I encounter a lot of you ozbargainers here. Ask away. Will strictly not provide proof / location of the store I work in. If this is a deterrent then I suggest you act accordingly.
I mainly work in tech. Just a casual too.
[AMA] I Work at Officeworks. AMA
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It depends how you draw the distinction between the two. I would say it is mostly individuals. The most common tech sections would be (in order) printers, ink, cables/laptops. For both individuals and businesses I always ask for a budget to work around with though.
I'd define individuals as people coming in looking for tech to do a specific function but have a firm budget in mind. Business customers less concerned about budget and more interested in standard/bonus product features that'll help get the job done.
Makes sense though you'll see mostly individuals coming through, large businesses tend to order through suppliers but I thought small businesses would make regular use of OW.
We get some small business customers. For most people (small business customers in particular) I really suggest ordering online if you are going to being purchasing $650 + worth of stationary: folders, pens, glue, rulers, confectionery, staples, staplers, highlighters, pen holders..etc. It is horrible to deal with on the registers.
Going through your defintion of business, we don't get those customers much often in that case. It's hard to tell, but when someone spends $5k on SSDs etc it's easy to spot.
what a boring question…
you need to ask the hard questions.
Not as often as I think should be happening. Maybe one or two a day, add / take (just from looking around and not being on registers). If you are nice I go out of my way to price match the products for you because for most tech goods you can usually find something cheaper from a smaller retailer or niche store online. If I'm on the registers and I see a product I know is cheaper elsewhere, I automatically just do it for you.
Good to hear you go above and beyond the job description, not something you encounter very often but is appreciated when you find it. Also the fact you know the pricing of other retailers sounds like you're interested in your line of work, even more kudos to you.
Thanks. I know some people are really hesitant to price beat at our / other stores. It baffles me because a) we don't lost anything and b) it is a black and white process. Just FYI, we can price beat from Kogan assuming it meets the conditions outlined in our policy (mainly dealing with stock, warranty and identical product). We don't take into account restocking fee and there is nothing explicitly stating that if the difference is too high, we can't do it.
Unfortunately most of the times it depends who is behind on the register. If you come to my store you're lucky, I saw someone just about to price beat a dicksmith product (and I later found out that this was a copy of the receipt posted here on ozbargain!)
@sy37: I was under the impression you can't pricebeat grey importers like Kogan because they don't have Australian stock? How stringent are these policies? I've been rejected multiple times due to that reason.
we can price beat from Kogan assuming it meets the conditions outlined in our policy (mainly dealing with stock, warranty and identical product).
No.
The "identical product" criterian is where Kogan fails to meet. Almost all items from Kogan are grey import (except this one and Kogan-branded products) whereas Officeworks products are Australian stock. When it comes warranty for a Samsung phone, you will have to send it back to Kogan which they'll send it back to Samsung Hong Kong for repairs/technical assessment; otherwise, with Officeworks, either them or you can take it Samsung Australia directly.
There was an internal memo going around as early as 2013 explicitly saying not to price match with Kogan for the popular Samsung S3/S4 at that time.
A lot has changed and is changing at Kogan. There are aggressively striking deals with Australian suppliers or the manufacturer themselves to be a supplier. There are plenty of Australian stock from many brands including Sony and DJI. They are going to use the Dick Smith brand as leverage to get even more suppliers talking to them.
I've had problems with Officeworks not honouring matching small PC shops that only have Australian stock describing them as "like Kogan". I even got an apology from head office once.
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/dji-phantom-3-advanced-integrat…
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/sony-dab-radio-xdrs60dbp/
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/sony-zx310-sound-monitoring-ove…
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/microsoft-lifechat-lx-3000-jug-…@smithydll: Fair enough. If they can make it clear on the product page that it's Australian sourced, then there won't be issues.
@sy37:
My previous experiences with price beat a HDD at OW was the staff would do the extra miles to try to prove the pice beat request invalids:
- first ask you to wait aside and ask another staff to come to serve you.
