised by the backlash when they are caught in a lie. I have no problem whatsoever with the fact that you work for Currys, or if you worked for PCW - as it's very likely I have never dealt with you. I do have a problem with the seemingly large percentage of staff, at both stores, who are willing to lie to customers who ask them for advice; or try to brass neck it and bullsh!t those who don't. In closing, if you aren't guilty of that type of behaviour, then "this song ain't about you", so you don't need to be so defensive.
I work in retail too, for a high end fashion designer. It's not something I intend to make a career of, but it gets me by for now and whilst I can relate to and sympathise about dealing with rude and aggressive customers on occasion, I completely disagree with you otherwise. Most addons that sales assistants sell to customers are overpriced and unnecessary. It is simply sold for financial gain (which is kind of the point of running a business in the first place) Concerning your views on product knowledge, it is an essential of being a good sales rep. All very good having people skills/silver tongue etc but if you do not know your product, your just ripping people off. All that will be accomplished once they are informed by someone else that they have been served by a member of staff who simply had the gift of the gab is the impression that the staff are stupid, badly trained and are just out to make a quick buck (most consumers automatically presume that they are on commission). It causes damage that stores (or even the companies) reputation, if this was not the case, this thread would not exist in the first place. Also one would have thought that in a "technology superstore" there would be staff that are specialist for different departments and could thusly can say "Oh your interesting in buying X and want a bit more information? I have a little knowledge about it but as I'm not an expert, I'm going to get you Y, who is". It shows that you care and your trying to give them the best possible customer service. If your not on commission, who cares who gets the sale in the end.
Selling for a profit is not an issue, but blatent lying is. My experiences of PC World, is that many of the staff, whether instructed or otherwise, were telling blatant lies to customers, selling them items that were not suitable for their needs (the 5450 incident) or charging £30 odd quid to insert two sticks of RAM. A company doing things like that deserve to be exposed, and if they are exerting that much pressure on you poor shop floor staff to work like that they deserve to go skint.
Found them very, very good and very, very restrictive (though usually for fairly understandable reasons). With a vastly smaller product range, the people working there usually know their s*** pretty well and the technical service is second to none, even if it is usually a bit pricey. It takes almost no time to get something fixed, there's not much bulls*** for them to try and sell you - even AppleCare, their extended warranty, is a good deal - and the staff are evenly divided between sales and technical support. The technicians really do know their s*** when it comes to the stuff they're selling. Typically Apple, the only problems arise when you don't want to do something by-the-book - I went in a year ago and asked to borrow a set of screwdrivers for thirty seconds (I was trying to ascertain what components remained inside a non-functioning MBP I'd been tasked with selling) and they were unwilling to do so for insurance reasons. Fortunately the opticians next door were more helpful.
