PC World

jpfahy

What is it with PC World and Macs. My local one (Carrickmines) had old iMacs and minis stuck at the back of the store either turned off, misconfigured or with bits missing. This went on for months. Now they have the shiny new ones in stock and they don't turn them on. I've yet to see a salesman showing one to a customer. Why stock them if they don't want to sell them.
Oh and by the way I see they are selling Dell laptops! they have three on display, weird.

Sad Professor

Don't get me started about that place...

ant043

you would be better getting advice from the dog on a computer purchase

jpfahy

Its so painful to see the salesmen direct gullible people to crappy Advent Vista machines.

projectmayhem

jpfahy wrote: »

Why stock them if they don't want to sell them.

1. staff don't know what they are, or the benefits of them for a customer. apple don't provide in-store training unlike nearly all other companies that deal with electrical retailers...

2. customers don't know what they are, or the benefits for them that a new mac would provide over a windows machine...

3. macs are expensive. more expensive then a pink advent with vista HP... if you don't know the real difference then why should a customer spend 700 quid more?

4. macs are expensive part 2. the margin is very small on a mac compared to an advent...

WUSBDesign

Think you've spotted a potential bargain. Just threaten them with "ill-treatment" on such wonderful machines and they might want to get rid of them for a discount .

trout

projectmayhem wrote: »

4. macs are expensive part 2. the margin is very small on a mac compared to an advent...

I suspect that's the key reason ... the mark up margin is so small, and sales (by volume) are so small, there is no real incentive for the staff, who are probably not well trained or informed about much of the hardware they sell.

Still ... ya gotta wonder why they bother at all ? Is it simply to make the cheap as chips machines look even better value, by comparison ?

ant043

i remember going into a pc world before buying my macbook. I was lookin for a laptop for college. The sales guy literally told me that apple was the root of all evil and that vista was hugely better than os x. His words not mine :rolleyes:

swingking

very simple reason

Macs work better therefore people won't take the extended coverplan. The staff know people are going to have troubles when using vista; more viruses present and therefore staff use this to their advantage to sell the coverplan.

on another note, do pc world sell any apple mac accessories or software?

heggie

it's not true that apple don't provide training, they do (or did when I worked in retail), margins tho are very very small.

Skyuser

It is called PC World, not Mac World

Oriel

a) PC world is for people who know nothing about computers. They get talked into buying stuff by fake-smile adverts, clueless employees and last years computer specs. "A massive 80Gb hard drive". F**k off.
b) They make (next to) no profit on Macs, so they don't have any interest in them.

Ham'nd'egger

swingking wrote: »

on another note, do pc world sell any apple mac accessories or software?

I have seen some of the classics on sale in there, yes.

Breezer

Don't expect PC world to give you good advise on anything. I went in looking for a widescreen monitor that I could hook up to my eyeTV. Just to make sure I wasn't wasting my money, I asked was the HP one I was looking at wall-mountable, and was told no. I then asked which monitors they sold were wall-mountable and was told 'None, they're monitors not TVs.' I gave up and Googled it instead. The HP I was originally looking at is now mounted on my wall with a standard VESA bracket.

PC World are great if you know exactly what you're buying - cheap prices, outlets everywhere and a no hassle returns policy. Just don't ask the staff for help.

L'prof

Skyuser wrote: »

It is called PC World, not Mac World

PC means Personal Computer, not Windows Computer!

jmck87

I used to work as a salesman in PC World.

So from the horses mouth....we were encouraged to sell certain machines (higher margin).

With regards to asking advice from staff....it really depends on the staff member you come across....a lot of them really know their stuff...and i know a lot of them who are die hard mac lovers. However, a lot were like me: low paid, no training, weekend job to pay for bits and bobs.

Keep and eye out in there though....they have the odd mac bargain...remember someone got a mac mini for 200 quid just when they changed to the new processor line up.

Skyuser

jasonorr wrote: »

PC means Personal Computer, not Windows Computer!

"Hello, I'm a Mac....and I'm a PC".

L'prof

Skyuser wrote: »

"Hello, I'm a Mac....and I'm a PC".

So, what are you trying to say?

Breezer

jasonorr wrote: »

So, what are you trying to say?

What he's trying to say is that 'PC,' while strictly meaning any personal computer, is a term commonly applied to computers running Windows (and to a lesser extent Linux), manufactured by companies like Dell, HP and Sony. 'Mac' is the term used to unambiguously refer to a personal computer made by Apple and running Mac OS X. Apple themselves use these terms in their ad campaigns.

I'm fairly sure you knew all that already :rolleyes:

L'prof

Breezer wrote: »

What he's trying to say is that 'PC,' while strictly meaning any personal computer, is a term commonly applied to computers running Windows (and to a lesser extent Linux), manufactured by companies like Dell, HP and Sony. 'Mac' is the term used to unambiguously refer to a personal computer made by Apple and running Mac OS X. Apple themselves use these terms in their ad campaigns.

I'm fairly sure you knew all that already :rolleyes:

Yes, but PC means personal computer so any attempt to say that a Mac is not a PC is just ridiculous imo!

Anyway...this is a small point really!

projectmayhem

trout wrote: »

Still ... ya gotta wonder why they bother at all ? Is it simply to make the cheap as chips machines look even better value, by comparison ?

i would imagine it's just to keep up appearances for anyone who wants mac stuff, even though if you know mac stuff you'll know most of the stock is out-of-date. on top of that, buying mac computers might mean the company as a whole has more buying power with apple when it comes to ipods and the like

heggie wrote: »

it's not true that apple don't provide training, they do (or did when I worked in retail), margins tho are very very small.

apple will provide training, but only on their terms... and unlike every other company training retailers, apple charge for their services (even though, in theory, it'd benefit them).

Pete4779

jasonorr wrote: »

Yes, but PC means personal computer so any attempt to say that a Mac is not a PC is just ridiculous imo!

Anyway...this is a small point really!

Yeah. As soon as that idiot Jobs stops basing all the advertising on computers being either Macs or PCs than maybe it will change.