- comparing exact match of model code down to the last letter
- instead of letting you to show him on the competitor website which page lists the item,
he would insists to search for it himself and suggests he can't find the matching item.
- even though the item is listed as in stock on the competitor website, he would still ring up to confirm stock avaliability.
- try and argue the item listed on competitor website is online order only and would need to take into account the postage cost, which I then show them it's free postage.
- finally triple check with store manager for price beat approvalAll up it took 30min to price beat for $20 difference, I guess most people would just purchase the item from the competitor store if possible.
@windrc: this is why I do price matching over the phone by calling their national number. You have to click and collect and wait a few days but it's worth bypassing the hassle.
@windrc: Totally agree i been through the same situation twice than i decided cya officeworks. I dont see it even worth the money you save and the humiliation you receive from the other end person trying to refuse you. Now i always try to buy from other retailers and try to get bargain or wait for price drop but i dont want to step into office works and get humiliated.
@ronnknee:
I work for a company that Kogan regularly places orders with, so I know with absolute certainty that a sizable portion of their items are purchased locally.Refusal of honouring a policy in good faith only damages the brand that initially offers it.
I've wasted many an hour and missed out upon many an item due to the pettiness of employees and in particular, managers, online customer service and head office to the point I avoid Officeworks at all costs.
I despise Officeworks for leaving me pigeon-holed into that position, as staff like you suffer unfairly.@ronnknee: and if they don't, it should not be the customer that suffers.
It is the business that stipulates the conditions, so logically, their liability to ensure they're adhered to and if unable to determine either way, benefit of doubt should be in the customers favour.@086:
I know with absolute certainty that a sizable portion of their items are purchased locally.
I haven't been following Kogan lately. We can both agree that the image of Kogan has been a grey importer for a very long time; even they feel the need to differentiate their products if it's Australian-sourced. Like I said, if they continue with their current practice (ie. labeling which items are Australian stock), then there won't be any troubles (and if they don't, then it's a fair assumption that it's grey imported).
if unable to determine either way, benefit of doubt should be in the customers favour.
Yes, that should be the case. Most of the times, it's crystal clear whether it's Australian stock and/or the item is identical.
- first ask you to wait aside and ask another staff to come to serve you.
This is normal procedure. Not everyone are allowed to authorise price beats.
- comparing exact match of model code down to the last letter
Again, this is normal procedure. The item has to be identical.
- instead of letting you to show him on the competitor website which page lists the item, he would insists to search for it himself and suggests he can't find the matching item.
Depends on the person. If someone wanted to show me, then I would let them.
- even though the item is listed as in stock on the competitor website, he would still ring up to confirm stock avaliability.
This is normal procedure.
- try and argue the item listed on competitor website is online order only and would need to take into account the postage cost, which I then show them it's free postage.
Depends on the person.
- finally triple check with store manager for price beat approval
Depends if that's what the store manager wants them to do.
I can possibly answer that. Have encountered a lot of negativity on this, in my experience the Burke street store and especially Officeworks online. For example I was told they would not price match stores like MSY. The most frustrating conversation was around pricing matching an external HDD, where the online people said, well the store your comparing with has a different ink policy than us, so we can't match it. I was buying a hard drive not ink. After being pushed down a couple times I tend not to both asking anymore and just buy elsewhere when I know its cheaper elsewhere then it avoids me a) wasting a trip to office works, b) the time lost waiting c) frustration and possibility of losing the deal at another store.
Burke street argued with me about restocking fees when I tried matching there once on a UPS that I later got from Costco even cheaper than the store I was matching against (LMC).
Has the process changed recently or is it really a case of the luck of the draw.. e.g. who you get serving you.
Be great to painlessly do a price match. ;)
@ronnknee:
yes, totally agree all the procedures they were following are legit and justified, and it depends on the person or store.if they list out all these normal procedures for a price beat request, I'm sure it would deter some of the would-be customers.
