[bosque]

Not sure whether to ask about this in GC or the LCD section:

I paid £950 last week for a W5710 LCD from Sony Centre, noticed today that the price had dropped £50.

When I was buying the set I became irritated by their attempt to get me to also pay £70 for a stand (they claimed "the set would fall over" if I didn't buy one), £60 for an HDMI lead and £70 for a DVD recorder because the one that came free with the set had an "inadequate hard drive" for recording purposes) - so I was glad to get out of the store having only paid £950.

But driving past the store today I was surprised to see the price had fallen another £50 and could drop further. Has anyone been succesful in getting Sony Centre to refund the price fall if it happens within such a short time-scale (or should I just bite the bullet and not go anywhere near the store in case the set drops another couple of hundred ?) ?

[RuddyRoad]

It was on offer in my local Sony Centre for £790, free stand and blu-ray player.....no free HDMI lead though











I am of course just teasing you. I would just avoid going near the store for a few months, that way you'll not feel sad.

[_dark_blu]

Originally Posted by RuddyRoad

It was on offer in my local Sony Centre for £790, free stand and blu-ray player.....no free HDMI lead though











I am of course just teasing you. I would just avoid going near the store for a few months, that way you'll not feel sad.

Yup. I paid £1200 for a 40" Samsung back in 2006. The equivalent is now £649. Sure might be worth a quick enquiry, but I'm sure you already know it would be purely a goodwill gesture. Depends if you've got the bottle though he who dares does sometimes win!

[CraigofScotland]

You buy it at the current advertised price.

Otherwise precedent could be set for getting all the money back from the housing decline.

[bosque]

Originally Posted by CraigofScotland

You buy it at the current advertised price.

Otherwise precedent could be set for getting all the money back from the housing decline.

You might well think that, but when I bought an HD-DVD player from Comet for £450, it was advertised a few weeks later at £350 and they refunded the difference. I don't think the comparison with housing prices is sensible - would you ask for compensation from the seller if the handle fell off your bedroom door two months after buying a house ?

(I know I should just suck it up and stop being a tightwad !)

[Chadford]

I don't see any reason why a retailer should refund the difference if they reduce the price of an item subsequently, after all you agreed to pay the original price.

However, there's no harm in asking, if you don't ask you'll never know if the retailer will refund you in some shape or form. They may refund you some or all of the difference, give you something like cables or blank media or perhaps do you a really good deal on another piece of kit you want. Give it a go... 'shy bairns get nowt'.

[Knyght_byte]

Originally Posted by bosque

You might well think that, but when I bought an HD-DVD player from Comet for £450, it was advertised a few weeks later at £350 and they refunded the difference. I don't think the comparison with housing prices is sensible - would you ask for compensation from the seller if the handle fell off your bedroom door two months after buying a house ?

(I know I should just suck it up and stop being a tightwad !)

Your situation is different, you are talking about a device that was about to become obsolete.

You dont just chuck in the towel as a business, you plan on how you chuck the towel. The various industry parties would have known HD-DVD was being wound up before Xmas, yet strangely they didnt drop the prices properly until after Xmas when they made the announcement. What amazing timing

The OP has simply bought a telly thats gone down in price. Its worth going in there and asking for a rebate, but they certainly dont have to give it to you.

[bosque]

Originally Posted by Knyght_byte

Your situation is different, you are talking about a device that was about to become obsolete.

You dont just chuck in the towel as a business, you plan on how you chuck the towel. The various industry parties would have known HD-DVD was being wound up before Xmas, yet strangely they didnt drop the prices properly until after Xmas when they made the announcement. What amazing timing

The OP has simply bought a telly thats gone down in price. Its worth going in there and asking for a rebate, but they certainly dont have to give it to you.

Sorry, when I mentioned the HD-DVD player I should have added that I bought it in December 2006 when it had just been released in the UK. Nobody knew then that Toshiba would pull the plug a year later. (I'm the OP, by the way )

[ROBIN50N]

some shops do if theres a price drop within say, 30 days. ithink car phone warehouse do that. its worth asking.

[mattrixdesign2]

Hi

Its worth asking! Also did you use a credit card, I think my egg card refunds the difference if there is a price reduction (e.g. within 30days).

[nheather]

Agree worth asking.

I don't think the store is under any obligation and this sort of thing is always going to happen. But given the price drop happened within a week of purcahse they may be more understanding.

As a general rule, is always best to stop looking once you have researched and made your purchase - to carry on looking after purchase is going to bring nothing but bad news.

Also I think the Sony Shops franchised - in which case the 'policy' may differ slightly from store to store.

Cheers,

Nigel

[PoochJD]

Hi,

You can ask, but there is no legal obligation for any store to refund, or offer you the difference between what you paid and what an item is now being sold at, be it one minute since you bought it, one day, one week, or one month.

The exception is, unless (as a store) they have made a specific decision to do this, which will be listed on the receipt, I would have thought, in the terms and conditions.

But to be honest, all you can do is ask, but don't get too mad if you find they say no. You could see if you wanted say a specific item that was below £50 in price, and see if they will let you have that instead?


