What's happening to Jaycarand Harvey Norman?

[Guest]

I've seen posts here refer to the movement of DSE away from electronics
components and stuff to consumer goods, and the vast lowering of staff
standards (eg recently I went to buy an LCD TV in the Warringah Mall store,
only to find that the salesman knew nothing about those *either*... so I
bought elsewhere...)

I see Jaycar is also going. Only in their case they are increasingly
advertising gadgets like 'farting ash tray', bosses you can strangle, lung
ash tray and the like which have nothing to do with electronics. If you open
that mostly excellent magazine Silicon Chip, invariably on the inside front
cover you will find Jaycar advertising junk like this, which IMO denigrates
from the electronics tone of the magazine. Just my opinion. Do others share
it?

And another beef: For years I bought all my computer needs from HN at
Balgowlah, and that's quite a few thousand dollars. Then I wanted a spare
battery for my Toshiba laptop that I'd bought there. I received completely
unhelpful and disinterested service from *two* salesmen, and as a result I
no longer buy my computers there. A little assistance with a small item
would have maintained customer loyalty, but no...

 

[Lohn J. Deister]

from Gerry Harvey. His (technically, it's "Her", his wife runs the
retail business now)

She runs Domaine.

 

[Guest]

Interesting. originally I actually had quite good experiences at HN in
furniture, white goods and computers. Maybe it was because the sales staff
saw me as a good prospect (and they were right - I bought tens of thousands
worth) but it worked then. But it fell down when I wanted the battery and so
they lost their man. And only a few weeks later I've bought a new printer
and a new laptop -- from somewhere else. And I'll never go back. Lack of
intelligence I suppose -- the good service would have rapidly paid. Paying
on commission should work if the salesperson has the intelligence to realise
that loyalty breeds ongoing sales.

 

[David L. Jones]

I've seen posts here refer to the movement of DSE away from electronics
components and stuff to consumer goods, and the vast lowering of staff
standards (eg recently I went to buy an LCD TV in the Warringah Mall store,
only to find that the salesman knew nothing about those *either*... so I
bought elsewhere...)

I don't see why people keep talking about the "demise" of DSE. DSE
stopped being a "proper" electronics store and moved into retail at
least 15 years ago!

I see Jaycar is also going. Only in their case they are increasingly
advertising gadgets like 'farting ash tray', bosses you can strangle, lung
ash tray and the like which have nothing to do with electronics. If you open
that mostly excellent magazine Silicon Chip, invariably on the inside front
cover you will find Jaycar advertising junk like this, which IMO denigrates
from the electronics tone of the magazine. Just my opinion. Do others share
it?

There have been recent threads on this. Jaycar are *not* going the same
way. Take a look at page 9 of the new catalog for Jaycars explanation
on why. They have to sell the gadgets to pay the rent, and if that
keeps them afloat then so be it.
They now stock *more* electronics parts than they ever have, surely no
one can complain about that?

Do the gadget ads degrade the magazine? Maybe just a tad, but it's just
an ad, no big deal. Ads pay the bills for SC and keep the magazine
afloat.

And another beef: For years I bought all my computer needs from HN at
Balgowlah, and that's quite a few thousand dollars. Then I wanted a spare
battery for my Toshiba laptop that I'd bought there. I received completely
unhelpful and disinterested service from *two* salesmen, and as a result I
no longer buy my computers there. A little assistance with a small item
would have maintained customer loyalty, but no...

Why on earth would you buy a computer from Hardly Normal? They are only
for your average joe who knows nothing about computers or anything else
technical.

Get the spare battery from eBay, you'll pay 1/10th the price.

Dave

 

[David L. Jones]

My 2 cents worth:
Due to a simular bad experience, I refuse to shop at hn.
I have also suffered from the lack of service and intelligence at dse.

Where possible I buy my electronic parts from WES (Sydney), or consumer
electrical items from The Good Guys.
But I do live in a small town and I have limited options.

