Haggling

[jevs]

Im off to buy my daughter a laptop for xmas soon and i wondered if any of the big stores (comet, curries, PC world) have any room to knock a bit of cash off or chuck in a few extras etc.

I'll have a budget up to £500.

Is it worth the hastle....anyone done it before and got a good deal ?

Ta muchly

 

[Taybha]

The big stores tend not to lower the marked up prices,unless its slightly damaged,you can however get some great deals in the smaller electrical goods shops if you do your homework,find out say comets cheapest price then go haggle,for example a pal of mine purchased a HD all singing all dancing TV from halls in portslade marked up at £899 got them down to £725,the cheapest in comet for the same was £849,a modest saving but a saving non the less.By the way that was a cash purchase

 

[Wardy]

Most of the big stores will not haggle but the manager will have the ability to throw in some extras. However this is not the norm. Like others have said you are better off going in to a smaller store armed with information about the prices at other stores.

 

[Gully]

It is worth a go, I did it once on a car and managed to get £600 quid off the sticker price...then at the last minute, when my cheque book was on the table and pen in hand, got the garage to increase the tax disc from 6 to 12 months...the bloke wasn't at all happy about that, but I stood up as if to walk away, he must have been desperate for a sale.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Haggle every where the trick is to haggle in cash and make sure the sales man / assitant is aware you have the cash on you and you are willing to part with it for the right deal discreetly count it in front of them 'sorry couldn't remember how much I took out' worked for me in the Sony Centre recently 10% off for hard cash....IN THE TILL JOB DONE!!!!!

 

[Legend]

Definately haggle. Especially at stores where the salesperson is on commission. Let them know that you are a cash buyer. The salesperson will normally have to refer to the Manager, but the worst answer you can get is no.

 

[Nibble]

Im off to buy my daughter a laptop for xmas soon and i wondered if any of the big stores (comet, curries, PC world) have any room to knock a bit of cash off or chuck in a few extras etc.

I'll have a budget up to £500.

Is it worth the hastle....anyone done it before and got a good deal ?

Ta muchly

Avoid Currys, PC World like the plague mate. The staff are not much more than Saturday staff and are useless. Get yourself to The Laptop Shop at top of Queens Rd, you will get much. much more for your money and the lads that run it will set it all up for you in about 2 hours. Trust me, you won't regret it.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Wouldn't encourage anybody to not shop on the high street (or side street) but check out the prices at ebuyer.co.uk before you splash the cash. Genuinely very good savings to be had and next day delivery free. We've used them for years.

I'm sure you are fully researched up to the nuts as well - but if you need any more input, Welcome - PC Advisor are brilliant - have some very good common sense guides for choosing a spec and getting the right things included. They do have some specific guides on buying a student PC and also buying a laptop. Worth a look?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Why would ANYONE go shopping this week, when VAT is coming down next Monday?

 

[skipper734]

It is possible to hagle at Comet and the others in the group, added accesories, 5/10% off. You have to be lucky with the assistant you get, they seem to be on individual targets/commision, so find a desperate one. Having said that i've just paid £20 more than I needed to for my shiny new laptop, just for the after sales service that experience tells me I will need at some point in the future.

 

[jevs]

Why would ANYONE go shopping this week, when VAT is coming down next Monday?

No one's mentioned going shopping THIS weekend...i said SOON.

Avoid Currys, PC World like the plague mate. The staff are not much more than Saturday staff and are useless. Get yourself to The Laptop Shop at top of Queens Rd, you will get much. much more for your money and the lads that run it will set it all up for you in about 2 hours. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Thanks fella....up by the station ?...i'll definately go there.

 

[Trufflehound]

If you don't ASK, you won't GET.

Always worth asking about the possibility of a good price for immediate cash purchase, no matter where.

 

[jevs]

Avoid Currys, PC World like the plague mate. The staff are not much more than Saturday staff and are useless. Get yourself to The Laptop Shop at top of Queens Rd, you will get much. much more for your money and the lads that run it will set it all up for you in about 2 hours. Trust me, you won't regret it.

On second thoughts....ive just looked at their website. This was the cheapest NEW laptop

Acer Aspire 1355XV

AMD Athlon™ XP-M processor 2600+
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
14.1" XGA TFT display
256MB DDR
30GB HDD
DVD
64MB VRAM shared
wired LAN 10/100
56Kbps modem
NiMH battery


£545.00 (Ex. VAT)
£648.56 (Inc VAT & CC Sur.)

Now forgive me if im wrong but a 30GB hard drive isn't enough to store one game these days and 256mb of RAM ....56kbps modem and all for the knockdown price of £650

I'll have three of them

 

[Trufflehound]

Now forgive me if im wrong but a 30GB hard drive isn't enough to store one game these days

Some of us can remember when PCs didn't HAVE hard drives...









(And when laptops had numbered badges pinned to their pink bikinis and spoke with a funny Thai accent, but we digress...)

 

[Skint Gull]

The big stores will match their own internet proces but unless you're lucky you won't get any better than that.

To be honest if you want a Laptop just go to the Dell website, miles better than the cheap junk in Comet or Currys

 

[Garage_Doors]

Try Tesco's at the holmbush, i have bought the last 3 laptops (for kids) from there, done the research online and then found cheapest by far was there, Acer Aspire, 250Gb hdd 2gb ram,Vista Home, dolby surround sound, ( i know on a laptop:thud17" screen and that was £379

 

[tinx]

A good tactic is go in with cash about 5 minutes before they close and keep the assitant haggling for a bit and cos he wants to go home you might be abnle to get him to throw a few extras in just to get you out of the store. A mat eof mine did it at Currys and had them in there half an hour after the shop closed buying a 37 inch LCD and managed to get them to throw in a PS3 for his trouble instead of the free DVD player they were offering him originally.

 

[Garage_Doors]

HP 6735s Laptop,
AMD AthlonTM X2 Dual Core QL-60 1.9GHz,
4GB memory,
250GB HDD,
DVD+-RW SMDL LightScribe writer,
Webcam
15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800)
WLAN
Bluetooth
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

£399.99
HP 6735s Laptop, AMD AthlonTM X2 Dual Core QL-60 1.9GHz, 4GB memory, 250GB HDD, DVD+-RW SMDL LightScribe writer, Webcam 15.4 WXGA (1280 x 800) WLAN Bluetooth Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Ebuyer

 

[Mellotron]

Why would ANYONE go shopping this week, when VAT is coming down next Monday?

What real actual short term difference is that going to make? Was going to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow...

 

[Skint Gull]

What real actual short term difference is that going to make? Was going to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow...

If you spend £200, you'll save less than a FIVER