Educating the Public about HD

[woljr]

Reports that more than 35% of the public with an Hd TV set are not receiving an HD picture is troubling. To think that people are spending all that money and for a few dollars more they can get the real thing.

I know the new technology is complicated as I found out 3 years ago when I bought my first HD TV set. This forum has been extremely affective in educating me even further. I have found that there is some very good technical advice available on this forum.

However the general public is not informed. I now know the reason why. Yesterday I spent an hour in Circuit City listening to a salesman explaining options and basic HD technology to some customers. It was a total comedy of errors. After the customers left I attempted to fill in some of the major gaps of his presentation and he refused to listen to anything I had to say. He informed me that he relies solely on Circuit City Technical people for his information.

Is there any way we can be more helpful to the general public ???
The more educated and demanding the public is about any product results in a higher quality product. A good example of this is the auto industry.

Any comments ???? : : :

 

[mecro]

Well, as an employee of Circuit City (college student, part-time), the information that they train you with is very accurate, however outdated. Now, I don't work in TV's, but that doesn't mean I don't here the occasional Product Specialist start pumping the wrong information to a customer. Yeah, I'm young, and no I don't work in your department, but woljr's right, some people are still pitching HD with misinformation!!

Can I ask what he was saying? I've had arguments with my Entertainment manager over what he thinks about certain HD things. Most of the time, the knowledge I gained came from Satelliteguys.

 

[bhelms]

"Quality is what the customer will buy." It took me several years failing as an "honest salesman" to understand what that really meant. The goal of the salesman is NOT to educate the customer, but simply to make the sale and thus a profit for his employer and himself. Trying to do anything more will only risk confusing the customer and probably lose the sale. The salesman does not want an educated customer, just a hungry, motivated one. In your example, the salesman might indeed have been ignorant. But it's equally possible he's using a proven pitch. I can't blame you for trying to set him straight, nor him for ignoring you! Alfer all, you don't sign his paycheck. Ultimately the customer does. These things are perhaps unfortunate, but true. In the real world, it's still caveat emptor...

 

[woljr]

it appears one is better off going to Wal Mart. No info is better than wrong info.