Shopping Discussion

Price match rejected in NCIX (BELOW COST) but accepted in Memory Express

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  • Nov 1st, 2016 8:56 pm
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Price match rejected in NCIX (BELOW COST) but accepted in Memory Express

This week I bought a laptop for my brother. It's my first time got rejected. Kinda disappointed but it was added to my shopping experience.

The price in NCIX was $1760 while it was $1582 on Amazon, so I went to NCIX to do the PM. The person refused to PM after a few minutes' thinking and told me the price was way too low and below cost. He also gave me the best offer of $1700, which was so dumb IMO. I refused the BO then went to Memory Express in Richmond. They were also surprised to see such a low price on Amazon but accepted my PM instantly. The store manager told me it was still below cost but wanted to maintain a good relationship with customers, and hoped I could shop more in Memory Express in the future.

2 different decisions apparently lead to different customer relationship and customer loyalty. Both stores have their own reasons to accept / reject PM, but I think Memory Express made a smarter choice. Right now I'm not a big fan of NCIX any more. Thank you ME for the PM again. :idea:

What do you guys think? ;)
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Jun 18, 2008
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Yea i had a couple of pms rejected at ncix and end up getting accepted at ME.

needless to say, if both have the same price, i usually end up buying it at ME instead because of this.
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Feb 15, 2012
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memory express needs to come over to the east side and show CC how the computer business is done
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EdisonL299 wrote: What do you guys think? ;)
1. This is a classic example of the meaning of "YMMV" and why it can be worth shopping around, even among different branches of the same chain, for different "rulings" on customer satisfaction issues.
2. This is also a classic example of why escalating to a manager (as in the case with ME) can result in a better experience than dealing with front line staff who may not have enough discretion to deal with unusual situations.
3. PMing is voluntary. They're under no legal obligation to PM. Also usually a store's PM fine print gives them the right to turn down a PM request for any arbitrary reason they choose which in this case is to sell below cost.
4. I agree with your conclusion to do future business with the store that most values your patronage. (I only wish we had NCIX and ME stores around here. CC badly needs some competition.)
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Happens all the time at NCIX. Fine Print....... ME's price match is guaranteed while NCIX is we'll try our best

Funny thing is, I been rejected price matching Direct Canada their sister company and given the same line they gave you.

and I highly doubt they split up the buying process for the both companies.
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Nov 27, 2004
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It happens, but it's silly sometimes. I pricematched Kingston 64GB microSD class10 and got denied, but a couple days later, it went on sale even less than the amount I PM'd for...
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Apr 8, 2007
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If I can, I usually try to purchase at ME. In general they have much more knowledgeable employees and are more helpful.

The last 5 times I went to NCIX, I was so infuriated with the sales ppl there. Basically making up info and they go and giving me all sorts of wrong information. One employee told me he didn't know what Photoshop is! How can you work at an electronics store and not know what Photoshop is?

I have always been successful at ME with price matches.
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Sep 21, 2015
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Just don't bother pricematching at NCIX.
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Hiroshirou wrote: Yea i had a couple of pms rejected at ncix and end up getting accepted at ME.

needless to say, if both have the same price, i usually end up buying it at ME instead because of this.
If both have the same price, ME
If NCIX has the better price, ME with PM
If ME has the better price, ME (no-brainer)

Overall, ME ;)
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dracolnyte wrote: memory express needs to come over to the east side and show CC how the computer business is done
Luckily you still have NCIX with 'possible' PM. If you buy something on memoryexpress.com and ship it to east coast, is the shipping free?
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EdisonL299 wrote: Luckily you still have NCIX with 'possible' PM. If you buy something on memoryexpress.com and ship it to east coast, is the shipping free?
They never had free shipping, isn't it $4.99 or $7.99? Not worth to go with ME if you consider shipping and also the fact that if you receive a DOA product you're paying for the return shipping.. Meanwhile with NCIX you could just go in-stores and exchange it.

ME is good, but not for everyone. I prefer NCIX for the convenience and less headaches because ME isn't local.
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bylo wrote: 1. This is a classic example of the meaning of "YMMV" and why it can be worth shopping around, even among different branches of the same chain, for different "rulings" on customer satisfaction issues.
2. This is also a classic example of why escalating to a manager (as in the case with ME) can result in a better experience than dealing with front line staff who may not have enough discretion to deal with unusual situations.
3. PMing is voluntary. They're under no legal obligation to PM. Also usually a store's PM fine print gives them the right to turn down a PM request for any arbitrary reason they choose which in this case is to sell below cost.
4. I agree with your conclusion to do future business with the store that most values your patronage. (I only wish we had NCIX and ME stores around here. CC badly needs some competition.)
Where are you located? Sometime NCIX offers free shipping nationwide too. ME Shipping is around $5.
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bylo wrote: 2. This is also a classic example of why escalating to a manager (as in the case with ME) can result in a better experience than dealing with front line staff who may not have enough discretion to deal with unusual situations.
I didn't see in the OP's post that he did escalate to a manager at ME... He said "They were also surprised to see such a low price on Amazon but accepted my PM instantly. The store manager told me it was still below cost but wanted to maintain a good relationship with customers, and hoped I could shop more in Memory Express in the future."

Many retailers do allow the frontline staff to do the right thing. It's a mistake to "escalate" without trying the frontline staff first as it will often lead to longer resolution times for yourself as the manager may be busy and you'll have to wait your turn. I was in photo/electronics retailing for over 12 years (8 of those years in management or manager) and people ended up waiting for me for very simple things that the frontline staff were trained and had the authority to do - including price matches and returns. Don't get me wrong - the manager will typically be happy to help but why waste your own valuable time waiting when you don't have to.
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Jimboski wrote: They never had free shipping, isn't it $4.99 or $7.99? Not worth to go with ME if you consider shipping and also the fact that if you receive a DOA product you're paying for the return shipping.. Meanwhile with NCIX you could just go in-stores and exchange it.

ME is good, but not for everyone. I prefer NCIX for the convenience and less headaches because ME isn't local.
True.... I don't know ME's plan but it seems NCIX is expanding and has more local stores in Vancouver area.
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tmpz wrote: It happens, but it's silly sometimes. I pricematched Kingston 64GB microSD class10 and got denied, but a couple days later, it went on sale even less than the amount I PM'd for...
Weird way of doing business.... lol
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LikeSpeed wrote: Happens all the time at NCIX. Fine Print....... ME's price match is guaranteed while NCIX is we'll try our best

Funny thing is, I been rejected price matching Direct Canada their sister company and given the same line they gave you.

and I highly doubt they split up the buying process for the both companies.
Oh, Direct Canada is connected with NCIX? Didn't know before.
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wiigal wrote: If I can, I usually try to purchase at ME. In general they have much more knowledgeable employees and are more helpful.

The last 5 times I went to NCIX, I was so infuriated with the sales ppl there. Basically making up info and they go and giving me all sorts of wrong information. One employee told me he didn't know what Photoshop is! How can you work at an electronics store and not know what Photoshop is?

I have always been successful at ME with price matches.
I prefer ME too. But sometimes some products are only available in NCIX. In terms of product selections, NCIX beats ME IMO.
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In my experience, i have never gotten NCIX to actually match a price. I have always been met with an excuse. Its to the point that i dont bother with pming anything at ncix.

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