Harvey Norman – Consumer says no.
Boxing day. The day of days. When people go to snaffle their family the Christmas presents at a happier price than a couple of days before. Or so I thought.
So there I was. Standing in a Harvey Norman store. Happily talking to the sales person about one of their products that I’d had my eye on for a while. It wasn’t discounted but they were offering a store voucher as part of the pack.
As is custom in this situation I asked what their best offer was and off he trotted to consult the mysterious Harvey Norman pricing computer. He returned and said that he’d cut fifty dollars off the price if I was to decline the store voucher (which was more than the $50 discount) or I could pay full price and get an extended warranty thrown in.
Sweet, I thought. “I’ll just speak to the family and I’ll get back to you in a tick”, I said.
We decided on the latter involving the extended warranty and went to find the sales person. He was a little busy so we spoke to his co-pilot. We explained the situation and he trundled off to check with the first chap.
He came back and said that it was good to go. As we started to walk to the counter to pay we said that we had a couple of gift vouchers that had been Christmas gifts from family (we needed to use these as purchases like this are normally out of our price bracket).
That’s when he stopped and said that if we wanted to use the vouchers, and because it was Boxing day, we’d have to pay an extra $50. We were gutted and utterly confused. Apparently Harvey Norman gift vouchers aren’t the equivalent of the cash that family and friends had just paid for them!
Dejected by our experience we just left. Without the Christmas present we’d been saving for, he types emotionally. Awww.
As we drove home I became more and more irritated by the customer experience Harvey Norman had provided us and so I decided to have a peek online for a customer feedback form or at least a customer service email address. None. Nil. Nada. Nix. It all started looking very shifty indeed. Even doing the old Google search proved to be a futile experience, but it did show that other people had been looking for the same lost treasure as I.
Anyway, I’d love you to send me your Harvey Norman experiences – bad and hopefully good and if possible a Harvey Norman contact email.
Overall Harvey Norman undoubtedly provide a massive range in the one store. But, today at least, they didn’t provide the customer service that I would have liked. An honest one.
P.S If you are a Harvey Norman employee or are able to speak on behalf of the company, we’d love to know:
- Is it common practice across all franchises to treat gift cards as different to the cash they were purchased with (a bird already in the hand perhaps)?
- Is it normal for Boxing day to be treated as a modifier for gift cards (i.e. On this day gift cards are not redeemable for their full value)?
- Can I cash in the gift cards and shop elsewhere if either of the two questions above are true?
- How would you feel if you were placed in this position by representatives of Harvey Norman?
- How would you feel if you purchased these Harvey Norman gift cards and found out that the recipients had been treated in this way?
We’d love to hear from you.
Is it common practice across all franchises to treat gift cards as different to the cash they were purchased with (a bird already in the hand perhaps)?
No I was surprised by the salesman response
Is it normal for Boxing day to be treated as a modifier for gift cards (i.e. On this day gift cards are not redeemable for their full value)?
No again I am surprised by the response. You gift card is face value.
Can I cash in the gift cards and shop elsewhere if either of the two questions above are true?
No as the purchaser of the card agreed to the terms that the cash card can not be redeemed for cash.
How would you feel if you were placed in this position by representatives of Harvey Norman?
You have to realize that your talking to just one salesman at one store. Another store may be grateful to do the deal.
How would you feel if you purchased these Harvey Norman gift cards and found out that the recipients had been treated in this way?
Strange outcome indeed. It does not happen in our store.
Thanks so much for your comment Chris.
You are absolutely spot on with regards to this being isolated to one sales person in one store.
As a former retail employee I appreciate acutely how one person’s interpersonal skills can impact a brand and that bad experience being passed through the consumer’s social network. That’s the main reason why I have not mentioned which Harvey Norman store this person represented. It’s not fair on the rest of the diligent staff selling on the “front line”.
Again thank-you for your comments.
P.S I’m glad to hear that these things don’t occur in the store you represent.