Fighting dirty?
ITACS, which first brought the story to our attention, was more strident in its reaction. "This customer was sent by our member to the chain because they wanted the best deal for the customer who was happy to give the rest of his business to his local supplier," said chairman Matthew Wooley.
"We hope that these dirty tricks are a one-off and not representative of a new aggressive sales policy at this big chain retailer. It's a tough marketplace right now, but these sharp practices further threaten a weakened but vital independent IT sector. Our members have vast experience and provide an essential service which the big boys can't match. Instead they're fighting dirty on price."
Among the software concerned was Microsoft Office Home and Student, which Dix sells for £69.76, compared to £99.95 at PC World. So the potential good news for consumers is that if this is standard PC World policy, you can get pretty dramatic price reductions just by doing a bit of homework before you go in.
It turns out this is standard policy at PC World. Its website has a section entitled Price Match Plus, in which is promises "If you find a lower price for the same product and offer, we'll reduce our price by 110% of the difference - even up to 7 days after purchase!"
Finally we spoke to Mark Webb, head of media relations at DSGi and he gave us the following statement on the matter: "We do operate a price match policy, which is popular with customers. Obviously this occasionally requires us to call competitors to verify prices. We can only apologise if this has been misconstrued in any way."
Do you think the PC World sales assistant stepped over the mark or was he just doing his job? Do you agree that the independent IT sector is vital? Did you know about this price matching policy and will you now be putting it to the test? Let us know in the HEXUS.community discussion forums.
