Am I wrong to expect a discount?

borderlinemeath

blindsider wrote: »

I would ring the store, ask for the Manager, and tell him/her what happened, and that you'll be taking your business elsewhere. If they offer to fix the problem, then you have a choice to make....

What problem? This isn't a customer complaint scenario. There is no problem, there is no contract, no sale has changed hands, you don't make yourself out to be a pain in the ass customer, that's one sure way of not getting a discount. It's customers that go in and demand to speak to the manager about a 'problem' that put stores off hagglers. It's absolutely not a customers entitlement to expect a discount like you describe.

How much is the sofa on the UK web-site? If you convert it to €, do the prices match? www.xe.com

You could use that argument also

It's not 2008 anymore :rolleyes:.
This has been done to death on these forums, stg isn't anywhere near as weak as it was, and it's highly unlikely there's much of a saving.

Besides, the threat of buying up north for something like a sofa from DFS may well prove to be folly. Their customer service reputation and quality isn't exactly outstanding, so trying to get recompense on something purchased in a different juristiction could well prove to be a nightmare.

I have (several times) opened my conversation with a salesperson as follows:

"Hi - how are you? (Friendly tone and smile.) I'm interested in this product - but I'd need a discount, I couldn't pay that price....."

It usually works, and if it doesn't, I walk.

For all the years I spent working in retail I wouldn't give a discount to somebody who opened up a conversation looking for money off. If I had gone through the features and benefits, developed a rapport with the customer, closed the sale and then at the end had they suggested discount, I would have either seen what I could throw in or round it down if possible. I was management and had some leeway on full price goods, but nothing on sale items. Head Office always queried goodwill discounts and you were hauled up if you were seen to be a soft touch or giving too many freebies.

Having said all that, OP I just wouldn't buy a sofa from DFS or any of those large chains. Inflated prices, unending 'sales' that aren't really a bargain at all, and cheaply made, mass produced, bad quality furniture.

Many moons ago I worked for a furniture retailer (way before all the cheap chinese furniture that's about today) and I still have some of their furniture 15 years later still in excellent condition. If you're going to buy a sofa, just lift up one end in the showroom. It should be heavy, hardwood, not lightwood. It will fall apart within a few years. For €1400 or maybe a little extra you will get quality furniture but you need to look in the smaller independent outlets or the likes of Finline or try this place
http://www.sofacompany.ie/contact-sofa-company.html. I bought two sofas here 7 years ago and they are still solid as a rock. I'm probably going to get one recovered as I'm bored with the fabric and there's a small amount of sun fading on one side (my fault, I never close the blinds)

ps, this isn't the company I worked for - the sofas there would be triple the price:eek:

slimjimmc

longhalloween wrote: »

That's very true. Legally a product has to be advertised at full price for 4 weeks of the year. So I've seen products that are advertised at HALF PRICE!!! for 48 weeks of the year.

Most furniture companies do a price fixing period, where they'll choose a quiet month to bump up the price of everything, just so they can reduce it 4 weeks later to a normal price and put a big SALE sign on to trick Joe Public that he's getting a good deal.

Not quite correct.
AFAIK there is no minimum period defined in law, but the law does demand the consumer must not be mis-lead on pricing. It is generally accepted that displaying the higher price for 28 days over the previous 3 months meets this requirement.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/pricing/pricing_of_goods_and_services.html

BTW, the term "SALE" does not mean a discount is offered; stock is always for sale. It's only when the shop claims a price reduction or offers a discount the above rule on pricing takes affect.

blindsider

borderlinemeath wrote: »

What problem? This isn't a customer complaint scenario. There is no problem, there is no contract, no sale has changed hands, you don't make yourself out to be a pain in the ass customer, that's one sure way of not getting a discount. It's customers that go in and demand to speak to the manager about a 'problem' that put stores off hagglers. It's absolutely not a customers entitlement to expect a discount like you describe.



It's not 2008 anymore :rolleyes:.
This has been done to death on these forums, stg isn't anywhere near as weak as it was, and it's highly unlikely there's much of a saving.

Besides, the threat of buying up north for something like a sofa from DFS may well prove to be folly. Their customer service reputation and quality isn't exactly outstanding, so trying to get recompense on something purchased in a different juristiction could well prove to be a nightmare.



For all the years I spent working in retail I wouldn't give a discount to somebody who opened up a conversation looking for money off. If I had gone through the features and benefits, developed a rapport with the customer, closed the sale and then at the end had they suggested discount, I would have either seen what I could throw in or round it down if possible. I was management and had some leeway on full price goods, but nothing on sale items. Head Office always queried goodwill discounts and you were hauled up if you were seen to be a soft touch or giving too many freebies.

Having said all that, OP I just wouldn't buy a sofa from DFS or any of those large chains. Inflated prices, unending 'sales' that aren't really a bargain at all, and cheaply made, mass produced, bad quality furniture.

