WOW Sight and Sound

Great Service ..Very Helpful Staff – Old fashioned service .. Staff very helpful and polite. They were only to happy to keep me informed about my order. Very professional. Thanks ..David Show details

Problems with getting item repaired – I purchased a samsung core i5 laptop there in cairns in febuary and the keyboard dosent work now and i called samsung and they said i need the receit so i called them and they said wow doesnt exist anymore and to call samsung which i already did and my laptop is under warranty and all i need is a simple receit

Only Fools buy at Wow – I will never shop at Wow ever again. I purchased a new car audio head unit because I received a promotional email stating it comes with free installation. When i sent my car for the installation, the staff told me that they needed to change the wiring. In his words, and i quote. "free installation means taking out the old unit, and putting in the… Read more

new one" Oh please, why would I even ask for free installation if my 80 year old granny can do the job of "taking it out and putting the new one in"? Seriously, the staff made me realised that I was actually stupid enough for believing that the offer is true. Therefore I have learnt from my mistakes and I will always warn others not to follow in my stupidity. Or should I blatantly say, "Only Fools buy at Wow."

Unless your car is up to date with the ever-changing design of car audio units, wiring is a must and that is not included in "installation". Initially cheap Everything else

Great Bargains – WOW has a comprehensive inventory of electronics from TV's and Computers to Cameras and Accessories, including DVD's and CD's. They always have great specials and compete well in price with other retailers. Great prices. Don't Layby.

Good – [name censored] (Computer section) at the Rothwell store has treated us well regardless of how we appear/ atire. I need to ask can WOW develop a system of "LCI" cards to assist the purchase process. Mike I appreciate the price & service that WOW offer & the internal loyalty program. however, i bought a couple of items from WOW today, and I… Read more

asked the sales to check our pricing by name, he responded "yep & went to his computer & said the nominal discount" which I was appreciative of, but he never asked me my name.

Excellent – This is the first place i check when buying online. Their prices are really good and they have very fast delivery. I have also asked questions online and always had fast friendly responses. They have a wide range on products available online and have regular good useful specials. They are one of the very few online retail store which doesn't take… Read more

a week or longer to post items. Overall i would be very happy to continue to use them. Great prices and very fast delivery when ordering online. They answer questions quickly and have friendly service. Nothing,i have always had good dealings with them.

Into receivership and they still cant put on a sale – Just went to the big receivership sale and what a waste of time that was. 5% off of TV's ?! .. are you kidding ?! You can do better than that at JB HIFI or Harvey Normans just by asking. 20% off of DVD's and CD's .. what a waste of time for a sale. If you're going to put on a sale at least make it worthwhile. Avoid at all cost ... or at least until its actually cheaper. Expensive waste of time

Bad – Desktop scanner broke after 4 days, was told that it would be sent away for repairs which would take 6 - 8 weeks! I was offered a refund but had to wait at the refund counter for over 30 minutes and then had to wait a further 10 minutes for them to put the refund back onto my card. Were very rude about it. Toowoomba store Large range of… Read more

products Staff are very hard to find and showed little or no product knowledge, aisles are very cramped and no way of being able to get a pram or wheelchair in the store. Parking spaces are very limited too.

Extremely Shocked!!! – I still couldn't believe what I have experienced! Staff said "GO AWAY" to customer! Store manager said that saying GO AWAY to customer is Ok to WOW since two weeks ago (didn't make sense to me). I'd never shop at WOW again! I'll influence all my friends! I have bought a XBox360 for my son on 18 December 2011 because there was $50 cashback… Read more

and then I claimed it within the time slots online (purchasing between 08/12/2011 to 24/12/2011 and registering before 31/12/2011) as instructed. Instruction also said the $50 will go to the nominated bank a/c by 29/02/2012. I went to the store where I bought the XBox from on 03/03/2012 because I still haven't got the $50.

I explained the situation to one of the staff behind the desk at the counter but she didn't want to listen the whole story by interrupting me and wrote a 1800 number to me and said I should call Microsoft myself and WOW has nothing to do with the cashback. I said this 1800 number seems like a general one and asked if there is a more specific number related to the cashback I could use. She then said I can google myself to find the phone number if I want. And then I said I bought this from WOW and just wondering any help I could get. And then she shouted to me "GO AWAY" in front of other staff and walked away herself.

