Thursday, January 04, 2007

It's Time for a New Watch

See what I did there? Here it is: the Klaus Kobec Challenger. I bought this from iBuy, a cable auction site which I find most entertaining. I am a bit disappointed with their customer service, as I will explain...
I bought the watch for £73 on 23rd December, and before they had despatched it, I found it on their website for £56. Despite the fact that the watch was still in their possession, and they had not billed me for it, they insisted on sending me the £73 watch. As far as I was concerned, at this point the transaction was not complete, and if they had any degree of flexibility, they should have sold me the watch for £56. If I had received the watch, and been billed, and then noticed the cheaper watch, I would have put that down to experience, and not even contacted iBuy. However, because (as I said) the transaction was not, in my eyes, concluded, I felt that I was being taken for a mug.
So I followed their advice and returned the watch, and then bought it a second time at the lower price of £56. As my Ma said, I wouldn't have enjoyed the watch if I had paid £73 for it. And despite the extra postage costs, I still saved five pounds - result!
I guess the moral of this story is, think twice before falling for the 'theatre' of these auction shows. The way they present these goods is very clever, though. Firstly, they show the item (watch, diamond ring, Gucci bag...) at its RRP. So it is presented as unattainable. Then they plunge the price, and all of a sudden it is within the consumer's reach. Then they stress the exclusivity of the item (iBuy tend to sell three or four of each item per sale). So the pressure is on - do you want to lose out? You'd better buy it, then! And all of a sudden, you're £70 or £599 worse off. But you do have a lovely watch/ring/bag.
TTFN.

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