Having been unable to get John Lewis (sheffield) to price match me a Sony KV28cs70 against Premier AV (total digital) last week, I tried to get them to pricematch me a JVC AV28X4 against crampton & moore. JL price £529, c&m price £395. I was told by JL that they don't price match with c&m as they don't have fixed advertised prices & that c&m encourage bidding for their products (whatever that means). I had a 25min conversaton with the guy in undersales, it seems the JL policy of never knowingly undersold is a load of cods wallop. They should get an oscar for the amount of excuses that they come up with. It seems like unless its someone like Comet or Currys they won't pricematch any independent retailers. In the end the guy was trying to take the price of an extended warranty into account for the pricematch (so much for a free 5 year warranty) If I can't get them to pricematch me a tv I might have to get a JVC HV28p37 from Allders, as I need a tv with 3 scarts. Don't know what the level of service is like from Allders though, I suppose it can't be as bad as flippin' JL though. Sorry for the long email but i feel a bit miffed with JL

[Tight Git]

Ace420,

Sorry you're so unhappy with John Lewis.

As you'll know from the other JL threads, most Forum members recommend them strongly.

But I can't stress enough that it all depends on which member of JL staff you negotiate with.

TG had three attempts before getting the bargain of a lifetime.

As Norman Stanley Fletcher said: "Don't let the bustards grind you down!"

Is it worth trying with the same branch again and again Tight Git or trying a different branch? I live in west yorkshire, both the cheadle branch & the sheffield branch are about the same distance away from me. Which retailers will JL actually pricematch to? Anyway I've been given an oppurtunity to talk to the undersales manager tommorow if I wish to take it further as he was not in today, doubt it'll do any good though, I still reckon it's a shift in JL's policy of never knowingly undersold

[Tight Git]

Ace420,

Well, if there's been a change of policy, then you're the first to report it!

My three attempts were with the same branch, although I did speak to a different person each time!

Another branch sounds a good idea, if it's the same distance.

As was outlined in another thread, definately go for the Undersales Dept rather than a sales asst.

Remember, they only Pricematch with a retailer who has a "bricks & mortar" shop, but they won't tell you which is cheapest; it's up to you to do the research.

I know it's a lot of hassle (perhaps deliberately ), but you WILL get a Pricematch in the end, if you can keep going!

Good luck.

[lynx]

Originally Posted by ace420

Anyway I've been given an oppurtunity to talk to the undersales manager tommorow if I wish to take it further as he was not in today

Rather than 'taking it further' i''d be inclined to be persistant and try again both at the same branch and other branches. I'm sure you've read other posts on this very subject, some people are lucky while others need to work a bit harder to secure a deal, or there may be a shift in policy.

Tight Git & Lynx, thanx for all the advice, i'll give it a few more tries, hope it all pays off (anyway i love a good argument)
JL staff, be afraid be very afraid

To mirror your comments I think there has been a change in their pricematch policy. A couple of months ago I got JL to pricematch a Tosh DVDR with RGB Direct no problem. A month later they would not match a TV even with a 'bricks & mortar' store unless you could walk into the shop & see the item with a ticket price. When i queried why that wasnt the case with the Tosh DVDR the undersales lady stated that all undersales branches should have had a memo in the last month that they would not match the following suppliers that i'd asked about - RGB Direct, PRC Direct, Sound & Vision Online, Digital Point & UK Digital. May well have been a put-off but she seemed pretty certain of herself & after much conversation even offered the name of a couple of suppliers to try, one was Hifi-Confidential (who do sell cheaper than JL), cant remember the other 1. I've not pursued it any furtehr as i changed mind about TV i wanted (again) From what she said they wont match these anymore as they used to rely on phoning up the other stores pretending to be customers & weren't prepared to take the word of the store anymore, & as they couldnt keep sending people into the stores to see if they had ticket prices, & if they did they knew they change all the time, they no longer would match them.

jpriches

you are probably right with what you are saying about JL's new? pricematch policy. Haveing a bricks and mortar shop is not good enough anymore. they want things like written corfirmation of prices etc. Apparently when they check prices by phone or in person they need to identify who they are, i.e JL staff. The guy I spoke to said they have to carry out covert operations? James Bond,, eat your heart out,, the JL staff are in town

That was the key with what I was told, the item must now have a ticket price on display that you could walk in & buy it for without any pre-negotiating on phone etc, ie as you would buy an item from Comet, Dixons etc...to be fair you cant really blame them. Still I could be wrong, but from what i was told i dont think its as easy as getting JL to phone these bricks & mortar stores for the price.

[lmccauley]

It's been like that for some time - requiring a ticket price. And yes, they do go on "secret squirrel" (as my then girlfriend called them) missions all the time.

Cheers,
Liam

It could be then that the story i was given may've been a put off, not sure, & it is a case of who you get to speak to. When thay matched my DVDR price (about a month before i unsuccessfully tried with a TV) with RGB Direct I told them what price RGB said they sold in store (£10 more than on-line price) & all JL said they did was phone to get the price confirmed, heard back the same day. Then again they may've changed their policy....who knows!?

[Tight Git]

It all seems to come back to who you happen to talk to at JL.

Forum members are getting completely contradictory answers from different stores (and even different people within a store).

Motto is to keep asking the question until someone gets it right!

If it helps anyone the store i used for my successful DVDR pricematch was Cribbs Causeway, Bristol (as they were only local store with it in stock, ready to collect). Just read another thread on this subject & the same store was recently used successfully to pricematch Sound & Vision Online.