Bored, ask me anything. I'll answer to the best of my ability.
[AMA] I am a JB Hi-Fi Salesperson
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On average, if i worked 5 days, i would say between $200-300.
How many working hours would that be ?
recognise any serial perks members?
Not really. In fact no, from the ratio of average customer who won’t google a price from competitors online vs perks abusers or even ozbargainers in general. Nah.
But i do see the giftcard users come in with their 20-30 giftcards from time to time.
Are you able to identify us Ozbargainers with our obscure price matches and small denomination Ultimate gift cards?
Also, do Jb employees secretly hate customers who pay via giftcards? Lastly, how often do you guys experience shoplifters?Shoplifting varies on area. Some JB employees DO hate giftcard customers, especially if its a $2000 phone being paid in $100 giftcards. To their credit (or ignorance), they don't know anything about the whole giftcards going on sale at 10% off to save $200.
If you scratch your PINs and take them out of the packaging beforehand they will always appreciate it. Me and a bunch of coworkers seriously don't mind, i've personally showed them that "I walked into woolworths to buy these 7 giftcards to save $70 for 5 min of work" and they understand that way.
Identifying ozbargainers would be from my reply above heh
Identifying ozbargainers would be from my reply above heh
You've described the 'secret handshake' for OzBargainers,
but we already have our gang signs !
I worked on a contract project at the Head office in Chadstone leading up to Christmas back in 2016. We had this small room to work from for a couple of months. Across from it was this conference room. One day they were setting up tables filled with merchandise. Movies, CDs, Blu-rays, console games, collectors edition stuff, mobile phone, tablet accessories. Just heaps and heaps of random things. Long tables piled up with it. I asked them what was going on and they said they get so much sample stuff from distributors, that twice a year they sell all everything to staff members for a gold coin donation and money goes to a charity. It started at 11am that day and people would line up and they would let 5 in at a time and each person could grab 5 items. So I said to the other contractors I was working with that we're not missing this. So we lined up 5 minutes before 11am. We go in and it was an Ozbargainer's dream come true. I picked up copies of Forza Horizon, No man's sky, a Hobbit collectors edition with the figurine and couple of movies. I went back in later in the afternoon when every one else had gone through and there was still heaps of stuff there. They said yeah buy whatever you like for a $1 each. So i bought all these Otterbox and UAG Ipad/Iphone cases and some other goodies. Was unreal.
I've never heard of this! Sounds cool as hell honestly.
Why are you guys such a pain to deal when it comes to warranty
Give your phone number when you make a purchase. If your item is within warranty period you will get a solution you are happy with almost guaranteed. Not happy? Just ask for a manager and they will escalate if you ask NICELY. It really is that simple.
What if it's beyond the warranty period, but still within a reasonable time period and we are exercising our Aussie Consumer rights? (related to Australian Consumer Law)
I remember this Sony TV we had, faulty right after the warranty period.
Ex JB staff member/manager here.
JB supports a voluntary warranty period for all items sold. If your TV is just out of warranty, there is no guarantee that it will get fixed for free but the team will definitely look at it as per their policy. Check the link below and scroll down to the spot with all the colourful boxes.
https://support.jbhifi.com.au/hc/en-au/articles/360053005194…
@Friskies: The problem with this is that there is no 'just out of the warranty period' when it comes to statutory consumer rights, and JB may still be obliged to fix things "for free" outside of any stated warranty.
I have had great experiences with JB and warranty issues. I had a problem where I bought a DJI drone which had a noticeable level of softness in the corner of images. For my use case that was unacceptable. After trying to work it out with DJI for a while (2x replacements had the same issue) JB gave me a full refund with no attempt to argue back, when other stores would definitely have said that the issue was not that bad, not a fault etc etc
As a jbhifi sales person would you say its more worth getting the ps5 now while the deal is still going or waiting till black friday? I saw it at 669 right now but I remembered last year Jbhifi was doing a bundle where spider man 2 for about 675 in total, are you allowed to say if theres going to be a game bundle this year as well? I tried asking a sale person from live chat and they said they didn't have plans on future sales and the lowest price ps5 was at was 668.
