Come back and see us

Inside the Grosvenor Centre Tony was keen to help and apologised for the boxes littering the floor of this open-fronted showroom.
“We’ve just been unpacking some new equipment,” he said. Questions followed. “What TV do you have at the moment – is it a 4:3 square shaped or widescreen – and what size screen is it?” he asked. “Let me take you through the range so you can compare.”
His suggestion was the 32” (£849) which he suggested would be a good equivalent to my 28” at home. “This has 100 hz Motionflow technology – perfect for precision needed for fast-moving sports such as cricket.” Previously, he added, LCD had suffered from blurring on some sports. He stressed how clear the images were even though we were standing closer than the optimum viewing distance.
“This comes with a five year warranty for parts and labour,” he enthused. “It is HD Ready if you decide in the future to have Sky HD and comes with Freeview built-in - so no there will be no need for extra boxes either.”
The Freeview channels would be available immediately as long as my reception was good, he continued. And what about my old TV? “There’s a new directive called WEEE coming out to prevent TV’s and other appliances going into landfill or better still if it’s still working the British Heart Foundation will collect it for you and either sell it or pass it on to someone to use.
I can also arrange to deliver and install which is usually £30 to set up your DVD etc, but I can include this in the price,” he offered, “and if we’ve got the model in stock, we try to deliver to you within 24 hours, so come back and see us.”

Score: 8 out of 10

What do you need?

Andy greeted me as I walked past him. “We’ve got washing machines which take loads from 5kg right up to 9kg now so tell me about what you need to wash,” he said, asking me to follow him.
“Let me show you this Hoover (£399) which takes 9kg and has adjustable spin speeds up to 1400 so your clothes will come out drier and save you money on the tumble drying,” he enthused.
“It’s energy efficient at A+, so cheap to run and, more importantly, it’s a quiet machine at 48db so makes a similar noise to a dishwasher,” Andy explained.
The machine was only a couple of inches deeper than standard but had a much larger drum, he said, opening the door to show me. “As well as the standard programmes you’ve a Sports – good for muddy kit, Sensitive – which gives clothes an extra rinse and a 29 minute wash – great if you just want to freshen things up,” he explained. The build quality was solid as well, he added.
Andy handed me a leaflet. “We’ve produced this to tell you about how we work at Comet, that we’re not on commission so can give you fair, impartial advice and what we’re committed to,” he said.

Score: 8 out of 10

All fired up over floorcare

I ENTERED this department store and went downstairs to the small electrical department. “What type of flooring do you have at home?” Christopher asked.
“If you have a combination of hard flooring and carpets, you may want to go for the Dyson DC14 (£150) or if you have cats or dogs, you may prefer the Animal DC15 (£249) which is designed to pick up long hairs.”
The vacuum head needed to be adjustable to cater for different floor covering, he explained. “And you can easily do the stairs by using the detachable tools,” he enthused, grabbing the Dyson and showing me how far it stretched.
“My personal favourite is the Sebo X4 Extra (£249.99) as it’s computerised to automatically adjust the brush height depending on what surface you’re on,” Christopher took me over to see a model.
“They are a German company who use ‘S’ class filtration as standard which is the highest level for removing dust – so it’s perfect for allergy or asthma sufferers,” he said.
“And take a look at this,” he offered, taking the upright Sebo and lying it flat on the floor, “…it will even work when completely flat so you can get underneath the furniture!”
The integrated hose allowed for stair cleaning and the machine would indicate when the bag needed changing.
“Not only that but it has an automatic shut-down so if the computer detects a problem, it will stop the machine so you don’t have to worry that the motor will burn out.”
Christopher turned the machine over and showed me how easy it was to remove the brush. “It’s a simple system making it very easy to look after,” he smiled, “and we’ve got these in stock for you.”

Score: 8 out of 10

Fine for a FinePix

A solitary salesman looked up from the counter and offered to help. “If you’re looking for an easy to use camera then I’d recommend the Fuji Finepix A800,” he began grabbing his keys to unlock the display cabinet.
“This is one of the best cameras under £100 as it runs on AA batteries, has a large screen on the back and you can use either XD or SD memory cards.”
Some cameras it seemed, were limited and could only use one type of memory card. Switching it on, he handed Fuji to me.
“You can feel how light it is even with the batteries,” he continued, “and it’s fully automatic so very simple to use.”
He suggested buying an additional memory card at £25 and a protective case at £15.
“The only other thing you may want to consider is a battery charger so you can use re-chargeable batteries which will save you in the long run.”

