Price drop already.

[Bara-Kun]

I notice today that the price of the tablet S has dropped by £50 on sony's own website.

Although I know price drops are inevitable and will encourage more tablets to be sold I am

a bit miffed that it has been dropped so soon after the launch date.

Any chance sony could do the honourable thing and offer some PS store, music or video credit

for those of us slightly miffed loyal buyers.

[amillionbytes]

BOO HOO Same here from John Lewis.  Damn me and my Early Adoption mentality...  Good job i'm still<3 with my tablet...

[heavygoods]

John Lewis customers:

I'm surprised you've been unable to get yours refunded; like I said, mine was over the 28 days (albeit only a few days) and I had no trouble.  I would imagine that, if the policy was 28 days, it wouldn't matter how far over you are - there would be no refund.

From the website: http://www.johnlewis.com/Help/Faq.aspx

How long do I have to return an item?

There are no time limits for returns. Find out more about our refund policy.

As a result of the above I was prepared to have the discussion about returning and re-purchasing (if they were unwilling to refund me the difference), which I would have expected to have the desired effect as they would then be lumbered with a used unit AND lose the £50.

I would recommend phoning the store you purchased from directly and having the conversation with their customer services?

[lemurville]

@amillionbytes

I bear good news. Buoyed up by heavgoods' last comments I called the John Lewis store where I bought my Tablet from and they have refunded me the difference. The person I spoke to passed my concerns onto customer support who called me back.

I asked them for clarification as to why they agreed to refund me they said that it's at their discretion as to whether they will refund the difference after 28 days and that their principal aims were to keep their customers happy and continuing to shop with them.

@heavygoods thanks for the update.

[smellyonion]

all this talk on john lewis customers getting their £50 is makingv me jealous any info on whether sony will doing anything?

[hip_hop_rob]

I'm a little confused. Have some of you entered in to a legal contract with Sony that states that they can not determine what  competetive price point they can sell their goods at, at any time after launch as it might make early adopters feel they could have got same product for less, surely not ? 

I ask because you state quite clearly that you are going to escalate this .  what explaination do you think Sony owes you and others that purchased technological equipment on launch day, that Sony are wrong to act in their shareholders'  interest?

I purchased my tablet on release day from John Lewis  and other than their price promise pledge which is admirable,  don't remember John Lewis giving an undertaking that Sony are beholden to me in the run up to Christmas on the pricing structure of their tablet?

Equally, they are not going to devalue their product further by offering refunds or vouchers to those who wanted their products on launch . They are perfectly within their rights to competitively price these  units to gain marketshare whenever they want. if others don't appreciate the commercial necessities of business. wait for equipment to have reached the end of its cycle and acquire it with all risks removed at the end of its sales cycle, knowing their another model is about to be launched. And before others complain that it has been just 2 months, so what?

I would rather they lowered the price and sold more tablets and more developers backed this equipment than for it to fail  and go the way of the HP tablet!

Not mixing but never understand why prople complain when a major co mpany that has invested heavily in promoting and  developing a new product, decides to act commercially to keep it viable and to protect the value of that product.

Regards

Hip

_Hop_

[smellyonion]

So going by this logic, when the touchpad went to the gutters, the people who purchased it for £400 at launch should live with it?

No, this will tarnish the name and reputation of the business. And itll hurt their ability to sell new products in the future.

Giving away vouchers or offering refunds will not devalue their product, it will do the opposite. Just like the touchpad consumer will say "why didnt I purchase at £400 as I would have been refunded the difference".

Sony has no contract to do anything but it is goodwill and goodwill is what seperates the good businesses from the bad.

As now a consumer may think, come next year when sony releases their new tablet-"itll be best to wait 2 months as itll go down".

Ultimately a business following your business plan of doing what is best for the business is actually detrimental in the long term.

[heavygoods]

@hip hop rob: of course, you're right - to a degree. Sony are perfectly entitled to do what they like with the price.

However, you are going to p1ss early adopters off because they are effectively stating that it was overpriced in the first place; therefore those who've paid the launch price will subsequently feel that they've overpaid.  This is an absolutely fair assumption, and the whole reason why JL operate their pricing policy - so that customers never feel "ripped off" by shopping there. It's why I'll keep going back.