To be honest, we actually don't know about upcoming products. It just drops on us too, never signed an NDA or anything lol. I think 669 with 10% off giftcards is pretty good, $600 for a disc ps5.
I would not wait until black friday, at best, it will be the same price. Black friday is kind of a scam/bait tactic to get people into stores but thats a topic for another day.
669…
Remember when it was $505 WITH Spiderman 2…
If I request for a price match and it is denied, should I ask for a manager? What is the best strategy to have a price match approved?
Why is your price match being denied anyway? if it is an australian store it should be fine. You can ask for a manager, but that would only really make sense if you genuinely believe the price should be matched.
The best strategy to have your price match approved is to show them that its in stock at an australian retailer, and if possible, show them that it includes an AUSTRALIAN warranty.
Pretty funny from these comments how often people get told by JB employees that price matching got gutted, Happened to me to. Also couldn't price match a UE Boom 3 speaker from EB Games across from the JB Hi-Fi despite the signage being visible from the JB Hi-Fi because the "Price was too low."
Is Amazon AU considered an Australian Store?
I find that sometimes if the manager is a jerk they wouldn't even bother to match or sell it to you
I once had a manager say you can go to another JB store to price match as I won't do it at my store…. perhaps it will make his sales numbers look bad for the month?
Why are the security guards look like they are stoned and couldn't catch a cold
How much is the voucher fee?
99 = $766 + $99 first month. Regardless of giftcard amount given.
Please stop telling me to upgrade from my previous-year Pixel # Pro to the latest Pixel #a. That is a downgrade, not an upgrade. 😭
While a lot of phone salespeople are knowledgeable about iPhones and can differentiate the base and pro models well, and some salespeople that are able distinguish Samsung's various lines at all price levels, very few seem to be familiar with Pixels.
Other than that, respect to you guys!
Thank you! We don't recieve much training on pixels, so only staff who personally use androids will know anything about them to be honest.
What is your favourite pizza topping?
I'm bad with favourites in general, but pineapple does belong on pizza
I’m sorry to hear that
Can I return and swap out something under warranty less than a year since purchase if it's faulty without it having to be sent away etc like at Bunnings
From experience they will deny a refund or replacement on the spot for mobile phones but the rest is usually pretty easy to get swapped or refunded on the spot.
Any phone with a fault within 6 months can have an instant replacement or refund. This is the DOA period. If it is over 6 months it will be sent for repair.
DOA period for phones is 30 days from my experience. Not 6 months.
Do you work at JB? Lol. The DOA period is 6 months.
Depends on the item. I've been able to do that at JB with a laptop, keyboard and mouse. TV and Phone however they send off
What does JB stand for? Was it a person's initials?
Pretty sure the business was started by John Barbuto or something similar.
Just checked (probably should have done that before answering).
From the horses mouth
genuine personal service from our experienced specialist staff.
I wonder if OP considers himself as an experienced specialist?
genuine personal service from our experienced specialist staff.
I wonder if OP considers himself as an experienced specialist?
Is it cheaper if you receive basic, non-genuine, impersonal service from an inexperienced generalist staff member?
I went instore to purchase 2 iPhones, had a voucher from a trade in, and they applied the voucher to the transaction. Before I made payment, I decided to get only one phone. But the salesperson said that there was no way for them to cancel the transaction and change it without voiding the voucher and I would just have to do a separate return. Is this true or were they just after the commission?
Any returns affect sale stats so i don't think they lied. If someone returns an item your target will be lowered and the commission will be reverted.
I used to have absolute banger 30-50% discounts through my old workplace.