I'm just trying to answer sy37's bafflement on what could be the reason why "some people are really hesitant to price beat at our / other stores."
From my past experience, it's the sum of all the things they did to try to invalidate my price beat request makes me feel the time and hassel it takes for the price beat amount isn't worth it for some people if they can purchase from the competitor.
The short answer is bad customer experience.
@paulojr: My local officeworks (North Ryde) has matched MSY countless times. They've even matched some dodgy smaller pc stores however only after further checking of model number etc.
Also an OW worker. A lot of the processes that team members go through regarding price matches is heavily dependent on the "culture" that management sets up around it. If the managing team is strict and often double checks or hovers when a team member price matches, then more often that not, those team members will become hesitant to ever do it without manager permission. If managers are especially stingy about it, then this often goes down through the retail hierarchy. The reason is, management gets flagged by higher ups if team members incorrectly price match as well, so there's pressure on them to make sure their team is doing it "correctly" too.
Having said that, the training book advises that we SHOULD be making the process as easy and less awkward as possible. Kind of hard to find that balance though. 9/10 we'd love to do it straight up for you, but don't want to get in trouble.
@sy37:
To be honest, it really depends on the store manager and how they enforce the rule. (I work at officeworks Tech as well, at a busier branch). The strict rule behind it is that we will only price match identical products AND services.The main point being services, which includes warranty. Some (or most rather) smaller companies out there will stock "Grey Imports" that do NOT carry an Australian warranty, but will rather have a 12 month/manufacturer warranty which is different. Kogan is one of those company that sell some grey imports, as some ozBargainers will have realised that the majority of their products will come with a different power plug for another country rather than the AU plug (not that this determines a Grey Import, but rather is a trait of).
Hey matey
first ask you to wait aside and ask another staff to come to serve you.
Depends who you get served with on the register. Sometimes they themselves might know how the procedure works, otherwise they call in another more experienced team member.
comparing exact match of model code down to the last letter
This is important, the product has to be identical in every measurable aspect. The easiest way is to check the model code.
instead of letting you to show him on the competitor website which page lists the item,
This is a safety measure. It's very easy to edit websites nowadays (have had this happen once) and / or apply promotional discounts (eg the microsoft student discount on the MSSurface Pro 4) without telling us. We can't beat these type of specialized discounts.
even though the item is listed as in stock on the competitor website, he would still ring up to confirm stock avaliability.
Extra safety measure. I don't usually do this, and if the website is legit there is no reason for me to have to call. To each their own.
try and argue the item listed on competitor website is online order only and would need to take into account the postage cost, which I then show them it's free postage.
Yeah lol I miss that sometimes. The customer tells me and I correct my mistake once I verify, no problem.
finally triple check with store manager for price beat approval
I don't do this. It looks like you had a new guy serving you :)
I've been denied before because the other company didn't offer the same returns policy and hence it wasn't identical. Manufacturer warranty was the same and everything but the other company only offered two weeks or a month return policy where as officeworks is a year. Is that an actual thing?
I think we're more concerned about the manufacturer warranty. Who were you price beating against?
nah, that's store returns policy, being the policy of returning the item to office works and getting money back without engaging the manufacturer. (e.g. get money back because the product sucks) I used that once.
Of course denying price matching is an invalid argument because it assume you bought it with the intent of returning it (for non warranty reasons) and therefore a change of mind returns policy is required. Also as far as I know office works do not actually advertise a 1 year returns policy anywhere official so its pretty bad that they would use that excuse to avoid price matching.
Another issue is that office works has been known to sources products with custom manufacture codes "the special office works version", so when you price match a product you know another store has, the code doesn't match because Officeworks has made sure the stock they get has a different code. That's not very above board is it.
you work for a company that wants to make money (naturally), as an employee do you wince when customers are making foolish or uninformed purchases? even with your best efforts at educating them?
