A matter on which I would never go to a tin shed, of any kind. However untrained the Currys staff are, I very much doubt that Comet (or whomever) would know enough about the detail of the specific set-up to be willing to advise, even if they had the general knowledge.
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Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon
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I think Comet would have pretty much been the same as Currys/PC World now. The best place for tech advice on the high street was Maplin - it was where all the geeks worked. *ahem*
Comet staff certainly knew how to harrass you into buying something on finance and then getting insurance. It was also a time when you'd have them trying like a street chugger to sell you expensive cables to go with your purchase.
I nearly walked out once because I wanted to pay cash and they really, really, wanted me to take it on buy now, pay later. They kept telling me how stupid it would be to pay now, as I could just wait and pay later - with no interest*.
And if you were buying a new kettle or fan for £10-20, take out the extended warranty so you'll get a new one after jumping through hoops to make a claim - even though at that price you'd just suck it up and buy a new one.
* Just make sure to remember that you must pay in full, probably by postal order or cheque, sent to a specific address on a certain day. Not too early, not too late, but if you are too late you've just put the payment onto a finance deal at 30% APR or something over a few years.
I can't say Comet is a place I miss much!
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I remember Tandy stores before Maplin. As a kid they were fascinating and while I never really got that into electronics beyond maybe a few experimental kits, it certainly opened my mind to technology and how things work.
Sadly, I feel a lot of young people today won't get to see that side of things. They'll buy a tablet or smartphone that does absolutely everything, but can't tinker with things, they won't understand how stuff works or be able to repair anything. Stops working? E-waste! (Rant over!)
SuspectUsual
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In the last full financial year the high street business made £32m profit on a turnover of £452m.
However - like for like turnover was down 2% on the previous year, which suggests cost cutting to maintain the profit line, perhaps in the knowledge that the sale was coming.
The problem they have is that a lot of their sales value is in products where they don't control the selling price at all (newspapers, magazines, stamps) or only if they discount (books). So growing margin is difficult unless they can drive down buying prices (and with declining like for like turnover they weren't in a strong position to do that), or reduce other costs like maintenance, refurbishments etc (which its pretty clear they have been doing)
It feels like a desperate attempt to massage the numbers to force through a sale
Can't say I was ever bullied into buying any extended insurance ever any where let alone Comet. People need to learn how to say no. I had some guys at the house opposite supposedly doing something on the guttering. Then came to mine extolling the virtues of cleaning the guttering every year. Only £150 each time. Think about it what is the point of cleaning the guttering on the 3rd September. Just to fill up with all the autumn leaves . Tried his damnedest but no.
Sprinter107
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Everytime I went into Comet, it was a game to find a member of staff to assist you. They were usually in a group chatting, and didnt like to be interrupted. I stopped shopping there eventually.
I never took it either, nor financed anything, but they had to do it to everyone and I am sure it worked a lot of the time. They used to have desks where people sat to take the details from customers and had lots of them.
As did all the electrical retailers. I remember buying a fridge from one (now gone) chain, and the salesman being really pushy about the guarantee until my wife made it very clear that we were happy to self-insure for the failure of a fridge freezer
It is worth cleaning it out every so often though, and I did our lower ones at the weekend as they'd been clear before we went away, but the amount of muck that came down with last week's rain pretty much blocked them up, which meant one of our water butt's didn't really fill up.
I'll get our window cleaner to do the upper gutters in Jan/ Feb, but I'm likely to have to do another clean of the lower ones before Christmas.
When a business is on the market for a non-distress sale, then declare high profits to attract buyers
In fairness WHS High Street had been profitable for a number of years (since Kate Swann days) as they'd had a massive amount of cost cutting even taking in to account the negative LfL sales. And of course many of the central functions were shared with WHS Travel, which under TGJ they'd not be allowed to do.
The issue was that there was very little costs to cut so it would eventually start to not be profitable which I'm sure Modella knew at time of purchase. I worked for the company in Travel for 10 years and during that time Travel went from earning nowhere near as much profit as High Street to out stripping it quite confidently. And this was early 2000's, the writing has been on the wall for High Street for decades.
I was once offered an extended warranty for a printer at 1.5x the price of the printer itself....
and don't start me on PPI!
3rd rail land
Member
Printers are sold at cost or even a loss. They make money on warranties and ink. Anyone whop doesn't buy compatible cartridges for their printer is a fool and deserves to be ripped off.
I consider any physical electronics shop to be only for distress purchases. Unless you need an item that same day you are better getting it online for less and you won't have to deal with pushy staff. I appreciate older people may like having a physical shop to go to and someone to advise them on what to buy but I am not one such person. The shop staff usually aren't particularly clued up on the products for sale and endlessly try to upsell you on things you may not need or want.
I got a printer from PC World for £9.99. I think it was meant to be priced at £99.99. About 15 years later it's still going strong!
I didn't take out warranty.
Might explain why PC World went out of business
3rd rail land
Member
I though Currys got rid of the PC World brand for operational convenience.I got a printer from PC World for £9.99. I think it was meant to be priced at £99.99. About 15 years later it's still going strong!
I didn't take out warranty.