Now im in a bigger organisation, they don't provide JB corporate discounts. I've been advised that JB has to contact our organisation to introduce the offer. Not the other way. Got any experience in this?Some people have a portal where they can buy items from JB Hi-Fi through it. Most people show me stuff that isn't impressively priced anyway so you're not missing out on much if you just come down and ask for a deal (nicely).
Are you still bored?
Why do JB store workers act like they're the coolest people in the world and they're doing you a favour by serving you, yet they work in a retail position?
Always baffles me…..
I've never had that experience. Which JB Hi-fi do you go to?
Maybe it's just the one I go to - JB Modbury.
Seriously when you're looking for one to help, they're all talking to each other / on their phones and when you ask them a question they seem annoyed you're asking them. The ones at the counter look bored and almost irked when you bring stuff up to them.
It's happened multiple times and in hindsight, I guess it's the store I mainly go to, so it might just be an issue with the staff there.
This experience is just universal across most retail stores that have teenagers working. You might get this at some JB stores and not at some others. Sometimes i enter a JB store that i don't work at and also feel this way, and other times the staff at some stores can be really nice.
Recently I went in to a JB store and purchased a couple of monitor mounts, was about $200, picked them off the shelf and took them to the counter. As soon as I got them off the shelf an employee saw me and then quickly hot footed it to the front counter and waited behind the register for me to get there then told the person behind the register their sales person code (or whatever) for this sale. I presume he was just doing it to get commission despite having absolutely nothing to do with the transaction.
I don't care, doesn't impact me, but is this common practice?
Common practice everywhere in retail, not just JB HIFI. You do the work, talked to no one and suddenly a sales staff is beside you at the counter. "Come let me help you with that"
Probably the staff is desperate to hit KPI.
He definitely just needed to hit his sales target ($ for the month). Probably poor commission on the item anyways. It is definitely common practice but I do think its awkward to do infront of the customer.
Brilliant. I thought maybe it was pretty common but I have purchased plenty of things from JB before and this is the first time I have noticed someone do it.
Why do the staff sometimes try to give people a hard time with price matches?
One example: I saw a staff member trying to deny a random customer a price match, claiming that "Betta Electrical" isn't a "brick and mortar store".
I overheard and knew that was bullshit, quickly looked it up on my phone and showed him. He said that it's probably an online-only price. After a bit of arguing, I said I'd call the store and check. Suddenly agreed and let the other dude have his price match.
Was he just being a dick or do floor staff get some incentive to avoid price matching?
No incentive to avoid price matching. Maybe at most lose commission on item. Sometimes if a customer is super nice i make an exception to some stores, and this may work vice versa from some other staff.
Where do all the returned faulty products go? Back to manufacturer?
Some to repairers, some back to manufacturers. I'm not 100000% sure here though lol
Piercings and goth makeup increases your odds of being hired by JB? Or is it just a coincidence.
Does claiming warranty get tracked? Like do I get blacklisted if I claim warranty often even if the claim is genuine?
No. Definitely not.
If I buy something from JB and the price goes down elsewhere or at JB… how many days do we have to get the price difference back?
Formally, 1 week, but most stores will allow 2 weeks if you're nice enough about it.
to date I've heard 7 days, 2 weeks and 30 days
doesn't seems to be in writing anywhere
Think of it logically, you can return an item within 30 days. So you would be able to return the item (unopened) and repurchase it, this time while doing a pricematch. If you are nice, they may let this pass even if it's opened (unlikely for a phone though).
The OFFICIAL price drop guarantee is 2 weeks. But this is not a binary rule, it's just a number to follow, we can do plus minus a few days no worries. This is just a way to have the difference refunded to your card and be done, compared to repurchasing the item.
Can I get my name added to a tax invoice for TRS purposes? Its not there on the original JB receipt
Just had a friend request this. They added it in a "comments" section. Not sure if it passed TRS - will update you in a month!
If you didn't ask at the time of sale it is possible to have a manual receipt done for you (though whoever is tasked with that will hate their life). This needs to be at least 24 horus of the purchase date though.
