Case Study 1: What’s Negotiable and What’s Not (Part 2)

In last week’s trip to Value City Furniture, we learned that with a little bit of bargaining we could save $100 on a new couch. Now we’ll be taking a look at a similar shopping trip, but with somewhat less successful results.

In preparation for Thanksgiving last year, my fiancé and I decided that the time had come for us to have a real dining room table and chairs…so we followed our typical strategy of going everywhere and anywhere in search of the perfect dining room. We spent a few weeks casually looking online, and one weekend we decided to journey through as many stores as we could.

Our first stop was Bob’s Discount Furniture…we had been there a few times to take advantage of its infamous free candy and ice cream (which we quickly learned was “not for take with”). But this time we were on a specific mission…and sure enough, we fell in love with the first set we saw. It had everything we had been looking for and even included a matching china cabinet…which we hadn’t really thought about, but now seemed like would be a perfect addition to the room.

Of course, I wouldn’t feel comfortable going with this dining room set until we had compared to as many alternatives as possible. So we continued on our planned trip, heading in and out of store after store, essentially comparing everything we saw to the first set. After a long, non-stop weekend, we finally settled on the Bob’s set…there was simply nothing else out there that had the look and combination that we were looking for.

So we headed back to Bob’s ready to buy…but as before, I insisted on attempting to bring the price down at least slightly. I had looked up this particular furniture set online based on the manufacturer info, and Bob’s did seem to have the lowest price by a decent margin. But I had to take my own advice and at least try to bargain a bit. What’s the worst that could happen?

We went back into Bob’s on Monday night and met a nice salesman; we asked a few questions about the warranty, shipping, and dimensions…questions that we mostly knew the answers to but wanted to confirm anyway. Then my fiancé casually went back to the car while I switched into bargain mode. I began by stating the same thing I did at Value City: “I’d really like to buy this set but it’s just a little bit more than my budget.” The salesman began talking about their zero-percent financing plan, which I listened about but wasn’t really interested in. I went into round two: “If this were even just a bit cheaper I think I’d be ready to buy right now.” But he still wasn’t budging…he said very politely that Bob’s didn’t allow for any price changes or negotiation. I had a sneaking suspicion that this might actually be their policy (whereas I’m normally inclined to assume that whatever the salesman tells me is only partially true, if at all). But I asked if I could speak to the manager just to see if maybe he would be willing to lower the price a bit to avoid losing a sale. Again politely, the salesman went to the back to get the manager. He came back a few minutes later and said that the manager couldn’t come out right now, but he confirmed the no-negotiating policy. I said I understood, but I still wanted to speak to the manager in person. He called the manager’s desk, where he clearly got no answer. I then followed him over to that desk, where the manager’s assistant was sitting out front. I asked her to call him, which she did…he said he couldn’t come out right now. I insisted to the assistant that I needed to speak to him or else I’d be walking away without buying a big dining room set; she went to his office for a few minutes and eventually came out with him following behind.

He came up to the counter, and I told him the same story I had told the salesman. In a very stern, focused manner the manager said, “We don’t negotiate prices.” I said, “Ok, I understand that, but would you really want to lose a sale because you wouldn’t lower the price by a little bit?” He repeated the exact same sentence as before. I said, “So you’d rather I not buy this dining room set at all?” He then said something along the lines of, “I have more important things to do and don’t have time for this anymore.” This caught me a bit off guard; I actually had to take a moment to consider if he had just said what I thought he had said. Now I was upset. I began saying how rude and inappropriate it was for him to say that to a customer; he just walked away back into his office. I continued to tell the assistant (with the salesman watching his sale slip away) that this was ridiculous and that I wanted the name and phone number of the main store manager right now. I told her I’d be speaking to his manager first thing in the morning and that it was totally unacceptable that he would treat a customer like this. After a few minutes of this, I told the assistant to tell the manager that if he hoped to avoid my speaking to his boss about this fiasco, he’d better come back out and apologize for his behavior. The manager called the assistant into his office on the phone; after a few minutes, she came back out and said that he heard what I said but he couldn’t come out because he was busy counting the cash receipts for the day. I responded that, had he said that to begin with, I might have been more understanding and just come back the next day to speak to him or another manager…but instead, he had been incredibly rude and risked a big sale. I walked away in what I would honestly describe as a big huff! But I didn’t leave the store…I walked with the salesman back to the dining room set and told him I would still buy this from him…it wasn’t his fault that the manager had treated me this way, and I did actually want this set, even if it meant paying full price. He was very polite and helpful through this whole process, and he apologized multiple times for his manager’s behavior. I told him I appreciate that, but I’d still be speaking to the main manager about the situation.

