Why Sears is a bad rep for VoOM

[cmslick3]

OK family trip to the Joliet mall last night for birthday present. We stopped in Sears to see what they had to offer for clearance deals and what not..

Over in the darkest corner of the floor was a POS display for Voom. The STB was on but the TV it was hooked to was OFF!!! So I turned it on and put Discovery HD on. Needless to say the set was way out of convergence so I hit the "magic" button on the front and it came into line. Everything still looked like poo so I farted around with the setting on the set. After a quick 5 minute tweak things were looking a little better than they were. Colors were still off and there was a general overbrightness state that would not go away, but it's better than THE SET BEING TURNED OFF!!

I still was not happy with the whole situation and the picture was blocky. In all the time I was standing there I forgot to check the output resolution of the STB. I bet it was on 480 or something D'uh on me, I only realized it after we left. I would have gone back and fixed it if it wasn't closing time. Also it's very disappointing that Voom doesn't give them access to all their exclusive HD channels. How are you supposed to sell a service if no one can see what HD truly looks like.

Now in all the time I spent poking around with their display, at least 10minutes, NOT ONE TIME did any salesperson come and ask us if we were interested in Voom. But they could sure manage to hang out by the Dish Net stuff and bug people about that. There was still a sign for free programming until Feb 2004.. and the whole display was torn to shreds. But they had these nice little plastic packages that had Vooms number on it and said "call to order". How much easier can Voom make it for them.

So is it that Sears and their employees don't care to sell it or that they don't know how? In my opinion if you're going to sell someone elses service in your store you should at least make sure IT"S ON and it's at the best quality possible. Maybe Dish Net is offering them a better incentive than Voom. Voom should really look at pulling out of the Sears stores and going to a better reseller that would actually SHOW OFF their HD service, and one that knows how to turn on a TV!!

Just my humble opinion as a VERY HAPPY Voom customer and someone who would like Voom to stick around.

 

[riffjim4069]

Sounds like my local Sears store here in Virginia. !sadroll I was in the store last month and noticed several VOOM cardboard displays were stuffed behind a register...which is pretty much where they have been sitting since October. Anyway, the Sears folks were more that happy to let me take two of them off their hands. Oh, and not once did they ask me if I were interested in VOOM, but they certainly tried to sell me a DISH system. :shocked

Sears has some unbelievable tools....and I am not talking about their hardware!

It's time to dump these losers!!!

P.S. I really do like the Craftsman and Kenmore brands.

 

[minorthr]

At the sears near us the guy actually tried to talk my wife and I out of getting Voom. The guy actually told us it was a waste and not worth getting how the programming was really limited and cost way to much

 

[riffjim4069]

At the sears near us the guy actually tried to talk my wife and I out of getting Voom. The guy actually told us it was a waste and not worth getting how the programming was really limited and cost way to much

With a partner like Sears who needs enemies! I don't know about y'all, but I shall be taking my business elsewhere.

Money Talks.........

 

[NoWhereMan]

In the next month or so all the stores will be rolling out a brand new shiny display unit for Voom. That should take care of the sloppy display problems in a lot of areas. Like I've said before in earlier posts, it's not ENTIRELY the store's fault about the problems with the Voom roll-out, although there is no excuse for the bad customer service your experienced.

The dealer support VOOM provides is pretty shoddy overall. They need to overhaul their product rep support so the stores actually have informed reps visit. The person who comes to my store has no clue about VOOM. She simply comes to check on the banners and refill the pamphlets. I usualy have to train her on her own product.

As a VOOMer myself I make sure we have a working display and the sales people know the basics, but most stores simply have not had any training since it came in last year.

Satellites are not really a big item anymore at the retail level, and the sales people tend to push E* because it's a "known" quantity. VOOM pays the same as E* as far as commission goes. I happen to like my VOOM and take pride in a working set-up, but I suspect there aren't too many stores out there with VOOM subscribers working in them.

 

[cmslick3]

I really appreciate your response Nowhere. I thought I had put in my original post that I feel Voom also needs to support their dealers better but I guess I hadn't. I don't fully place blame on Sears or Voom I think it's an example of bad communications.