If your item is unopened you could always return it, repurchase and ask for your name on the receipt BEFORE you pay.
Why is JB so bad at honouring issues covered by Australian Consumer Law? As soon as a product is out of manufacturer's warranty, staff push customers to either repair at their own cost, or take it up directly with the manufacturer unless the customer continually insists it should be covered under ACL. This happens even after staff acknowledge an issue is a common defect with the product.
We shouldn't need to fight you over this stuff.
We just follow what the computer says. When we input a receipt for a $200 item, purchased 1 year and 1 week ago, with a 1 year warranty, there is no other solution to choose other than manager escalation. If you truly believe that the product has developed a fault in a way, that is unfair versus the cost of the product and the use you had etc. you can ask to speak to a manager nicely (big emphasis on nicely) and ask them if anything can be done.
If it is a really expensive item and you would like to try your luck, you can ask the manager if you can speak to an area manager. They are usually, honestly, on the customers side, and will try to be as fair as possible.
So THIS is whats happening when all 3 employees on the floor are playing on their phones and seem pissed off when you ask something
Love my JB friends. You are gods among us. Just be nice and polite and ask for staff price. the discounts are mad. especially if its already on sale.
Thank you! I always look after my kind customers
Reckon it’s worth getting a part time job (e.g one day a week) there for the awesome TV discounts? On average, how much discount is there on an OLED?
Depends on size. Bought a 85 samsung for family recently. Saved roughly $1000. Saved roughly $1000 on their $4000 fridge too. And a couple hundred here and there. Yes it’s a good idea to be a casual there for discounts and pocket money. But would they hire someone who will only work one shift a week? That’s a better question
Why it is hard to price match at JB Hi-Fi? Sale persona would like to apply their own random rule to prevent you price matching it.
What's your thoughts about JB Hi-Fi ban their customers due to abusing coupon? Is it too mean?So. What's the deal with pixel 9 pro $350.gc.
Is it supposed to be given out for those with $99 plan or JB keeping it for themself?
If you buy a pixel 9 pro, you will get a $350 giftcard. No need for a sim plan or anything.
I meant can i get the $350 gc if i got the pixel 9 for free with sim plan. It seems from comments that it still show up at register but not given to customer.
Oh it seems that the T&C says "Not in conjunction with JB Hi-Fi mobile google pixel offer" on the website.
How these giftcard offers normally work is when a specific item is purchased, the store is credited an amount (the amount of the giftcard) to the account of the store. Then they can create a giftcard with this amount to give to the customer, so the net balance of that account is 0.
This would mean with this offer the store is not given any account credit, so they cannot print a giftcard for the phone.
@despavr: It's just some early birds got the GCs, some were lucky tried different stores after jb updated that T&C, late commers miss out
Thanks OP.
What's the visible profit margin in say Bose Headphones?
The QC45's were on sale for sub $300.
Now they're selling for $449:
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/bose-quietcomfort-noise-c…So, I doubt the discountable profit margin is that high, so would the manufacturer be offering the bulk of the discount?
Or is it a loss-leader to get customers into the store, etc?
Thanks
I find JB HIFI and Bunnings staff are the nicest and most knowledgeable people in retail.
Appreciate you. It really depends on who you talk to. I can hear coworkers trying to sell laptops without knowing what RAM is during christmas peak trade, meanwhile i have built 10+ gaming pcs myself and the customer is looking for somehting for gaming. Kinda pains me
Are you really the head of the Kwik-E-Mart?
I’m curious to know your thoughts on extended warranties for high-end items. Do you think they’re worth it for customers, considering the potential for consumers’ rights to be protected if something goes wrong? Also, do you believe they make the process easier for all parties involved?
Honestly? I get the extended warranty on every single item i purchase, because i get the extended warranty for cheaper. For headphones, earphones, powerbanks etc. i do genuinely recommend them. Phones? Not so much.. Home appliances? Depends..