Good question. If customers make what I know to be bad purchasing decisions despite my recommendations and advice then I don't feel particularly disappointed because I did my part. In saying that, I would say sometimes I am left a bit baffled. Today a guy spent an extra $30 on a laser printer because it had fax. He explicitly told me he doesn't need fax, nor ever uses it. He just assumed the more expensive it is, the better the quality. He then went on to say he doesn't need the extended warranty option because his credit card gives him two years warranty. Never heard the last one, lol.
The worst are the parents on the BYOD scheme opting for the higher end laptops we have for their son / daughter for "school". Your son doesn't need an i7 / 8gb ram 15.6" laptop with a dedicated GPU for school.
Sometimes I've went out of my way to tell customers that what they are buying isn't necessary and they should not purchase anything at all if that is the reason they came here eg: buying Office on Mac when their son/daughter already has pages / keynote installed but they just didn't know about it etc.
Some credit cards do add extra warranty beyond the 1 year.
Good points though. Fools being fools.On this note; I checked and one of my card does have the warranty… Subject to an excess of $250 though
@LurvinOZB: I wouldn't mind paying $250 to get a bricked laptop replaced. CC extended warranties are essentially just free insurance, the excess is to deter you from using it for minor things.
@ilikeradiohead: true, but in my case when I considered this versus a Lenovo 2nd next biz day warranty, with the Lenovo's 2nd year extended warranty coming in at over $100+, it was an easy choice.
I guess the important thing is to check if the manufacturer has got extended warranty scheme, usually it's less than quarter of a thousand bucks.
I personally prefer Office on Mac to Pages, etc. but yes, for a student or many people it should suit them fine.
What they may not know is if they had Office 365 then they can install the apps on five computers - including the Mac, as well as Windows computers.
This ^^
I used to work in retail as well and the amount of times I hear the kid trying to convenience their parents that they need a 1k+ computer is just stupid. They're told its going to last longer too, but IMO any Pentium/i3 is sufficient enough for 'Office'.
Nice one.
Extended Warranty = BS. Try claiming see what happens. My NAB card gives 1 year extra warranty but also very difficult to claim successfully. Better to spend less and put some money aside when you need to replace it.
Lots of idiots out there that are hooked by marketing and think high specs and commercial software is the answer. I'm an IT professional and the fastest chip I have is an i5 and it runs everything. Its still worth telling people before they make the mistake. I'm sure you'd help a few people pointing out the information. Office on Mac is also bloody horrible too.
How do you fill your time if it isn't busy?
What are best and worst value items to get at office works?When the store isn't busy I go around just facing up. I also connect the display bluetooth sony speakers to my iphone and blast some metal. Pretty much just trying to look busy here and there.
Best value: extended warranty options, definitely. I see people spend a lot of extra money for what they think is better quality goods, when they would get better value if they just opted for the extended warranty options and had a guaranteed span of that item for 3 years. Also, in my store we have a clearance desk at the back with a bunch of stuff for $1 or similarly heavily discounted prices, including large metal bottles ($1), opened packing goods by customers (50% off-ish). Always ask if there is a clearance table and whatnot in any OW store you visit.
Worst value: Depends on the long or short term basis. Around 80% of the people I help buy ink I convince them to just buy a laser printer, and explain to them how it pays its self off after a few months and throughout the year, you'd already save yourself $$$s. Inkjet printers are incomparably lacking compared to laser, and I can only recall ever recommending it a very select few (2-3) amount of times (usually if the customer is looking for A3 printing).
It's hard to pinpoint a specific good/bad value deal, because OW caters for a lot of audiences. $7ish 24x water packs sell out really fast though and the $20ish 5x pack Fuji paper, too.
Extended warranties are the best value? GTFO!
It’s a question of one’s value for “peace of mind”:
If you never stress over the possibility of something breaking, it has no value
If you lose sleep over the thought of your new gadget breaking or such, it can have a very high value
If you genuinely lose sleep over the though of your new gadget breaking, you have some serious issues that even the biggest and best extended warranty won't fix.
case in point: people probably won't care about a GPS unit breaking, because they're around a $100 and you can use a phone to get around places anyway.