I just want to see Voom given a fair chance in a retail environment. It's A rought place to try and sell and it takes lots time to get recognition

 

[seandudley]

P.S. I really do like the Craftsman and Kenmore brands.

I don't like the Kenmore brand. Most of the Kenmore appliancies my family & I have owned have caught fire (3 of them). One of the times, when the dryer caught on fire (I think the thermastat stuck so it just kept getting hotter and hotter), it caught the house on fire and my family and I had to live in a motel for a couple of months while the house was fixed. Everyone was asleep except my mom who smelled smoke. Glad she wasn't asleep or I probably wouldn't be here. I stear clear of Kenmore.

 

[riffjim4069]

In the next month or so all the stores will be rolling out a brand new shiny display unit for Voom. That should take care of the sloppy display problems in a lot of areas. Like I've said before in earlier posts, it's not ENTIRELY the store's fault about the problems with the Voom roll-out, although there is no excuse for the bad customer service your experienced.

I stand corrected! I have read your posts so I am sure there are some very good sales personnel working at Sears. We just tend to forget about them when listening to all the horror stories. Anyway, I will be paying a visit to the local Sears store after they roll-out the new Voom display.

Please keep us updated.

 

[NoWhereMan]

I stand corrected! I have read your posts so I am sure there are some very good sales personnel working at Sears. We just tend to forget about them when listening to all the horror stories. Anyway, I will be paying a visit to the local Sears store after they roll-out the new Voom display.

Please keep us updated.

I do appreciate your response. These threads often turn into "Sears Suckz LOL" but there are a lot of factors that go into successfully marketing a new product and both Sears and VOOM haven't got up to speed yet. I'm as frustrated as you guys, especially when I hear the horror stories. I love my VOOM and wish I could get kick all the stores in the a** to improve the marketing, but alas I am just a peon. The company is re-working the electronics departments nationwide in the next few months and hopefully it will improve things.

The new displayers will share an 8-ft tandem with E* unfortunately, but it will have a lot more information available for people who just want to learn about it. The plan only shows a 21" LCD TV hooked up to the VOOM receiver, but I'm going to cheat and run the DVI out to a brand new Mitsubishi 52" DLP monitor which is on an endcap right around the corner.

 

[riffjim4069]

The plan only shows a 21" LCD TV hooked up to the VOOM receiver, but I'm going to cheat and run the DVI out to a brand new Mitsubishi 52" DLP monitor which is on an endcap right around the corner.

Is Sears going to be selling the Mitsubishi DLPs, specifically the WD-52525?

 

[DarrellP]

The Sears I go to has VOOM running on everything and it looks very good.

 

[riffjim4069]

Visit to the local Sears and Wally-Mart...

I stopped by the local Sears store earlier today since I was in the immediate area. The were renovating the Electronics Department and I am eager to see what their "Brand Central" looks like in a few weeks. Will they be VOOMin'? We shall see!

I also stopped by the local Wal-Mart...well, all I can say is Wal-Mart is going to be a major HDTV player. In a matter of a month, they now have no less than a dozen rear projection HDTVs and another half-dozen LCD/Plasma/DLP monitors on display. While they certainly weren't selling top-of-the-line Mits, they were offering some familiar names like Phillips, RCA, Panasonic and even a low-end Pioneer RPTV...most were 47-51" and in the $1100-$1500 price range. It's hard to believe, but it's beginning to look like my Mits Diamond Select may be outperformed by a Wal-Mart APEX model in a couple more years. Well, it looks like I may be replacing our 8 year old RCA tube TV with one purchase from Wal-Mart later this year.

Anyway, there was no VOOMin' at Wal-Mart and I noticed a significant number of their HDTVs came with a built in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner and CableCard slot. With the local Adelphia Cable Company now offering 13 HD Channels (4 are locals), their is little reason for Joe Six-Pack to look at VOOM.


Does anyone know if VOOM plans to market their wares in Wal-Mart?

 

[riffjim4069]

If only Sears could bring in two (2) new subscribers per day per store.

Day: 1600 stores x 2 = 3200 new subscribers per day
Month: 3200 new customers x 30 days = 96000 new subscribers per month
Year: 96000 new customers x 12 months = 1,152,000 new subscribers per year.