The store manager then came and said that saying GO AWAY to customer is fine to WOW and preassuming I was rude to her. I had to say I wasn't very kind but I swear to God I wasn't rude either! Actually I was polit and alway start with "can you/I please...". When I was told "GO AWAY", I even said to another staff "can I please talk to your manager?"

I know it is Microsoft to make the cashback, I know "WOW has the right to ask customer to leave" (the manager's words). I just thought there was no harm to ask as I was already there at the store. WOW needs to ask themselves what they open the business for if they allow staff to say "GO AWAY" arbitrarily to customer.

By the way, before I left, I did fight back by saying "this company sucks!!!" May be cheap Rubbish management, terrible customer services, crap everything else

WOW... you really do guys suck! – Guys, Don’t waist you time, Just spent 30 minutes walking around the store looking for there so called bargains, and when I did buy a couple of things, they charged me full price…WTF, I hadn’t even left the store when I realised, went back to the counter and was basically told to go away, and I would need to speak to the administrators. This… Read more

is CR@P, Just because they have gone into administration doesn’t give them the right to steal…

I am logging a formal complaint to ASIC.

Over Charged

False advertisent by WOW Sight and Sound in Cairns – Nearly ripped off at WOW in Cairns. Spent an hour picking 15 CD's to buy at 20% off,only to find out at the checkout that this advertised discount was not true as discount was less than 5 %. Ie. 49.95 CD was going to cost me $46. Tried to ask why the CD's are not 20% less than ticket price and was told that's the price the receivers put on the… Read more

products and there was nothing that could be done. This is false advertisement and should be stopped. All be warned, check before you pay. I walked out and WOW lost a good sale.

False advertisement and pricing

Terrible – Used to be quite a good store. Now that they are surcharging (which in their view is probably an attempt to raise revenue), they will actually be losing my business completely - which will be much more costly to them than if they were to simply accept the card in the first place, and swallow the extremely low merchant fee that Amex negotiated with… Read more

them on a special deal... Decent product range, knowledgeable staff Now imposing a surcharge for Amex and Diners cards! This never used to be the case, and they will lose my business from now on. Also, after buying over $500 worth of goods, the security woman at the door on the way out told me to "hurry up" (in a very rude way), as apparently I was a complete inconvenience by having my arms full with four boxes, and wanting to put them down so that I could unzip my bag for checking. Will not be returning there in a hurry...

Bad – Usually I have not had a problem with wow. However after today's experience I think management should address the issue with this staff member, it is disgraceful. But on the other hand they probably like it as they let her get around like this. I find it offensive and might just stick to Harvey Norman where all buttons are done up! Several Workers… Read more

actually know what they are talking about. Fairly extensive range of products, and overall a neat little shop. The Telstra girl that was trying to help me today couldn't control her boobs, one almost popped out! Customers don't need to see that, I left and got my phone elsewhere. She also come across very arrogant.

Absolute disgust in customer service! – I was a great customer of WOW Sight and Sound Shepparton, generally bought quite a few things but when it came to getting assistance with a return they were terrible! No idea at all how to help with returns. It hasn't just happened to me either, one of my friends have been waiting months for a product to get sent back, seriously? If you care… Read more

at all about being treated nicely even when you don't give them your money (return) go to another store, for your own sake, don't go through the stress at all.

One division that comes to mind is computers, most useless staff you will come across, I will admit at times one individual has been quite helpful but some other guy can't quite remember his name, whenever I asked for the guy running the computer department he usually was presented so I assume he is some sort of assistant manager, a terrible one at that! Biased and generally lacks a great deal of computer knowledge, only mentions what I can already read on the stickers on the computer. Did I mention when I did come in, most of the time he seemed to be on his phone! WHAT?! On your phone pal, seriously!

I hope that others read this, including anyone higher than the clueless managers at this store to get them on track, the store has potential some staff destroy that. Great to look at if you want to know how NOT to run a store. Confusing prices (multiple prices for one item) terrible warranty service, the worst in my opinion.

Sloppy Customer Service – We got to the store Just after 9.00am and after waiting 10mins it opened (approx 15 mins late) we walked in with Knowing the product we wanted. On arrival there would of been 10-15 staff milling around the store some drinking drinks and chatting to each other. We were casually dressed so they paid us no attention. after 15 Mins of standing in… Read more

front of the TVs we had to go interrupt a staff member from a private conversation and tell him we wanted to buy a TV.

