Shopping at Hi-Fi Corporation

Published December 13, 2005

People generally shop at a particular shop for one of three reasons:
1) The shop has a wide range of products
2) The shop has well trained and helpful sales staff
3) The shop is cheap

Personally for me, the first two options generally count for more than the third option. I would rather have a helpful and friendly shopping experience than look around for the cheapest product.

However, I do have an exception to this rule. A South-African chain called “Hi-Fi Corporation” has a huge range of products, and they are significantly cheaper than their competition. I usually only shop there once or twice a year to buy some sort of electronic item. Whenever I shop there, I remember why I so dislike it:

The staff have almost no training
The staff are rude, disinterested, unknowledgeable about features and price of products
The shops are crowded
While they do have a wide range of products, they are often out of stock
The staff spend more time trying to out-compete each other with the volume of whatever they are demonstrating than trying to help the customers
They treat everybody like a criminal, insisting on seeing ID documents and sales receipts at almost every corner

But they are cheap. Very cheap. So cheap that I know that next time I need something electronic, there is a better than fair chance that I will be visiting Hi-Fi Corporation to buy it. This really drives me nuts, because I know that I should stick to my principles and shop elsewhere.

Imagine how good they could be if they trained their staff better and really looked after the customer.

Hi-Fi Corporation, congratulations on your award of two onions!

Posted in Journal, Orchids and Onions

4 Responses to Shopping at Hi-Fi Corporation

Jeanne says:
January 9, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Oh yes – that’s the HiFi corporation I remember!! I remember when Nick and I were shopping for a sound system in PE we used to frequent HFC and it was the happiest day of my life when we finally bought one because I knew we’d never have to go back!! I also remember the disinterested and semi-literate staff as well as the appalling sound levels coming from other hi fis as said salespeople tried to sell systems based on their per channel output (it’s great having 5 billion watts per channel or whatever, but your neighbours are still going to call the police when you play that sucker one minute past midnight) and enormous woofers.. Erm, could you rather tell me about this speaker’s capability to play the high notes in classical pieces without distortion? Nope, didn’t think so. Ugh.
Reply
kumbirayi blessing kamvura says:
July 9, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Hi-fi Corporation
I need you to give me a quotation of the following equipment,
I realy appreciete and look forward for more bussiness
Photocopier Machines – Quantity 4 (sorting and Auto Feed photocopier ) Heavy Duty
Desktop Computers – Quantity 94 HP DX 2300 3.6 Ghz 1mb ram 160 Gig 17/19“ monitor hp
Laptop Computers – Quantity 15 3.6 ghz 160 gig 1mb ram etc
Fax Machines – Quantity 20 Preferebbly canon mf4515 which can fax copy scan and print or equivalant brand
Laser Jet Printer Machines – Quantity 19 Preferbly laserjet hp P2015n
Digital LCD Projector Machines – Quantity 15 Stong Brand
Toner Cartridges- Quantity 43 as for the quoted printer above so we can say 53 A Catridge which is fr the HP P2015N
Colour Televisions – Quantity 19 29 “ Flat Screen tvs preferebly panasonic jvc or good brand
DVD Players- Quantity 20 mp3 players preferebly phillips or good brand and smallest and strong
for Experts Computers
Another Lot to be tedered seperately.
Lot 1. Item 1.1 Desktop Computer – 48 DX 23 oo 3.6 ghz
Item 1.2, Laser Jet Printers – 24 HP P2015 N
Item 1.3, Toner Cartridges – 72 n 53A tonner Cartridge
Item 1.4, Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) – 48 1000 Kv
Item 1.5 USB Memory Sticks – 96 esquire 2 Gig
Item 1.6 Writable DVDs – 480 recordable Princo
i have bolded the quantity
I need to put this information on a tender
Many thanks
Kumbie
Reply
Craig says:
July 10, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Perhaps you should ask hi-fi corporation themselves for a quote…
Reply
Portia says:
January 5, 2011 at 11:34 am
Im looking for the most reasonable fax scan copy machine in Joburg.
Reply