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CTS - 2006 :: Short Rant

by Steven Williamson on 10 May 2006, 23:57

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qafn3

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HEXUS.gaming made the trip today to the NEC in the West Midlands where the Computer Trade Show is running for the next couple of days.

We'll be providing the full story on all channels shortly, with news of some cool gaming peripherals for the HEXUS.gaming readers. Before that, I wanted to get something of my chest.

The Computer Trade Show is now in its ninth year and interest seems to be dropping. Although I didn't personally attend last year's show, this year's was apparently quieter and had fewer stalls. HEXUS.gaming approached the show from a gaming angle hoping to find something that hadn't been uncovered at CeBIT.

What we did uncover was many of the distributors' sheer lack of knowledge about the products they ship, and the gaming industry as a whole - either the PR reps had slipped off for an early lunch or The Muppets had gate crashed CTS.

At a show where companies are promoting their products, I felt extremely demotivated by a number of them. There were a number of nice-looking gaming keyboards on show but a number of companies couldn't explain them to me - "Are the keys programmable" I'd ask. " Don't know", they'd reply. "Do you know someone who does know", I'd respond. "Perhaps if I could take your business card and email you the information", they'd reply with minimal interest. If I wanted the information emailed I would have stayed at home! This was a standard response from a number of the gaming distributors on a number of different questions. It may have just been a bad staff day, or perhaps it was my super cool HEXUS shirt that hypnotised them into losing their memory.

The worst example was the chap from a company called ******, one of the UK's leading distributors of gaming peripherals. The PR guy knew nothing about any of his products. In some cases didn't know the answer to the simplest of questions. In others, he fumbled his way through lame explanations - he even showed me an office keyboard and told me it was specifically for gamers.

Perhaps distributors feel they don't need to be knowlegable about the products they deal in - the manufacturers would, of course, have a different view. I'm sure they'd be fuming to hear that some companies are representing their products in a negative manner. These guys just didn't care, they knew the prices of the goods but nothing else.

Of course many of the stalls were full of knowledgeable, friendly people, who'd go out of their way to explain their products, but the ones that didn't really got my goat.

Hey it's not all bad though! We'll bring you some pics and news on the actual event tomorrow, just wanted to have a rant.


HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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Obviously in the name of impartiality I can understand that you can't really name the companies, but have you rattled off a strong letter/email to them expressing your disgust?
personally i would name them, if there supposed to be a leading company, but their customer service is going to be so bad, shouldnt we all know so we can stay away and perhaps teach that company that we (as compter enthusiasts) arnt going to be fobbed off with inferior service
I work for a computer retailer in sales and purchasing (sometimes) and so fairly often find myself having to ring distis to check on stock/price and spec of parts that we sell. I can confirm that most of the sales reps that I deal with have absolutely no idea what the spec of any given product is. However I’m not sure that really need to know.

When placing an order, our purchasing department doesn’t need advice on the difference between an MX100 and a G7, or is it best to get G15 or a Saitek gamer’s keyboard. They need to know price and availability, and as the OP said that’s what the reps know.

The details that the OP was looking for are important to end users, and the sales reps that sell to end users. I don’t think it matters a lot if distis aren’t 100% up on all the products that they sell, as those details aren’t all that important to the people they are selling to.
That sounds poo. Maybe Saitek or whoever would benefit from a little negative publicity - it could be they're just unaware that they've got rubbish staff.
We may name them, awaiting approval. For the record Saitek were very helpful!