VERY poor customer service at WOW Annerly(QLD) Cheap and reliable Poor (Non Existent) Customer service

Couldn't believe my ears! – Went into WOW at lunch time on a Thursday with the intention of buying some Logitech PC speakers they had on sale in their catalogue for $89. Initially looked in the mp3 player section and was directed politely to the computer section. Once there I asked about the speakers and the guy in that department gave me that blank stare that says "I have… Read more

no idea what you're talking about". Looked around and finally noticed them stacked high on top of a pile of other product so asked if he could get a set down for me to listen to (there were none set up as demos). Again that blank look followed by "I'm pretty busy dude - can you come back on the weekend and we'll see if we can do something for you"!! Walked straight around to their opposition where I found the same brand speakers (but one model up) on sale from $199 down to $139. Told the guy my story so he reduced them down to $109!! Grabbed 'em and never looked back! Bye bye WOW. They have some good prices and stacks of product The customer service was appalling

Over rated and over priced – When WOW first opened they had a lot of quite good bargains on offer, however once they established their market share, value for money dropped off sharply. Like Bunnings they still have the odd promotional bargain, but their standard sticker prices are not what I would consider relatively low today. Rather pretty average, sometimes even high if… Read more

you want better then minimal quality. Store locations good, product diversity good. Expensive outside of advertised promotions (sometimes even promotions are not particularly good deals).

Good – We bought our UHF from WOW had an auto electrician try and install it, $50 later he told us the product was faulty, We went back to wow and had one of the young technicians look at the product and he installed this in about 15 minutes no problems at all. They were good installists and very knowledgeable about their products. We really should… Read more

have got them to install it from the begining. great product range and great prices Service can be a little scarce when you want help looking for something or was product advice.

Management rubbish and quality crap – Bought 2 things from townsville wow. First thing I bought was missing a part so I took it back. Swapped with a new one. Returned home to open the 2nd box /product only to find that it was missing a part as well! Phoned the store and asked for the manager only to listen to him swearing on the phone. I returned it to the store with full intentions… Read more

to swap, I entered the store and passed the manager and asked at the service counter if they could ask him to come to the counter so that I could talk to him in regards to this poor service only to find that he had run away and hid and that he was uncontactable (no one could find him 2 minutes after I just saw him). I eventually asked for a refund and will buy my product elsewhere due to this inconsiderate and poor management. From now on I will buy my stuff online(ebay etc) as it is cheaper and less hassle.How some people get their jobs I don't know!

Cheap chineses rubbish, poor management

Good – Probably the best thing I liked about this store was the staff, and that they were HUMAN. They didnt ask you a bunch of rehearsed questions like a recorded phone message, they listened to your needs and offered their opinions. They were professional and extremely helpful yet they were down to earth and treat the customer like equals and never made… Read more

me feel stupid or unknowledgeable. Even after my purchases were made and my problems resolved the staff would always let me know I can return and speak to them if I have any further problems or enquiries. I think the store operates very well in that yes there are lots of customers going in and out and there are lines at the registers but there are always multiple open registers and the staff always offer extensive help even when they are choc-a-bloc busy.

One of the only things which makes me visit WOW less often is that JB HiFi usually offer better deals on CDs and DVDs and have a wider range of those items, but for more expensive purchases I would recommend WOW in Townsville to anyone. At the Townsville store I found the staff extremely knowledgeable and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. I had a particularly complex problem to deal with involving a faulty phone which started playing up two weeks after the warranty expired. The particular guy who helped me out offered very helpful advice, outlined all my options and gave me all the contact details for the companies I would need to contact to get it fixed. Today I followed this advice and phoned Motorola, they offered to extend my warranty meaning my phone gets fixed free. Thanks to WOW staff I've been saved around $400.

When WOW Townsville opened I was an immediate fan because of the wide range of CDs and DVDs at good prices. They also have a good range of accessories for iPods, phones, consoles and computers, as well as fairly good catalogue deals. Ive bought many of my more 'expensive' purchases there including my phone, iPod and Wii as they tend to have good deals on these items. I also find the range is good, as many other shops like Harvey Norman who sell TVs, computers and iPods dont have as good a range of accessories for these and dont sell as many CDs and DVDs to go along with them.

