Sales staff misleading consumers about TV switch, study says

[FreeStateDemocrat]

Source: Baltimore Sun

Consumer advocacy group says 4 of 5 clerks are giving incorrect information
By Liz F. Kay | Sun reporter
12:51 PM EST, February 13, 2008

Sales clerks at national retail chains that carry electronics have been misleading broadcast television viewers about the upcoming transition to digital television, directing them toward unnecessary purchases, a report by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group reveals.

The state consumer advocacy group, along with nine of its counterparts across the country, conducted 132 "secret shopper" surveys in 10 states last fall, including stores of five national retailers in Baltimore and Baltimore County.

They discovered that sales clerks gave out incorrect or misleading information about the date of the transition, the equipment consumers would need and the federal government's coupon program to offset the cost of converter boxes.

"Those mixed signals will cost consumers," said Johanna Neumann, policy advocate for Maryland PIRG.



Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-tv0213,0,7189012.story

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The hustle is on, corporate america cashes in. FUBAR alert.

[Robbien]

1. Part of it is because sales staff

are inexperienced and lowly paid. Experienced sales staff is a rarity these days.

But yes, the larger part is that stores have sales staff push the higher priced (perhaps unnecessary) equipment.

[physioex]

2. I agree...

It is a combination of both and not entirely the salespersons fault. There is a lack of training plus they work on low wage with comission.

[LeftyMom]

3. Most of the big electronics stores have moved away from commissions.

Best buy is all hourly, and if I'm not mistaken Circuit City switched most/all of their sales staff to hourly last year (which meant a pay cut for most of the experienced salespeople, I hear.)

[Demonaut]

5. If you live in a city that has a Ultimate Electronics

check there, they have very knowledgeable sales staff and very reasonable prices

[physioex]

10. Right...

There are many smaller chains to purchase electronics. In the East Coast we had HH Gregg. On the west we have Video Only. I have not purchased a Television at BB and CC they kinda suck. And I have heard they moved away from the comission model. So the question is why do they push those extended warranties if they don't get a comission?

[Demonaut]

12. goals and bonuses, and they get to keep their jobs

if they don't meet specific goals then after a few months out they go..

[physioex]

15. So in a way it is still a comission job.....

Which is what I suspected...

[LeftyMom]

13. Because if you don't, management is all over your ass like white on rice.

And the employees who sell those things get scheduled for the most and best hours.

[physioex]

16. So it is still comission in a way...EOM

[AP]

18. That defies logic. If it were inexperience, then they'd err on side of buying less than you need too

but if 4 out 5 are getting it "wrong" by telling people they need to buy more, you have to assume it's intentional.

I used to go to a corner grocer which always made a mistake adding up my purchase -- if something was 3 for .59, they'd come up with 1.77 one time in 3, the other two times it was 1.87 or 1.99. If they couldn't add, you'd think they'd err on the low side once in a while, but, no, they never did. Not even once.

All day long, they add. They can add. And they know exactly what everything costs in the store because they don't want to make the mistake of undercharging. They're in the business of making money. It's not a hobby. They have rent to pay, and pockets to fill, and they're not going to waste their time selling stuff for less than they paid for it (and, if they can get away with it, they'll charge you more than the price they're advertising.

[Demonaut]

4. Not exactly, the switch was intially set for 2006 and not all major cities have

HD content in their markets yet and I don't know of one HD converter being available for sale and what is the big issue when the current sets being sold have both ATSC and NTSC tuners built in....talk about being confusing!!

[heliarc]

6. They also said that Cable wouldn't have commercials!

How long did that last?

[Demonaut]

8. About as long as MTV had music videos

Oh I miss you DownTown Julie Brown!

[MikeDuffy]

7. I was told in the past week by a RS clerk

that had recently attended a digital certification class that after Feb 17, 2009 that ALL analog TV transmission would cease, including that over cable.

I suggested she check her notes or with co-workers, that my understanding is that only non-low power over the air analog TV transmissions must cease by that date, not cable analog (which question will be revisited sometime in 2012). I think cable companies can choose to discontinue analog before 2012, but then would have to go to the expense of supplying users with free digital cable converter boxes.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. been there, done that

When I bought my HDTV I had the salesman swear that I couldn't use it with Dish Network and that if I didn't want to throw my money away I had better sign up for some other TV service on the spot.

