The Drama Grows At TigerDirect

People like the thread's author epitomize the typical spoiled American
"super consumer," which is really no more than an asshole with
delusions of grandeur trying to throw his money around in an attempt
to bully his way into getting what he wants. "Waaah, I spend lots of
money" "Waaaah, they wouldn't transfer me to a supervisor to get me a
better price." Robert H., you're not the only big spender; yet you can
bet most big spenders still recognize a company's prices are what they
are. Trust me, the company will not go broke because your bitching and
whining fell upon deaf ears there. And you then throw a tantrum
because the rep you spoke with wouldn't transfer to a supervisor?? Let
me throw some cold water in your face here and wake you up to the fact
that chances are a supervisor wouldn't WANT his rep to transfer such a
call to him or her. Why? Because they've got REAL issues to handle,
Robert H.

Get a life. Spending more doesn't entitle you to anything special.

Young Rob

People like the thread's author epitomize the typical spoiled American
"super consumer," which is really no more than an asshole with
delusions of grandeur trying to throw his money around in an attempt
to bully his way into getting what he wants. "Waaah, I spend lots of
money" "Waaaah, they wouldn't transfer me to a supervisor to get me a
better price." Robert H., you're not the only big spender; yet you can
bet most big spenders still recognize a company's prices are what they
are. Trust me, the company will not go broke because your bitching and
whining fell upon deaf ears there. And you then throw a tantrum
because the rep you spoke with wouldn't transfer to a supervisor?? Let
me throw some cold water in your face here and wake you up to the fact
that chances are a supervisor wouldn't WANT his rep to transfer such a
call to him or her. Why? Because they've got REAL issues to handle,
Robert H.

Get a life. Spending more doesn't entitle you to anything special.

Young Rob

I agree with robert on a few points, mainly they should have
transfered him to a supervisor. Another thing is that spending a lot
of money at a place will sometimes get you a discount, never hurts to
ask. I refurb a lot of houses and I know I am getting the parts I need
a lot cheaper than most due to the amount of money I spend.

What on EARTH makes you a better customer than I am?

Tigerdirect.com doesn't offer price matching. Their prices are what
they are. I'd never have the audacity to ask them to lower a price
for me, and I bought MY laptop from them. (I actually got a great
deal - better than retail - on it. I got it at THEIR price.) In
fact, it wouldn't have occurred to me.

You haven't given any reason for them to give you a better price.
Being a regular customer doesn't give you the right to preferential
treatment.

It's very seldom that a Planet Feedback letter will bother me. This
one did, because you have such a rotten entitlement attitude.

You, sir, are no gentleman.

So you spend so much money that you can name your price? You must be
important. Is this Bill Gates?

Ok for starters you might want to tone it down a bit. Now I have dealt
with Tigerdirect on many occasions and I must say the service is
great. They are what they are and that is a deep discount computer
parts store, that being said I doubt they can go much lower. You'll
catch more flys with honey. Be calm and cool and your odds will
improve of getting what you want then again you can't please all the
people all of the time.

Good. Take your business elsewhere. Tiger Direct doesn't need
customers like you. Spending a lot of money does not entitle you to
some kind of "big spender" discount.

"Most of the time when people ask for a supervisor they hav already
exhausted other options with your representatives"

I answer calls as a customer service representative at my job all the
time, and most of the time when someone asks for a manager, they don't
actually need one, as in this case. 95% of the time when I ask what
the call is in regards to, I'm able to solve the problem for them.

I'm not even going to discuss the rest of the letter...I didn't
realize people still tried to haggle in this country...

I am always reminded, when I see a letter from someone who wants
special treatment because they spend a lot of money at a given
retailer, of college students who want better grades because they are
such good students.

Almost always, either their claims were completely false (my favorites
were always the ones who insisted that an instructor in the same
department had recognized their genius, because it was easy to go
check with those instructors, and they never once agreed with the
students' version of what happened) or their idea of being a good
student doesn't line up with mine (spending 3 hours working on your
term paper isn't especially impressive, and it definitely doesn't mean
that the grader should ignore what you actually wrote).