WOW has 'extras' not usually found in other stores such as security guards who are friendly and welcome you as you enter and an ATM for convenience.

The decor is very attractive and the first time I entered the store I thought it was a very nice environment to shop in and I think that also reflected on the attitude of the staff as they were all friendly, happy and helpful. At the Townsville store the parking is very limited and people often have to park on the side of the road.

They sell DVDs to go with your TVs and CDs to go with your iPods but are extremely limited in the way of computer software.

Excellent – Well worth the extra 5 minutes drive time, I saved a bit of cash and had fun looking around the store. I liked the colourful displays and the layout was clean and easy to navigate. Friendly staff. The new Canberra WoW store - Lots of choice and the staff really know their stuff. The salesman I spoke to knew a lot about the products (computers) and… Read more

he had a lot of suggestions about putting together my package. He understood that I knew what I wanted and didn't talk down to me. Offered me a good deal and I've shopped around, so I know it was a good deal. Crowded and seemed to have very narrow walk space.

Good – not to bad, definitely found some bargains. not one in my area, but when i ahve been away it has definitely been somewhere to have aquick look at. i have found some very helpful and inexpensive products in WOW. they also put together some great bundles, free when you buy this etc. good layout, bright none, but i don't have one in my area and my experience is about 2 trips to a store.

Good – We went and got a Telstra phone plan connected with a very helpful young man last Sunday at the Annerley Store. Staff there seemed to care for what we needed and took their time to explain options to us. We were very happy in the end with our mobiles and we will defiantly shop at WOW again in the future. Great Range of Products Excellent trained Telco Staff A little noisy Phones in cabinets where fake.. Long checkout lines.

Excellent – For general every day, run of the mill items, I would recommend checking out WOW along with other similar stores. My experience is based on the Toowoomba store, and whilst another reviewer commented on the lack of parking provided by WOW, there is a reasonable amount of parking available in the area outside of WOW's parking lot. Large range of… Read more

products,friendly and helpful staff, good deals can be had. Not as many staff as what people may consider necessary, however, I believe they are restricted by regulations as to the number of staff that can be on the floor at any one time.

Good – WOW Sight and Sound is another one of my favourite places to shop and browse. With a large range of consumer electronics I have been able to find what I'm looking for at excellent prices every time I have been there. Wow Sight and Sound is one of the three best places when shopping for electronics and entertainment needs with the other two being… Read more

Hervey Norman and JB Hi-Fi. I would go to WOW Sight and Sound more often if they had more stores in the areas that I shop as they tend to be a little bit out of the way but that is my only criticism of them. Wide range of products. Low prices.

Good – I really like WOW sight and sound as a place to shop for DVDs, CDs and other entertainment products. They have a huge range, regular sales and competitive prices. The staff that work their actually seem happy to be there, which creates a positive customer experience. The stores are in easily accessible locations with plenty of parking and the… Read more

store layout generally allows for easy navigation around the store. The only thing I can say I dislike about WOW is that they use an American accent in their TV and Radio advertising for some reason, and I find it extremely irritating! Low prices, big range The American accent in their ads

Excellent – Its always nice to be greeted with a welcoming smile, everytime I shop at Wow sight and sound im always impressed with the customer service. Wow has a wide variety of products from, TV's, home thearte systems,Cd players, in car stereos and speaker systems, Dvds, Cds, gaming consoles, and games and loads more and they are all sold at reasonably low… Read more

prices, and most times if i find a lower price the will beat it. I definatley recomend taking a look. The customer service is always great, wide variety of products at low prices, the shop is colourfully decorated and unlike most shops ive been in. There is nothing I dislike about Wow Sight And Sound.