[tridim]

11. Speaking of Dish and HD, do you happen to know...

when channels like History and TBS will stop stretching and scaling their HD signal? It's currently unwatchable.

Fortunately my favorite channels (Science and Discovery) are real HD feeds.

[Dumak]

14. What would be nice

The ideal solution would be for Receivers to have an "I'm an Idiot" mode for people who insist that 4:3 source material be cropped+zoomed or stretched to fit their 16:9 screen. It could automatically do all that for them, and leave the rest of us alone.

[DCKit]

19. I can't stand HD football heads.

I have that argument with a friend of mine all the time, but he's 87, so I cut him some slack and just tease him about wanting to "use all the real estate" he paid for on his 55" HDTV. The stretched-out football heads drive me NUTS, yet he claims he can't tell the difference, no doubt just to make me crazy.

I've canceled my satellite service in favor of HD cable at a friend's place and a NetFlix subscription: total savings of $60/month. I set up a combined air/cable HD system for another neighbor and found we have around 20 digital local channels with excellent reception so, when the time comes, I'll go for a converter box and an HD antenna and, if I'm feeling patriotic and spendy, I might buy a TIVO too - after the new 4 series comes out and the price has dropped by 75%, of course. However, I'm not investing in HD until my 18 and 28 year old CRTs give out (RCA made some good shit when they were still manufacturing in the U.S.). <$100 for the converter and an antenna is a no-brainer when considering the cost of a basic HD setup.

The Blu-Ray and HD DVD players are still too expensive and the technology hasn't quite settled yet, so I haven't advised anyone who's asked that they should buy either right away, though it does look as if Blu-Ray's is winning the format war. However, those with extensive DVD collections and HD televisions have the option of buying one of the upconverting DVD players with HDMI output.

While they will never be 'true' HD quality, the players with Faroudja processors are the (professional) industry standard and can be had for around $250, a far cry from the thousands a new HD or Blu-Ray DVD collection would cost. Oppo is a well-regarded European brand. Additionally, there are a few home theater receivers with Faroudja upscaling and several HDMI inputs (Onkyo, for one), but the least expensive of those is currently running over $1,500 and I'm wary of putting all those electronics in a single box since a single failure in any of the components would take down the entire system. The last time I took a VCR in for repairs, it cost more to fix than to replace and it never worked right again. I can't see going through that with a $1,500 receiver.

Other, far less expensive upscaling DVD players ($60-$150) use a rougher line-doubling technology which provides a decent picture, but I haven't had an opportunity to compare the two side-by-side. Personally, I'm satisfied with a good quality DVD player that provides as many lines as my 480i TVs can handle. Then again, my big TV hasn't got a 60" screen to fill. Spread those pixels out over an area 2x larger and there will be distortion and/or holes.

Overall, I take the same approach to consumer electronics as with computers: patch what you can, but wait until the technology is settled, the prices have declined by at least half then research the hell out of any purchase. I'm happy to give advice to my friends and neighbors looking to build state-of-the-art systems, but I won't spend my own cash while the standards are still fluid. The list of things I want is long, the list of things I need is blank.

[tridim]

20. I went with a $40 upconverting HDMI DVD

Made that choice after I LMAO at the current prices of the HD and Blue Ray players.

Where are you seeing squashed football heads? All the HD sports channels I get are formatted correctly. In fact, probably 95% of the HD on Dish is correct, it's just History Channel that bothers me. Apparently it's only temporary, but people have been complaining for awhile now. It's the channel feed, not the delivery that is stretched. Someone at History needs to be fired IMO.

[DCKit]

21. He blows up everything that doesn't exactly fit the screen...

And his favorite setting seems to be "4:3 stretch".

It's one of the DLP projection TVs, so there's no risk of burn-in, but that's never been a consideration. He just can't stand not to have the screen completely full.

[physioex]

17. Ohh yea...

The science channel rocks. Greats shows about the Universe and its origins.