Sunday, December 07, 2008
13:08 by FoxTwo Some time back, I needed to get a new air conditioner unit for my place. As usual, what does a geek do? Yeah surf the net and compare prices and do research. After a while, I have a general price point I wanted, and roughly the type of air conditioner too, although no specific brands have been decided.
So off I went, to Harvey Norman, Best Denki, Courts et al, to check prices and see if there were any promotional items or free gifts, since this is after all, Christmas period.
Courts staff need more training. Seriously. Their service was the most appalling among all the electrical retail stores I have visited. I have already done SOME research, I already knew roughly the kind of air conditioner units I wanted. Yet this promoter or sales person kept pushing me to a "special offer" of "only $2999", because the unit has been discounted from $3600. She kept repeating "You save $600!" and "You get what you pay for" when I said $3K was out of my pricepoint. Besides, it was a System 3, and I wanted a System 2. I don't wanna do up a 3rd room just to "save $600"!
It got so irritating that I almost said "Look, I might save $600 on this if I buy, but if I don't buy I save $3600, understand?". I had already told her I was looking for something in the range of $1500 to $2500 max. No higher. In any case, I finally said "Look, thanks for your time, but apparently Courts does not have anything that I would be interested in" and left.
However the story was vastly different in Gain City. When I entered, I asked to look at something about $1.5K. He showed me some models. When I said I wanted an invertor unit, he looked at me apologetically and said "Sorry sir, but the cheapest invertor unit is about $2000. I am afraid we don't have anything you might want.", which impressed me.
As we talked, the Gain City personnel was honest and very helpful. He laid out the pros and cons of various units, as well as some advice on their maintenance and upkeep. He even calculated "contingency costs", for example, when I wasn't sure if my window could accomodate the compressor unit, or whether I had a spare power box for the aircon.
When I asked, just for the hell of it, for a System 3 unit, he did a quick calculation and showed me the result, and said "if you want to stick to your budget, a System 3 is out".
Eventually, through his helpful and honest opinions and advice, I actually went above my budget and got a unit plus installation plus extended warranty et al, for $2994. Plus, it is a "4-tick" unit as opposed to a "3-tick" one I was ready to buy.
Yeah, I could have spent $3K if I wanted to. I just didn't want to at Courts. As a matter of fact, the Gain City personnel didn't even persuade me to go above my budget at all. All he did was dispense honest advice, and calculated costs to show the customer. He let the customer do all the deciding.
Yeah and that is what I purchased.
13:08 by FoxTwo Some time back, I needed to get a new air conditioner unit for my place. As usual, what does a geek do? Yeah surf the net and compare prices and do research. After a while, I have a general price point I wanted, and roughly the type of air conditioner too, although no specific brands have been decided.
So off I went, to Harvey Norman, Best Denki, Courts et al, to check prices and see if there were any promotional items or free gifts, since this is after all, Christmas period.
Courts staff need more training. Seriously. Their service was the most appalling among all the electrical retail stores I have visited. I have already done SOME research, I already knew roughly the kind of air conditioner units I wanted. Yet this promoter or sales person kept pushing me to a "special offer" of "only $2999", because the unit has been discounted from $3600. She kept repeating "You save $600!" and "You get what you pay for" when I said $3K was out of my pricepoint. Besides, it was a System 3, and I wanted a System 2. I don't wanna do up a 3rd room just to "save $600"!
It got so irritating that I almost said "Look, I might save $600 on this if I buy, but if I don't buy I save $3600, understand?". I had already told her I was looking for something in the range of $1500 to $2500 max. No higher. In any case, I finally said "Look, thanks for your time, but apparently Courts does not have anything that I would be interested in" and left.
However the story was vastly different in Gain City. When I entered, I asked to look at something about $1.5K. He showed me some models. When I said I wanted an invertor unit, he looked at me apologetically and said "Sorry sir, but the cheapest invertor unit is about $2000. I am afraid we don't have anything you might want.", which impressed me.
As we talked, the Gain City personnel was honest and very helpful. He laid out the pros and cons of various units, as well as some advice on their maintenance and upkeep. He even calculated "contingency costs", for example, when I wasn't sure if my window could accomodate the compressor unit, or whether I had a spare power box for the aircon.
When I asked, just for the hell of it, for a System 3 unit, he did a quick calculation and showed me the result, and said "if you want to stick to your budget, a System 3 is out".
Eventually, through his helpful and honest opinions and advice, I actually went above my budget and got a unit plus installation plus extended warranty et al, for $2994. Plus, it is a "4-tick" unit as opposed to a "3-tick" one I was ready to buy.
Yeah, I could have spent $3K if I wanted to. I just didn't want to at Courts. As a matter of fact, the Gain City personnel didn't even persuade me to go above my budget at all. All he did was dispense honest advice, and calculated costs to show the customer. He let the customer do all the deciding.
Yeah and that is what I purchased.
Labels: customer service, self, shopping