Terrible – I truly believe that Wow Sight and Sound needs to be investigated thoroughly by the Office of Fair Trading (if they have any power to take action), or some other regulatory agency. We bought a Sony LCD TV last year, and at the same time, a Sony home theatre system which is Bravia linked. We have had no end of problems with the DVD player… Read more

since we bought it - we returned it six months after, and Wow sent it away for repair. That was okay, except it took 7 weeks to get it back. Within a month, we had the same issue again occur with the DVD player. My partner spoke to the Assistant Manager by phone, who told us to bring it in and he would give us a credit note. We took it back in about a week later, only to be told that we had no rights to a credit note, exchange or refund - the only thing they would offer us is another repair. Of course, we had already been kept waiting there for about an hour before the manager came out to speak to us. He knows absolutely nothing about customer service, and despite his claims to 26 years retail experience, knows nothing about statutory warranties. He tried to tell me that my statutory warranty rights didn't take effect until my product warranty had run out, and that even then, my warranty was with Sony not Wow. This is not correct. Under the Trade Practices Act, your statutory warranty exists with the retailer, not the manufacturer and it takes effect from the moment you buy a product or service. We found him to be extremely rude and aggressive. He even tried to suggest that we had done something to tamper with the unit and that it was our fault. When I pointed out that the Assistant Manager had already offered us a store credit, he basically accused us of lying and said that we mustn't have given him the whole story. I couldn't believe that given we had spent over $5000 in his store previously, that he couldn't be more accommodating. Why should we suffer for being sold a faulty product in the first place?

Our only recourse it seems is to spread the word about how appalling the experience is shopping at Wow is and suggest that you find another retailer. Hopefully, eventually, someone with some influence at Wow Sight and Sound might start listening to what their (former) customers are saying and take action. Otherwise, they may just find themselves going bankrupt one day.

Be warned. We will never, ever shop there again. And I will take every opportunity I have now to warn others. NOTHING - I cannot stress strenously enough how poor a customer service experience it is shopping at Wow Sight and Sound (especially the Kedron store) Poor customer service, overpriced, and they will not, under any circumstances, replace or refund - even for faulty products that they are selling. Absolutely appalling.

Terrible – Fast staff turnover, only numbers not people count. Not a good recipe long term. Another great company turned to crap by greed. Big and bold with a great first impression. Management have no idea how to run the place resulting in unhappy staff. It's a shame the original folk at Brisbane Car Audio don't have a more hands-on approach at store level. S & S your empire is really crumbling and it is down to 90% Management 10% staff.

Terrible – WOW does so much "fire-fighting" with simple problems that could easily be addressed. Daily issues raised from staff are completely ignored, faulty equipment, no demo cd's in Home Entertainment, no printer in the Office Dept - it's a shambles that is repeated in every store. I saw the large review below which has either came from a WOW… Read more

Manager trying to manipulate the scores or a WOW employee who thinks the company has his/her best interests at heart. I too thought the same and it's a hard fact that you will be forgotten as quickly as you will be replaced.

The Management adopt a re-active approach, not a pro-active approach to business which results in a contradiction of the so-called WOW policy of SELLING with SERVICE.

There is NO customer service, just dollar signs behind the salespersons eyes - this behaviour is forced on them by Management continuoulsy moving the goal posts making it harder to make a living.

I don't want this review to be taken as a bitter employee who has been sacked, this is not the case.

I go into work daily with a smile and the customer is my priority (not the PRIORITY stock which has RED spots on to terll the sales person to get rid of it asap).

JB is often slated by WOW for not having enough staff or customer service - wake up Sam/Suds your company is doing EXACTLY the same, only WOW don't even have the decency to give JB's prices.

The customer comes 3rd if you're lucky at WOW - I work there - I know. My first thought was WOW.. but then I started my employment. They chew through staff - have ZERO training for staff (first day is sink or swim mentality)

WOW is not about give and take, just take, take, take.

If you do chose to work here - don't ever, EVER think you will be looked after.

Managers aren't friends and you ARE EASILY replaced.

You are definately just a number at WOW.

Terrible – The returns que was larger then the purchase que (mind you it was after chritmas, but Wow managment in Cairns should take this into consideration and have sufficent staff to handle their service counter). Very dissaponted and not likely to shop at Wow again. A few people were loosing their patients behind us in the retuns que as we had been… Read more

waiting in line for 45 min before even getting served.

VERY DISSAPOINTED!!! Large Product range in the Cairns WOW store Everytime you need assistance staff are hard to find. And when you find someone they decline serving you as they don't specialise in the area your shopping in. Very Bad Returns policy! For example, A DVD player only has 14 days before it can be returned or replaced depending on the problem... I would like to think a dvd player would last more then 2 weeks... I was wrong when my dvd player had to be returned. Staff were okay but they had to enforce the companies policy so now we have been advised it will take 6-8 weeks before we see our dvd player again as it's being sent away to see if it can be repaired.

