Buying a Computer is Hard Work

Last week I decided that I needed a new computer. Specifically a Sony Ultrabook. While I love my Samsung Slate to bits it has hardly any internal storage and the behaviour of the USB drivers when you turn on hardware virtualisation is less than exemplary. So I went down to a well known computer store (they have a World of PCs there) and tried to buy one. This was not a good experience.

In the first branch I tried they had the computer I wanted proudly on display. But of course they had none in stock. And according to the salesman (I use the term loosely) there were none to be found this side of York (although he could order one for me for delivery – just like I could from Amazon).

Of course, when I go on to the internets and check stock levels I find lots of local branches showing the item. So I head for one of those. Yes, they have one in stock. No, they can’t sell it for the price advertised. This is because, as a special service to customers, they’ve taken it out of the box, set it up and then made a backup CD. Which costs twenty quid extra. So they want me to pay for a service I don’t want or need. When I refused to pay the extra they were miraculously able to track down another device that hasn’t had this treatment, and so I actually managed to get the one that I wanted at the price advertised. At this point I thought I was out of the woods. But no.

I now had an experience not unlike the uncomfortable ones that I used to have at school when I went to see my headmaster to be told off. The salesman sat at one side of a desk and I sat the other side feeling defensive. He then tried to sell me services that I didn’t want for a computer that shouldn’t need them, implying that I was taking a risk in not going for the extended warranty and other gubbins that they are all undoubtedly under great pressure to sell.

Finally I managed to escape with the goods. I’m loving the new machine. Very, very useful. I’ve been horrible to it already, plugging and unplugging devices, and using it as if I didn’t care how much is left in the battery when I charge it, and generally just opening it, using it a lot, and closing it again. And it has taken the punishment with aplomb. I’ve got an extra 4G of memory for it from Crucial and it fair whizzes along.

But I must admit that I fear for the future of shops selling hardware if my experience is anything to go by. At a number of points in the process I felt I was being told stuff that was at best a bending of the truth, purely to serve the agenda of the person and company I was buying from. I’m pretty sure I’d have had a much better experience buying from an Apple Store and of course if I’d gone to Amazon I could have cut out the person completely. And given the hassle that I had, there is now an even greater chance that I’ll do that.

Comments

[Tom Fosdick]

I was once told by an employee of that chain that they make no margin at all on PCs. All of the profit in a PC sale comes from extras.

I had a similar experience in a now defunct retailer of white goods and electronics. They were very keen to sell me an overpriced additional warranty.

I far prefer shopping in small independent stores. They are more expensive but for that extra money you get to prod the thing you're considering and talk to someone who, although not impartial, usually does know a bit about what they're selling.
Small independent computer stores seem few and far between these days though.

[Sean]

I had the same thing just before september last year. My trusty laptop died and i went into PC world to look at towers. Found a suitable one, and took it to the desk. It took a full 20 minutes for the guy to finish telling me about all sorts of products and warranties that i didn't want or need. Right from the first offer of software the guy knew i didn't want any of it, but continued to go on about how I needed this and that. You don't get good customer experience with them.

[John Harrison]

Not buying a Surface Pro? ;)

[Rob]

I agonised about the Surface Pro for a long time. And the fact I've bought an Ultrabook probably indicates which way I went in the end. The Surface Pro looks lovely, but the screen is a bit small, the hard disk space is a bit restrictive and I hardly ever use the "pen and tablet-ness" of my Samsung slate as it is. And, (and I think this is the most important point) the Surface RT that I already have lets me scratch the "portable tablet" itch without needing the Pro.

The Ultrabook is just pure portable usefulness. The touch screen makes it great to use with W8 and the performance is great. I can expand the memory and fill the hard disk with lots of media with no worries about falling off the end. The HD is 500G with a 32G SSD cache which works very well in providing nippy file loading but giving me plenty of space.

When they make a Surface with 8G of RAM, 240G of SSD and that new Intel low power chip I'll probably rethink all this though...

[Garth]

I often go into Best Buy looking for open box deals. I often overhear the sales crew give their spiel. I cringe. So little is known by so many.

[Simon Hayre]

Hi Rob, I've worked at these branches. As an employee it was a horrible experience selling products at such a branch. The fear that a customer like your self, with excellent knowledge of computer, meant no sale of high profit services and a demoralising and scary telling off by the branch managers.

I personally think we should save these people the hassle of providing a poor service.

FYI you can buy anything from ebuyer.com before 23:00 and it will arrive next day before 12:00!!!! Cheaper than most retail stores too and you can send it back within 7 days for ANY REASON!

PS the previous owner of dioxons group was fired 6 months in he's new role while working for Apple stores, because he was giving the apple brand a bad image. Felt I should put that out there.

[Rob]

I did feel sorry for the salesman trying to add these things to the bill. I knew he wasn't there to give me a hard time, and that he'd probably get a hard time if he failed to get that part of the sale, but at the end of the day the customer should have a good experience.

Your point about ebuyer is well made. And of course they can turn a profit because they don't have to pay rent for showrooms and stuff like that. I think Apple have it right here, in that they don't let vendors discount their products, so that presumably there is more profit to go round. Sony could try and keep their prices a bit higher too I suppose, but then we'd all go out and buy a cheaper brand. Oh well. At least the device itself seems to be a win.