Little Things That Irk You IX

[Asura]

The guy had a sale in the bag and messed it up royally. I know they're trained like that and have targets but it's poor form and it's not sustainable. We saw the guy a few minutes later outside having a smoke, getting his head together.

It's anoying in the moment but it's to do with margins. Their margins on the furniture are probably really small.

Back when I worked for a retailer, we allowed people to buy warranties with large purchases. This wasn't a grift; the warranty terms were good and it was no-quibble (I had it myself and used it a couple of times). But obviously you had to pay for it, and they'd worked out only maybe 1 in 10 people ever use the warranty, meaning that the margin on it was massive. Like, if we sold one warranty, we made more money than if we sold ~15 big-ticket items. Same reason we sold voucher cards; around 10% of them were never spent (lost etc.) which meant they had a 10% margin - people were paying us £10 for £9.

It seems counter-productive to think a person might risk sabotaging a sale for the sake of upsell, but sometimes that's how it breaks down.

[wakka]

I've similarly been dicked about by Richer Sounds trying to push me into a 'better' speaker than the one I've come in specifically asking for, which is an open box customer return that they're blatantly trying to force on me because it suits them.

[Asura]

I've similarly been dicked about by Richer Sounds trying to push me into a 'better' speaker than the one I've come in specifically asking for, which is an open box customer return that they're blatantly trying to force on me because it suits them.

They must've really gone down the pan. Their service used to be fantastic.

[wakka]

They're OK. The staff are reasonably knowledgeable about the product. But you've always got to be on your guard with them against them trying to push some nonsense onto you I find.

[Atticus]

Back when I worked for a retailer, we allowed people to buy warranties with large purchases. This wasn't a grift; the warranty terms were good and it was no-quibble (I had it myself and used it a couple of times). But obviously you had to pay for it, and they'd worked out only maybe 1 in 10 people ever use the warranty, meaning that the margin on it was massive. Like, if we sold one warranty, we made more money than if we sold ~15 big-ticket items.
It seems counter-productive to think a person might risk sabotaging a sale for the sake of upsell, but sometimes that's how it breaks down.

Yeah, I understand the system, I just don't like it. I've never bought an extended warranty on anything. The numbers game works for the consumer too. When you never buy it you can take the odd 'out of warranty' failure on the chin because you're still up on the deal, even buying a replacement.

[wakka]

if we sold one warranty, we made more money than if we sold ~15 big-ticket items

This wasn't a grift

That's the thing, it's massively over-priced by factor of at least 10, which means to me it kind of IS a grift.

[dataDave]

Are you saying you'd spend £200 on a HDMI cable???

If I was spending €15,000 on a TV, certainly.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I've got a lovely HDMI cable. 1.5 meters long, braided and silver connectors. Cost... £25. What do you get for £200??

[speedlolita]

And I felt a little silly buying a £20 QED USB A -> B cable for my Topping DAC/Amp combo.

[dataDave]

No, I mean like a graphic equaliser to boost base, alter the mid range and fix the highs.

LOL WTF. I consider this standard practice.

[dataDave]

I've got a lovely HDMI cable. 1.5 meters long, braided and silver connectors. Cost... £25. What do you get for £200??

Probably a 2m Audioquest Cinnamon or something like that, idk.

If you have €3,999 to spare you could try a 3m Dragon instead: https://www.smitsarnhem.nl/48g-dragon-3m. If you're spending €80K on a TV, why not?

[CMcK]

LOL WTF. I consider this standard practice.

Don't do it guys. Your music playback equipment is there to try and reproduce as accurately as it can what the recording artist wanted you to hear. If you change things to how you think it should sound that intent is lost.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I'm no mega audiophile but I'd recommend a good set of reference headphones and an amp. Get a good FLAC running and embrace the crispness. Flat as possible sound exactly as the recording was intended.

[Yakumo]

LOL WTF. I consider this standard practice.

Too right.

[Lebowski]

Probably a 2m Audioquest Cinnamon or something like that, idk.

If you have €3,999 to spare you could try a 3m Dragon instead: https://www.smitsarnhem.nl/48g-dragon-3m. If you're spending €80K on a TV, why not?

this is hilarious, £170 quid £4000 euro yet you get the same picture as a £7.49 amazon basics HDMI cable the human race really are stupid at times.

whats that it will last longer than a standard cable welp the one i got with my switch is is still going strong a good five years down the line, as are the ps5 and xbox cables that came free in the box maybe i'm a pleb and should spend over £500 on cables