Joined: 17 Aug 2008
Posts: 5
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:43 pm Post subject: It Finally Happens the $549.99 P/A | |
Well it's here now and no going back,just when I thought this would never happen a new high price for the P/A. I was told this would come and now it's here.On vacation to come back sell my first Kenmore Trio pre planted the P/A info went to the register and there it was no longer a joke the price stared me in the face,took a deep breath and went through all the reasons people need the P/A remained very up beat ansewered the objections and nearly lost the sale I had and the couple said no NO! Thats 30% of the price are you crazy? Not me but maybe Sears Holdings should rethink this thing.We had under achievers before when the price for a 5 year was $399.99 (remember those days 7 months ago.) now what do you think will happen? More PPI's and never get fired? Or will this great (Once great sorry) company follow through and let some of these people go? Don't know. But Whats Next? Food for thought. 
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: | |
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Everytime it seems the company couldn't possibly get any crazier, they take it up another notch. All management sees is the gravy from the PA sales. The grief the salespeople have to go through doesn't show up on the financial reports so it doesn't get considered.
I would expect it to get worse in coming months. They won't let the economic downturn be an excuse for the front line salespeople. |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 4996
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: one service call | |
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Over the last year had 2 major appliances repaired for a total of 290$ WITHOUT an extended warranty,service or pa.Those appliances were both over 5 years old and it was their first trouble.One of the appliances(HVAC unit) the cost of the visit/repair was cheaper than a 1 year of service;165$ for visit/repair vs 180$ PER YEAR for the works.
That 549$ will give you 5 years during the time you are least likely to have trouble. Last edited by dictators_rule on Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 699
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject: | |
| ONLY 0.30082191780821917808219178082192 $/day | |
Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 197
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:48 pm Post subject: Re: It Finally Happens the $549.99 P/A | |||
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Good Freaking God. I mean WTF!!!!?!?! and they expect to sell them?? Man. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7078
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: | |
One of these days even our resident eternal PA optimist is going to have to admit that this whole thing may be getting at least slightly out of hand. 
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Posts: 43
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:58 pm Post subject: | |
| It's already out of hand. I make the token effort to get the PA, go for the three no responses and then simply shut it down. I do believe in protection agreements, when they're reasonably priced. But PAs for everything just went up, making the job more difficult than ever. If it's not reasonably priced, there's little point in offering it. | |
Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 349
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: | |||
Agreed. |
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Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 290
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:24 am Post subject: | |
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I think so many of our fellow associates have been forced into illicit tactics in order to get pa's. Therefore the "standard" parity number just keeps increasing. Sears probably figures that there is still room to jack the prices up even more, and make the same overall amount of money but they'll have to visit even fewer homes. The lying liars will continue to get enough PA's to make this work. Or maybe not.
Last Christmas they tried "reasonably" priced ones in electronics, and apparently it blew up in their face. This year it's the 720 dollar plasma(after coup) with a 299 3 year. Anyone know what they charge to extend a 3 year on a plasma? A lot of the 3 yrs on some of the first big sales wave of plasmas should be coming up in the next several months. Just curious what they might charge on a 50" panasonic that went for around 3k with a 750 3 year, a few years ago. Basically 2-3 generations older than the superior tv that now sells for as low as 899. |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject: | |||
It's always hard to know if there is any logic to this stuff, or if they are just plain crazy. The prices are so far beyond absurd already the company may not have much to lose by going even higher. The Sears groupie types who always say yes may keep on saying yes. And as you suggest, it is to Sears advantage to have fewer requests for actual service. The real damage long term doesn't show up in the financial reports. How many customers are they running off with this ridiculous pricing structure? Last edited by allhandsabandonship on Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:13 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 259
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject: | |
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I can't believe that customers are just now figuring out how over priced your pa's are. A 5 year plan at our store for the french door (trio as Sears calls them) is only $159.00. It includes unlimited checks for food spoilage, for each service call they can receive a check for $250 worth of food. We don't require the customer to provide grocery receipts either like some of our competitors do.
We give them money toward a rental fridge if a customer needs to have it for a special occassion while awaiting a part. In home service. The 3 strikes and it's outta there rule too. So why would someone purchase the one with 1/3rd the price of the fridge? These fridges no longer have coils or compressors that need to be blown out. Those times have gone bye bye. |
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Joined: 26 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject: | |
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Wow.
