I was out shopping a few weeks ago looking for a stove top for yale whose new house requires one that actually, well functions properly. And naturally while I was there, I saw and immediately had to have a new fridge. I am sure there is logic in there somewhere, but stuffed if I can ferret it out at the moment.
Anyway, we were at the Good Guys at Mt Gravatt, a chain known for their in the box/discount prices and I saw a fridge that would fit in the space in my kitchen just nicely (bit tight but will do the trick). It was a Samsung 528L SRF527DSLS. RRP on the Samsung website was $2,299.00 – which seemed a bit expensive for my liking (NEVER pay full retail, people!). But I looked it up on the Choice website and it had great reviews, saying it was good for energy consumption, good range of temperatures available, good fluctuation (whatever that is) and good response to changes in room temperature… only let down according to the reviewers were that the controls were located on the top of the inside of the fridge door – but how often do you adjust the temperature of your fridge?
Anyway the Good Guys had it advertised as a significantly discounted price from the ridiculous Samsung RRP at – $1,649.00 (though pretty sure that didn’t include delivery), which made a good jumping off price point.
I thought I’d have a hunt around for a better price. Didn’t bother going to Hardly Normal because well, they are always more expensive than the other appliance and electronics retailers, and lately Gerry Harvey is being a complete and utter tosser in the national political arena. And Clive Peeters seem to have fallen off the edge of the retail planet so I hit the internets and found a much better price at a company called Appliances Online – appliancesonline.com.au being $1,439.00 which included free delivery to my postcode. Getting decidedly better… $200 less and free delivery was sounding pretty good.
Not too shabby. Next best price I found was from Masters – the hardware guys who have opened up near us a while back and who are attempting to give Bunnings a run for their money. Masters were advertising the same appliance for $1,547.00 with free delivery also.
But… the best thing about the Masters mob is that they not only price match, but they have a guaranteed ‘beat any price by 10%’, including online prices. So I had a live chat with one of their customer service representatives to ensure that when I rocked up down at the store that this would actually be the case. And yep, sure as eggs, Masters would not only match the $1,439.00 from Appliances Onilne, but they were prepared to discount it by a further 10% bringing the price down to $1,295.10 including free delivery! A far cry from the Samsung RRP of $2,299.00.
Now we are cooking with gas. Just one more stop before making a decision – try the Union Shopper and see if they can beat the quoted $1,295.10. And as it turns out… No. No they can’t. One of the largest buyers consortiums in the state can’t beat that price.
So, off to Masters I went. Ordered and paid for a new fridge and arranged delivery for tomorrow… before they changed their mind!