Harvey Norman AAArrrgh!

[bods]

Ahhh, good old harvey norman. Went into one today to look at Acer tablet pc's. First one really wasn't interested at all, so I thought stuff ya. Went to a different store, stood there for about 10min before being served and even then I nearly had to twist the guy's arm to actually sell it to me... I mean far out, it's not that hard to give decent service... only went there cause they had a 20mo interest free deal going...

 

[KraftyPg]

What gets me is just how many people continually go back to these guys. Forget the fact their service is crap, forget the fact that in most cases any warranty claim that can't be handled in store is a minimum 6 weeks without the item and forget that often their price isn't always the best all that pales in comparison to the fact that even Gerry himself says he'd never buy interest free in his own stores because of the contracts.

Gerry and his cronies may be the biggest arseholes to walk this earth but they are very astute business men and for any one of them to suggest interest free terms are not a good way to purchase goods says alot. Sure they can afford to buy things without interest free but the stores also make maximum profit with zero risk off interest free sales so it benefits them in more ways than just a sale, but to suggest their own sales gimmicks are laced with hidden things that aren't in favour of the buyer should be a warning to all buyers.

I know we live in a society where living on credit seems to be the norm but paying finance companies for the privileged of taking a $500 tablet home today rather than in a few weeks is really false economy, even more so when you consider it has the name ACER on it.

 

[terryc]

Hmm, the Acer Plastic fantastic computer. Drop it on the floor and you had to put it ll back together again.

 

[KraftyPg]

I spent the first 12 months in the pc business as their local service agent after 12 months I'd had enough and knew why the previous agent got out of it. Was a steady stream of work but they paid like crap, dealt in cheap imported crap and treated their agents in the same crappy way they treated their customers. I can still buy their products at wholesale prices but refuse to sell it even after 15 years.

 

[Biscuits]

Gerry Harvey. He runs an over priced outfit and then complain about people getting cheaper items oversea.

Gerry Harvey is a douche. enough said

 

[bods]

What gets me is just how many people continually go back to these guys. Forget the fact their service is crap, forget the fact that in most cases any warranty claim that can't be handled in store is a minimum 6 weeks without the item and forget that often their price isn't always the best all that pales in comparison to the fact that even Gerry himself says he'd never buy interest free in his own stores because of the contracts.

Gerry and his cronies may be the biggest arseholes to walk this earth but they are very astute business men and for any one of them to suggest interest free terms are not a good way to purchase goods says alot. Sure they can afford to buy things without interest free but the stores also make maximum profit with zero risk off interest free sales so it benefits them in more ways than just a sale, but to suggest their own sales gimmicks are laced with hidden things that aren't in favour of the buyer should be a warning to all buyers.

I know we live in a society where living on credit seems to be the norm but paying finance companies for the privileged of taking a $500 tablet home today rather than in a few weeks is really false economy, even more so when you consider it has the name ACER on it.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. On the other hand, as far as tablet PC's go at the moment, this is one of the best available, even though it is an Acer. As for the interest free, I already have the account, so I don't need to pay an application fee, as well as that, i'd rather borrow money off a finance Co and pay $4 a month for an account fee and keep my money in a high interest account earning more interest a month than the account fee for the interest free account. As long as you pay it off in the required term there's nothing wrong with doing it that way as far as I can see.

On the other hand, if you don't pay it off in time and get hit with 50% interest or whatever stupid amount it is then it's not worth it. The way I look at it is, borrow $500 odd and pay it off over 20 months, or spend $500 odd of my own now for no real benefit, fair enough you can get it a bit cheaper paying cash for it outright, but you tend not to notice it over a longer period...

 

[terryc]

Shrug, the only loan we've ever taken was home loan/home equity. Far cheaper than anything else.

 

[KraftyPg]

I agree terryc. I understand not everyone can be in the same situation but even when I was younger and had less money a Finance company for anything other than a house just wasn't something I wanted, I'd seen too many people get screwed over by the likes of AGC etc.

On the note of the ACER tablets there is far better tools than that on the market for similar prices I have personally tested the Android versions of both ACER and Viewsonic, and the Windows versions of both ACER and Viewsonic and despite the average write ups in the media the VS shits on the ACER. If you willing to open them up (and void the warranty) the VS is very upgradable, runs smoother and feels better. There is also others on the market which fit into the same category that I haven't tested but on all of them their biggest killer is Windows. I'm no Windows hate squad MS have made me alot of money over the years but on something with such a small capacity OS storage unless you know how to handle it properly Windows (of all flavours) will always be the biggest downfall.

 

[terryc]

Lol, topic hijaack.

Hmm, AGC, once had to fix up their computer room fitout plans(suckers forgot to order holes for power cables in the raised floor). Their IT motto was "you don't fail until you stop trying". It was bad enough sharing a computer room. Thank <diety> I didn't work for them.

The only laptops I have are crap ones people give me. For computers, I have always purchased yumcha(parts) and rolled my own. " HW Lock in" wasn't just a dinosaur mainframe activity. Shades of Amstrad.

RTA of NSW acquired Acer plastic pop aparts just at the time they moved into a entirely new building. Major VOC problems before anyone knew what VOCs were. but I twigged and was "the witch doctor" at fixing these things. Shrug, like anything. good points and bad.

Year ago, HN was very good for sending customers to "go and look at their printer range then come and tell me which one you want".

Also had a customer who did hobby video editing and had purchased his HW & SW from HN. Lol. rule one; when you test a camera by filming your idiot workmates, DELETE the evidence.

Yes, I too have made a lot of $$$$ from MS users. Shame that Linux has its collective head up its elitist arse.

 

[bullwinkle]

I had to buy a replacement clothes dryer on the weekend. Went to the local Good Guys. Was approached by a salesman before we even found where the dryers were. The guy showed us the range, asked what we would use it for, reduced the sticker price from $319 to $285 cash, and we were out of there in under 10 minutes. That's how it should be done.