Imagine buying a new $20,000 car. Then the salesman hits you up for another $6000 for a 5 year service contract. Rediculous, huh? That's what Sears is now asking for on that fridge. I really feel for you folks just plugging away trying to rationalise the price to your customer. There will always be the lay-down folks that buy it no matter the cost, and folks that will always so no even if you give it away for free. It's the folks you have to sell the PA to that make or break wether or not you hit parity, and each time they do stupid increases like that, they decrease the likelyhood of being able to sell it to eveyday customers. |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject: | |||
True. The company may have decided to just milk the "lay-down" customers, but this never gets communicated to the front line, so the salespeople are stuck trying to sell the PA's at these ridiculous prices. It's hard to understand how people can stay sane in a Sears sales job these days. |
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 349
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject: | |||
I don't know if that's quite an adequate example though. A refrigerator is on 24/7, 365. Could you imagine the wear and tear on your vehicle if it was constantly on? Most people don't look at it from that angle. What machine is made to run 10-15 years nonstop without maintenance? I mean do you think it's just going to run forever without any maintenance? Just thinking about that sounds ridiculous. |
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Joined: 26 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:58 pm Post subject: | |||||
You've actually made a horrible analogy. Cars are not made to run 24/7 365, your refridgerator IS manufactured to run 24/7. It was designed to be on 24/7. And it's designed to do so with little or no maintenance. Read a refridgerators owners manual and see whats suggested for maintenence. Comapre that with a car. Did you know the average lifespan of a refridgerator is roughy the same of that of a car? Appoximately 15 years. Guess which one can go possibly untouched for 15 years and which one can not? In my 18 years I probably went on 2 plus dozen tech rides. It's enlightening to witness the at most 15 minutes fridge PM check. My comparison is more than sound, given it's the same percentage, and my example uses a item that absolutely has more suggested maintenance, moving parts, stuff that wears etc vs a item that has little to none. Point being, 30% is rediculous, regardless of the item. |
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 349
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:49 am Post subject: | |||||||
Ok....but you just outlined all the ways in which they're different, so therefore they're not the same. So if it's an analogy, shouldn't the items mentioned therefore be analogous? ....how is that sound? So therefore wouldn't the warranties (or the percentage) be more than they are on a fridge, since as you mentioned, they require more maintenance? |
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Joined: 26 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:33 am Post subject: | |||||||||
Car warranties do not run at 30% of the cost. I just purchased a Mazda3. Price was approx $20,000. Cost of a 5 year 100,000 mile extended contract on it was about 1k, or 5% of the cost. And yes, it did include bringing the car in for certain scheduled maintenance times. Not sure where you are missing the point? A contract on a car running 30% of the cost is insane, just as paying the same 30% on a fridge would be, and, given the examples above, more so. The majority of folks can get a full lifespan out of thier fridge without ever having a soul touch it, let alone look at it. No car could ever go it's lifespan without any type of maintenance. |
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 349
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:01 am Post subject: | |
| Alright, I get your point. | |
Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 269
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:42 am Post subject: | |
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My fridge was bought around 1973 and has seen a repair guy twice. Once to replace a relay, once to replace the fan.
Thirty five years, that's about 307,000 hours. Now that's reliablity. On the other hand, in the same time frame, the dishwasher, washer and dryer were all serviced and replaced. Of course, my fridge doesn't have an ice maker, water dispenser, climate zones, or anything electronic. Simple electro-mechanical controls. |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:23 pm Post subject: | |||
 An automobile is a far more complex item facing more wear and tear than a refrigerator. Yet the extended warranties are far less expensive as a percentage of total merchandise cost. Your analogy is right on.
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 4996
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject: actual costs | |
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Who tells or asks for a price increase in PAs-a BC exec,a service exec,a finance exec or just a plain old greedy exec or board member?
And shouldn't the TRUE cost of a PA be based on the repair rate for a particular model setting aside a specific formula. The most expensive or most needed cost on most appliance repairs should the be electronics or the brains of the unit.And since you can find things like trouble codes on-line exclusivity should not be a factor.Nor should training techs.There might be some cost in diagnostic test equipment like a code reader for cars but even that technology shouldn't be that costly. And again you raise the price you raise customer expectations which you had better be able to meet. |
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Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 197
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: | |||||||||||
Dead on dude, I bought an Brand New 08 Honda Accord EX-L w/Navi for Under invoice (24,600) and we bought the extended warranty for 1498.99 6yr/60K Bumper to Bumper and the powertrain is covered for 250K miles as long as you do all service maintenance at the dealership. I just don't understand how people here on this website still try and justify Sear's PA prices.? especially when the competitors prices puts Sear's to shame. |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: actual costs | |||
Now there's a radical idea. When pricing a service take into account the actual cost of providing the service. Sam Walton went this way from the beginning, and look at how badly things turned out for his company.. It's gotta be better to focus on maximum profit per sale. 
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