Where do people get the foolish idea that the FCC is making all TVs that are not HD obsolete?
Answer:
You have answered your own question. Folks do not understand the difference between digital broadcast and HD. I have said this in other posts, the two are NOT mutually exclusive. That is to say, just because a signal is digital does not make it HD, conversely, HD is usually digital. From the service standpoint, the differences are glaring. I have had to educate our sales team about misinforming our customers about this very issue. We sell "SD" TV sets, these have digital tuners built in to the set, but are NOT HD. They will respond to the HD signals, but will not show the picture in HD modes. I really wish ALL the folks selling this equipment would stop muddying the water. It makes it really difficult to get the truth out and have a clear understanding about the nature of the required changes about to come.
awww, no fair, you gave the answer already. It is those self proclaimed experts and the rotten salesman. Can't talk bad about all of them, but I used to work with this guy who would tell you a tv could dance for you if you put shoes on it, just to sell it to you.
I think a lot of it is the misinformation SOME salespeople give to customers because they themselves do not understand what will happen with the whole changeover. My boss (yes I work at a small independently owned consumer electronics sales/service store) has made sure that all of us in the store (the whole whopping 3 of us that do sales lol) KNOW and UNDERSTAND what will be happening.
There are a lot of sales people at the big box stores who work on commission and only care about their paycheck so they try to feed a little bit of the misinformation to get the customer to buy the biggest, best, with the extended warranty of course, tv that the customer can't afford so they can get the great commission (only to be let go by that "wonderful" company they work for because they make TOOO MUCH money).
We explain to our customers how the government is taking back the analog spectrum on February 17, 2009 and at that point their TV, while NON HD, WILL WORK, but they need a converter box. We also tell them that the approximate cost of the converter box (for those who don't have satellite or a cable box) will be around $60.00 and that the government is supposed to send out 2 $40.00 coupons to each household beginning sometime in 2008 to prepare those whose TV's do NOT have the ATSC/QAM tuners in them.
We also explain that some of the HDTV's out there do not have any tuners in them and that they are monitors and will require an external tuner (ie: cable box, satellite receiver, or converter box). We also take the time to explain to the customers that the ATSC tuner is for OFF THE AIR reception (antenna) and that if the tv doesn't have a QAM tuner you still need a cable box as the QAM tuner allows you to receive HD channels from the cable company without having to have a cable box.
We were trained to match our customers to the TV that best suits them. We don't try to upsell to the biggest, best, most expensive. We do NOT work on commission. We do sell extended warranties but do not push the customer to purchase them.
I have worked at my store for 9 years and have had great success and many repeat customers. We, unlike many others, have built the business with a service aspect which many don't do anymore unfortunately.
Not all salespeople are out to get the little guy. We, at least in my store, ARE the little guy as well. The boss makes sure we remember that and treat the customer as we would want to be treated.
Yes we have customers who will come to us, spend hours talking about TV's, the features, the plus's and minus's of HD, analog, etc THEN go buy the tv from the big box store and while that really hurts the bottom dollar in our store, they inevitably come back to us for service because they can't get that from the big box store.
I don't mean to get on a soap box or anything but it really irritates me that people assume just because the big box stores treat their customers a particular way that ALL salespeople will do the same.
I would recommend that ANYONE who really wants to know what is going on to find a independent, locally owned company who cares about their customers as well as, if not more than, the bottom dollar. If you take care of your customers, you take care of your business.
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