But if you're running a business or taking a bachelor degree and you bought that super-awesome $2000 dollar HP Envy laptop or whatever, you'd probably think that hey, the extended 3yr HP warranty for an extra $120 won't hurt, and in the bigger picture $120 is a small price to pay to have your ass covered in case your expensive laptop fails within the next 3 years.
Terrible example. If you're a business or student, the absolute last thing you should worry about is your laptop.
Your primary concern should be the data, which by the way no warranty or extended warranty covers.All well and good that your laptop is replaced, but all your work is gone.
Your primary concern should be the data, which by the way no warranty or extended warranty covers.
Cloud storage exists. There's almost no excuse for 'losing' data these days. External HDDs or USBs are cheap as chips, and there's countless free and paid cloud storage services.
Agree with what you said. Not related to this AMA but more people need to look into cloud storage. Back everything you wouldn't want to lose, ever, on the cloud.
The "Extra Cover" warranty is actually good for office chairs if you want to replace it in 3 years for free.
@IceCreamBandit: I cannot stress enough about how many people just don't back up their stuff despite it being as simple as a click of a button, or even saving files in a particular folder. As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
@wakkawalla: It covers wear and tear. In about 3 years time, you call the number on the Extra Cover pamphlet and make a claim eg. chair is worn out, gas lift is not working anymore; then they'll give you a claim number which you bring with your chair to the store for an exchange of another chair of a similar amount (if less, then the difference will be refunded as gift card; if more, then you pay the difference).
@scrimshaw:
haha.. yeh but try claiming through and you will find you lose sleep over contemplating having to raise a case with VCAT or dealing with the ACCC / consumer affairs. At the end of the day less stress with taking a baseball bat and enjoying some de-stress time smashing your crappy broken device to pieces!I don't know about that mate, at my local bakery chips are $5.20, yes that's enough to get some USBs, but certainly not higher capacity ones nor HDDs for that matter.
You are sorely mistaken!
I don't know about that mate, at my local bakery chips are $5.20, yes that's enough to get some USBs, but certainly not higher capacity ones nor HDDs for that matter.
You are sorely mistaken!
Let me introduce you to an idiom:
a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light ).
Cheap as chips would an example of an idiom. It simply implies that the referred to item is something that is very affordable. For example, if I were over the moon with something, it would just mean I am very happy, not that I am an astronaut.
Seeing as you did not acknowledge that cloud services were free and a viable option, did I need to reassure you that you can still access your files on such services on clear days, and not just the overcast ones?
What do your extended warranties cover that isn't covered under the Consumer Protection Laws?
Extra 2 years on top of the standard 12 months warranty.
@ronnknee:
Not manufacturers warranty - Australian Consumer Law
It basically legislates manufacturers and vendors must provide warranty for a time that would be decided reasonable if taken to court.
Do employees know about this?
You forgot to add browsing Ozbargain and answering any questions on this forum.
Ah the $20 FujiXerox paper.
Used to work for a small business and we would kill so many trees every week that I would find myself buying them often.
We once got the lower GSM stuff from Kmart to see if it saved dollars. It was shit. Never again.
Then once, my local Woolworths had a pallet of reflex boxes (5 reams) for $5 each …
Needless to say, I took half the pallet. Owner was happy.
May I add… The worst value products at Officeworks are the Facilities Supplies products (cleaning etc.) the most overpriced stock unless they are on clearance. [and FYI I don't work there]
How's the money working for. Officework causal? Good swift? How and hard to get in? Any tips for the young guys thinking of getting the first job?
The wage sheet is available publicly. If you are 18, the casual rate is $18.05 per hour. If you are 19, it jumps to $21.92. Availability is a big factor. I can't really speak on this as I don't hire or anything. You get a 20% discount card at OW stores, too.
It's alright.
You get a 20% discount card at OW stores, too.
