Was in Officeworks today price matching on a pair of Logitech Headphones.
Got the the counter and was told that they won't match MSY because they grey import. Luckily there were a few places stocking stuff a few dollars more but they still scrutinised the crap out of Mwave and other legit retailers (like Umart) who I know have local stock.
So is MSY grey imports? I knew getting warranty through them was always an issue but thought they stocked locally.
Try another Officeworks, some people there try so hard to deny your claim as if it's their money.
I've price matched MSY before.
I've price matched MSY many many times, even had them match megapc.. I always get the "Who is that store!?! MSY?!? Never heard of them" but the key to my success is find a staff member and build a buying relationship subconsciously with them, no.. seriously! Heh..
..There's a really nice kiwi girl at my local one and shes always happy to refund random stuff months after purchase for little to no excuse.. price match anyone I can staticice aslong as delivery is counted in.. etc
I'd personally just support MSY for providing the public with generally low prices. BUT that's not overly ozbargain of me… Haha
I'm with you. I never really understood why people do this all to save a few dollars. Yes lets not support the store that offers us the LOWEST price every day, lets go to the store with the higher price and get them to price match.
Once the 'cheap' store that gets no business, goes bust. What are you left with? Thats right the higher priced store with no one to price match!
I also tend to agree, but MSY is across town for me and it was for someone who was visiting from Europe (apparently even with the Strong Aussie dollar electronics are cheaper here). Coupled with MSY's unreliable stock indicators and crappy customer support on the phone decided to head to OW.
Some people trust the other larger stores more because they may have better customer service. Also if you have a gift card to the more expensive store then you price match to the cheaper one and use the credit on the card
Thats all fine WinstonWithAY, but as I said. The smaller store goes under from lack of business. Then you'll have no one to price match and be stuck buying your goods from the crappy big store at higher prices.
@JimmyF: That's fair enough. But the cases I mentioned are likely in the vast minority, as people would rather just go to the smaller store than have to price match. I and others have had bad experiences trying to price match at big retailers so I'm more inclined just to go to the smaller store and deal with poorer service.
Yeh they're talking shit. They say that to trick gullible consumers into paying more for the same stuff. Much like what Hardly Normal does with their "premium" HDMI cables that you "must use for the best quality".
I've bought parts for 2 of my systems from them….no issues whatsoever. For the other half, I bought from umart (msy was out of stock for those bits). I highly recommend both. Umart has awesome customer service too (the Ryde one I went to).
Ive also price matched msy before, you should stand your ground, get their information, talk to supervisors/managers then make a complaint to the head office with the persons info.
Is this the West Ryde branch? Old guy that works there is infamous for not price matching stuff. He used the exact same excuse for MSY (they sell grey stock). I asked if he could do UMART then. He said nope, they are part of the same business and use "same supplier" excuse.
Also this thread from 2014 had a poll with some interesting results.
No was Chatswood.
I work for Officeworks, and I would say (and I recognise this isn't a good thing) that you've just copped a poor customer service experience.
Standard practice is to check in line with the policy, so certainly don't be afraid to ask them to prove it's grey import, or speak to someone else.
I certainly have never gone out of my way to deny price matches, and I actively suggest customers buy the cheap HDMI cables over the expensive ones. Not everyone's the same.
I'd say the staff shouldn't rely always on the wording. I got denied twice from price matching a logitech peripheral because it says limited hardware warranty.
The store was Scorptec, a Logitech Gold partner retailer. Even Logitech website use the term limited. The guy wanted to see the word Manufacturer warranty so he refused lol. This is in OW Russel Street Melbourne.
Yeah they scrutinised the Mwave limited warranty but I said it has an Australian number to call so they conceded.
2 Days ago needed to price match something else at Officeworks in North Ryde (my favourite officeworks in Sydney). Got to counter, person eyed the site (ARC Computers), entered the info and said that it was fine.
Next time I think I'll ask for proof that MSY is a grey importer but luckily it was only $3 or so difference.
That said, not sure it was poor CS but more an overcompliant staff member. They told me that nearly everything is cheaper online so feel free to price match, but they get checked by head office so it's got to be identical.
To save you the trouble of going in-store every time you wish to price match, simply ring their call centre on 1300 633 423 and do a price match over the phone and collect in-store.
I also find that they are more accommodating with processing price matches over the phone.
Buying from MSY qualifies for ASUS EOFY cashback offer. That must mean something, right? http://www.asuspromotion.net/au/eofy-cashback/#buy
It just depends on who you get at officeworks. I've had actual grey imports price matched because the staff member didn't care or look properly.
Shouldn't matter if it's a grey import or not, so long as it is an identical product/model and it's from an Australian retailer.
I never had a problem price matching msy at my local officeworks
Logitech has different MPN for it's product if it was distributed for different region even it's the exact same product. If the MPN match office works one that mean it's not grey import.
Maybe a naive worker?
officeworks stores in SA price match MSY.
if they have an australian ABN it doesnt mean shit if the grey import. its a registered australian brick and mortar business. they cant start being picky about their price matching rules without it being defined in writing. next time just ask them if they want clarification from the ACCC.
Officeworks is full of shit. If it's not Harvey or JB they'll pull the grey import card.