Look, you've taken the trouble to "Warn Others" (below),
and that is good.
Now, printout your story/warning & add some details of
place, date, customer number (maybe get your friend to
sign & have notarised a Stat Dec with her story on it)
& (together) file a complaint with your State/Territory
Consumer Affairs office.
IT COSTS COMPANIES MONEY TO BE COMPLAINED ABOUT...
COMPLAINING CAN HELP THEM DECIDE TO STOP DOING THIS
Oh, and why not send a copy to your city's [Letters
to the] Editor (newspaper), ring your local TalkJocks
(on the ABC, if you want a chance to be heard without
being insulted... ;-), put up the story on bulletin
boards at/near the shopping center where your HN is.
Oh, and - of course - speak to the manager.
Other posters: Why not -encourage- this kind of pro-
active response happening, ie instead
of reducing the chance that it will...
(eg, don't suggest a person might not
have the confidence to speak to the
manager... why I do it all the time,
and I get a deep satisfaction from
-adding- that I'll be telling the
story - both locally (at various clubs
& association meetings) -and-
on the Internet.
(Of course, speak assertively, and
-not- insultingly to the manager &
- to avoid a law suit - be careful
not to commit libel when you publish
the story of what happened.
"I was told..." is better than
"S/he said..." (one tells YOUR
perceptions (hence your best memory),
the other may be disputed &
even be deemed libelous,
in some cases.)
Oh, when I am in a -crowded-
store, and I've got an obvious
scam... I usually speak LOUDER
so other would-be customers
can hear me (not loud enough to
be deemed a public nuisance)
and my points clearly.
A manager often changes tune
(and even make more than a
token offer to "settle" the
matter, so I'll go away quickly ;-)
Of course, it's good to have
a reasonable counteroffer, at
such times, ie, so your time
will be (almost) compensated.
Poxy said:
A friend was at Harvey Normans the other day, purchasing a plasma screen TV.
After they'd negotiated the price - about $4,400 for an LG highish-res
panel, the sales guy then suggested they purchase a special component cable
for hooking up their DVD player to the screen to achieve the best quality
from their new screen.
For demonstration, he switched the panel to split-screen mode showing the
same DVD title playing on each half, but connected by different cables. He
was attempting to imply that the marked difference between the two images
was due to the use of a "Monster" brand component video cable on one input.
My friend gave me a call at the time and explained what the sales guy was
trying to say, and commented that the Monster side had better detail in the
blacks and looked better than the other half. I told her that it sounded
like a scam and hold off for the moment - she could always purchase it
at
a
later date, as he wasn't offering any great deal on the cable.
Subsequently, I worked out that they had hooked up the component output of
the DVD player to one side, and the composite output to the other, and was
then trying to claim that the improved picture was purely due to the Monster
brand cable.
This strikes me as a blatantly dishonest and misleading demonstration - the
salesman never stated that the difference in quality was largely (if not
entirely) due to the alternative signal format, rather he misrepresented the
comparison with the goal of selling an obscenely overpriced cable of dubious
benefit over a base-quality component cable.
Why? The 1m Monster cable costs $270.
Methinks a call to the ACCC is in order.
