Integrety dilema ( my tv staff discount)

Just writing in because I'm in a but of a dilema. Lastnight I went into pc world. I'd just sold my projector and was looking to buy a tv with the money I'd got from the sale. I only went in initally to look.
The guy serving explained that he was buying a tv from currys for his mum and that if I came with him I'd get a 10% off with his staff discount. So I reserved the tv online which saved me 150 quid first and then his discount would save me a further 50 quid. I asked if this was totally legit and the reassured me that it was, but if anyone asked he'd say that I was his brother in law. I sort of ignored that and reminded myself that it was all above board. Then at currys I asked him again was he sure this was totally legal to do and I told him I had a very convicting conscience at times. He said it was totally ok to do. I took his word. During the sale the seller asked for the guys 10% off code (or whatever you call it) and then asked if we were related. The guy said I was his brother in law. I couldn't say anything at the time but after buying the tv I felt that it could not possibly be legal if he'd had to lie to get it. I havent opened the tv, and am thinking of going back to currys and getting a refund.

Any of you guys know if it was ok for this guy to do this, or should I leave the tv back. I have to do the right thing. I couldnt have a tv bought with a lie told to get it as that would always bother me. Maybe it wouldnt bother allot of people and maybe I sound ridiculous, but for me it's a big issue, so your advice would be much appreciated please!

Gareth

 

Seems to me the very fact your asking whether you should take it back, means you've already on some level decided that your not happy with how you obtained the tv. I think you'll probably do the right thing by your conscience and take it back.

 

If i had your conscience i would bring it back. Not having your conscience means i could save 10%.

He could have just as well bought the TV himself and then sold it to you. Would you have a problem with that scenario?

 

You're right. Thats probably what I will do, but if I found out that I did not have to be related to the guy then I would be happy enough, I think. Still I guess by taking it back and for the sake of 50 pounds I buy my conscience back, if you will.

 

Wouldn't have a problem at all with that because he would own the tv, so he's got every right to resell it, but as that didn't happen I'm only left with the senario I'm in that the moment.
What I'd really like to know is if Currys are actually legally allowed to do what he did. I'm guessing they are not though.

 

In the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't consider what you've described to be a heinous crime when stacked against other things happening daily in this world.

You've merely been party to slightly reducing the profit margin of a single TV to a rather large company.

At this time of year, and with consumer spending at a bit of a lull they're probably more than happy with the sale.

I wouldn't beat myself up over it - if you're that bothered then give the price difference to charity perhaps?

 

Most discounts work in a manner that you are allowed to use them on direct family and that is it. If in reality the guy who bought the tv was your friend and he offered to buy it on his discount and that you would pay him back straight away would you still do it?
I'm one of these ppl who will buy friends and family things on my discount but not thousands of pounds worth!!!! I use the system but dont abuse the system.

 

I rather doubt this issue is one of legality, but rather store policy. I'd say if your conscience is bothering you that much, either return it or pay the difference in a contribution to charity so that your mind is at ease for the holidays.

 

Your conscience is admirable, and generally I would endorse you listening to it. However don't feel too guilty about this one. There is a reason why staff at Curry's get a 10% discount and I'm sure that the company has factored in favours for a sudden explosion of extended family and "in laws".

Your mistake is to think of a sale price as a fixed thing. It is not. The price is really set at what experience tells the shop customers will be prepared to pay (market forces, basically). It knows that different customers will be prepared to pay different prices; some are happy to pay full whack to get a TV now, but some have to be more careful with their money (or are just more stingy) and will shop around or wait for the price to come down. Hence shops have regular sales: it is a way of targeting both customer groups: those that will pay a premium for having the TV now, and those that will wait for a bargain, since a TV sold at a discount is still a lot better than not selling it at all. The mark-up on that TV is nearly 100%, so the shop has considerable room for maneuver in this (the reason for seasonal sale discounts is of course that you cannot run discount prices in parallel to the full prices; the premium buyers would end by buying at the sale price as well). So don't think of sales as a mark-down; think of regular prices as a premium.

Back to your situation, which is quite similar. The problem for the shop is again how to target both the premium buyers and the discount buyers, while keeping the prices separated. But instead of using time as a separator (in the case of seasonal sales) they now use exclusive group membership at a separator. Disney World for instance gives a 50% discount to local residents, because they know that they are more canny shoppers, always being able to come back another day, while tourists who came from afar specifically to visit the Park are a more captive audience. Curry's gives a 10% discount to staff because they know that staff know all about the 100% mark-up on the wholesale price and about the seasonal sale prices. They are much more price-conscious customers. Also, it creates a bit of cheap employee loyalty; it is a lot cheaper to throw a cheap TV or washing machine their way (remember, Curry's pay half the price that we do) than to pay them better wages than the competition.

