[awap]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

I understand your point... And you are intent on missing mine - that if the person helping him would have asked some simple questions, it could have prevented him from doing so...

For instance, a coworker saw a deal on a laptop online recently. Knowing that I used to own a computer store, he asked my opinion. I did some research and found that Circuit City carried the same model. I'm not much of a person to go by specs alone, I like to touch, I dragged him with me to Circuit City to see it in person. My co worker was intent on buying it online due to the fact that it was $100 cheaper, and he'd save that plus tax (A total of about $180). When we were in Circuit City, a salesman asked if we needed help - we were already looking at the specific model and I had told him it would meet all his relatively simple needs. I told him sure, that we were looking at that specific laptop. He asked us if we had been shopping around, and we answered yes - he asked what kind of other deals we'd seen - I politely responded that an online vendor had the same laptop on sale for $100 and no tax less. The salesman checked that online price, and offered to meet the deal. My coworker mentioned that online would still be cheaper due to the tax, to which the salesman said they couldnt really do anything about, but he would throw in a laptop bag and a couple other goodies.

Needless to say, although we were intent on buying online, when we went to "try it on" in the store, we ended up walking out with it. Salesperson won over the internet pricing, as should be expected by any brick and mortar store that wants to compete...

If you can find an LDS that will do the same kind of dealing, that will be one that has made the adjustment and should be around for quite a while. Generally, I believe that if myou are going to shop the LDFS, you should give him a shot at making the sale. However, the crap that some of them come out with could easily cause me to make an exception.

I put the shopper who doesn't give the LDS a chance in the same category as the LDS who takes advantage of the customer's ignorance of online savings opportunities. If a shop's survival is dependent on decieving customer, it needs to go away. Compete with honest value, not necessarily just price, and stop with the BS.