This is why it's absolutely not good practice for a technology company to drop a price point so soon after launch - or even some time after. It breeds a feeling of those loyal customers who supported the product at launch have been taken for a ride.  You only have to look at the Nintendo 3DS as the perfect example - I think it was 6 months after launch they they cut the price and people got upset - but Nintendo pre-empted it by publicising that anyone paying launch price would get a load of free downloadable games and content.

So yes, you're right - but it's totally understandable that people get frustrated having paid a price they're told a premium product is worth, only to find then that its actually worth fifty quid less than they paid...  and as the previous poster rightly says, it then puts people off supporting new products at launch as they'll just assume the price will be cut at some later point in time.  Am quite sure Sony won't want that.

Message was edited by: heavygoods

Message was edited by: heavygoods

[hip_hop_rob]

@heavygoods.The John Lewis pricepoint has nothing to do with Sony dropping its pricepoint across the model range.  JL are fairly unique in that they have no institutional investor shareholders to keep happy (i think iam right?).  the workforce are the partners of the business i believe and all share a dividend if the business succeeds.  it's pricematch and flexible approach to dealing with issues is exemplary but that model wouldn't work for a technology manufacturer like Sony, so they are not comparable.

I personally  rate JL highly and have stated that on this forum in my postings previously.

As to whether it puts people off supporting new products at launch.  We all know that clever marketing will always attract early adopters...  Most of us that can afford too would like innovative products as soon as we can get our hands on them.  Price stability would be nice but that is not what people measure primarily when considering to early adopt.  There are other criteria that take precedence.

[hip_hop_rob]

Smellyonion wrote:-"So going by this logic, when the touchpad went to the gutters, the people who purchased it for £400 at launch should live with it?" Sorry do they have any other option?

Smellyonion wrote:-"Ultimately a business following your business plan of doing what is best for the business is actually detrimental in the long term"  That's a contradiction in terms.  If the business plan is best for the business than by default it is best for the business.  A business plan that is not best for the business is by definition, what is detrimental in the long term.......That's logic

remember caveat Emptor...Buyer beware.

It is the nature of being an early adopter that we are all prone to the economics of the market place.  Sony stand to lose a lot more than £50 if they don't shift anough volume of this piece of kit in the run up to christmas.  If they don't, don't be surprised if there is a further cut in the new year.

Sony wouldn't be tinkering with price if the units were flying off the shelf.  It's obvious, they are not and that is why Sony have made a brave decision to act now in the important run up to Christmas.

There are much bigger problems for Sony's venture in to the world of tablets if they get this wrong.

If retailers are left holding huge stock of tablets, they will not be rubbing their hands with glee that a few early adopters were not psychologically peeved off because there wasn't a price drop.

The retailer would simply think twice about taking a risk on any other market saturated Sony products that it was late entering to market with..

Commercial niceties go out of the window in the cut and thrust of home entertainment.  Ask Sega, Dreamcast, Beta max, CDI, mini Disc early adopters etc

I am not being argumentative but simply stating fact.  This is not a corner shop wanting our business and hoping we won't go to tesco's.  This is a major corporate that is trying to take a share of the market that it was not instrumental in shaping.  Apple were.  It has taken a huge gamble in coming to market late and that gamble may or may not pay off but don't think the early adopter is high on Sony's  list of priorities, we are not.  But market penetration is.

This is just my humble opionion.

Hip_Hop_Rob

[smellyonion]

did you see what happened to the touchpad when in went down to £89, all the early adopters could claim the difference back otherwise the company would tarnish its reputation.

if hp launched another tablet 2 years latter , nobody would buy it if people were not re-compensated.

and just so you know, if you like to play with words I said  YOUR business plan of doing what is best for the business. This means that it is YOUR idea of what is best for the business. It is not a statement, put it in qoutes if you like, it is merely a title to what you have written previously.

it is a 100% obvious that the tablet is failing and the reason is simple, it is a lack of marketing, it is not the correct time to drop the price. it is the correct time to actually get consumers aware of that the product even exists. all this price drop does is attract those who were putting off buying it to buy buy it. ie, those who would have purchased it anyway.