Monday 25 July 2011

A Lesson In Consumer Power

If you works certain hours or you're off work, you've probably come across Dominic Littlewood. He seems to be on most show during the day-time, but he is best known for helping consumers bargain for goods by talking to them through an ear piece.

His theory is that, if you try hard enough, you can get all kinds of deals and sweeteners from retailers, big or small.

My wife took this to heart a long time ago, and while it is a given that you barter a bit for a house, or a car, many people would not think twice about trying to get money off other smaller items (I just don't have the nerve). Take this past weekend as an example.

I needed a new suit, so we went to Moss Bros. Credit goes to the sales guy for asking all the right questions, what's the suit for, what's your budget, colour, style. He then makes a recommendation or two, and eventually we settle on a nice suit that is already reduced from £400 to £279.

All this while, my wife is getting some good banter going. We have a pretty good routine going now, I play the fool, she apologises for my statement that the shoes he just picked out make me look like Crusty The Clown. The sales guy says that he would recommend they take the trousers up to fit, and we agree. At this point my wife comes in with "So, is there any room for negotiation?".

This is a standard line that you see on all the TV shows, and it's important that it's used on someone who can choose to answer "yes" or "no". There's no point using it on the Saturday worker from the local Uni, as he/she won't have the authority.

So the sales guy rightly points out that they were selling this at £400, so no, there's no negotiation on the suit. Fair play. I go back to the changing rooms, and when I return, I discover that my wife has blagged a free suit bag and half price off the tailoring. An immediate saving of £8.

On we go, and later in the day we go to Altimus, a specialists "Millets" type store, located right next door to Millets in Reading. Shoe shopping begins in earnest, but what we are in for is a very in depth science letter about the state of one's feet. Very informative, interesting, and free, and beneficial towards choosing some walking shoes and trainers. All the banter is there, plenty of chat and empathy towards poor little me having to come show shopping with the missus etc.

A quick use of Red Laser tells me I can get the trainers £30 cheaper on the net, so that's no good to Altimus, but my wife settles on a nice pair of Merrell walking shoes, that the salesman has craftily suggested she try with some proper walking socks. Naturally there's no point only having one pair, so she decides to buy two pairs. At this point, comes the question "Any negotiation on the price of the shoes?" Be honest, how often do you hear that? Of course the answer is no, but the follow up catches the salesman off guard:

"How about throwing another pair of socks?"

So there's my wife playing "heads or tails" for a pair of socks in a shop. And she wins. £12 saving - £20 so far.

The big one of the weekend is the mattress. If you think shoe shopping is time consuming, try mattress shopping. One is supposed to spend 10 minutes minimum on a mattress to know whether it's up to much, and there are a lot of mattresses in Furniture Village.

Cue the banter. We are lying on a giant bed that has a pop-up screen at the foot. "Ooh I could sit here all day watching telly, just need a cup of tea and I'm sorted". The salesman duly supplies the tea, and we are set for the long haul.

We decide on the one we like, we are probably there for 40 minutes or more chatting to this guy, who is very knowledgeable and very balanced in his sell. But this is a big purchase, and we never buy things that big without walking away first. A quick tour round homebase, and we return with a strategy. It turns out that delivery is £55, so we ask the question "Any negotiation on the delivery?" As it turns out, because we are only 15 minutes away, he waivers the delivery. Five minutes later, he's been talked into giving us a £19 pillow. This was a particularly relevant, as we wouldn't have taken it had it not been free. Saving = £74.

So two day's shopping, total saving = £94.

By my reckoning, we've saved enough money to buy my beer-making kit...

No comments:

Post a Comment