Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (
More info?)
Thanks for posting all this "inside baseball" advice.
Based on my experience, though, Sears price match policies must vary from
store to store, manager to manager. At the Sears store where I bought my
new model Sony KDF-60XS955, they came down several hundred dollars on a
price match of a local appliance store, which had already knocked the price
down several hundred dollars off MSRP, without even having an ad or a
written price offer. The salesman asked me for something in writing but I
didn't have it. I just had my word on what I had been quoted. He asked his
boss and got immediate approval for the price match plus 10% of the
difference.
Later, they lowered the price another $400 when the TV was going to be 5
days late on delivery. Ended up about $1200 under MSRP.
My advice would be, if you get a good price quote, get it in writing so you
have something to take to Sears. If not, if all you have is your word for
it, try it -- it worked for me. If not that, then just negotiate.
Obviously, at some Sears stores -- well, at least one -- there is a huge
leeway.
mack
austin
"HDTV-slingr" <NOSPAMMERS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8plrn0hkjgjdls22c7a8ncap0cbmuptj7f@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 21:41:10 GMT, "Verizon User" <anonymous@anon.com>
> wrote:
>
> (Warning, LONG - from a current Sears TV & Audio salesman):
>
> >Has anyone successfully used the Sears Price Match policy for a plasma TV
> >(or other high-priced item?)
>
> In addition to what the other posters have said in response, I can
> give you a few tips & tricks to get your best price on high end
> electronics from Sears.
>
> Technically, we do only pricematch our local competitors and the major
> big-box retailers but there *can be* a bit of leeway here too... see
> below. First off, we salespeople are more than happy to pricematch if
> it's legit. The sooner we ring you up and get back out on the floor,
> the better for us, so by all means, bring us a pricematch opportunity!
> Believe me, if you come up to me with an ad for a thousand dollar
> lower price on a Hitachi plasma, I cannot wait to make you and I both
> smile.
>
> I have no intention of trying to get you to pay more for that
> television. I will try to sell you our protection plan and I will try
> to sell you some good cables and I'll try to get you to spread the
> word about how easy this transaction was but I'll DEFINITELY not try
> to get you out of our price match opportunity.
>
> Now some inside tips.....
>
> First off, outside of price matching I've got 10% to work with (on
> sales over a grand). Not a dime more and that INCLUDES on-sale
> prices. That's ME. Other salespeople on our staff do not. Nobody
> has more than 10% so don't waste your time. So you understand what
> I'm saying, if an item's already 5% off (on sale), the most I can do
> is another 5% off, PERIOD. I cannot compound anything either. In
> other words, if you have a $50 off coupon, I cannot get away with 10%
> off PLUS that $50 coupon.... I'd get fired.
>
> Remember, this is a totally different situation than a legitimate
> price match. Price matching can go on all day long as long as we can
> show a copy of an ad from any local retailer or any national big box.
> Even if it's half price from what we're selling it for. The policy
> is, their price PLUS 10% of the difference, as long as we can show our
> boss in writing.
>
> One time recently, Circuit City had the 46" Samsung DLP on their web
> site for a thousand dollars less than our retail price and I price
> matched it, printed out the page. The boss had checked on my price
> match since it was so huge and it turns out it was a mistake that CC
> had corrected by the time my boss looked at their web site. I got
> called into his office and he was PISSED off, about to fire me. I
> showed him the printed page and we both realized it was just a mistake
> that had quickly been corrected on CC's web site and that was the end
> of the 3rd degree and grilling. The bottom line is, the customer got
> a STEAL.
>
> So anyway, how do you know if you are talking to somebody who has the
> ability to "cut a bit of a deal" (within that 10%)? First off, you
> need to find somebody who's being paid on commission. Not all of us
> are paid commission, it depends upon the Sears store. How do you know
> you are at a store that pays commission? Look at the size of the
> store. Only the A & B stores pay commission. A & B stores are the
> huge ones found generally in the larger metro areas. If there is a
> huge display of TV's, you're in an A or B store.
>
> Now how do you find a salesman who can wheel and deal? This is where
> it gets tricky. In my particular store, if you are a marginal
> salesman or if you cut too many "unauthorized" deals, you can't be
> cutting deals. People who can't sell and people who can't sell
> without cutting deals never last more than about 8 months, so if it
> were me, I'd be asking the salesperson how long they've worked there.
> If the answer is a year or more, the chances are good you are talking
> to somebody who is trusted not to give away the proverbial "farm" and
> who is assumed by management to be doing business in Sears' overall
> best interest.
>
> For example, let me give you some personal examples based upon my own
> in-store experiences. We've got about 10 salespeople in my
> department. Of those 10, about 5 of them are new and about 5 of us
> have been there over a year. Of the 5 of us that have been there over
> a year, nobody says anything if we cut an occasional 5 or 10% deal or
> do zero percent financing when it's not being advertized. The reason
> why is because we rarely do it - maybe on 1 out of 10 sales and
> management has learned to trust our judgement.
>
> Of the other 5, they can't do it, no matter how much you want them to.
> Some have tried it and were written up for it and told they cannot cut
> deals to get a sale. This is how Sears starts us out, probably to
> hammer home the notion that we are NOT to give their money away under
> any circumstances, when the fact is, we are not TRUSTED to do this
> until we've proven ourselves to be able to do it only when it is
> absolutely a last resort (this is an "unwritten rule").
>
> So, if it were *me*, and I were shopping for a TV, I'd be shopping for
> a salesman first. I'd find an A or B store and I'd be asking the
> salesman how long they've worked there. If less than a year, I'd
> leave for a few minutes and come back until I got the answer I wanted
> - over a year. Then I'd just come right out and say, "look, I already
> know the deal, I know somebody who works for Sears. You give me 10%
> off on this set, we can just walk right up to the cash register right
> now".
>
> Expect to be told it is not possible but stand your ground. The
> reason we say this is because the more of these we do, the more we get
> on the proverbial "radar screen". Even the best of us will get fired
> if we cut a 10% deal on even a quarter of our sales. If the salesman
> stands his or her ground on your 10% deal, it's because he or she has
> had a 'talking to" recently, due to an apparent inability to close
> most deals at full retail. In this instance, you have 2 options if
> you want to buy from Sears. Option 1, find another salesman on
> another day or in another A or B store. Option 2, settle for 5%, or
> something that won't put the guy or gal on the radar screen.
>
> I hope this helps
>
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