Same HDTV model (ie 61WH40) BUT Tweeter's version is better?!?!!? (1 Viewer)

[Paul Rabin]

Some of my coworkers said that places like Tweeter (don't know if anyone heard of them-they are pretty much a home theater store) will have a slightly different version of the same model HDTV then at Best Buy. Is there any truth to this? Thanks for any feedback.

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

The best answer is "yes" and "no."

If it is truly the same model (with the exact same model number), then I think you can safely assme that it is in fact the same set.

However, there are manufacturers who are making models with slight differences, and then offering these (with a different model number) to Best Buy. This is apparently what Mitsubishi has just begun doing, last month, although there are others who have done this in the past, as well. And, this is not just being done with Best Buy.

The reasoning is as follows: If you are Mitsubishi, and you have a major distributor such as Tweeter, who sells a LOT of your sets, and Tweeter often sells them somewhat close to the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price, you want to keep this major distributor happy. A place such as Tweeter places themselves somewhere between a bargain chain (Best Buy) and a "high end audio video shop."

Tweeter is a chain, and they sell a LOT of sets, nationwide, in many regions. They also try to offer more in the way of service and knowledgable salespeople than the Best Buys and Circuit Cities. Now, along comes a large chain -- Best Buy, which is known for keeping costs down, and hiring people who do not necessarily know more about the product than their customers do. They also may offer no "white glove" delivery, lousy after sales service, lousy advice, no expertise, and mediocre customer care. But, they have approached you about wanting to sell your product, and they do sell a LOT of product. So, you, Mitsubishi, decide to offer them a line, but you also realize that this could anger those Tweeter stores when all of their customers begin to bargain and negotiate and price match, and even use Tweeter's expertise, but then go down the street at the last minute to actually buy, since "it was $150 cheaper there." Or, even worse, the customers will come BACK to the Tweeter store on almost every purchase demanding a "price match," so now Tweeter is forced to give customers the better expertise, better advice, better delivery, better customer care, but at Best Buy's bargain basement prices.

So, if you are Mitsubishi, you will take an existing model, alter it a bit, perhaps remove a feature or two or three, and stamp a new model number on it. Now, the Tweeter stores do not have to worry about price-matching it. Tweeter can (truthfully) tell the customers that they offer more in the way of service, (they generally do), AND that that set down the street is different. Because it is. Sometimes the differences may be minor, sometimes it may even include a desirable feature. It is different, and that is what matters.

Okay, now realize that the same sort of thing goes on with MANY manufacturers. This is why the Sears stores are NOT allowed to carry the Cinema Series (the "X" series) of Toshibas, for example. So the high end shops and even the Tweeters could truthfully say that the model of Toshiba at Sears is NOT the same set.

(By the way, you want to kow a dirty little secret? This practice is absolutely the WORST when it comes to mattress manufacturers, who sell a different name and model number to almost every dealer, on purpose, to make it impossible to comparison shop. This even goes for the little "Mom and Pop" stores. The manufacturers find it easy to slap a different label on every new dealer's product, so no consumer can ever price match, or compare. That same Sealy will be in thousands of different chains and stores, but every one has a different name and model, so you will never know. At least with RPTVs, it is only done in a "few" cases," and they actually change a feature or two, usually.)

I hope this helps,

-Bruce in Chi-Town

 

[Paul Rabin]

That helps, thanks BruceSpielbauer.

 

[Bill Millar]

Paul,
I used to live in San Francisco,stores like the Good Guys and Circuit City would advertise a Sony TV, saying that if you could find the same TV that they are selling somewhere else they would match it plus give you 10% off, the problem is you will never find the TV their selling anywhere else, as each store will either have an added number or a letter after the model number, exclusively for them.

The reason behind this theory is that it will protect them from price matching. I don't think that's the way it is anymore, at least not in Wichita Falls, Tx. where I live.


Bill