Terrible – I bought a HP laser printer cartridge which happened to be faulty. It is pretty rare to get a faulty cartridge but I was confident on getting it replaced because the fault would be obvious to a technical person. On returning it, after a ten minute wait at the "service counter", I get a know-nothing-technical salesman try to tell me it's my printer… Read more

settings or I've put the cartridge in wrong or I've got the wrong cartridge or I hadn't taken the cover off. I can tell you that I've never been so insulted like I was here. I've been working IT for 20 years and judging by this bloke's lack of basic understanding of laser printers, I'd say I've installed more toner cartridges than this bozo has seen. He wouldn't replace it because he had no way of knowing if it was faulty and HP would not refund them if the returned cartridge was working. I'm told that I have to go through HP service to validate that the cartridge is faulty. Right about here I had to leave the store before I started swearing or hit somebody. I can guarantee one thing, this episode will cost Wow much more than it would have to simply believe me and replace my cartridge. To be continued... Nothing any more Extremely poor after sales service. (I used to like the cheaper prices but I've found out that its not worth it).

Good – I've been working for WOW since early last year, and I've found it to be overall a good experience. The reason I chose WOW as a place of employment was because I enjoyed shopping there all the time and was a very satisfied custoemr. Wow is one of the smaller players in the industry at the moment, probably without the buying power of Harvey… Read more

Norman or JB, which makes it a little difficult for them to be as competitive on some products while still maintaining plenty of staff.

They're a good mid-way point though. If you want the best customer service, go to somewhere like Clive Peters, where you pay through the nose for a product, but they have a very high staff to customer ratio. If you want the cheapest cheap prices without the customer service, JB can often offer the lowest price, due to bigger buying power and a lower staff : customer ratio. I find WOW somewhere in between. That being said, they often buy a few products in bulk and have the best prices anywhere on them.

Someone mentioned they don't like giving discounts. For big purchases most staff are happy to discount a bit, however they all have sales targes to make which include overall sales plus the percentage profit. When customers come in and ask for a discount on a $50 dvd player or a $480 laptop that may be getting sold at cost price, it just isn't possible. Asking for a cash discount on a $7 cable is just ridiculous, but a lot of customers do.

The other thing thats difficult as a salesperson is the customers attitude that they're always right. Every 2nd customer think they're an expert. People come in looking for a super cheap sub-$500 notebook. If we tell them the cheap Acers are crap, many say they've had one for years, or their uncles friends cousin is a tech and says they're great, or they've always owned Acer products. We may recommend spending another $200 for a slightly faster / better quality system, but many insist on getting the cheap one. 2 weeks later that same customer is back at service, asking for a refund on their notebook because its faulty. The reason they say its faulty? It's running really slow. We then have to explain to them the problem is they bought a slow computer against the advice given, and the computer can't run the programs they want it to. They try to demand a refund, but they don't understand / want to understand that we can't take it back because then we're stuck with a 2nd hand computer that no one wants to buy. We had someone trying to return a big screen LCD TV. He said he got it home and it wouldn't work, he came in fuming and demanded a refund. When we said we had to test he became really aggressive, claiming he's a qualified electrician and he knows how to set up a TV etc. Upon inspection it was revealed he'd missed the main power switch at the back of the TV. He went back home red-faced.

Customers often make a bad decision and purchase a product which isn't suitable for their needs. When you make a purchase its like a trade. You agree to give x $ in exchange for this product. If you change your mind why is a store obligated to reverse that trade? Or even let them swap it for a different product? If the product is like new and in a resellable condition we are usually happy to allow them to exchange it out of customer service.. However you get customers trying to return everything including software and music (they dont like the CD or didn't enjoy the movie they purchased and want to swap for another). This obviously isn't possible once its been opened due to copyright issues. We have customers wanting a refund on a 6 month old mp3 player which has stopped working, instead of it getting sent away for repairs. What do they expect us to do, give them a new one and absorb the cost of having to throw out the faulty goods? This happens many times every day per store, and is obviously impossible to do. Most manufacturers offer a DOA (dead on arrival) period, in which faulty goods can be replaced for brand new ones and the store credited for the faulty stock. In these caases we're more than happy to do so. However if it's outside the DOA there's nothing we can do other than offer to send it off to be repaired under warranty. The length of the DOA isn't something thats set by us, it's the manufacturer.