I have mostly found WES good, I had an issue with some of their belt sets
some years ago, but on all occasions that I wanted to return or replace an
item - they came through, even paying the return freight on occasion.
So one can't complain when you get service like that.

With consumer electrical items, that's a different story. It pays to shop
around.

Yeah, I have no loyalty, I buy from the cheapest seller.

I recently had a very good experience with HN. My breville toaster died
after six months (the wizz-bang white LED "countdown" display backlight
went dim) and I took it back under the 12month replacement warranty. I
expected to be in there for ages and have a big hassle etc, but I came
out about 2 minutes later with a new toaster off the shelf, no
questions asked, no hassles.
Same thing happened again two weeks later (same fault!), I was again
out with a new toaster within two minutes.

Dave

 

[Alan Rutlidge]

Yeah, I have no loyalty, I buy from the cheapest seller.

I recently had a very good experience with HN. My breville toaster died
after six months (the wizz-bang white LED "countdown" display backlight
went dim) and I took it back under the 12month replacement warranty. I
expected to be in there for ages and have a big hassle etc, but I came
out about 2 minutes later with a new toaster off the shelf, no
questions asked, no hassles.
Same thing happened again two weeks later (same fault!), I was again
out with a new toaster within two minutes.

Dave

It's no skin off their nose to do this. The manufacturer most likely has a
return for exchange warranty policy on this appliance.
The droid at HN had enough sense to realise that to replace it immediately
for you would mean not having to engage you in a trial argument, thus
wasting his potential sales time ( read possible commission earning) with
other buyers.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[David L. Jones]

It's no skin off their nose to do this. The manufacturer most likely has a
return for exchange warranty policy on this appliance.
The droid at HN had enough sense to realise that to replace it immediately
for you would mean not having to engage you in a trial argument, thus
wasting his potential sales time ( read possible commission earning) with
other buyers.

Yes, and I was glad for it.
At the very least I expected some paperwork and that I'd have to line
back up at the checkout again etc, but they let me pick one up off the
floor stock and walk right back out the door. NICE!

Dave

 

[Blutt]

Interesting. originally I actually had quite good experiences at HN in
furniture, white goods and computers. Maybe it was because the sales staff
saw me as a good prospect (and they were right - I bought tens of
thousands worth) but it worked then. But it fell down when I wanted the
battery and so they lost their man. And only a few weeks later I've bought
a new printer and a new laptop -- from somewhere else. And I'll never go
back. Lack of intelligence I suppose -- the good service would have
rapidly paid. Paying on commission should work if the salesperson has the
intelligence to realise that loyalty breeds ongoing sales.

And then there are the salespeople/ businesses who don't help with the
little stuff and wonder why they don't get repeat custom.
I tried to buy a cable from Johnnyappleseed GPS the other day, total lack of
communication on their part, guess which store will not sell any more GPS or
mapping to me any more?

 

[John_H]

I tried to buy a cable from Johnnyappleseed GPS the other day, total lack of
communication on their part, guess which store will not sell any more GPS or
mapping to me any more?

I wonder if Kymbal knows about it... AFAIK he's still the Brisbane
based principal. I've never had anything but first class service from
him (and sent many a potential customer in his direction).

Or has the management recently changed by any chance?

 

[quietguy]

They may have done you a favour - a friend of mine wanted a spare batt for her
JVC video cam that she bought from HN - they quoted her $200!!!

On line ex a Sydney store (not HN) $49 or ex asia $9 (yep, nine dollars - but
quality??)

Shopping around pays off

David

 

[David L. Jones]

They may have done you a favour - a friend of mine wanted a spare batt for her
JVC video cam that she bought from HN - they quoted her $200!!!

They must have a similar motto to DSE - "buy for a cent, sell for a
dollar"!

On line ex a Sydney store (not HN) $49 or ex asia $9 (yep, nine dollars - but
quality??)

The battery for my Canon MiniDV is $2 from asia. Capacity seems just as
good as the genuine Canon one.

Dave