Scanners

[il cacciatore]

I need to buy a scanner for uni work and I'm looking at a HP ScanJet 4850. It does 4800x9600 dpi and 48 bit depth. Was in PC World viewing them, as in my town there are only three computing shops: one crook, one that don't do scanners and PC World, so they pretty much got a monopoly.

 

They were trying to sell me a 3 year warranty. I said to him that in most things if they do break they break within a month of purchase and he said that with scanners, the bulbs are designed to break after the years warranty and it'll cost more than the £20 coverplan to fix it.

 

Is this just ******** to sell me the warranty?

[henry d]

IMO - BS....... I have a HP PSC 1610,it`s the Nads

[pin]

I used to be sales manager for that lot, a long time ago.

 

Firstly this salesperson has broken a few rules, you can't tell someone something will break, a big nono.

 

When I was sales manager I was paid a handsome bonus not on sales, but on the percentage of the monthly take that was coverplan.

 

In my view some form of cover for your kit can make sense in certain circumstances, at the price they charge its usually not worth it.

 

Electronic goods are designed to a tolerance, that tolerance varies by manufacturer, the cheaper something is made, on balance, the cheaper the components, manufacturing tolerance / quality control etc. Nothing is "designed" to break, but some units, like scanners, will have certain components which will probably fail.

 

Most house insurance policies will cover things like this as long as they are under a certain value, check yours. When something like this breaks, wouldn't it be a terrible to do if something fell off the shelf onto it?

 

To have it right I have known people my lot sold to who have come back and thanked me personally for talking them into buying the warranty (yeah yeah I had to make a living) because they had terrible problems, it wasn't easy to sort them out but they stood their ground and ended up with 2 new better PC's inside 18 months.

[il cacciatore]

So do salesmen have the power to drop the price?

[pin]

Technically no, they are supposed to speak to the floor manager. In practice the more experienced ones are allowed discretion within a limit acceptable to the sales manager, and then within a tolerance for the weekly/monthly sales. In PC world (and dixons etc) you will see some black and white terminals dotted about, this is a system called "REPOS" which is a real-time tool used by the company to do a lot of things, one of which allows the sales manager to monitor every single deal going through the tills.

 

If the store's overall discount is low for a period, or they need to make target they may consider discounting more than they normally would. In effect "buying" business. I used to frown on this, but sometimes you need to do what you can to make target.

 

Coverplan has a large margin, far far more than the kit itself. If you buy it you will likely get a discount.

 

My tip. Go in, speak to them about the scanner and let them introduce the coverplan. When they do, come back at them with 1) House insurance 2) the cost 3) what happens if it doesn't break. After you have had them flail a bit, tell them you will have it but you want a tenner off :unsure:

 

Coverplan covers accidental damage

 

They are trained to overcome these and other objections, but often salespeople struggle to sell coverplan. They will discount the goods by a tenner, selling the coverplan at full value which will help them meet target.

 

Best of luck

[il cacciatore]

Thanks you've been real helpful.

 

I was just wondering, from what you've said it sounds like it would be better buying after xmas in the January sales because I guess it would be harder for them to make sales targets after xmas and maybe get more discount.

[pin]

Actually I disagree. PC world, mind it was a long time ago now, always used to have the best times just before and just after xmas.

 

If you want to buy something from them, wait until a hot dry spell, and wander in when its dead

[il cacciatore]

Right. Maybe. Its weird. Now you can order stuff from the pc world homepage, pay for it and collect it in store and get it for a cheaper price. Don't quite understand how that works.

[henry d]

Off topic but close,i got my desk and chair there but I saw and ordered on line at a nice discount then went in to collect If I had just walked in it would have been a lot dearer.

[il cacciatore]

Yeh thats what I don't get. I seen a computer about £30 *cheaper* and asked him if he could match it to the online price and he said he couldn't take anything off it. Obviously no deal on just now.

[pin]

Wasn't possible when I worked there, but I think it makes sense. If you browse, decide, pay and turn up with a printout and simply walk out its cost them virtually nothing.

 

If you come in, speak to someone, ask questions then pay through a till that's a bunch of people they had to pay to serve you.

 

The stores are being used as warehouses, since they are there and open anyway they might as well