The next day, as planned, I called and spoke with the main store manager. He said he had actually been told by the manager in the morning that he’d probably be getting a call about this. We discussed the whole situation, and he apologized multiple times and said that, while the no-negotiating policy was indeed Bob’s set-in-stone policy, that didn’t excuse the manager’s behavior. The store manager was polite and said that, as a courtesy, he would give me a credit of $50 which I could use toward this purchase. I said that, ironically, had his manager offered to reduce the price by this small amount, I probably would have just agreed to buy it at that price and we would have never had to go through this whole mess. He apologized again and went over the details of how I could get the credit.

A week later, we received the furniture and the credit…everything was exactly as we had hoped and it looked perfect in our dining room. The extra leaf we had bought proved to be incredibly necessary for our full-table Thanksgiving dinner. Looking back, this was an interesting departure from the Value City situation. But looking at both together has demonstrated a few important notes for future transactions. The most important lesson is probably that, while it never hurts to try to bargain, it’s probably worth researching the store’s policy ahead of time. I had read a few forums online where some posters were noting the Bob’s policy…but some had responded that their experience had been that there are some negotiable items at Bob’s. So I figured I’d give it a shot; clearly, dining room sets are not on the negotiable list.

While I saved $50 on this whole transaction, it may not have been worth all the hassle and stress involved. While I normally don’t mind even the most aggressive negotiating session, this particular incident wasn’t quite as much fun as a typical customer service fiasco tends to be. Especially when I consider my earlier blog post about the “real” cost of saving on a purchase, it becomes clear that certain savings just aren’t worth it. If you’re having to call the main manager to complain about your experience, you’ve probably lessened the enjoyment that you’re supposed to get from the furniture purchase in the first place. Maybe it’s not worth focusing so much on the bottom line…after all, are you really going to even notice or remember that $50 during Thanksgiving dinner?

Case Study 1: What’s Negotiable and What’s Not (Part 1)

About a year ago, my fiancé and I were newly moved into our first house and were on the hunt for a new couch. We applied a very organized approach to our hunt and scoured every furniture store within driving distance in search of maximum comfort at minimum price. Everywhere we went it seemed like we were finding the same exact types of couches, none of which seemed particularly appealing to us. After a few weeks of searching, we suddenly came across exactly what we’d been looking for: a Klaussner sectional! The moment we sat down on it in the Value City Furniture showroom we knew we had found “the one”; it was like falling in love, but with a much steeper price tag. As it so happened, the day we found our magical couch happened to be a day before Memorial Day weekend. The store was filled with “SALE” signs and the price tag for this couch indicated that it had been marked down an extra $400 from its original discounted price (50% list price…that part I never pay much attention to, since it seems like everything is at least 50% off of list price).

It seemed like a decent price, but it was still a bit steep compared to the other models we’d been looking at. We talked it over privately and decided that this was definitely the couch for us. But being the frugal consumer that I am, I insisted that I write down the model info and research it online before we bought it at this store. My fiancé agreed and we left the store without purchasing anything. After a few days of intense research, it appeared that Value City really did have the best price for this couch. There were some Internet sites that had it for sale, but at a higher cost and without the free shipping. Even if they had it at the same price, I typically prefer to shop at brick & mortar stores whenever I’m making such a big and expensive purchase (it’s always nice to have a store that you can walk back into and see the manager face-to-face if there are any issues).Finally, after much agonizing and useless pacing, I decided to pull the trigger. My fiancé knew me too well to accompany me on the trip to the store…she knew that I was planning to do some bargaining, and when that happens, she prefers to be somewhere else.