Now Curry's are not stupid and they know their consumer groups as well as their employees. They know that staff will extend their discount to friends well outside the official conditions of eligibility. But you know what? They don't care. They much rather sell a TV to you at an additional 10% discount than that you go to Richer Sounds instead. A sale is a sale. And they made a healthy profit on you that they otherwise might not have made. So soothe your conscience and enjoy your TV.

 

think of it his way if you do take it back the amount of paperwork your going to cause the manager and the hassle that would be caused via disciplinary procedures against the staff members involved etc would cost a lot more than 50.00 so your better off keeping and realising what a good deed your doing saving them all that time and extra work involved in returning it

 

I've got the list of rules for the Dixons group discount policy somewhere, but to be honest I wouldn't be too bothered about it. I'm surprised the guy was helpful enough to do that to be honest, but at the end of the day that TV could easily have had 10% knocked off it a week later or before anyway. I never really used my discount outside my family but lots of people did- at the end of the day, Currys are making a profit from you- and they'd much rather you did that than go online/to Comet and get it. If you still feel guilty about not paying the full price, give the £50 to charity.

<A88>

 

To be honest I wouldn't worry too much about it either, the only reason they say to only give discount to family is so that every random mate of the sales person that comes in gets discounted which would hurt the weekly targets. Part of the reasons for giving discount to staff is to make it more attractive to work/buy from there (they pay your wages and then you give them straight back by buying something shiney.. clever huh!) and to make it less attractive to do dodgy things like thieving from the store.

Think of it slightly differently, in bars where there's a discount for students/members/etc, male bartender and a cute girl comes to the bar and buys a drink... she doesn't have a [whatever] card but do you really think she's gonna be paying full price?

 

Use the £50 you saved and buy lots of christmas food for the homeless. Your taking money from big corporations (who give out discounts anyway and probly wont miss £50) and giving it to the needy at a time when it would be nice to have

Personally, id be like "sweet, £50 saving woo!"

edit: maybe your conscience on this matter wouldn't be having such a hard time if you saw some of currys markups

 

could you not solve the problem by marrying the guys sister?

 

Companies hate losing money, which is why it's certain Curry's did the math and factored in this happening to come to the 10% figure.

 

As I said, shops are not in the business of selling as many products to as many customers as possible at price X; they are in the business of selling as many products to as many customers as possible, at the highest price they are prepared to pay for them.

This is an important distinction. It means that shops will try to target a wide range of customers by selling the same product at a wide range of different prices (within a reasonable profit margin), because selling a product cheaper is still better than not selling it at all.

Of course the problem in this is that they cannot advertise a product at several different prices concurrently, because then even the customers who would in principle be prepared to pay more would pay the lowest price. And shops want you to pay the highest possible price. So what shops do is separate the prices so that they can target the different customer groups separately. Seasonal sales are one way of doing it; exclusive memberships another, and on the internet they simply "cookie" your computer (try and look up the price of the same product on Amazon, both logged in as yourself, and anonymously with your cookies cleared. Don't be surprised if you suddenly see it offered to you at a different price. Ain't customer profiling wonderful?).

This means that if Curry's can sell a TV to you at 10% less, that is still preferable than not selling it to you at all. They don't care about how you got the discount --it is already factored in and they still make a tidy profit. Doesn't matter how you got membership to the exclusive club, so to speak. They really don't care. A sale = profit.

 

<A88>

 

Thanks verry much for all the input guys. I've been readin your posts all day.
At the end of the day I am not conerned about Currys in any shape or from. I wasn't even expecting currys to give me even a reasonable price.
I really hate lying to get anything in life. I have got more electronic items sitting in my bedroom than most people will own in a lifetime!lol I'd had more good deals than the majority of the population and I almost never pay the full retail price (apart from a tecso dvd player at 15 quid) I've never consciously tried to lie to get a good deal on anything and I think I'd be loosing out in regards the few principles I try and hold myself to. Not just for me, but for my faith also. But I think I'll be happy to give the tv back, and I bet come January I'll have sold enough of my home theatre system to buy the tv. I guess I just won't have it for Christmas, but the I could but towards a car that I'm trying to save for. I've been buying WAAAYYYY to much junk lately and I've never really saved for anything I needed, so I guess I can learn lots from this expereince & personally I feel allot better now, even though this whole situation appears trivial indeed, but hey, thats just the way I am. Thanks though guys I really appreciate the help.

I'm off to Currys to get a refund. If something rather interesting happens when I'm there I'll post it here! (i.e someone I never met buys me the tv!) Beleive me, I've had stranger things happen!

 

Funny if Curry's wouldn't refund it if they have exceptions to the guarentee. If it has a built in freeview you could well have that issue. I didn't mean funny in a haha at you but more at curry's.

 

No, you can return it for whatever reason (so long as it's boxed up etc) within 30days if you don't want it. Anything beyond that has to be a technical issue, in which case there's guidelines for each product, and if it's over a year since purchase then it's beyond their responsibility.

<A88>