Tis the season to be tempted by the latest technology, but remember to haggle.
Photo Brett Phibbs/NZH
In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas has been going increasingly digital. You’re as likely to find an iPod or digital photo frame under the tree as the traditional three-pack of socks or overpriced cookbook. If you are giving a gadget this year – or looking to pick one up yourself in the New Year sales, it pays to do some planning first. Away from the bustle of the mall, some comparative shopping in the safety of your own home is in order.
Your first stop should be Pricespy.co.nz. For years this website has aggregated the best deals from computer retailers around the country and, more recently, in the spirit of social media, has allowed customers to rate the performance of retailers. Its forums are also a good place to look for help with tech-related problems. You won’t find the big high-street retailers on Pricespy, but a whole ecosystem of reputable sellers, many of which offer free shipping and installation and computer support services. If you know what you want, a hard drive or a new LCD monitor, Pricespy can be your one-stop shop.
Venturing into the big chain tech stores like Noel Leeming, Harvey Norman and Bond & Bond can be a hit and miss affair. There may be attractive deals on offer for everything from digital cameras to flat- screen TVs, but don’t rely on the advice of the sales staff. The service in these stores has always been patchy and is getting worse. Don’t expect to have the pros and cons of 3D TV explained to you accurately – do your own research online.
Always be prepared to haggle. The salespeople know you can walk across the car park to a competitor so ask what their lowest price is and demand a discount overall if you are buying several big-ticket items at once. On a busy Saturday in West Auckland a few weeks back I accompanied a friend to JB Hi-Fi to buy a laptop. We knew from making calls to stores earlier in the day that the lowest price on the Dell laptop my friend had her eye on was $1799. But the sales attendant wouldn’t go below $2000. We went to leave and suddenly he changed his tune after a brief chat with his manager. They matched the price.
My friend also got a 40% discount on an adapter for connecting her numerous gadgets and a cut-price copy of Microsoft Office. She left the store with a genuinely good deal, but only because she did her homework and demanded it.
Dick Smith usually has the geekiest staff – it calls them “Techxperts” – but my last visit to a Wellington store, to pick up a Kindle ebook reader, was unsatisfactory. Dick Smith just doesn’t have the range of its rivals. YooBee is the closest thing we have in New Zealand to an Apple store – and in fact replaces the old MagnumMac stores that sold computer gear solely of the Apple variety.
I popped into YooBee’s downtown Auckland store recently to pick up a cable that would allow me to run presentations from my iPad. The place oozes cool. It’s stylish, modern – but on the day I visited it was also empty. One of the shop assistants was standing in front of a 24in iMac with a Fender Stratocaster slung around his neck. He was playing the guitar and recording the results into the Garageband software.
He was doing it more to cut through the boredom of a slow day than anything, but he proceeded to give me a useful demonstration of what the software could do for amateur musicians looking to record their musical jam sessions. Bottom line – if you want Apple gear, YooBee is the place; you’ll be hard-pressed to find Apple accessories in the likes of Dick Smith or Bond & Bond, anyway.
If you are in the market for a mobile phone, you’ll also need to do some careful research. The Vodafone, Telecom and 2degrees retail outlets are generally staffed by hipsters who lounge around texting and chatting. The range of phones is overwhelming – as are the phone calling and data plans on offer. Visit the mobile players’ websites to compare details first – or get some advice from a neutral source like Consumer NZ.
Despite the discounting going on, gadget deals this year may be a little tighter than usual, as the electronics industry struggles to recover from the supply disruptions caused by the Japanese earthquake in March, which closed numerous components factories. Nevertheless, in these cash-strapped times, it’s a buyer’s market. Just do your homework and be prepared to put your negotiating skills to use.
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