Because some places like Kmart have a policy of basically refunding everything that has a receipt, many customers expect that on every product from everywhere they buy from. It just isn't possible on expensive electronic goods, especially in such a competitive market.

Customers want the best of all worlds. They want the cheapest prices and the best service, which just can't go together. To get better service you need to absorb more costs, and hire more staff. This in turn would drive up prices and then people would complain about that instead. It's true that on a busy Saturday or Sunday it may be harder to get service. We are often flat out serving customers throughout the busiest parts of the day, and unable to return phone calls etc. If we leave the sales floor to return calls, we leave a dozen more customers without assistance. Every weekend we get customers phoning up to speak to someone to ask about a product, then phoning back and complaining when their call hasn't been returned in 10 minutes. Sometimes it just isn't possible during peak hours. We have customers wanting us to spend an hour or two with them helping them make a decision on a purchase. If you want that sort of help come back on a weekday when it's not so busy, to spend an hour with you we'd have to neglect the other 100 customers who are in the store looking for help. It's not a problem thats exclusive to WOW, I'd even go as far to say as we're one of the better ones. Last week I phoned Clive Anthonys to get a price on a whitegoods product, to be told a salesperson would return my call. After a day I got no answer, so I called back, to be told the same thing again. I called for 6 days in a row with no response whatsoever. I'm sure there may be some sort of explanation why my call wasn't returned, but the point isn't to pay out another store, but to give an example to show it's not just WoW, its the nature of the industry.

Then we get back to the issue of hiring more staff. Pretty much every staff member is working at least one day on the weekend, many of us both days. We like to have some sort of weekend too, but its often not possible. To hire more staff for the weekend means they need work during the week as well, when often there is none. Why not hire weekend only staff? Because no one wants to work on the weekend, they want that off and want to work during the week instead. Also, if they're only working 2 days a week its hard to maintain product knowledge with all the new stuff constantly coming out, then we'd get more complaints that the staff don't know what they're talking about.

We get a lot of customer complaints about the cashbacks offered by manufacturers. We get many customers getting angry about it demanding that the store claim the cashback and sell them the product a the after cashback price. They refuse to listen when we try to tell them its impossible to do that. Manufacturers offer cashbacks for 2 main reasons. First is to force you to register with them. Second, is because not everyone bothers to claim them. Say you're talking about a computer with a $100 cashback on it, if the manufacturer took $100 off the cost price (which then changes the shelf price) of the computer they would then lose $100 of profit from that computer. If they offer a $100 cashback on it and only 50% of customers claim it, then it only costs them an average of $50 per computer instead of $100. When you're talking about a million computers, this means $50 million in profits. When you're talking about a big brand which may be selling 20 million computers worldwide, thats a billion dollars. Big money for any company. By offering a cashback they are able to save a lot of money, while still offering a very competitive end price for the customer who is willing to go through the hassle of claiming it. Customers get angry with us everyday because of the cashback deals. We hate it as well, it takes a lot of time to explain it to customers and help customers who can't figure out how to claim it. Occasionally a manufacturer will take a long time to send out the cashback, or won't do so at all. The customer then blames us for it. It's a promotion run by the manufacturer of the product, we have nothing to do with it and are just the middleman.

To the people who have issues with the security guard: it's just something that has to be done. Go to Big W or K-mart or anywhere, its the same. If you walk out without going through the registers they have sensors and someone there to check your bags. If you go through the registers you don't have anyone check your purchase, reason being after going through the registers you're outside the store. With Wow the registers are located within the store, meaning customers can still walk around and could put anything in their bags before leaving. You're not being accused of being a thief or anything, it's just a precaution to help reduce losses due to theft. Thefts increase losses which drives up prices, which means everyone loses out.

I could go on forever but I won't. I've tried to write this as honestly and openly as possible. It's easy for people to say just give a refund, or sell at the cashback price and claim the cahsback instead of the customer having to do so. They don't understand it's often impossible to do so. I'd love nothing more than to give a refund on a product you purchased a few weeks ago and aren't happy with. I'd love to be able to discount the returned product down to $500 below cost to clear out a second hand product. In reality, it just isn't possible to do that. People are quick to criticize, but they don't put themselves in the salesperson / servicepersons / stores position. We can't change the manufacturers policy any more than you can.