It sounds simple doesn't it???

 

[NoWhereMan]

If only Sears could bring in two (2) new subscribers per day per store.

Day: 1600 stores x 2 = 3200 new subscribers per day
Month: 3200 new customers x 30 days = 96000 new subscribers per month
Year: 96000 new customers x 12 months = 1,152,000 new subscribers per year.

It sounds simple doesn't it???

There's actually only around 800 full-line store with electronics departments, but yeah I agree there's huge potential. I've done about a dozen activations during the "free-equipment" promo. Not sure how many signed up directly through Voom after seeing it in the store. Some stores much larger than ours have done few if any.

A lot of mine were add-ons for people buying HDTVs. We're in a market without HD on local cable so it was fairly easy to move them to Voom.

The end of that promo is going to kill subscriber rate, though. People just don't want to pay $500 for the equipment or $200 for the install. I've lost a couple just this week because of that. Voom also needs to associate itself closer to Sears so people know they can go there to see it (assuming it's a store with a decent display.) If you go to the Voom website there's only a passing mention of it on a buried page.

 

[delance7]

I am a Sears Manager and I worked at Sears in Manassas, VA.
I am sorry to hear about your bad experience at Sears, not all stores are like the one that you went to.
I am a Voom member and I enjoy it. I agree with the one that said it were poor training
from the field reps. In our store in Manassas we have a great setup of Voom and believe me, this is what made up my mind to get a HD TV and Voom. I loved the picture and the choices. I also have Dish and Directv, but to me Voom has the best picture. It will get better, that is a promise, just some good training and you will see Voom gets the respect that it deserves.

 

[Howaraj1013]

I had a similar Sears Voom experience at our local store in Alabama. I had never been to this new Sears location since its opening a few months ago. In addition to VOOM, I was also looking at Samsung DLP sets. I saw the display immediately from across the store. My friend and I walked over and as I was picking up the info, the salesman stopped us and tried to help. Poor guy. I know that I have forgotten more about VOOM than this cat will ever know. After studying the brochure he decided that the promo was still running. His final advice was that he would go with DishNetwork.

I honestly learned nothing new about VOOM from this experience. But I did see my first HLP set. Sears should train their sales force better on VOOM basics. But, I would have to say that my expectations were met because I had set them so low.

 

[arthur]

the voom display setup I saw at the sears in Springfield Missouri was hooked up with RCA jacks to a 15" lcd

what a crappy setup

 

[CWS_kahuna]

I have 2 Sears stores that I can go to, 1 close to home, 1 close to work. The 1 closer to my home has an alright setup. It's kind of cramped but it's a fairly new store and most of the things are clean and in good order. The Sears by my work is a lot older. The TV section has some very nice units but it's not as welcoming of a store. They do have the Voom hooked up to a big screen and the picture looks good however when questioning the sales rep I felt I was teaching him more about Voom (and I am not a Voom user), he just did not have much knowledge about it. Something so new like Voom needs good representation to be successful. Voom needs the big hitters to carry their products, Best Buy, Circuit City, Good Guys, Tweeters etc.... even 2 of those 4 examples would help a lot. Not to mention there are so many other stores out there that could sell Voom. What about Wal Mart & Sams Club (I know they might not get the good representation of product knowledge at these stores)? My Sams Club is starting to get some nice HDTVs and I have been to a Super Wal-Mart that was carrying a bunch of HDTVs. I know they are not the stores you think of for high tech gear but play the numbers, how many people hit these 2 store chains daily? I don't know if they could get a big hitter like Best Buy or Circuit City as they probably have contracts to sell only D* but more specialty stores like I mentioned above Tweeters & Good Guys typically have much better product knowledge though lower customer counts and might not be under any contracts.

Someone said if only Sears can get 2 people per store per day the subs would grow rapidly, I think even if it were 1 per day Voom would have the number of subs needed to succeed in a reasonable time frame.

Anyway just rambling off some thoughts.

 

[fredfa]

Maybe Sears is a bad sales rep because it has sold fewer than 1,500 VOOM systems so far?
Or because it is one of the last places anyone would think of going to buy HD products?