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The staff in OW told me Dick smith is closing down and not able to do price match. Anyone know? or OW is just make up the story?
Is Dick Smith closing down? - OW not allow price match
Christaylor34 on 07/06/2013 - 11:51
Last edited 07/06/2013 - 12:22
Last edited 07/06/2013 - 12:22
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Maribyrnong Vic, they said this is instructed by head office
Woolworths sold DSE last year to private buyers. They have already closed some stores, but I would be very surprised if they were closing the whole business:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-27/dick-smith-sold-to-pri…
they probably said it because they do not want to price match dick smiths clearance prices
Agreed. IME, Orificeworks will try anything to avoid honouring their own price matching policy.
Stewballs and orifice works…plenty of jokes comes to mind but none that can be published.
i never had an issue price matching with officeworks to any business in Australia.
I remember price matching a router which they sold for $200 to msy for $70 or something and they still did it. Only question was : do they have stock?….
So i logged onto msy and showed them they had stock then they said OK.
IMO, officeworks has one of the BEST price matching policies, since they don't use the VERY common excuse that pretty much every other retailer uses "It is under our cost price go away".
I've tried price matching at the following places and they always give me the "cost price" excuse:
Dick Smith
JB Hi Fi
HN
The Good Guys
Myer
David JonesThe good guys even gave me the excuse of "We are big store that one is small store, it doesn't count, they can sell under cost but we cannot"
You should try the Newcastle one Iplau, the fights I've had over really blatantly valid pricematches would make your head spin…it's not the coal-face staff either; they support the customers; it's the manager, he's a total knob!
You're right about GG though, less for cash is total bullshit!
Conversely, I've never had an issue with the local JB HiFi stores, show them the price…BAM, done! :)
Yeah, definitely think this is some bull concocted by someone at Head Office when they saw the prices recently offered by Dick Smith. DS would be losing money on the iPad deal, there is NO WAY Officeworks would even consider matching let alone beating by 5%. Though in regards to closing down, I can't imagine Dick Smith will last too long unless they get competitive across the board, and not just on loss leaders/clearance items.
No. OW and DSE in maribyrnong were used to be next to each other, but DSE downsized and moved into a small store inside Highpoint shopping centre.
The question is not DSE closes down or not, the question is OW needs to price match with any brick and mortar stores. Thats a silly reason they provided.
That store inside Highpoint was there when the big one (Power House) was across the road too. Looks like they decided it was just viable for one to remain open.
I have noticed that a couple of the DSE around me don't seem to stock any or much Microsoft hardware any more, like mouses and keyboards
And that was before the current cash back.I used to work for DSE some years ago. In my opinion they have been in a downward spiral for some years. The car park at the store I worked at (was a "Powerhouse" store) used to be packed every day. Internal magazine constantly told us DSE was bringing in gazillions of dollars for Woolworths. Now that car park is mostly empty even on weekends. Wouldn't be surprised to see them go under…
sadly i get the feeling too given the amount they are discounting. getting rid of product lines.
I'm not sad at all. They got rid of all the unique stock, and drove out the knowledge base in their older, permanent staff, that gave them a point of difference; thus alienating their traditional customer base, then tried to become a pseudo Harvey Norman / Good Guys using mostly casual labour. It didn't work. They deserve to go under.
As much as i miss their unique stock. the truth is there wasnt any money in it. so they moved away from it. The were just adjusting to market demand. Now jaycar is the last man standing. not sure how long they will last either
Good point, 'cause Jaycar is increasingly coming off as a rip-off in this age of direct online ordering.
Obviously you either didn't work for them or didn't read the internal newsletters. DSE was going gangbusters and raking in money for Woolworths.
Jaycar became what DSE used to be. Unfortunately, brick-and mortar stores cost more to run than online warehouses. You pay a premium for being able to examine the stock before buying, and having a shopfront to take it back to when it doesn't work. Shop rent, electric lights and counter staff all cost money.
The future of the Dick Smith business, which is profitable, experiencing positive sales growth and has a strong brand position, could be better realised through new ownership.
Yep, 2012, when they'd finished screwing it up…
@Idealist
Jaycar sell online too…but I wonder how that's going for them.
Yeah. I picked up some very cheap blu-ray movies from Dick Smith not too long ago like a heap of other people did. They sold off their entire movies section not even any DVD's left on the shelf any more those are all in a clearance bin at 75c each.
On the other hand a fair amount of people seem to have been going to the JB HI-FI store in the same shopping centre. I would think they're doing better than Dick Smith.
JB is certainly doing SOMETHING right. Some days you can barely MOVE in there!
regarding JB HI-FI doing things right…
- bright yellow
- rough-and-ready look
- rough-and-ready fonts and layout on catalogue & website
Exhibit A:
http://www.jbhifi.com.au/People like the impression they are getting a bargain (or that the shop has gone crazy) more than the price itself.
;)Maybe things the 2 for $20 blu-ray deal from JB helps or the 10% off TV's. Dick Smith doesn't usually advertise those kind of deals as much. I reckon Dick Smith has poor advertising and must be reflecting on sales. You often see JB advertidsement on TV but not Dick Smith so much.
It doesn't help that their online order system is constantly stuffing up taking orders for deals that they never honour with constant excuses of error made and it seems to take them ages to refund the money which annoys people. Like the recent Nodnation Racers PSP game. A week later and they still hadn't refunded my 2 x 50c. I'm done with Dick Smith if this is how customer service is treated. Absolutely useless takes them this long to even issue the return of a simple 50c refund. It's the principle of the thing.
Dick Smith is quick to take your money but slow to give it back. Acting as like if they're in financial trouble or some thing. I don't know. But could be the reason why they closed these departments like selling out their entire movie section and all these clearances and scaling back business.
Dick Smith is quick to take your money but slow to give it back.
True.
I would pay to see Dick Smith himself - on video - at his desk on the computer, being annoyed at another Dick Deal gone tits-up. It would say a lot about the store, in my opinion. He doesn't even own it but it would get the point across even better because he doesn't.
Depends on the guy who does the price match. I got a cool asian guy that gives me prices matches all the time.
I been price matching Dick Smith clearance items and he's been alright with it as long as they got stock.till last week when he lost his job. :p
How do you know that, do you work there or you are a friend of PlayerOne
Never had any issue pricematching at officeworks. Like everything else you need to do some legwork to make their lives easier.
I always PRINT a copy of the competitors price. Also write down the phone number of the actual store that has STOCK and hand it over to the OW person. Sometimes they call sometimes they don't but most importantly they see the proof right there. As opposed to turning up with your cap backwards and proclaiming that you've seen it cheaper somewhere else and having to look it up on the phone etc.
I got a $800 laptop pricematched with a JBHIFI 'sale' item for $550, 15mins before midnight which was when it was meant to expire. No issues at all. For all I know JB didn't even have stock.
Moved to General Discussion.
Which Officeworks are you talking about here?