Many times I've gone out to a customers house without charge to help them set up a new computer they can't figure out, or installed a RAM upgrade or DVD burner they can't do themselves, or helped them plug in their new TV or surround sound.

In summary I'd say I'm still very happy with WOW. They're a smaller player (compared to HN and JB) in a huge industry, with higher buying costs than many chains. They still manage to be very competitive and maintain growth, which I think is a huge acheivement. They're still a very young chain. In 5 years time they'll probably have twice the current number of stores and be even more competitive than they are now. We do try very hard to make everyone happy, but at the end of the day you can't make everyone happy and still be competitive in this industry.

Reading back over this it probably sounds like I'm criticizing customers an aweful lot. That's not what I'm trying to do, I'm just trying to get people to see our side of the story as well. Great product range, usually competitive pricing, mostly helpful / knowledgeable staff. Unique store design and atmosphere American accent in advertising, sell a few crappy quality products (i.e. cheap non-alkaline batteries that are only good for remotes, cheap low quality products in order to compete with other cheap low quality products)

Good – From reading a lot of the reviews posted by people, it seems many of the problems stem not from Wow Sight & Sound, but from the retail industry. One reviewer complained that staff were not helpful enough. It can be quite disheartening for a salesman to approach 10 customers in a row asking them how they are going today, only to be told "no… Read more

we're right thanks". It wasn't a yes or no question, it was an honest greeting. Customers can be so rude.

Another reviewer claims the customer is always right. Unfortunately this is not the case. Otherwise why are they asking US for assistance? It is a common misconception that has plagued retail for decades. There is a line between the customer always being right and the salesman providing honest and friendly service to the customer. The rule should be: Every customer has the right to be treated equally and fairly.

Someone else complained that the prices are often cheaper elsewhere. This is also the nature of retail. There is ALWAYS going to be a cheaper price somewhere else. Companies that offer "the cheapest price everytime" will always smash the competition, but that's only if we know the competition has the item at a cheaper price. Simply asking for our "best price" so you can go somewhere else and have it beaten by Harvey Norman means no one wins. Unfortunately, most retailers nowdays are working on a commission basis, and if anything it means the staff will work their arses off to help every customer they can, it also means that salespeople need to guard their Gross Profit levels in order to achieve their sales targets. By just offering a discount to every customer that walks in, it means the customer who was probably going to buy it anyway has now got it cheaper (not necessarily because it is cheaper anywhere else I might add), and the salesman gets no incentive to keep selling. If you want us to price-match something, JUST ASK, all we can do is get authorisation and then bend the competition over and beat them senseless.

For people who complain about our security, if you don't want to engage in the simple act of showing your receipt to trained security personnel, then go somewhere else that doesn't give a shit about stock-loss and shrinkage. To the customer who claims that once they have paid for their item, the transaction is finished and no one has the right to ask them for their receipt, I say this: Imagine if you decided you liked a PS3 game or similar item, but didn't want to pay for it. You could (off your logic) purchase something cheap, receipt in hand, walk down to the gaming section and pick up your item, stuff it into your bag and walk out. We NEED to have security on the door to check purchases because customers can still walk around the store after they have made their purchase and been given their receipt. I am not saying customers are all criminals, but we NEED to minimise stock-loss, and this can only be achieved by posting security staff on the door.

Before you jump on here and badmouth Wow (and some of you have undoubtedly had very fair beefs with the company) throw on a Wow Sight & Sound uniform, get a nametag and come in for a week and see what we go through to make your shopping experience they best we can. This isn't an attack at all people who have given bad reviews, just a few that harp on with ridiculous hyperbole that we've all heard a million times before and can't change. Great staff, great prices, friendly environment It's retail

Good – WOW is an excellent choice when it comes to buying goods. I've found many cheap, hard to find dvds here. However their prices on larger electrical goods do seem to be a tad over priced. Nor do they off any discounts regardless of paying with cash or buying an obscene amount of goods. The staff are helpfull, though sometimes it seems to be only… Read more

when it suits them. Exchanging or returning items is a tedious task. You have to basically jump through their hoops in order to get your money back. Excellent product range. Huge variety. They never offer a discount and returning items can be a tad hard