Good and Bad Harvey Norman Stores

LFinnthehuman on 03/11/2013 - 15:15

I've recently had a good experience at a Harvey Norman store @City West in Perth, which is rare. I had purchased a HTC one but in less than a week I noticed their price had dropped, with no questions asked I was given the difference back because of their price guarantee. At the same time i noticed there was an issue with the quality of the screen and it was instantly swapped over after it was compared to the display model. I was absolutely surprised and shocked at the quality of customer service I ended up purchasing an iPad air for my son.

The worst customer services I have experienced was from the Cannington and O'conner Harvey Norman stores in Perth. This is mostly due to disinterested staff, lack of product knowledge, company processes and policy. I recall wanting to purchase an ultrabook from one of these stores and as I approached a sales person they started walking away. In the end I just purchased it online.

Anyone else have recent good or bad experiences from specific HN stores?

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Comments

  • Geewhizz on 03/11/2013 - 16:31
    +1

    Add Bundaberg to the list, as the worst there is. Customer service is not a concept with which they are familiar.

  • ryanranran on 03/11/2013 - 16:56

    Melbourne QV HN: Got $10 off an air purifier.. good gesture I suppose?

    • cloudy on 03/11/2013 - 17:31

      Every time I walk into HN QV, which I can count on 1 hand, has been pretty good. Staff approaching me with friendly service multiple times even though I was a browser of price and waiting for my girlfriend buying a oz bargain led steal.

      • mustkill on 04/11/2013 - 18:18

        yup Melbourne QV HN is half decent, albeit some staff are a bit incompetent.

        • Bargain4U on 05/11/2013 - 05:24

          Haven't had good experience there trying to buy an ultrabook at their ultrabook sale. They kept arguing with me that the HP's Envy Spectre XT wasn't an ultrabook!

    • onlyletters on 05/11/2013 - 11:09
      +1

      Do you smell at all?

  • PissLUR on 03/11/2013 - 18:58
    +2

    Joondalup store was good with returns as well.

    Purchased Nexus 4 and managed to return it easily after mentioning issues with wifi channel 13.

    • NathanDrake on 05/11/2013 - 22:34

      I had terrible service at the Good Guys in Joondalup and didn't even end up with a Nespresso machine after an hour (also returned an item which took a good 15 minutes). I walked over to Harvey Norman and was out with my new Nespresso machine in two minutes. It was faulty and getting a new one also took about two minutes. Awesome service.

  • [Deactivated] on 03/11/2013 - 22:23
    +5

    HN Maroochydore has been crap in my experience;

    Was looking for a fridge with a freezer at the bottom, a water dispenser and only a single door (we don't have a lot of space). Fridge salesman very convincingly told me there was definitely no fridges on the market which would meet my specs, even though I told him I was just having an initial look (ie. he wasn't going to be able to talk me into what they had there that day) and would be keen to order if there was one (which I would be for the right price/product). Walked down to Joyce Mayne and had a look at the THREE different options they had there that day…subsequently found that they are also stocked in HN, there just weren't any left the day I was having a look.

    Another day, went to the camera section to buy a filter to protect the lens on my Canon DSLR. The guy was a complete toss and shitty as all heck that I only wanted the $30 one and not the $80. He was too busy deriding my choice to actually sell me the correct size. I had actually questioned it, only to be cut off by him - of course HE knew better. Grrrr….I would have gone back and had a go at him but I could barely walk at that point and was rapidly running out of time in the countdown to baby #2 so just had to let it go.

    Needless to say I haven't bothered going back and buying anything else!

    In all fairness, the woman behind the photo collection counter has been absolutely lovely to me twice. She even cheerfully helped me carry my canvases down to the car one day when I was struggling to manage them and and baby and toddler all at once. So I don't mind getting photo stuff done there :)

  • pjcook on 04/11/2013 - 07:40

    HN Ballarat has always given good service. We purchased an air conditioner that went on special a week later and they honoured the price difference. I have always found the staff helpful and attentive if I need assistance.

  • Euphemistic on 04/11/2013 - 08:01
    +3

    My typical HN experience is if I have a pocket full of cash wanting to purchase the salespeople run for cover. If I'm 'just browsing' with no intention of buying anything, eg just having a look at what is out there, the sales staff will ask if I need help. I'm beginning to think they are actually security staff, ensuring the browsers don't knock anything off and that they don't really want to sell anything at all. This seems to apply at all the HN stores I've been to.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/11/2013 - 09:11
      +3

      I find that if I take hubby anywhere with me we can't get rid of people and just look at stuff in peace. A few days later when we've made our decision and I head in alone to make the purchase (well, as alone as you can be with 2 rugrats) I can't get anyone to serve me. The good part of it being is that the underdog usually ends up getting sent over to serve me, and gets the big sale.

  • lakers1222 on 04/11/2013 - 10:02
    +1

    Harvey Norman 84 O'Riordan St Alexandria (NSW) has always given crap service. The manager, Fadi Clear, refused to refund a iPad with screen burn, saying I have to go to an apple store to get my refund.