I have no doubt that most companies have customers who really are
wonderful customers and who tend to get special treatment the rest of
us never do. I'm also pretty sure that those customers do not dial
into the call centers, deal with whichever rep. is available first,
and ask for "a supervisor". Las Vegas "high rollers" -- well,
successful ones -- don't first make their presence known to the casino
when they're in line at the buffet.

As I'm not one of those customers (well, Amazon was awfully nice to me
once when a USPS truck rather destructively ran over one of my books
and I wanted to see whether there was any chance they would replace it
even though it was in no way their fault -- of course, since I didn't
live near any accessible bookstores at the time they were getting most
of the money I spent anywhere and it's the only time I've asked about
replacing something I've bought there), I can't say for sure whether
TigerDirect does the whole special-treatment thing; but I think it's
safe to say, Robert, that if they do, they don't think of you that
way.

your letter is wuite interesting. as someone who deals with
tigerdirect.com alot, i can say that they have some of the best
customer service i have ever experienced. whenever i had returns,
they offered free shipping on the exchange item, and even offered a
special discount when something i ordered arrived late. i bought a
barebones kit, and when i needed help putting it together, i called
them all night, speaking to different reps, who helped me, sometimes
step-by-step put parts of my computer together. they have been nothing
but helpful, respectuflu, kind and patient with me.
your approach in your letter was quite arrogant, and i wonder if this
is the tone you used with the rep. They customer reps do not own the
company, they are just doing there jobs. Now, if you speak nicely,
you might be able to get no tax, no shipping, or something like
that...but haggling...? c'mon. i've travelled overseas to some places
where haggling is the only way to do business, but here in American
culture, it is just pretty tacky, most importantly because 9 times out
of ten, the person you are haggling with does not own the company and
doesnt' make a penny more or less if you buy the product or take your
business elsewhere.

Why do you think you should get a lower price than everyone else? Are
you absolutely positive that no one spends more than you? Even then,
why do you think you should get a discount? Unless the website says
that they give discounts to customers that spend so and so, you
shouldn't excpect a discount. Asking is fine, but when told no, flying
of the handle like you did is unacceptable.

I'm gonna fill you all in on a few things. TigerDirect, as well as
many other companies who do ther primary bulk of business through TV
Infomercials and website sales, hire "virtual call centers" to handle
their order processing. The people who work for these "VCC"s do their
work from their homes, using a corded headset telephone and their own
PC with an Internet connection. The reason the OP was told they could
not speak to a supervisor because they literally could not speak to a
supervisor. The call center representatives can only speak with their
supervisors via IM service. They are not physically at the location
to be able to switch them over or put them on the phone. This sort of
thing is done to cut costs on location and equipment. The person who
took your order cannot in any way grant any kind of variation on
pricing unless there is a special deal they are instructed to sell
you. They must follow the script that pops up on their screens as
quickly as possible.

With that said, it was extremely tacky to haggle prices. It just
makes you look cheap. Companies don't give a rat's patootie how much
you spend there, I guarantee. Your spending habits at that (or any)
company is but a drop of water in the ocean. With that said, OP, get
over yourself, you are not as superb as you think. You want to haggle
prices, buy exclusively from Ebay.

A company does not flag your account because you asked them to.
Apparently you have had some problems here before.

People like you make me so irate. Bullying a customer service rep in
an attempt to get unauthorized discounts because you "spend a lot"?

I'm glad your account is flagged.

And why are you requesting that your account be unflagged so that you
may deal with TigerDirect, anyway?

After all... they won't make a special deal just for big, important
you, so weren't you threatening to take your "business" elsewhere?

As an aside, there was no reason you needed to ask immediately for a
supervisor, as the CSRs are hired to assist customers. Asking for a
supervisor is usually reserved for problems. Guess what? Your
self-importance is only a problem to those around you, not to
TigerDirect.

