Google Home is 50% off @ Australian Geographic stores - what a bargain!
11/5 1130am: Back in stock
1/6 10:40AM: Back in stock
Google Home is 50% off @ Australian Geographic stores - what a bargain!
11/5 1130am: Back in stock
1/6 10:40AM: Back in stock
The package arrived today, however I noticed that the box was unsealed (the sticker was cut/peeled off), and the base of the Google Home itself is dusty.
I checked the website, and it seems like it may not even be sold anymore?
I checked an unboxing on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2lyB_gzR84) and I can definitely confirm that the Google Home was used. Album here: imgur.com/a/fqvpaPG
I purchased this Google Home thinking it was new, as I didn't see anywhere advertising that it was a used product, but it definitely seems like the case.
Going to contact Australian Geographic to see if I can get a new Google Home instead, but I feel my chances are slim as tehy are out of stock…
Another reason not to bother dealing with these crappy stores, FIVE days to notify us that they had no stock is pathetic.
The sooner stores like this close the better, they don't deserve to stay in business.
Clearly the Co-op is incompetent as well, they have owned Australian Geographic for two years and they still don't have stock control or customer service staff?
New Australian Geographic owners have no Amazon fears
July 3 2017
The new owners of the Australian Geographic retail chain are re-invigorating the business by shifting more upmarket and steering away from some of the cheaper products also sold by Kmart and Target, along with ramping up investment on a chain they say had been neglected for a decade.
Australian Geographic, which sells a range of telescopes, globes, educational toys, drones and other science-based items, was acquired by Australia's biggest university campus retailer, the Co-op in August 2016, from the private investment arm of Melbourne's wealthy Myer family, and is being re-positioned by the parent company's chief executive Thorsten Wichtendahl.
Mr Wichtendahl said the looming arrival of online giant Amazon into Australia holds no fears for his business, which also operates 62 textbook retail outlets on university campus sites which also sell a large chunk of stationery, headphones, tablets and other gadgets.
The parent entity has rebadged itself as AG Co-op and Mr Wichtendahl is eyeing further acquisitions to expand the stable with another one or two retail brands. The combined businesses are headed for annual revenues of around $175 million in the 12 months to the end of August 2017. That will represent 32 per cent growth on the previous year, with the large spike largely coming from improvements made by Australian Geographic under fresh ownership.
"Amazon is a formidable player," he said. But the textbook arm of the AG Co-op business had been competing against it for a decade and he suspected it would be hard for a local Amazon arm to cut prices much further than its offshore operations which had been selling specific textbooks to Australian students and academics for more than 10 years.
"I don't see the Amazon pricing changing that much," he said. Mr Wichtendahl said Amazon's Australian-based operations would also need to cope with higher minimum wages and the same rental costs as local players.
The Australian Geographic operations fell on hard times in the past few years and were sold by the Myer Family Investments vehicle in mid-2016 for a minimal amount after it had owned the chain since 2007. This avoided a costly wind-up of the operations. The Myer family's own family office businesses have also been going through a substantial change this year, with a planned $3 billion merger with Mutual Trust.
Mr Wichtendahl said he was now looking ahead to a revitalised chain, which is exiting from lower-priced science toys and ensuring it has a point of difference with unique products. "If Kmart and Target sells it, we don't want to sell it," he said.
"We want to be selling things for creative minds," he said. "It's anything STEM related," he said, referring to the science, technology, engineering and maths focus of many educators who point to the job-creating sectors of the future.
Mr Wichtendahl said AG Co-op, which is owned by 2.07 million members, was correcting an extended period of the stores being starved of capital under previous owners. "There has been an under-investment in the stores for a decade," he said.
The brand had also lost its way. "They certainly lost the value proposition".
He is convinced the "phygital model" is the may of the future, where both of the retail chains have an online presence as well as a substantial bricks and mortar network.
The Co-op books and stationery and electronic gadgets stores have a loyal customer base of 2 million members made up of university students, academics and graduates who still want to buy specific textbooks and specialist publications. Doctors, lawyers, nurses and accountants are among the biggest spenders.
The Co-op bookstores generated about 25 per cent of their sales from online. Australian Geographic is currently a laggard on that front, with only 4 per cent of its sales from online. But a new "click and collect" system will be in place within three to four weeks at all of the Australian Geographic stores, where shoppers can make purchases online and then pick them up at retail outlets. The retail outlets themselves will also have more of a digital presence, with large in-store screens to assist customers in finding new items.
http://www.afr.com/business/retail/fmcg/new-australian-geogr…
Australian Geographic should honour its deal to supply Google Homes to those who ordered them for $100.
To claim that they can't supply the goods - after they had taken the money - because the units are "out of stock" is not an excuse.
By taking customers' money, then waiting five days to say they can't fulfill the order - Australian Geographic prevented customers from taking part in discount deals at other retailers at the time.
It also shows a high degree of incompetence by Australian Geographic, that its online sales system cannot see its inventory. That is, the computer processing the sales does not know how much stock the store has, and keeps selling more Google Home devices long after stocks have run out.
If this is anything like past purchases I made with this company, they probably sold 1000 of these, taking full payment, and they probably only will deliver on 20 of the orders .
If anyone has been scammed (as I was couple weeks ago, was sold a drone which they did not have, and they sold to someone else instead, and refused to arrange my order to be filled, offering me a faulty used product instead) report them to fair trading, they have no right to obtain and hold our funds by deception, for items sold to us whicb they do not have to sell
All and any other store, sells items which they have or will be getting in, to fill orders. This company sells items THEY DO NOT HAVE and refuse to get in for you, then make it a difficult and lengthy process to hopefully get refund eventually
BACK IN STOCK
Not sure whether to buy or not reading past comments, but at this price it's such a good buy!
Anyone tried Price Beat at OW?
Got denied since the store is liquidating.
Bought this morning, order cancelled by the afternoon
Just got an email saying my order was cancelled. Idiots.
Mine just got cancelled
Wow, they just cancelled the order. Poor form.