    As I have learnt on OzBargain, HN should have handled the refund because they are the ones who sold it to me.

  • AlanHB on 04/11/2013 - 10:19

    I've actually found that Harvey Norman in Fyshwick, ACT has always given me good service. I'm not by any means a regular buyer here, but the following stick out in memory.

    • Going to purchase a TV for my dad, asking for a heavily discounted (but reasonable) price on it. Instead of the salesperson arguing how crap my offer is (I hate that), the salesperson simply wandered over to his computer to check the stock price and said "ok". That's a $2,000 sale in 4-5 minutes.

    • Following through with the Harvey Norman 50% off games online sale they had last year, despite not really knowing anything about it.

    • Scratch and dent area downstairs usually yields some gems on dented fridges.

  • Bonsaichop on 04/11/2013 - 10:44
    +5

    Harvey Norman Warrawong.

    Bought two cameras, one SLR and a little point and shoot.

    The point and shoot camera when turning on sounded like there was sand in the lens mechanism (really loud crunchy noises that don't bode well with things like lenses). So we took it back within a couple of hours of the initial purchase. The guy serving us was great and tried to help, but his manager was another story.

    At first his manager "could not hear" the noise, which was so loud, that even in a busy store the customers next to us could hear it and were telling him he was dreaming. The manager then told us we had to go to the service desk to check it in, bearing in mind it was purchased less than a few hours ago.

    After he said this, the two other customers and I had a bit of an uproar because we had brought it back immediately, the manager caved in and accepted to replacing the unit.

    The best part was that as the guy who was serving us was packing it up (and he was great with his service) his manager told him to "Pack it up neatly so they can put it on the shelf and sell it to someone else"…

    • [Deactivated] on 06/11/2013 - 18:56

      idiots at this store wouldn't even pricematch another Harvey Norman store, the manager refused, saying that the other Harvey Norman store might be selling second hand or damaged items, even though it was advertised as new.

      maybe instead of whinging about online sales being cheaper, Gerry should put people in the stores with half a brain

  • Finnthehuman on 04/11/2013 - 13:19
    -1

    Good feedback everyone, keep them coming!

    I think Ozbargainers will appreciate the HN stores they can get the best value in price and quality of service.

  • berger on 04/11/2013 - 14:15
    +1

    I live in Noble Park, and shop at Springvale HN homemaker, and have spent around $5-6k. Excellent service every time, bought a tv, fridge, dish washer,sink and a few other big purchases, always negotiated a great price. Staff have been good, especially this little old Asian lady in white goods area.

  • jendownunder on 04/11/2013 - 14:28
    +1

    I hate HN Joondalup with a passion after them refusing to refund or replace my brand new tv that died after 12 weeks. It took almost 3 weeks to finally get my money back. They just kept sending me around in circles and I had to get trading standards involved. Never had a bad experience at Edgewater though.

  • Geekomatic on 04/11/2013 - 14:48
    -1

    HN, Mandurah.

    You're either attacked, en-masse—-> or virtually ignored depending on the day.

    Walked in to browse the current goods- not after anything in particular- but open to finding a good deal. Had three staff approach within 5 mins. of stepping in. Said I was only looking & that was that. No afterwards approach to offer any info or to see if any other help was needed. The original three stayed off to one side chatting & laughing amongst themselves.

    I'd gone in looking for a specific external drive they were supposed to have. Couldn't find staff who weren't with someone. Waited & waited (15mins.) Finally, after standing near a staff computer, had to "convince" a salesperson to look it up for me. They didn't have it, though first morning of a sale. When offered a replacement drive- I asked if the specs were the same as the other. Was treated as if that shouldn't matter. No offer to quickly look it up. Dismissive & snotty attitude.

    Other time- shopping for a new fridge. Went with a friend to get her input. We walked around & around the dept. No one came to see if they could perhaps, oh I don't know…sell something? Stayed about 20 mins or more & jotted down models & prices & left. Turned out I liked one of the fridges they had, so I returned. This time, a man did come over & I just said- "I'll take that one".

    Never impressed. What passes for "service" any more would have had you terminated a few years ago.

    I know what I'm talking about- I worked in retail for years & won many awards for good customer service.

    *A sidenote: if you want to see what good service is all about, see a fellow named Daniel at the Officeworks in Mandurah.

  • paloverde88 on 04/11/2013 - 20:57
    -1

    Mr Gerry Harvey himself, in this article today, is at a loss as to why his stores sales has not improved like David Jones for instance, despite data out today stated consumer confidence is up and retail sales is up.

    This is why this mob has failed. He is the chairman of the mob and even he does not understand the sort of people his store hired to work in the store.

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/gerry-harvey-launches-…

    They are such a long long way from achieving retail nirvana. Take a lesson from Apple stores.

