Carphonewarehouse Asus Transformer tablet rip off.

seeing_ie

The price of the Asus transformer tablet at carphone warehouse has gone from €399 two weeks ago, to €429 last week, to €449 yesterday when I checked yesterday pm in Dublin city centre.

Apparently there's a stock shortage.

It seems that Carphonewarehouse have seen this and are taking advantage.

rubadub

seeing_ie wrote: »

It seems that Carphonewarehouse have seen this and are taking advantage.

Makes sense so, good to see they are not employing idiots, it would be worrying if their accounts/pricing people did not understand the basic concept of supply & demand.

I imagine it can be got online for a lot cheaper.

seeing_ie

I'd disagree.

Maybe it's ok for the likes of ticket touts to set their prices according to demand.

For a reputable retailer like Carphone warehouse to consider their margin acceptable at €399, then jack the price up to €449 when they realise there's a shortage, smacks of price gouging to me.

It makes it difficult for interested consumers to spend their euros in Ireland.

ejmaztec

seeing_ie wrote: »

I'd disagree.

Maybe it's ok for the likes of ticket touts to set their prices according to demand.

For a reputable retailer like Carphone warehouse to consider their margin acceptable at €399, then jack the price up to €449 when they realise there's a shortage, smacks of price gouging to me.

It makes it difficult for interested consumers to spend their euros in Ireland.

They may get their fingers burned if there is a sudden increase in availability and they have to drop their prices to compete with other suppliers in Ireland.

keithclancy

seeing_ie wrote: »

I'd disagree.

Maybe it's ok for the likes of ticket touts to set their prices according to demand.

For a reputable retailer like Carphone warehouse to consider their margin acceptable at €399, then jack the price up to €449 when they realise there's a shortage, smacks of price gouging to me.

It makes it difficult for interested consumers to spend their euros in Ireland.

You want the communists to come back ?

seeing_ie

keithclancy wrote: »

You want the communists to come back ?

Which communists? Thought there was legislation in the US making ticket touting illegal, and rumblings along the same lines here. Could be wrong.

Thought it was worth mentioning Carphone warehouse's pricing policy, particularly in light of retailers calls for consumers to shop locally.

Read somewhere that consumer electronics was one place where Irish retailers competed well (probably because a tech-savvy market will simply go elsewhere otherwise).
Except when there's an opportunity to make a quick buck from a product shortage it seems, in the case of Carphone warehouse.

keithclancy

seeing_ie wrote: »

Which communists? Thought there was legislation in the US making ticket touting illegal, and rumblings along the same lines here. Could be wrong.

Thought it was worth mentioning Carphone warehouse's pricing policy, particularly in light of retailers calls for consumers to shop locally.

Read somewhere that consumer electronics was one place where Irish retailers competed well (probably because a tech-savvy market will simply go elsewhere otherwise).
Except when there's an opportunity to make a quick buck from a product shortage it seems, in the case of Carphone warehouse.

The only way to get a shop to lower their advertised prices is to shop elsewhere.

They'll either lower their prices or go out of business.

rubadub

seeing_ie wrote: »

For a reputable retailer like Carphone warehouse to consider their margin acceptable at €399, then jack the price up to €449 when they realise there's a shortage, smacks of price gouging to me.

Most reputable airlines and hotels would do the same thing, amazon seem to do it too, you can track price changes on amazon with this site

http://camelcamelcamel.com/

It could also be the distributor or manufacturer who are really charging more.

seeing_ie

rubadub wrote: »

Most reputable airlines and hotels would do the same thing, amazon seem to do it too, you can track price changes on amazon with this site

http://camelcamelcamel.com/

It could also be the distributor or manufacturer who are really charging more.

Agreed. Although, to my mind, airlines and hotels are selling a time sensitive product.
An flight or hotel room (or concert ticket), by their nature, can be worth a lot less or more depending on the day of the week.
A consumer electronic item should start at a price and then gradually decrease.
Probably an old fashioned vew of retailing, but if I'm shopping purely on price , why bother going to the store at all?

The CPW store I was in didn't have a display model, the assistants couldn't or wouldn't open a box, and weren't interested in finding out what store had a display model for me.
Trying to call other stores myself was a nightmare.
Couldn't find store phone numbers on the CPW website so got the numbers from the phone book.
Called three stores but it seems they don't want customers calling, as each time I was dumped into the same phone system and couldn't get through to the stores.
Tried customer service but the best the UK operator could do was give me the store phone numbers again.

muboop1

seeing_ie wrote: »

Agreed. Although, to my mind, airlines and hotels are selling a time sensitive product.
An flight or hotel room (or concert ticket), by their nature, can be worth a lot less or more depending on the day of the week.
A consumer electronic item should start at a price and then gradually decrease.
Probably an old fashioned vew of retailing, but if I'm shopping purely on price , why bother going to the store at all?

The CPW store I was in didn't have a display model, the assistants couldn't or wouldn't open a box, and weren't interested in finding out what store had a display model for me.
Trying to call other stores myself was a nightmare.
Couldn't find store phone numbers on the CPW website so got the numbers from the phone book.
Called three stores but it seems they don't want customers calling, as each time I was dumped into the same phone system and couldn't get through to the stores.
Tried customer service but the best the UK operator could do was give me the store phone numbers again.

I think only Dundrum and maybe Liffy have demo models in general!
Try there stores? More likely Dundrum then Liffey btw. Was up there recently, nice shop, load of demo models all around!

Heart Break Kid

The price of the Asus transformer tablet at carphone warehouse has gone from €399 two weeks ago, to €429 last week, to €449 yesterday when I checked yesterday pm in Dublin city centre.

Prices change, from what i gather cpw was selling the for 400 for at least 2 months. CPW kept the price 400 to compete with currys/pcworld[/QUOTE]
Or it could just be this

It could also be the distributor or manufacturer who are really charging more.

Apparently there's a stock shortage.

There is no stock shortage, i could tell you where to pick one up.

A consumer electronic item should start at a price and then gradually decrease.
Probably an old fashioned vew of retailing, but if I'm shopping purely on price , why bother going to the store at all?

this is not true, they might of subsidized it for a short while to encourage as many people to buy the product as soon as possible and then revert it to its proper price, its happens to mobile phones a fair bit to be honest

and weren't interested in finding out what store had a display model for me.
Trying to call other stores myself was a nightmare.
Couldn't find store phone numbers on the CPW website so got the numbers from the phone book.
Called three stores but it seems they don't want customers calling, as each time I was dumped into the same phone system and couldn't get through to the stores.

Im sure the probably advised you to go to Dundrum has they have demo models of the tablets as it is a wireless world shop. Its a new thing for Irish CPW stores and because of this there is only two Wireless world stores.

seeing_ie

Heart Break Kid wrote: »

There is no stock shortage, i could tell you where to pick one up.

"Bottleneck" blamed for Asus Transformer shortage


Should I give the other proclamations in your post the same weight as the one above?

seeing_ie

muboop1 wrote: »

I think only Dundrum and maybe Liffy have demo models in general!
Try there stores? More likely Dundrum then Liffey btw. Was up there recently, nice shop, load of demo models all around!

No, stores in the city centre have demo models.