Does that work on everything? Can you use that for already discounted iTunes cards (20% off currently) to get effectively 40% off?
I also work at OW and it doesn't work on everything. Some products straight up have no discount (not sure about itunes cards) while others have discounts far smaller than 20%. For example on a Kindle Paperwhite team members only got 4% off ~$180. However on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 10" we get just under $90 off the ~$550-600 price from memory.
So it varies from product to product. But overall its pretty good, especially when the price for a product goes down (because another store has it cheaper) and our discount still applies. Once bought a printer that was originally $220 for $130 because the ticketed price dropped to 170 and the discount still applied.
I'm surprised at the 20% staff discount, do you also get discounts at other Wesfarmers stores (Coles/Target/Kmart,etc)?
I have access to a Coles discount card via a family member who works there, that only entitles you to 5% off at Coles and OW (as well as all other Wesfarmers stores).
Aren't most OW positions part time?
Only know 1 or 2 part timers at my store. We're almost all casuals.
Ahhh, thanks for that!
My store has roughly 40% casual, %40 part-time, 20% full time. Management in my store have no problem committing to a minimum hours part time contract after you've worked there a few months.
I can't think of a better job to have while studying at uni.
Money is alright. Haven't worked that many retail jobs to compare it too but from what I hear, it's neither top stuff nor scraping the bottom of the barrel. Talking to my superiors though, apparently the pay rise gets inversely "worth it" as you go up the food chain and into salary. At least in my store, managers are probably earning less per hour overall on their salary than a standard non-youth part time team member.
How and when (is the best time or day) to grab clearance items? Are the clearance items marked randomly by store manager or direction from head office?
It varies store to store. The clearance table contains both "clearance" items and particular quantities of stock that the store might want to get rid of eg damaged packaging goods by customers, etc. Other times these products could be placed ordinarily near its home shelf but be individually discounted with a tag on them. In my store this section is refined throughout the day, so there is no "best time" per se to grab "clearance" items. You do find some pretty good stuff there from time to time. If you find a product that has opened / damaged packing you can talk to the manager and ask for a discount. Works pretty much all the time I've seen it.
Most OW stores I've been in follow this, not all though.
Do the stores still have clearance tables? The two closest to me seem to return the discounted stock to the shelf
Do you find most items are more expensive than other shops?
For example, as simple as an ID security holder, nearly double on price unless people ask for price matching. Most people don't thinking there is price guarantee and that price must be low. Would it be the case?
In some cases people assume that the shelf prices we have are the lowest they will find. It's a fair assumption because we check competitor prices regularly, but sometimes you may end up finding something cheaper if you do quite a lot of digging around. I actually find most items cheaper than other retailers because of this. I'm not sure about ID security holders but I've never seen a stationary item be price matched from my experience.
And… and… and… and…
That's it I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight :(
@KaptnKaos: Megaoffice supplies $4.02
Ha..ha..lol
Sorry, hope you did not wait.
That's exactly what happened. Took a magnesium tablet with iPad in bed and felt asleep. Just woke up with the iPad on hand and continued.PS. Often he screen refreshes in ozbargain when search over other tab. Lost everything typed. Hence need to submit first and come back to edit, in order to finish the second half. Not sure if there is a solution.
Why does the packaging come with a stencil of genitalia?
@eatwell365:
I use a chrome extension called lazarus that automagically saves all form entries you type. This saves you when the ozb post comment box times out.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lazarus-form-recov…@fredblogs:
works like magic imo. very obvious effect.googie or read this
also good for people who have muscle cramp. recommended by gym instructor.
not expensive as well.
For the items ranged at OW, I find the pricing goes from pretty good to the cheapest going around. However its worth noting that there are often products outside of OW's range that serve similar/identical functions that are much better value and quality. A classic example would probably be portable chargers. The brand we sell at the price it's at is probably the cheapest going around, but I personally bought a different one for a much better price and it has lasted me since forever.