Might explain why PC World went out of business
In the past 15 years I've owned 2 printers and have had numerous issues with them and they cost a lot more than £9.99. I don't use them a lot either so perhaps I've just been unlucky.
For the printer I have Currys want £159.99 for a set of original cartridges. Other sites are much cheaper with the cheapest being £93.93. My latest set of compatibles were about £23. At those sorts of rip off prices I wish Currys would go bust, they don't deserve to be in business charging such ridiculous prices for ink.
Interestingly PPI was a shrewd thing my step-mum hot when she brought her Apricot computer in the 80's.
She had a side-hussle where she typed up letters for people on the computer as they looked more professional than one done on a typewriter, alas Alan Sugar came along with his PCW series and people just brought one of them and did it themselves. Because of this (and possibly other things) she ended up on the dole and that meant the PPI took over the payments for the computer, ending up paying it off.
Probably, but that they got bought over and eventually the PC World brand disappeared I think was a sign of a failing business model. They charged above average even compared to the likes of Argos, over-sold warranties, and their staff were clueless (I went for an interview there, got offered the job, and the process was frankly hilarious).
Yeah before I bought this one (Canon MG4250) I had Epson printers and they caused me no end of headaches, and I'm quite a techy person.
I buy ink on eBay. Cheaper than the shops.
All this said, a lot of my printing is functional, not particularly aesthetic. I use recycled paper and refill ink to print maps and such for walking and paddling; if I were making posters or something I might care about the quality a bit more to buy a pricier printer!
Printer wise I have a Brother colour laser all-in-one, got it a few years ago now (2020?) for a steal once a small ebay voucher (something like 5 or 7% off) and a £100 rebate was taken on to account.
Has the rarest thing in a modern printer, cartridges without chips in!, so no way of telling between a genuine and compatible cartridge. Toner life is still measured but that is with a mechanical system which can be reset if you know how, or there is a hidden reset menu which can reset the lives of all consumables I believe.
Has the rarest thing in a modern printer, cartridges without chips in!, so no way of telling between a genuine and compatible cartridge. Toner life is still measured but that is with a mechanical system which can be reset if you know how, or there is a hidden reset menu which can reset the lives of all consumables I believe.
It was a “specialist” brand that was harder and harder to tell apart when visiting the
I have a ~15 year old Samsung mono laser originally acquired for £60 new - about £90 inflation adjusted. It's survived many moves, a few drops, used cheap knock off toner...hasn't complained one bit. It's one of those rare Samsung appliances which isn't total crap. I'll be sad when (if) it dies.
Samsung printers disappeared in 2017 when HP acquired them. Seems like Brother owns most of the mono laser market these days
Not that I would buy /anything/ Samsung these days. Heard awful things about fridges, washing machines, dryers, tvs, etc
Samsung printers disappeared in 2017 when HP acquired them. Seems like Brother owns most of the mono laser market these days
Not that I would buy /anything/ Samsung these days. Heard awful things about fridges, washing machines, dryers, tvs, etc
duffield
Established Member
My Samsung
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PC World did not go bust, PC World a darling of retailing electrical IT goods from 1991 to 93, bought on the quiet by Dixons who rebranded the Dixons company as PC WorldI got a printer from PC World for £9.99. I think it was meant to be priced at £99.99. About 15 years later it's still going strong!
I didn't take out warranty.
Might explain why PC World went out of business
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Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Can’t speak for their white goods, but Samsung TVs are fine, other than the obligatory bloatware. Certainly compared to the heap of junk made by Sony I had before.
No white goods are very good anymore. They’re basically disposable now.
duffield
Established Member
I'm very pleased with my Phillips mini-LED TV, no intrusive "Smart" features/ads, great picture and sound. They seem to have a brand that has faded from view a bit, a wonder if it will survive?
I disagree. I think they're now just so cheap that few people even bother attempting to repair them.
Not a white good, but our Shark vacuum broke recently. Suction gone, loud whirring noise. My partner said well we've had it for 6 years so let's just buy a new one. I spent a while dismantling it and concluded it was a fault with a sealed-unit motor. £20 on eBay got me a replacement second-hand motor, wired it up, and it works fine. That saved us about £130 extra it would've cost to buy a similar vacuum.
In the past few years I've repaired washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges, vacuums, chainsaws, hedge trimmers. But I know that in each case most people would just go to Currys and chuck £100 at a replacement instead of trying to repair them. But white goods are still repairable and acceptable quality in my view. They're often broken from user error like overloading a washing machine or hoovering up stuffed toy fluff (that's what broke our vacuum!)
pdq
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- 894
We have a Samsung fridge freezer that has been faultless for about 18 years now. Samsung TV is 8 years old, and Samsung microwave 3 or 4. Only the microwave has an issue, where there's a bad connection to the display and a segment or two occasionally go on strike.
#tempting fate!
#tempting fate!
Mcr Warrior
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Are we seriously suggesting that Samsung is a company that's expected to disappear soon?
I service my vacuum cleaner twice a year. Full dismantle, clean and if necessary small parts replacement. Most people just look at me strangely when I tell them I do it.
Same with my PC. Twice yearly take apart and clean out.