Walmart Offering TV, PC, Home Theater Installation

This news is depressing. I already deal with 6 competitors in a small Colorado town, 5 of which haven’t a clue as to what they are doing, yet they are still in business. One of these 5 even claim CEDIA certification. Incidentally, I’ve spoken to CEDIA about these “certified” installations and they did nothing to repremand this dealer! Installations where the speaker wire is dropped from the VC and speakers to the crawl space and a different gage wire spliced with wire nuts under the house between. Go CEDIA!!!

I’ve fixed BB and CC installs as well as my competitors, but I still have clients telling me, “I can get that at BB for this price or Walmart sells such and such for this price”, now I’m going to have to deal with, “I can get it installed for this price from Walmart”. I’ve always beaten BB’s prices, and I’ve always shown that Walmart’s TV’s are not the same models, but stripped down versions, but in this ever tightening economy, less and less consumers are looking at the specs or the talent to install equipment properly so much as they are seeing the money they can save now. Are they going to be happy in the long run? Most probably not, but a lot of people will live with it.

Perhaps it’s time to get out of this game. I love what I do and I’m not bragging, but I can stomp on any of my competition around here in terms of knowledge and professionalism, with the exception of 1 dealer for whom I have a great deal of respect, but when the going is getting this tough and Walmart is going to make it tougher, maybe it’s time to hang up the tool belt.

Just another case in point of where that Walmart has never been concerned about the “mom & pop” stores of any type of business.  Try to find a hard ware store?  What is really sad is the poor uneducated consumer buying Vizio crap (with a 20% failure rate out of the box) ... Warranty, what warranty, your talking warranty with big boxes,unless you pay the $100 you think you saved to ship it to CA for repair.  Better be able to speak another language besides English or Spanish! So follow me in boycotting every consumer product that Walmart sells and be sure to add N E W extended warranties to your list.  Geek squard thanks for allowing me to raise my rates to clean up your mess ...
The final question is why would you want to install something from Walmart to begin with?  Is that really your client?  Not only no, but HELL no.

WHAT A JOKE!!!  Lets just hand over our inter paycheck to walmart.  This company sucks so much asss% they are probably responsible for the majority of our economic decline.  WHAT YOU SAVE IN MONEY YOU WILL GAIN BY BEATING YOUR HEAD UP AGAINST THE WALL FOR SUCH A DISFUNCTIONAL PIECE OF CRAP SYSTEM.  Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

~Walmart might as well just drop a nuke on America!!!

It amazes me that Walmart is not content with being the richest company on earth.  They have to extend them self into being the Jacka@s of all trades!!!

I am a subcontracted installer. Im sure every company has its hacks, and in this financial climate people will go after any job they can get, ( even unqualified people. ) Almost everyone on this page was a green hack at one time. The installers you talk #### about have kids to feed just like you. They also take on the brunt of the overhead while not being offered health ins or unemployment benefits.“Certified” should say licensed, And is different from state to state. What people should really worry about is that low price they pay. What do you think a sub makes off of a $99 basic install? $50 ? Maybe $20 after his Ins, Workers Comp, gas,tools. You will always find bad installations, if the guy doing it isnt making anything. Im glad Walmart is offering this. Maybe if I can get a contract with them I will be able to make house payment. Working for the Devil is still working.

First off, anyone who thinks the industry is doomed because Walmart is trying to get a part of it are sorely mistaken. I will give some tips at the end of my comment.

These installers most likely make very little off of their work. More than likely they’re also subcontractors for Comcast/Time Warner/Dish/DirecTV. Willing to bet some of them are notaries, and handymen.

But you really should be encouraged by this, not dismayed. The ESC industry we inhabit caters to the upper-middle class and above. There are scores of millions of people who can’t afford what you have to offer. Our clients do shop Costco, but they don’t drive Hyundais, and they know the value of quality service. Yes, margins are falling on TVs, but if you’re selling TVs you have it all wrong. You’re selling a service.

The TV bought at Best Buy is $100 cheaper (it’s not because we match most of the time), and the installation is only $300, but they’ll sell you a $250 warranty and get a shoddy job and no follow up support. So our install for a single TV might be $400, and the TV might cost a little bit more, but we will take care of their warranty, we are always there with technical help.

So many people treat this business like contractors do - once the install is done you move on. Just yesterday I had a client tell me why he ditched one of our (now out of business) competitors: because they didn’t have follow up, and they just burned their bridges. He said we’re always there for them.

Focus on service. This is what you’re selling.

I like a industry parallel: fashion. Sure you can buy a shirt and tie pack at Walmart for $30, but there is still a market for those $400 shirts and $200 ties. The fashion industry has “off the rack”, “made to measure” and “bespoke.” Walmart sells the first, and we deal in the other two. Bespoke is our highest level of service (and personally most common) because we’re offering custom services and solutions for custom homes.

Change the way you think and ignore Walmart and Best Buy. Hell, around here we actually have higher-end grocery stores booming even with the competition from discount groceries and Walmart. We’re high-end. Act like it.

Considered upper middle class and somewhat technically savvy, I would never pay for Walmart or Best Buy to install anything in my home that required cutting holes or running cable/wires.  That said, I would never, in a million years, pay a “high end” vendor an extra $2-300 for the same version of my 60” Panasonic or Samsung Plasma TV and corresponding audio components.  The products should speak for themselves and should not require $250 insurance policies.  If you are paying this you are crazy.  While high end stores may be thriving, it is because the high end prices are down and those that can afford it are buying.  For the cash rich, now is the time to buy.