Pooch

[itsalive]

agree its worth a shot mate, christmas eve i bought a 40" sony lcd from comet roll forward 2 days to their boxing day sale and the same set is cheaper by £200
so i went in and found out they have a price promise thing in place so they refunded the difference there and then

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Chadford

I don't see any reason why a retailer should refund the difference if they reduce the price of an item subsequently, after all you agreed to pay the original price.

Technically, you're right.
Ethically and morally though, the time that has passed between price A and price B should come into it.
For example, I would be furious if I bought a TV on Monday for £xxx, then it reduced in price within the next couple of days.
That's because I believe the processes/decisions to reduce the price were already rolling when I paid the higher price.
So they have been dishonest toerags, or disorganised toerags.

If I were to put a time-frame on it, I would say 10-14 days.
Any price decreases within that time-frame should be refunded, IMO.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by bowfer

Ethically and morally though, the time that has passed between price A and price B should come into it.
For example, I would be furious if I bought a TV on Monday for £xxx, then it reduced in price within the next couple of days.
That's because I believe the processes/decisions to reduce the price were already rolling when I paid the higher price.
So they have been dishonest toerags, or disorganised toerags.

If I were to put a time-frame on it, I would say 10-14 days.
Any price decreases within that time-frame should be refunded, IMO.

And if the store puts the prices up would it be ethical for them to contact previous customers and ask them for more money ?

[kopchoir]

I think its worth a shot dont john lewis do the same thing as well i think a week is a bit of a joke consumers are a lot wiser than they used to be, when big stores take the preverbial these days the customer kicks up a fuss and rightly so in some instances.

What about the 28 day thing you have only had the set a week can you not just take it back say the picture is a joke get your money back go for a coffee and go buy the same set for £50 cheaper

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Ian J

And if the store puts the prices up would it be ethical for them to contact previous customers and ask them for more money ?

Only if they're mental.
Let's face it, no one store is going to even consider that, so it's a moot point.

[bosque]

Originally Posted by kopchoir

What about the 28 day thing you have only had the set a week can you not just take it back say the picture is a joke get your money back go for a coffee and go buy the same set for £50 cheaper

I should do that ! On the day I bought it, the manager made a big thing about it being the last day it would be on offer at the sale price.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by bosque

On the day I bought it, the manager made a big thing about it being the last day it would be on offer at the sale price.

So he said it was the last day it would be for sale at that 'sale price', then subsequently dropped it another £50 recently afterwards?
That would leave a bitter taste in anyone's mouth, if I've picked you up correctly.

[nheather]

I should do that ! On the day I bought it, the manager made a big thing about it being the last day it would be on offer at the sale price.

If you had listened carefully you would have heard that this was the last day it would be on offer at that sale price.

Because tomorrow the next day he was going to move it to a different sale price.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by bowfer

Technically, you're right.
Ethically and morally though, the time that has passed between price A and price B should come into it.
For example, I would be furious if I bought a TV on Monday for £xxx, then it reduced in price within the next couple of days.
That's because I believe the processes/decisions to reduce the price were already rolling when I paid the higher price.
So they have been dishonest toerags, or disorganised toerags.

If I were to put a time-frame on it, I would say 10-14 days.
Any price decreases within that time-frame should be refunded, IMO.

I don't understand this.

The time between the higher price and the lower price will be the time it takes to change the sticker on the shelf or update a website. A few minutes, or a few hours at worst.

Whether the decision was taken one second before or a week before doesn't matter, as a customer you choose the buy it at £xx, not the price it may be in 2 weeks time.

As a business if I bought stock at price A and sold at A+20% and then got more stock at price B (B being say 30% less than A), I wouldn't sell stock A at price B or I'd lose a lot of profit.

If prices went up tomorrow on your new TV, you wouldn't go and hand out cash to the shop would you? Even though the decision could have been made a week before you bought your TV.

[bosque]

Originally Posted by Jenn

I don't understand this.

The time between the higher price and the lower price will be the time it takes to change the sticker on the shelf or update a website. A few minutes, or a few hours at worst.

Whether the decision was taken one second before or a week before doesn't matter, as a customer you choose the buy it at £xx, not the price it may be in 2 weeks time.

As a business if I bought stock at price A and sold at A+20% and then got more stock at price B (B being say 30% less than A), I wouldn't sell stock A at price B or I'd lose a lot of profit.

If prices went up tomorrow on your new TV, you wouldn't go and hand out cash to the shop would you? Even though the decision could have been made a week before you bought your TV.

Of course that sounds logical but as has been pointed out in this thread, Comet would very likely refund the difference - if the customer asked. And don't forget, we are not taking about a tuppeney-halfpenny business desperate for every last quid

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by bosque

Of course that sounds logical but as has been pointed out in this thread, Comet would very likely refund the difference - if the customer asked. And don't forget, we are not taking about a tuppeney-halfpenny business desperate for every last quid

But that means Comet sell the new cheaper stock at the higher price for 28 days knowing that only a fraction of the people who effectively got ripped off will come back for the refund

Any business that calls itself a business is desparate for every last quid. In particular the big ones as the guy at the top giving orders doesn't deal with customers and doesn't care if you're upset you paid more for the same TV last week.
Small businesses however tend to give more care as that's often all the difference they can bring (but they can't afford to refund you ).