Major store sales advice!

james_19742000

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Went for a wonder round my local Comet earlier today to waste a bit of time, whilst looking around I heard a salesman saying to a poor couple looking at Plasmas, saying 'dont buy any Plasma that states it does 720, you should only buy one that does 1080, as 720 is not High Definition, it is no different to what you see on your TV screens now'!! Excellent advice from a quality store..................:thumbsdow

Was tempting to go over and say something, but hey what do we know we are just daft members of the public, the chap from Comet is an 'expert' isnt he!!!!!

Just thought I would share this with you!

James
 
Mr Comet was not entirely wrong, though.

The couple should buy a set which supports 1080p for future high-definition compatibility. And there are no 1080p sources available yet, whereas you can see 720 sources on your tv screens right now.

Maybe he knows more than you think and was keeping the technicalities and remit of "high definition" to a simple, practical level - ie future-proofing for the customer, which is what most customers want.

Still, I'm glad it made you feel bigger and better! I often wonder, and wander, around Comet for the sheer fun of it, too.
 
Most stores will have one or two that know what they are doing its just a lottery as to who you get. They normally only have a couple of staff that have been there long enough to really know what they are talking about. In the superstores it pays more to be a good sales person, not a fountain of knowledge. Not saying that its right but its true.
 
Maybe he was trying to get them to buy something like the pioneer 5000ex (1080p) for £6000 instead of a £1000 to £2000 720p display.
 
Or even worse-he was trying to get them to buy LCD:mad:
 
stainway said:
Or even worse-he was trying to get them to buy LCD:mad:

:eek:
Surely no comet salesmen could scoop that low...
 
Well I don't think they sell pioneer 5000ex either, so I am really curious what the salesmen would advise and offer them.:confused:
 
God only knows, Comet have no 1080P sets yet as far as i know. Maybe 46" X series Sony in some stores.
 
Hello all

Every TV store in the UK would have to close down tomorrow if they advised folk to only purchase a TV that was 1080p compatible - and is that all variants of 1080p or just certain ones that may be available some time soon!

I doubt very much if the guy in the store was talking specifically about 1080p and was simply stating the bleeding obvious that 1080 is a bigger number than 720 so must be better - and I don't suppose he got 720x576 or 720x480 mixed up with 1280x720!!!

I was asked to do a mystery shop by one of the manufactures last year in a local 'out of town' store - I was recommend product X because... it had its price tag attached so the sales assistant knew how much it cost!!!

Best regards

Joe
 
But I am still very curious-If I am told not to buy plasma with 720p,but only to look for 1080p and if I say "ok will buy the one you advise me”, what will happen then?:confused:
I am sure the chap from Comet will get into trouble:rotfl:

Anyway my guess is that he was trying to sell HITACHI 42PD9700;)
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/455_322369.html
 
I went into Comet and Currys this weekend.

Wasn't paying much attention to salesmen.
Comet had every HD display connected to an HD feed (I checked round the back, all using HDMI leads) amd they had a large Sony Bravia LCD connected to Sky HD, the remote was sitting out and I had a play, trying out all the HD channels. This was great cos it showed off the screens' HD capabilities and alowed Joe Public to see what all the fuss was about.:smashin:

Currys had the 4 LG displays, running the LG HD loop. Quite nice but seen it before. They also had some Philips Ambi-light showing a HD loop. However, they had dozens of Panasonics, Sonys, Pioneers etc, all with HD ready stickers on them, all with big price banners ("HD READY!!!!!"), but what were they showing? That's right, a Currys loop announcing the HD readiness, but through the RF (aerial) input!!:mad: It looked DISGUSTING!:D

I mentioned this to one of the salesmen, and to stir it up I told him all about Comet's display, SKY HD etc. He scuttled off to "tell his manager" and came back explaining that some engineer had ruined a screen whilst trying to set up a HD feed previously, it was due to be done soon. The salesman was a young guy, quite nice though and I think he agreed with my point.

I swear that as I looked around Currys I could see perplexed faces (customers) thinking "what the hell's so bloody great about HD then?", they may have been completely unaware of the RF feed. Nothing guaranteed to underwhelm a plasma virgin like the RF input!

Come on Currys, sort it out! (oh by the way, am I allowed to name the location of the store?)
 
The majority of plasmas sold in Comet now support 1080p signals, he could sell you all kinds of plasmas (and yep, LCDs) at all kinds of prices.

Sorry guys, nice try though.

Every retailer I know has to spin some amount of yarn at some point, the specialist shops just do it more subtely (or not as the case may be, ahem). Apart from AV "banana plugs are illegal" Sales of course, surely more bonkers information than Mr Comet...
 
The problem being is that the salesman concerned was baffling them so much with 720 this, 1080 that etc that they just looked more baffled than what they needed to be, where have the good old sales questions gone like 'what will you be using it for, what will you be connecting, how are you connecting it?' then the customers need can be fulfilled totally, its just a shame that these guys are just interested in a sale.

I do agree with one of the posts on here, I also visited the local Currys store and the HD loop on the LG plasmas was very good, the RF feed to all the other Plasma/LCD screens was awful, where as at least Comet had the loop on various different Plasma/LCD screens and then full SKY HD on a 32" Sony LCD screen, that was an excellent picture, I looked at the Cricket and the BBC HD Preview channel and the picture was superb, where as Sky 1 with teh upscaled American sitcom just looked kak!

An interesting little afternoon yesterday, it just underlined my opinions on buying AV gear, decide on roughly what you want, buy a good Mag, sit down have a cup of tea, do a bit of reserach on forums like these and somewhere liek Google and then shop for what you decide will suit your needs.

James
 
james_19742000 said:
where have the good old sales questions gone like 'what will you be using it for, what will you be connecting, how are you connecting it?' then the customers need can be fulfilled totally, its just a shame that these guys are just interested in a sale.James


How do you know these questions weren't asked? The customer may well have started it by asking about an artical they had read in the paper that had said that the current HD ready sets only had half the resolution they need to to be true HD. This is a regular subject brought up by customers, second only to asking what the diff between plasma and LCD is.

It sounds to me like this guy wasn't just going for a sale as you suggest because he would have no need to go into that level of detail to sell something. Most superstore shoppers do not need or want to know in depth specs on TVs and so this sales guy if using this sales tecnique without being prompted to by the customer was almost certainly losing a sale by using it not ripping someone off.
 

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