By the way, a supervisor would have given you the same answer - no,
you cannot have a discount simply because you're a legend in your own
mind.

TigerDirect.com is already a discounted online retailer -- why would
you expect them to lower their prices even further? Why do you think
you deserve a better deal than anyone else? YOu thought they'd haggle
over the price with you? Not gonna happen.

And your claim about being a customer who spends "quite a bit of
money" -- one person's "quite a bit of money" is another person's
pocket change, so that reference was meaningless.

And what the heck does Infotel have to do with this? It's a
France-based company according to the website (which is in French).

Take a chill pill ("furious"? really?) and learn to accept their
prices like the rest of us do.

being a frequent customer does NOT entitle you to extra perks. it's a
nice thing for a company to do for an incentive, but it's NEVER
something they are obligated to do nor is it polite to ask for.

Dear Mr. Robert H.,
We are sorry your experience with Tigerdirect.com was not according to
your expectations. Please contact me at
CustomerSatisfaction@help.tigerdirect.com and we will do our best to
assist you with this.
Online Customer Satisfaction
Tigerdirect.com

You mean you actually called Tigerdirect to tell them to lower their
prices just for you, and when you got told no you asked for a
supervisor?! I don't know of any catalog company that would do such a
thing... it's not a yard sale!

I don't know exactly what the part about "flagging the account" means,
but I bet it isn't something they do on a whim, and they probably
won't undo it just because somebody asks.

Another person who thinks that a retailer should change their policy
for "them" because they are such a good customer. Unreal!

Interesting, Robert. There are a few things you should think about
however.

To begin with, I would hope you were trying to represent yourself in a
professional manner. As such you should be aware that you've
misspelled "immediately", "personal" and "solely".

From the way your letter is written, you don't seem to understand that
is not your place to set the procedures and policies of TigerDirect.
TigerDirect's policy is to flag certain accounts, requiring you to
only deal with the people which know certain previous problems or
traits about you.

This is just as much for their protection as to aid you as a shopper.
Further, telling you that you were not able to speak to a supervisor
is the proper procedure. They employ certain people to accept these
calls, and that becomes the maximum of who is available to speak with.
If that doesn't satisfy your needs, TigerDirect is fine with you not
doing business with them.

Ultimately, I know it may be difficult to understand, but dealing with
TigerDirect is no more an advantage to them as it is to you. If you
are not happy with the value which is advertised, you may choose not
to purchase from them. Belittling yourself by stating you need an
incentive to continue to shop with them is rather ludicrous. By
taking the steps which you have outlined, you need to understand your
business is not required by them unless you are able to follow their
policies, procedures and pricing.

After thinking this over, I'm sure you have come to understand this as
well. It would be advantageous for you to send or call them with a
quick apology. I'm sure your business would be accepted under the
conditions already outlined.

I am appalled at the number of people who contact customer service,
state loudly that they spend a great deal of money at such-and-such
company and then demand special treatment.
Who died and made you king?
And why on Earth do you think a supervisor will be able to do this
when a rep can't? Don't you think the rep wants to make a sale and
will give you the best deal he can? They make commission!
Here's what you do. Shop around, find a better deal on whatever you're
buying, and buy it there.
Period.

I just looked at TigerDirect.com and don't see anywhere on their site
an indication that they offer quantity discounts, special deals or
prices any lower than those that are advertised. I also looked at
Infotel.com and everything is in a foreign language (French?) so I
can't tell specifically what they do, although under their logo it
says "The Web-to-Database Company".

The way I'm reading your letter - - you called to try and get a
special discount on a laptop and when they told you they don't make
such deals you told them to either "help you out" or you are going to
take your business some place else at which point they told you to go
ahead.

I'm curious if you personally spend "quite a bit of money" with them
or is it the company you work for?

Either way, with the limited information your have provided, I don't
see any reason for TigerDirect to provide you an incentive to continue
shopping with them.