Score: 7 out of 10

Our Mutual friends

Just across the road to find a brown and white electricals showroom with a range of carpets and furnishings.
A saleslady greeted me as soon as I walked in. “This is one of the largest models we do by Hotpoint,” she began, “and you’ve a choice of frost free but this costs £50 more at £349.99.”
Opening the door, she explained “You’ve a good size fridge here with room in the door for bottles and individual drawers for salad and fruit. And there are three freezer drawers too.” The super-freeze drawer, she told me, was specifically for fresh food, to freeze it as quickly as possible.
“There is a 5 year parts warranty on this model but bear in mind this doesn’t include the call out charges,” she said.
“But I can give you a price on an extended warranty for an extra two years if you wanted it.”

Score: 7 out of 10

Rapkin covers all angles

RAPKIN was my first independent of the day, just outside the pedestrianised area of the town centre in Wellingborough Road.
“Hello there,” a voice welcomed me from behind the sales counter.
“The new LCD TV’s start at 26”, then go to 32”, 37” and 42”,” he said pointing the various sizes out to me around the showroom. “But they are much more compact in style now so you may find you have room for a slightly larger screen than before.”
His recommendation was a 32” Panasonic (£799). “These TV’s have come down in price considerably as the market is so competitive and we offer a five year warranty on this as well,” he continued. The set, he told me, came with High Definition, along with a built-in Freeview tuner.
“So you’ll have normal analogue TV but when we go digital, it is all built in for you,” he said.
“The price also includes delivery and installation,” he said, “and we’ve a range of stands from about £99 if you need one of those as well.”

Score: 7 out of 10

A WEEE bit helpful

CURRYS in Northampton was a bright, attractive store. Two salespeople were chatting at the tills. Two more were behind the customers order counter in the far corner.
Heading over to the cookers, I found plenty of POS to help me. Then a voice behind me offered to help. “There is a delivery charge of £80 on cookers,” he began, “where our Corgi registered staff will install the appliance for you and make sure it’s working before they leave.”
There were some instances where a cooker couldn’t be installed, he warned. “The new EU regulations are very strict so this can happen but the fitter will explain exactly what the problem is and we’ll refund the installation cost to you.”
He went to double check the charges. “I’ll just make sure it’s the same for the large rangestyle models,” he said. “Yes, we’ve plenty of the Rangemaster models in stock and the charge is £79.95 as standard.”
Some models would come direct from the supplier, he warned, which could take longer. “Decide which on model you want, come back in and see anyone as we’re not on commission here anymore,” he said, “and we’ll take away your old appliance free of charge.”

Score: 6 out of 10

Follow the instructions

As per usual with PC World, the TV's were across the back wall of this enormous store. Plenty of choice too. After a couple of minutes browsing a salesman approached me.
“Both Samsung and LG are good makes if you’re after a TV,” he said. “Or we’ve Polaroid which is more of an economy set.” He asked what size I wanted and suggested the Samsung 32” (£649).
“Although we’re displaying them on the wall, each set comes with a stand if you prefer to put in on a unit at home,” he continued.
“We have them in stock if you want to collect as they come in a box similar to this,” he said, showing me a boxed version nearby.
“And they are easy to set up – just follow the instructions.”

Score: 6 out of 10

Too busy to make a sale

A short drive to the Becket Retail Park. Inside this busy store, the raised sales till was at one end with a Cable Counter at the other.
A couple of sales staff were serving at each of the customer points. Display cabinets housed various sat nav and walkie talkie systems.
CCTV and other surveillance items were locked away in another cabinet. Looking around I spotted half a dozen customers spread round the store with a couple queuing for cables.
Difficult one here – even after waiting five minutes I’ve no idea if the staff would come to my assistance as they were just too busy getting on with their job.

Score: 0 out of 10

Talk to the brochure

Plenty of staff and customers inside this large store. Two salespeople were serving on the tills. No sales staff on the shopfloor though.
The laptops were situated near the till. The Toshiba and HP models were top of the range here at £799.
A phone was ringing in the background but no one was answering.
I picked up a POS booklet entitled ‘A guide to choosing your new laptop’. Somehow it seemed this was the most information I was going to get today.

Score: 0 out of 10