Have you been duped by this sales tactic??

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Aug 15th, 2008 @ 2:20 PM | 17,834 Views | 16 Comments

Formats:

dellgreen You go to your local computer store and you see the fancy new laptops...

Laptop FunkyTastic has a multi-core processor, 2 gigs of RAM, and onboard wireless N... cost: $X
Laptop StellarTubular has a multi-core processor, 2 gigs of RAM, onboard wireless N, and comes with a laptop bag... cost: $X+Y
Laptop LookinGoody has a multi-core processor, 2 gigs of RAM, onboard wireless N, and and higher resolution LED backlit screen... cost: $2X

Now you can see by this, you probably wouldn't buy Laptop LookinGoody even though it has that feature you really want, but for 2 times the price, that's just not justifiable. And if you were going to buy Laptop FunkyTastic, you would be fine and probably wouldn't consider the laptop bag. But now that you're saving so much by not getting the fancy LED backlit screen with a higher resolution, you figure... "oh what the heck, I'll go for StellarTubular and get the bag as well... that's better than just FunkyTastic!"

Well, my friend, that is exactly what "they" wanted you to do... you have been duped by behavioral economics and decoy pricing... fun eh?? In fact, imagine we removed the $2X priced laptop altogether. The chances of you going for the least costly option instead of the middle one would go up since you no longer are justifying a "savings" but rather only looking at an increase for a feature you didn't really want to begin with.

While this isn't really "Game Theory," (one of my favorite classes despite having been an engineering major back in college), it really makes you think about what other social and psychological tricks are being played on you on a daily basis!

Tags: economics, sales

Rating:

sriram
hello world

So i'm supposing that retailers do this between different brands to push the one where they get higher percentage margin and OEMs do it on their website to push a particular model for whatever reason {idle stock, high margin product, or end of product line}?

i really don't think this has happened to me or anyone else in Dubai coz retailers here don't very often stock laptops with the same specs but different brands. When it does happen , the pricing is almost always the same in every store.. Acer < HP< Dell ~ LG <Toshiba< Vaio< Apple .

Which reminds me...did you know that on some of the higher end laptops sold here, we sometimes have to pay a about 20-30% more than the going price in the US..beats me?

If there is something every1 gets duped here..its after-sales tactics.. like the service policy and all..
For example, my HP DV2899EE came with a clicking harddrive (a bad actuator/arm perhaps) and a DVD drive which for some reason wouldnt burn dual-layer . I had to give my laptop to this authorized service center (Redington) and wait for over 2 weeks... when i got it back.. they replaced the DVD drive with a faulty one that couldnt even read DVDs in the first place.... another run to that place they call a service center to get it fixed over again.. {a review of the service center is a whole different story by itself}.
It gets even worse here - when i complained about this to HP, they said theyd ask a Middle East rep to look into the issue, its been another 2 weeks or so since i wrote to HP..still no response.. a sad state of affairs here, i must say..

any ideas folks? how to deal with bad service?

littleguru
(microsoft student partnering)++

In reply to sriram

#Aug 15th, 2008 @ 11:10 PM

I love Dell: call, next day guy at home, replacing stuff, works again. Smiley

It's so awesome and fast they are.

I never buy hardware in physical stores anymore. It's really only browsing the web and finding what you want. But that's also because where I life the retailers really suck. Their hardware is old and always overpriced.

sriram
hello world

In reply to littleguru

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 10:36 AM

I envy you and the rest of people living in europe and the states... out here, the dell site for the region doesn't even list the prices and dont bother asking about the rest.. if dell cant get its online ordering service straight here, i doubt anyone else can Tongue Out

campusK0der

In reply to littleguru

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 10:36 AM

I go to real stores to either:

buy>try>return>buy-online-cheaper [it's the american way]

or

see the product in person. like side by site of TVs or built quality.

Max
Spaceman Spiff!

In reply to campusK0der

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 12:20 PM

I'm like you, Nikita...

That brings up an interesting point... is our generation more likely to purchase online than in-store? Or are we the tech-savvy few Wink

Max
Spaceman Spiff!

In reply to littleguru

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 10:36 AM

Yeah, the Dell XPS line has me hooked... never let me down.

I'm currently running the 1330 (13.3" screen) that is LED backlit and has a 64 gig SSD.

I admit I reformat all my machines with a clean copy of Vista Ultimate as soon as I get them, so perhaps that's why my experience can be better than those who go with the OEM build.

sriram
hello world

@Nikita: you can return laptops after trying and get ur money back from a real store? wow man

@Max : You raised a very good point max... all the crapware that comes out-of-the-box with oem added stuff really really degrades the whole OS experience. Most people fail to realize the boundaries between the OS and other pre-installed crap - i'm talking of folks who use technology as an enabler , not technology by itself. {and well,theyre obviously not reading this}
Would it be wise if MS could provide a direct source for downloading OS Images which are free of such crapware?

Edit: from what i understand , bundling crapware is financially very lucrative for OEMs

campusK0der

In reply to sriram

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 1:25 PM

Laptops and big ticket items usually have 15% re-stoking fee.

I mostly did this with speakers, amplifiers and DVD players.
I honestly have not bought anything in last year or two.

And yes, in most US retail stores you can buy a laptop and return it with a 15% restoking fee; or free if you can prove it's a broken POS, same goes for just about anything else that has a restoking fee. Oh and the good side of this, stores resell those as OpenBox items for that same % difference. Biggest winners are openbox TVs. Most come with extra store warranty and 0% restoking for returning those items. Yeah, pretty spoiled by this system. [I remember buying electronics in Siberia was very-very different]

TheContempt
Geek by birth, Microsoftie by choice!

In reply to Max

#Aug 16th, 2008 @ 1:08 PM

@Max: I'm similar to you in that Dell has become my brand of choice over the past few years (Servers and Workstations). I've had a Dell XPS M1530 (15.4" screen) for about four months now and LOVE IT! I also reimage every new machine I get, but I use a WDS Server so I don't even have to see the offending OEM install. Smiley As for purchasing big ticket items from a traditional "Big-Box" retailer, I don’t unless I'm in the market for a new T.V. at which time I'll head to a Circuit City or Best Buy to have a look at the panel in person (Even though most T.V.'s on the sales floor are insanely mistuned.)

@Sriram: You raise a great point. I feel that some people who aren't very technically savvy may look at OEM installs and see all the extra Bloatware as being included in the OS by default. All the trials of Norton and every other piece of software on Earth that an OEM can possibly throw in must have an impact on a consumer's view of the product and must also generate a good portion of Help Desk volume. Thankfully, Dell has "seen the light" as it were and began offering clean installs, but that option is only available on the Vostro line. I hope that other OEM's will someday realize that packing their respective Windows installations with an insane amount of Bloatware IS NOT in the best interest of either their bottom line or their Customers.

//Josh Bolling