Many moons ago I worked for a furniture retailer (way before all the cheap chinese furniture that's about today) and I still have some of their furniture 15 years later still in excellent condition. If you're going to buy a sofa, just lift up one end in the showroom. It should be heavy, hardwood, not lightwood. It will fall apart within a few years. For €1400 or maybe a little extra you will get quality furniture but you need to look in the smaller independent outlets or the likes of Finline or try this place
http://www.sofacompany.ie/contact-sofa-company.html. I bought two sofas here 7 years ago and they are still solid as a rock. I'm probably going to get one recovered as I'm bored with the fabric and there's a small amount of sun fading on one side (my fault, I never close the blinds)

ps, this isn't the company I worked for - the sofas there would be triple the price:eek:

We're all entitled to our opinions, so in the spirit of discussion:

- the 'problem', is that I won't buy at full price. If more potential customers identlify full price as a 'problem' and don't buy....then it IS a problem, because sales are down.

- If companies are entitled to make profits, then I'm entitled to maximise my spending ability - by making my hard-earned cash go further.

- Stg v € - no harm in checking - it takes 2 mins online, and can be used as a bargaining tool. Some companies still have large discrepancies.

- I fail to see why, what is perfectly and completely expected in a B2B environment, seems to be causing (almost?) offence in a B2C environment. Ever deal with a professional buyer? They will hammer you for discounts - and when you think the deal is done, they'll come back for more. And, finally, when it comes to paying, they'll look for a further discount. And this is not for big orders - for big orders, they play really mean!

- I know very well that some sectors operate on low margins, and I'd expect little or no discount. However, when DFS makes a profit of £82m/€95m (and good for them) then there's margins in there somewhere!

sandin

slimjimmc wrote: »

Not quite correct.
AFAIK there is no minimum period defined in law, but the law does demand the consumer must not be mis-lead on pricing. It is generally accepted that displaying the higher price for 28 days over the previous 3 months meets this requirement.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/pricing/pricing_of_goods_and_services.html

BTW, the term "SALE" does not mean a discount is offered; stock is always for sale. It's only when the shop claims a price reduction or offers a discount the above rule on pricing takes affect.

Where some people get confused is that it us law in the uk that the price must have been available at the previous price for the 28days previous to the start of the discount - and this is flouted in the extreme.

If you have a chain if stores it only has to be at the higher price in one of them and an even better trick by furniture shops is that they just show it in one store in a "other styles available" instore catalogue which is technically available but never really shown.

Basically unless you know your stuff, never ever believe a "was" price fron any of these types of retailers.

borderlinemeath

blindsider wrote: »

We're all entitled to our opinions, so in the spirit of discussion:

- the 'problem', is that I won't buy at full price. If more potential customers identlify full price as a 'problem' and don't buy....then it IS a problem, because sales are down.

It's subjective though, just because you won't buy at full price doesn't mean that they should drop the price for you because you want them to. If a company is pricing themselves out of the market by consistently being more expensive then it's competitors then it IS a problem, but that doesn't appear to be the case with dfs.

- If companies are entitled to make profits, then I'm entitled to maximise my spending ability - by making my hard-earned cash go further.

It's your attitude that would be most annoying to retailers, going in looking for money off from the get go. I've dealt with plenty of people that didn't want to pay full price and they ended up coming back after pricing the country because we were well priced, value for money and offered good after sales service. (and depending on the product after sales can end up being worth a lot more than a few €€€ off)

- Stg v € - no harm in checking - it takes 2 mins online, and can be used as a bargaining tool. Some companies still have large discrepancies.

The ones that tend to have the large discrepancies are the larger multinationals that tend to be fairly rigid in their pricing structure and have little or no leeway for discounting/freebies.

- I fail to see why, what is perfectly and completely expected in a B2B environment, seems to be causing (almost?) offence in a B2C environment. Ever deal with a professional buyer? They will hammer you for discounts - and when you think the deal is done, they'll come back for more. And, finally, when it comes to paying, they'll look for a further discount. And this is not for big orders - for big orders, they play really mean!

And therein lies part of the problem. A buyer for a large corporation like dfs has huge buying power and can negotiate discounts based on that. The smaller independents can only negotiate so much for a order that may not even enter double digits. The smaller independent company retails a product for €1300 but offering a 20% off offer in sale, or maybe 10% off if pushed with haggling at full price. Dfs retails a similar product with "rrp €1300, now €850 for 48 weeks of the year. Probably taking a smaller margin for the similar item but slightly misleading the customer by inferring that the product was ever €1300 but capitalising on the independent stores pricing structure.

The last company I worked for had a waiting game with it's major competitors over their biannual catalogue release with prices. All sides would hedge their bets on pricing to try and be a few quid cheaper or offer the best deal to the public and each tried to negotiate the best deals with the suppliers to get the product cheaper than the competitors. At the end of the day the customer was usually the winner.