Steven needs to change the way he thinks because the Millenials don’t care about service - they just want cheap with some value.  Service is overrated.  Remember, this is the generation that won’t pay $0.99 for a song or $9.99 for a movie, they will just “borrow” it using bittorrent.  You can be high-end without spending high-end….that is fact.

You’re right, we do need to adapt to the market. But millennials aren’t the ones with money yet, don’t sell yourself short now for what the market will be like in 15-30 years. Stay on top of technology or you will be left behind.

But service will always be necessary. Even when the content is being pulled off the internet, someone has to service their equipment and get them online.

Dear Herb from Wisconsin,
Just a couple of points I’d like to make regarding your comments…

1. The profit margin from a dealers’ cost to a manufactures MSRP list price, (even on a Pioneer Kuro which is the best you can buy and still available), is typically only $300.00-$800.00. Thus, no one is going to be making $2K-$3K on you… high end dealer or not. Since you mentioned Panasonic and Samsung, feel safe knowing that the dealers’ profit margin is only about $50.00-$200.00 MAX! Today’s flat panel TV profit margins to a dealer are those of 20th century VCR’s… nothing.

2. I agree with you that extended warranties are BS, and I would never buy one or sell one as a dealer. Typically, if the TV works for the 1st 24 hours, it will last for many years providing you purchase a halfway decent surge protector, ($100.00 minimum), and it is installed correctly from the get go.

However, (and I’m doing my best to be polite here), you are a hypocritical idiot when you state in the same post that;

A. “I would never pay for Wallmart or Best Buy to install anything in my home that required cutting holes or running cable/wires.” That statement implies that you are already well aware & understand the quality of their workmanship & service.

B.Then you state, “Service is overrated.”

You can’t have it both ways Herb. If you are under the impression or think for one minute that just because you may have the, “disposable income,” to purchase a luxury item in a poor economy entitles or enables you to bring a high end dealer, (such as myself), to its knees to immediately drop what we’re doing and drop our pants on price to get your business, (with all due respect), go screw yourself.

However, I may very well be way off base on this one… You may be the type of person who would say/complain to a well renowned & referred cardiologist, “You realize there is a free clinic just down the street… Bla Bla Bla,” just to get a better price on a heart transplant you desperately needed.

Steven is absolutely correct when he stated, “We’re high end. Act like it.” Thus Herb, I have only 2 suggestions for you…

1. Never enter my business doors with your type of attitude without having that renowned doctor’s phone number in speed dial.

2. Contact the, “Make A Wish Foundation,” for your future home entertainment needs.

What a nighmare!! I paid $99 for the installation of my 46” tv and all I got was the tv on the stand, they damaged my tv stand and my tv still didn’t work when they left.  After calling them for 5 days and speaking to Supervisors and Managers (and after each conversation they said they would get back to me with 4 business hours) I still have yet to receive a return phone call.  I finally had my cable company come in and rectify the problem (they didn’t even connect my HD cable and had sound and video cables in the wrong connections).  So, $99 got me a damaged tv cabinet and a full week of aggravation.  This was a real bargain.

HI, Sarah—can you please shoot me an email? jjacobson at ehpub dot com. I’m one of the editors here. Thanks

Sarah,
On one hand, you got what you deserve because you were warned. On the other hand, your post of your experience helps expose how incompetent these idiots really are.

Thus, (just like any criminal rape court case where it’s a, “He said, she said,” argument/burden of proof placed on the victim), the more people who come out against the offender, the easier it is to leave no, “reasonable doubt,” in the jury’s minds and convict the guilty party.

Not to mention, the fact that the cable company techs were able to fix the problem, speaks volumes of Wallmart’s incompetence.

Do NOT use Walmart Home Installation Services!!!

We bought a flat screen LCD 55”. TV is great. The guy hired to install it was fine.
The service, however, was a rip-off.

All they did was deliver and install the TV. They charged $299. They were supposed to ALSO hide the cables behind the TV and/or hide the cables along the wall, around corners. However, they couldn’t conceal the wires/cables related to the brick structure. Nor could they couldn’t hide the wires because apparently they did not have the equipment to do so.
I called Customer Service and asked for the fee to be be partially refunded to reflect the $99 worth of service provided. Again they did NOT provide $299 features as promised. When I called and tried to get this addressed, customer service was HORRIBLE. Julie, the initial customer service rep was belligerent and talked over me, despite my repeated requests for her not to. Her boss, James, was nicer, but didn’t do much. His boss, Jeremy, was useless. He couldn’t explain to me why I got charged $299 when they didn’t do all the tasks promised for the $299 price. And he told me he stood by his “people” Julie and James. And when I told him I was going to post my legitimate experience online so that others would not undergo the financial deceit that I did, he told me I should stop making “threats.’’ VERY poor customer service
Bottom line: They delivered the TV, and installed it. They didn’t provide the other services I asked (and paid for). Should have been $99. Not $299.
I feel like I got ripped off of $200.

Do NOT use Wal-Mart installation services. Go with Best-Buy or someplace more reputable, even if it costs more