Fun at PC World!

[rossnewark]

So it looks like I'm going to buy a well looked after DV10 off one of the forum members - so the garden projector should be sorted.

But I thought as I'm working in Crawley I would pop into PC World as I remember they had a few Optoma's in there so I could familarise myself with the controls, check that it had all the ports i would need etc.

Well on their stand they have a few dummy PJ's, however the DV10 was plugged in (power and AV leads) and had a blue power light on. I asked the shop assistant if I could have a demo and he explained that it was dummy. I pointed out that it was powered up and had leads plugged in but he assured me that it was a dummy with half the workings to make it look like it was powered on. (weird - who would go to that much trouble)

I enquired about the price as there was no price label on the stand. He looked at the PC-World website and told me that it would be £449 with a free screen. I asked him to check the stock levels and they only had one in stock - you guessed it...

The only one in stock was the dummy DV10 on the shelf !!! - I told him that I could find cheaper elsewhere and with full internal workings - he tried offering me 10% off the dummy display PJ - I laughed and walked out!!!

[Simba]

love it

these places are full of dummies. I remember in my prime days of purposefuly going in to test the dummies at PC World and similar stores.

One time, I went into dixons, and after shaming a member of staff, a potential customer looking at hi-fi's asked me some details on what I recommended them to buy from what was on offer. After giving my advice the manager came along and threatened to escort me off the premises He was probably the biggest dummy

[rossnewark]

Yeah I have been known to 'test' the staff - but these days I just accept that they have little or no knowledge (probably due to lack of training) - but this guy today really did excel!

[klacey]

I live in crawley and know the pc world you talk of, not the brightest bunch.

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by rossnewark

he tried offering me 10% off the dummy display PJ - I laughed and walked out!!!

You should have asked if they throw in a dummy bulb to go with it

[crimsoneagle]

I worked for DSG for 9 years (honestly I wasnt one of the thick ones) and the lack of knowledge was amazing!! at all levels.

Im amazed they are still around, mind you when I left the buzz words were "buring platform" LMAO!!!

Ill never spend a penny of my money with that company they reward stupidity..

[rossnewark]

Thought i would share my amusing experience with you guys.

I rarely buy stuff at PC World these days unless I'm really stuck(usually run out of ink or paper in the printer and need to print invoice) & the prices are usually far to high - prob explains why DSG in the news today and the fact that they are down on their profits.

if you go to Richer Sounds in Brighton the staff scare me with their knowledge, but they actually take the products home and use them, so by the time you ask them a question they have experienced the product/problem for real.

[klacey]

We used to have a sevenoaks in the town center here in crawley, but without warning closed down. I was a regular there and the staff were awesome. Shame they closed i got like 10% off being a decent customer. I heard they wanted to move closer in to were the main shops are but that was like 4 months ago. A real shame.

[tausifs]

They closed one down in Birmingham too. Perhaps they keep pricing themselves out of the market.

[gromit4x4]

I had a similar experience with Comet, I wanted a dual format DVD player, a sales person in there explained that blu ray was dead and I should buy a HD-DVD player, I asked why Tesco and Blockbuster only stocked blu ray and he laughed "that will all change" he said.

"If you are that worried you should buy a HD-DVD because they will play blu ray discs too" he said, I asked how and he pointed at the price label that had the details of the HD-DVD player on and said "cos it will do 1080i, blu ray discs are 1080i".

I laughed and said "yeah OK mate I'll think it over". That was about a week before the fatal press announcment about HD-DVD.

If I wasn't the inquisitive type and scrutinise the tech specs keep an eye on the media looking at the CES 2008 reports and watching Warner bros go over to blu ray etc I would have undoubtedly been ripped off !

Shame on that individual and shame on Comet.

[ShortySco]

Originally Posted by gromit4x4

"If you are that worried you should buy a HD-DVD because they will play blu ray discs too" he said, I asked how and he pointed at the price label that had the details of the HD-DVD player on and said "cos it will do 1080i, blu ray discs are 1080i".

That's pretty shocking, really badly informed or intentionally misleading?

I don't mind buying from these places if the price is low enough, but when they start making it up as they go.....

Shorty

[nwgarratt]

I tried to buy a HD DVD player at Comet at the weekend. They only had one left which was display model. I decided no as it looked like I would not get the free discs. The whole time, the guy was trying to get me to buy a PS3. He didn't understand that the only films I wanted on HD are already out on HD DVD and I could get at the cost of £60 for the player and £5 per disc. The PS3 was over £300 and they were selling discs at £25 !! I just kept thinking he just wants me to buy that so he gets more commission on the sale. Now HD DVD is so cheap despite being a dead format, I will wait until Blu Ray is that cheap as well or close to it.

I then went into PC World and saw the dummy projectors and over heard the same thing. A sales person said a pj was the last one despite the words dummy on it. It was a optoma and not one I recognised. It was a something 200 model ??

[rossnewark]

Well its good to hear that other members have had (and still having!) similar experiences - maybe we should start a sticky of bad experiences and lname and shame the shops/retail outlets so other potential customers don't get ripped off!!!!

I think that shops are still nieve to the fact the were doing our research on the products that we hope to buy (in forums like this one), and therefore we go in fully armed with knowledge.

[Mrcon]

I had a similar sort of experience, in a rush and thought id ask the tec guy in the asda about a freeview box, "Just a quick question mate" do these come with everything needed to get me going, he said no you need to buy a scart lead, thought hmmm sounds weird so had a good read of the box and what do I find, Everything needed to get you going in the box, maybe part my fault for not reading the box before asking but surely they are more clued up on their stock, that they put out on a day to day basic.