On the way to Value City, I had a momentary hesitation and decided to pay a visit to Jennifer Convertibles. I had remembered reading that Jennifer was a Klaussner dealer, so I figured I’d take one more glance at the competition. Sure enough, Jennifer was selling the same couch in their catalog…but for hundreds of dollars more and without the free delivery! I mentioned to the sales manager the price I had seen at Value City…he told me, “If you can get that price for this couch, go sign right now!” I was taken aback by his refreshing candor…it had reassured me that my decision to buy it at Value City was not a foolish one.

So off I went back to the store. I went over to the Klaussner couch and was quickly approached by a saleswoman. I told her that I was interested in purchasing this couch, but the price was a little higher than my budget. Now some might find this bargaining process to be somewhat dishonest; I personally don’t take that view. My goal is to get this couch for the lowest price that the store is willing to accept for it; if one “story” is more likely to make that happen than another, it’s all part of a legitimate capitalistic negotiation. After all, if the lowest price they’re willing to sell it for is already on the sticker, it shouldn’t matter what story I tell them. I should also point out that I made sure to wear my college t-shirt to the store that day, as a way of illustrating that I was working “on a budget”. In reality, I was willing to pay the price on the sticker for this couch; but why not give bargaining a shot?

The saleswoman said that it was already very discounted and that this was the lowest price she could sell it for. I asked if I could speak to a manager about it, and she was very courteous and got one in a few minutes. The manager repeated the same line; this is when I switched to my second tactic. “Look,” I said to him, “I’d really like to buy this couch but it’s just a little higher than I’m looking to spend. If you could go even a little bit lower, I’d buy it right now.” My hope was that he would see that I was prepared to make the purchase there and then and that would force his hand on the truly lowest price he could sell it for. He still hesitated and proceeded to tell me about their interest-free financing. I quickly stopped him and said I wasn’t really interested in the financing…and then used my third and final tactic, “I’ll buy it on a credit card right now, payment in full, if you can knock it down by even $100!” The manager paused for a moment and thought about it…and then replied, “Okay, $100 off if you pay in full right now.” I got my credit card out and headed to the register with the saleswoman.

I walked away from this experience having learned a few things. First of all, never be afraid to jump on a good deal. Sometimes, I second-guess myself and worry that I’m overpaying and that I should hold out for a bigger sale. But this has often resulted in my actually missing out on the best price.

Secondly, it never hurts to haggle. Many people find it unpleasant to bargain for major purchases, but when it comes to furniture, vehicles, or other high-value items, the sticker price is very often quite negotiable. It’s important to remember that you’re not trying to rip anybody off; the store is in business to make money, and if the salesperson thinks they can get your business with a lower price, they’d rather make the sale at that price than not make it at all. But they’re not going to offer you that lower price out of the kindness of their hearts; it’s your responsibility to assess what you’re willing to pay for an item and whether you think it can be sold for less. The worst thing that can happen is that the store says no to your offer.

Lastly, emotional appeals can sometimes be persuasive. I’ll never know for sure whether my negotiation tactics were really responsible for the deal I got, but I suspect that if I had merely stated to the saleswoman or manager that I wanted to pay $100 less off the bat, I may not have gotten what I wanted. Instead, I slowly worked my way from “my budget” to “a little less expensive” to “$100 off”. By taking this approach, I think I was perceived less as some brat who just wanted a discount and more as a casual buyer who might really be willing to walk away from this sale. The sales staff treated me differently because of this perception, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong or dishonest about using this as a negotiation tactic. After all, if they genuinely didn’t think they were getting a fair deal in the sale, they wouldn’t have offered me the discount at all.

Coming up in the next post is Part 2, where I find out that not quite everything is as negotiable as I had thought…