Price is King. With the current state of the economy, it has become more apparent than ever that price is the ultimate decision point for almost all of our purchases. Although obvious, companies have never embraced this fact to the extent that they are now taking advantage of it. Back in the day, products differed from each other not only by price, but some highlighted better quality to justify the price. Today, it seems like no one is really paying attention to anything else BUT price itself. One great blog, The Consumerist, has been tracking the most recent manifestation of our focus on price, calling it the "Grocery Shrink Ray." They've been showcasing grocery store items that carry the same price but cleverly decreased the amount of contents inside. I've certainly noticed this myself as well. Even just a couple of days ago I wanted to buy ground coffee but didn't as I noticed that the size of the bag was half (!) of its normal size - although the price was the same.
Although there is really nothing that anyone can do about these decreasing package sizes, this trend made me realize how much we sacrifice for price in other shopping choices. Most importantly, many people often choose to buy a product at the lowest price - no matter where it is that they find this best deal. But I would really warn people against this habit. Most often, we heavily discount future customer service needs. In other words, since we tend to think that our new Plasma TV will work perfectly, we decide to pay less at some shady store (or buy it from some unknown manufacturer) than to pay a premium for some "potential" warranty or customer service if we "might" encounter any problems.
I see this on an almost daily basis in the area where I live. There is a large electronics, appliance, home-goods store in the Southeast called Brandsmart USA. It is an absolute horrible store, yet they have constant and non-stop traffic. Why? One and only one reason: price. It's true that their prices are some of the lowest, and very often beat the prices of the local BestBuy or CircuitCity, etc. Yet the shopping experience is literally disgusting and the way that they go about their business is not only unacceptable in today's modern market, but even appalling. They have salesmen (don't really need to be gender neutral here, since I've never - not once - seen a female salesperson in their stores - only female cashiers) that are worse than car salesmen on your cheapest used car lot. They still work on an ancient system of commissions, so as soon as you place your eye on an item, that department's 7 salesmen will literally attack you. They jump you and start pushing that item, no matter what it is, no matter if it's the worst thing there, no matter if you look like you're interested or not. But as soon as you just hint at the fact that you're definitely not going to buy it, they forget you as if you just disappeared completely. They go and attack the next customer. I've tried just asking some questions about products in the past, and at first they try to answer (I say "try" because every single time I knew more about the product than they did - they are absolutely clueless), and if you seem disinterested they won't even give you any more time to answer more questions. They will say that they are "with another client" or will tell you to "go ask that guy over there."
But that's not even the worst. If you want to buy something, no matter how big or small, you have to first be "entered into their system." They record every single piece of information about you, almost with your child's name and birthplace, just so that they can write some code down on a piece of paper (randomly ripped from whatever is within arm's reach) and tell you to go to the cashier. So you go into the back where they literally have a complete mess. It looks like you're betting on horses or going through some third-world country customs. There are about 30 windows with cashiers sitting in front of computers. You could stand there for an hour or more at times. And remember, this horrible procedure is followed no matter how small your item. Even if it's just a simple digital camera. I'm not talking about $5000+ big-ticket items that might need this type of extra security.
Once you pay, you're still not done! You now get a print-out, and you have to go outside, around the building, and into their (dirty, shady, seemingly dangerous) dock loading area. And that's exactly what it is - a loading area for delivery trucks to pull up to in reverse. So they treat you like you're some wage worker who is supposed to go up to the loading area to pick up your item. There, it's an even bigger mess. You have tons of people just hovering around, and there is no specific line to know who's next. Once you get someone's attention (guys running around in the warehouse area getting your stuff), you give the guy the slip of paper that the cashier gave you. Now this is the only proof of your purchase that you have! So if the guy goes in there and you never find him again (since there are dozens of them) or he loses your paper, you can't do anything about it. But if everything does go smoothly, then after 30 minutes or so the guy will pop back out with your item.
Now he crouches down to your eye level (since they're elevated on the loading dock) and opens the package to have you see that all the contents are in there. What if I'm buying my item as a present and would rather have it factory shrink-wrapped ?!? Nope. No such option. So I guess anything you get at BrandmartUSA as a present will basically look used since it's open-package. Once you agree that it's OK, they have you sign some type of "release" form and off you go.
So about 2 hours after you decide what you want, it's in your hands. This should be enough to convince anyone and everyone not to shop at this messed-up store. Unfortunately, even I have fallen victim to their low prices and have bought several things there despite this horrible shopping experience - clearly consumer unfriendly. But what made me stop shopping here altogether is the lack of customer service if you have any problems with your item in the future. I once bought a cordless phone for the house, and when I plugged it in, it had an echo on every conversation. So I decided that I will return it to get a different model. I even bought extended warranty on it, so I wasted extra money that I wouldn't get back (and I know - no one should ever purchase extended warranty - it's always a scam - and it was a stupid mistake on my part). When I brought it back to the returns desk, with receipt, only several days later, it was another horror show. First I had to wait for 15 minutes at an empty desk before anyone would even come up to help. Then, I started explaining how there is a problem. The girl behind the counter was reading something on her computer and seemed completely disinterested. When I finished she just said, "oh, sorry, is anything wrong with it?". I just explained it to her! But she said she was reading something, so I just explained it again. Turns out that they have to test it! themselves to make sure that there is a problem. So for 45 minutes I stand there while some guy took the phone to the back to plug it in and see what is wrong with it. They finally agreed that there is a problem, BUT (!) since I had an extended warranty they could not just refund the money - it would have to go to their their warranty department to get fixed first. Who does this these days? What kind of policy and procedure is this? I just bought it a few days before that and I can't just return it - only because I spent even MORE money on a useless extended warranty? After I started arguing with them, they called a manager, and 30 minutes later I had a refund. I definitely decided there and then that I would never ever shop at BrandMart USA again.
But an experience like this is what convinces me that we should not be only paying attention to price when shopping. Although future customer service needs are heavily discounted and seem unimportant in our minds at the moment - whereas it seems so enticing that we can get a better price at that same exact moment - I would strongly recommend paying a 10% premium to make sure that you get acceptable customer service (instead customer service that will only make life more difficult for you).
As for Brands Mart USA, I don't know how they are still in business. Of course they get a lot of traffic, so they would not have trouble staying in business in terms of financial liquidity and sufficient profits, but I don't understand how they are allowed to stay in business. It must either be that not enough consumers are complaining or (more likely) that they have some shady arrangements with local authorities. For instance, there is ALWAYS a county sheriff at each one of their stores during all operating hours. What kind of arrangement does a store need to have so that a tax-paid public employee serves only and exclusively that store? I really think that this shouldn't be - but there is nevertheless a Sheriff just hanging out by the front of the store all day long. Also, Brandmart has an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau - which is completely unrealistic and just impossible. I don't know how they're doing it - but I would bet on the fact that it's not clean or legitimate. Either way, don't just take it from me. There are tons of BrandMart USA complaints online - such as here and here. I'd recommend to anyone to stay away from this store, despite their slightly better prices.
The brand new Amazon Kindle 2 is finally available. The long-awaited replacement to the first-generation Kindle, or maybe now the Kindle 1, is on Amazon for pre-order, apparently for shipment on February 24. People are already going crazy for the new e-reader, buying pre-order spots and reselling them on eBay (before even receiving the unit) for $600 - in comparison to the $359 price tag.