If you can get a deal, including extended warranty for not much more expensive, anything under $1000 will be guaranteed to last for 3 years, and anything over $1000 will be guaranteed to last for 5 years. It can be a no brainer when it's an extra $20 on some crappy headphones to make it a 3 year warranty instead of 1 year. If theres a fault, you get $100 of the $120 back, and can just buy something else.
For most customers, yes, extended warranties on particular items are worth it. I never recommend it on phones because they are lost or broken before they are malfunctioning.
People also should be aware that they are guaranteed a 2 year warranty on anything above $500 anyway.
TL;DR im biased because its way cheaper for us stuff, but i see many cases where it can be useful
Thanks for your response appreciate it. I’m looking at buying a ROG Ally X, but I’m torn between getting the extended warranty and not. It’s a bit more expensive, so I’m not sure if it’s worth it.
I'm not making any money off of this of course, but hear me out. You'll get a 5 year guarantee on it for an extra $240. If you mention that you are interested in it, ask a worker if they can do you a deal with the extended warranty (it is good for their stats so they'll work something out).
I always recommended it to customers for any handheld console because.. truth be told.. i am sure that something will go wrong with them within 5 years lol. Same with gaming laptops. Fan too loud? Freezing? Inputs glitchy? Buttons buggy? They are all covered with the extended warranty.
If they cant fix any of those problems you'll get a refund back for the product minus the extra you paid for the warranty. By the time that problem has surfaced there will be new/updated handhelds and you can use that giftcard to buy another.
BE NITPICKY IF THERES A PROBLEM!! LITERALLY ANYTHING!! Any problem they can't fix within 5 years and you'll get that refund. Just don't forget that. Even if it's a small issue, that's your oppurtunity to get a big refund for a new one
how much is it? i never thought staff would get discounts off the warranty so i never looked at it. Never bought anything while i worked there cause most things would be cheaper elsewhere
So extra warranty is 15% of the sold price on whatever you buy over $1000. For staff, you pay exactly half of the extra warranty cost. So if Rog ally comes down to $1000 on staff price, the extra warranty is $1000 * 0.15 ($150), then half of that ($75).
Basically 7.5% extra on top of the staff price of the item over $1000, instead of 15%.
What's your opinion on the whole "asking for a discount" thing? Shouldn't the store just charge the best price it can instead of rewarding people who whinge about discounts?
Do you wish JB sold actual hi-fi gear instead of mass produced mid/low-fi stuff?
Why are records so eye-wateringly expensive at JB now, they are seriously like $70 for a record I can buy on eBay for $35?
Asking for a better deal is fine. We are currently living in a cost of living crisis so every dollar counts. People are happy even when i tell them that i can only knock off a coffee's worth on what they're buying. Maybe its the thrill of it that they enjoy? I do think that it's unfair to some degree to customers who don't know you can ask for a discount though.
In regards to hi-fi, i think at the minimum to live up to the name of the company it would make sense. However i just don't imagine it being popular anymore. Online only options are basically the only way for it to make sense.
About records, be nice to staff and ask for a better deal. You can probably save $30-40 per record priced over $80 lol. For some reason, compared to any other item, our lil devices tell us we can discount vinyls that much. So take advantage of that.
They used to sell highish-fi when I worked there 15 years ago. Hardly anyone bought it even back then.
How did JB make profit from selling telstra plan if people end up cancelling?
Especially when you gave big $1200 or $1700 off for the phone?Great question. The answer is no one knows. We always wonder it too.
Typically the store would get paid by Telstra at/near time of sale, so they make their money regardless of what the user does with their plan after they leave the store. I used to sell interest bearing finance at better than "cash price", and then tell people to pay it out in full the next month. The store and I would get a big commission for this and customer would get a cheaper price, the only ones missing out was the bank.
Sometimes only $100 a week. I've had a week during christmas where i made almost $1000 though. On average, if i worked 5 days, i would say between $200-300. My coworkers (who are admittedly better salespeople than me) average probably closer to $400-500.