I’ve been looking for a new laptop. I’ve had my current one for about five years and it’s looking a bit long in the tooth. It struggles to keep up with the demands of any newish operating system.
I’m currently working near the Moorgate branch of PC World so I decided to go in there yesterday lunchtime and see what they had. I can hear UK readers groaning as they read that. PC World are well-known as the place that sane people avoid (as I said earlier this year). However, I was surprised to see a nice looking model at a reasonable price. I asked if they had any information about any Linux compatibility problems with this model and, of course, none of the staff could help me there (they did, however, know what I was talking about – which is an improvement on previous visits).
Obviously I couldn’t buy the laptop without knowing about Linux compatibility, so I returned to the office to do a bit of research. And found that the couple of people who mentioned running Linux on this model both said that it worked fine.
So I knew what I wanted to buy. But I still couldn’t believe that PC World would be the best place to buy it. A bit more Googling seemed to indicate that DSG (the Dixons, Currys and PC World chain) were the only people selling it. And I also discovered that if you ordered it from the Dixons web site then there was an online promotion code which got you £40 off the price (which was £800).
Armed with this knowledge, I spent almost an hour on Tottenham Court Road yesterday evening looking at laptops. No-one had anything at a similar spec at a similar price. Eventually I got to the PC World at the top of TCR. DSG stores are well-known for allowing you to haggle on the price, so I decided that if I could get anywhere near the £40 off then I’d buy the laptop there.
But I was disappointed. Firstly they wanted to prove that the other offer was genuine and in the heat of the moment I couldn’t find it. Then they said that the price was fixed and they couldn’t do anything to change it. I left the shop without a laptop.
Before buying online (and waiting five days for delivery) I decided to have one more try at the Moorgate branch of PC World. I went in this lunchtime knowing that I’d need to be persuasive and my technique was far more sophisticated than last night.
I pointed out the “we won’t be beaten on price” sign.
I pointed out that it didn’t need to be money off the price – I’d consider free stuff too.
I pointed out that it didn’t even have to be £40 – getting my hands on the PC immediately is obviously worth something to me so I would have settled for £20.
I pointed out that it was silly to lose the sale over such a small percentage of the price.
The salesman I was talking to just shrugged his shoulders and said it wasn’t his decision. The manager said that there was no way they could change the price.
At that point I mentioned that you always used to be able to haggle a bit on prices in DSG shops and asked if this was a new policy. The manager said that it was, but by that point I strongly suspect that he just wanted to get rid of me, so I’m not sure that he even really listened to the question.
So, anyway, I came back to my desk and ordered it from the Dixons web site with the £40 off. Should arrive within five working days.
If you’re interested, it’s a Philips Freevents X51[1]. List price is £799.99 and you get £40 off by entering “ONLINE40” as the promotion code as you’re checking out. Not sure how long that promotion runs for.
[1] Can’t find it on the Philips site. In fact I can’t find any computers on the Philips site. Not sure what’s going on there.
You can order online and collect in-store, paying the online price.A few months ago PC World changed their strategy. Now their online prices are often very competitive and their instore prices are as rubbish as they’ve ever been. I guess they think they can get the cost-concious buyers in while continuing to rip off the casual “want a puter” customers.