Why are some of the clearance items hidden in the lockable cabinet that is behind the checkout operators and found on the shelves?
In the past I have gone into OfficeWorks looking for a specific clearance item mentioned on OzBargain (eg. $19 Action camera 1080p) and none can be found on the shelves. When I ask a sales person if there is any available stock, the computer shows 1 or 2, they will unlock the cabinet and find the item.
Regardless of clearance, normally tech stuffs like HDD, Camera, Phones are kept in lockable cabinet behind the counter. That should be for security reasons.
Yep what Venom said. Also staff frequently reserve clearance items for themselves behind the counter to buy at the end of their shift.
If the system says there is 1 or 2 of an item this means:
a) there is actually 1 or 2 of an item located somewhere in the store
b) there has been theft and these are unaccounted for stock
c) these are faulty goods in repair / are customer returns.
Mostly it's a & c.
They're only still in stock because they're in the cupboard. If they weren't in the cupboard, they wouldn't be in stock and you wouldn't be looking for them. Maybe it's a good for you that they're still in the cupboard :)
Why are they in the cupboard? Because putting out clearance tickets (and finding the stock they belong to) is one of the harder, tedious and time consuming jobs in the store.
Do you think OW sells out dated tech and need to change?
I often "feel" the laptops and tablets are not up to the latest models and mayt be overpriced, hence never even bother look at them in OW. Technology seems turnover faster In JB Hi5, Hardly Normal and Good Gals. Now Dick is drying up. I could be wrong.Not necessarily outdated tech per se, but just not the "highest" end. Our desktop range is appalling for example. For laptops, the best you would find (spec wise) in store is probably a high mid end range. We do have things like wireless hard drives, 1TB external SSDs etc. The cable section we have is very comprehensive compared to the usual retailers. Being office orientated, I think the range is alright.
What do you call Office Twerks?
I feel like Officeworks does not cater to the same audience as those others stores in a lot of ways. Probably wouldn't be financially viable to start selling higher end PC's, as the demand from OW customers isn't there. But in general most if not all the PC's I've seen in my store have the latest CPUs, i.e. 6XXX series, so although I see your point I wouldn't say we have slower tech turnover. Our target market is just different.
My Harmony remote died… DSE has the new one at a low price ($80.96) but it's in store only and the one near me doesn't have stock (http://www.dicksmith.com.au/tv-video-accessories/logitech-ha…).
OW are selling the same remote for $289.95 (which is far from the cheapest - some other retailers are around $180). I thought about trying OW to see if I get lucky with someone who will price match the DSE deal, but decided it wasn't even worth trying.
As an OW employee, what do you think? What do you think of people who try to obtain such price matches? How often do people try price matching something that doesn't actually meet the t&c of the price match policy (maybe as a ratio to legitimate price matches)?
If it meets the main conditions of the pricebeat policy then there is no reason for it to be unsuccessful. These conditions are mainly orientated towards stock availability, warranty and product model. I'd escalate it / post it on OW's facebook page if you are getting someone very stubborn (always talk to the manager first).
For Dicksmith, we don't price beat / price match from them anymore. They are in receivership, are liquidating their stock and not considered competitors.
For your product, I would (just by taking a glimpse from a 2 second google search) consider this to price beat: http://www.mwave.com.au/product/logitech-harmony-ultimate-on…. The warranty is the same. There is the option of a local pick up. The product is in stock. If this is the same model as the one we sell then there is no trouble in price beating it (haven't checked the specifics to see if it is identical to the one we have).
For Dicksmith, we don't price beat / price match from them anymore. They are in receivership, are liquidating their stock and not considered competitors.
I was at officeworks the other day and a manager was orienting new staff behind the counter. She said when she was asked about DS price match (exact words): "We still price match Dick Smith. Dick Smith has been bought by Kogan online so we're waiting till it all settles down".
Who are your typical customers that come in to buy tech products? Are they individuals or business customers purchasing with an office budget?