    I am angry that I got a demo tablet unit thinking it was the best price they offered at Alexandria only to find out the next day it is selling brand new at the same price as a normal price at dick smith since weeks ago. I paid full price for a unit that has been touched by so many hands for months. They told me it was on demo for 6 months hence it is going at such a low price, which is the normal price at dick smith for a brand new unit. Harvey Norman, why did you lie? just say you want to sell your demo unit for 6 months at normal price that's all you have to do, be honest and up front, don't lie.

    This is why Mr Gerry Harvey who have not moved with the times, your stores will never ever achieve sales like your peers JB, BingLee or Dick smith. You hired liars to work in your stores.

    • Whodis on 05/11/2013 - 16:41
      +4

      To be fair, you kind of didn't do your due diligence on the purchase and got shafted.

      • paloverde88 on 06/11/2013 - 10:42
        -2

        customers who have not done enough research on a product is no license for the retailer to lie through its teeth.
        Even fair trading says retailer need to be honest as the customer pay in good faith. No customers ever pay in pretense, all pay in good faith whereas HN takes your money under pretense when they lie.

        • Ughhh on 06/11/2013 - 11:59
          +2

          Sounds like the usual sales talk, why wouldn't you check other stores like most ozbargainers first? Never 100% believe it when they say it's the best price.

        • Whodis on 06/11/2013 - 18:22
          +1

          HN selling demo/display at the same price as new at other retailers is not an uncommon thing. HN sells a lot of things at the inflated RRPs which are often well above its competitors. The fact that their clearance item was the same price at DSE is not exactly lying through their teeth. They sold it to you, you thought it was a good deal at the time due to lack of research. I don't see how that's lying.

  • rain on 04/11/2013 - 23:55

    add balgalow/manly vale harvey norman to that list, my father bought a set top box a while ago (a couple of years ago, when there were still government adds about switching to digital), and it started messing up (within a month or so), freezing so you have to turn it off and on again to change the channel/volume/whatever else. He went to go return. He went to return, but they said no and it worked fine
    i didn't know about it, otherwise would have gone myself and got it done myself
    by the time i found out about it, he made some comment bought never buying anything from HN again, a couple of months had past and the receipt may have gone missing
    so dealing with a shitty inconveniant set top box, plan on getting him a new one cause he is just stuck with this one, but being a poor student will probably have to wait till christmas

    Bad list: add balgalow harvey norman

  • theoracle30 on 05/11/2013 - 00:48
    +2

    I can second City West, Perth as a great, friendly store. Happy to replace my 4 month old Lumia 920 when a column of pixels died. Always willing to do good deals and discounts too, have purchased multiple items there, latest being the Lumia 1020 on sale on Sunday.

  • BenK-Oz on 05/11/2013 - 12:20

    northern suburbs victoria, the tv guys (well the manager's) at thomastown are really tight, refuse to bargain/price match and are pretty rude.
    Greensborough much nicer are much nicer and flexible.
    I was price matching a tv with jb and thomastown flat out refused, i bought the tv for $50 less than i was trying to price match at jb greensborough, then went to get some dual play glasses from harvey norman greensborough, they were marked at $19, the sales rep offered them to me for $16 but couldnt find stock. I went back to thomastown, to pick get glasses from there, he was rudely refused to budge from $19! he eventually sold them to me for $16 after i told him greensborough offered it for that price except they couldn't find the stock.
    anyhow one of a few experiences from there, pity its my closest one!

  • freakitude on 05/11/2013 - 15:43

    +1 for melbourne qv

  • [Deactivated] on 05/11/2013 - 23:17

    Harvey Norman city west outright lied to me about the hz on a TV which really annoyed me.
    Belmont staff has been friendly to me on numerous occasions even honoring a pricing error that I didn't expect.
    I would not recommend them in terms of product knowledge in general, But every so often you will get an expert.

  • congo on 06/11/2013 - 15:34

    Broadway NSW not too bad.

  • s1131 on 06/11/2013 - 16:27

    Worst HN experience has been in the Joondalup store - all involving the computer section. The sales staff ignoring me to talk to my partner about the tech specs etc. (I have iniatated conversation and said I am wanting to buy a certain whatever each time). One time one SA told my partner not to listen to me because 'women don't know anything about these things'.

    The laptop I bought had been faulty another time, I took it to the store and was directed to the repairs section. The staff didn't tell me I could take it to the repair place myself, instead they took it and had it for six weeks (the next time it broke with the same problem, I took it directly to the repair center and it was finished the next day). When I got it back, I noticed damage to the outside of the laptop, when I pointed it out, the SA I had given it to agreed that it had not been there before but his boss told me I was making it up and that the damage comes with normal wear and tear of using a laptop (deep scratches and chips in the high gloss case..).

    I think I have bad luck in HN..

  • dn4hc on 06/11/2013 - 16:34
    +1

    Harvey Norman Martin place isnt good either.

    but +1 for Liverpool HN

  • Claggs on 06/11/2013 - 19:48
    +1

    Harvey Norman in Corio/Geelong (the one on the highway) is awful.

  • lakers1222 on 07/11/2013 - 18:47

    The ACCC Is Suing Harvey Norman Franchisees
    http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/06/the-accc-is-suing-harvey-n…

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