Sales ethics for Vista

daveza

daveza

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I was wondering what forum members view is on the ethics of selling Celeron based laptops running Vista, either from the distributor or retailer/reseller.

I have a rule never to sell Celeron based laptops for Win XP because sooner or later the client is going to complain about the slowness.

Now I'm seeing Vista laptops with 512 ram on a celeron being advertised. Looking at the MSoft minimum specs it does not mention the type of processor, celeron, centrino, core 2 - just the minimum processor speed.

I know the market will sell anything customers will buy - I just find it annoying that clients ' ignorance' is being exploited.

Am I alone in this crusade ?

PS: Is it fair to advertise a workstation as Intel Pentium without advising it is a celeron ?
 
The same dilemma applies to Vista + < 1GB RAM.

Don't think that the Incredible Deception Salesmorons have too much trouble sleeping at night though.
 
i dont think the cpu is the problem in vista

i dont think laptops running vista should be sold with less than 1024 meg ram

without aero on vista actually runs pretty fast on celeron pc's with a gig or more memory
 
When a client gets vista oem with their hardware, I advise them in advance on the problems they are going to have with this OS, and that there is a high probability that they will need to pay for a format and a copy of XP.
 
Is it unfair to blame the retailers when perhaps the blame lies with the manufacturers - or should the retailers have some integrity ?
 
when walking down the roads called sound and vision, the Vista dream takes a ugly turn (on entry level) - people in the business of selling will move forward, let the buyer beware - state clearly what you want and do not want, like forking out extra on upgrades - good topic
 
Most sales people's ethics takes a hike if they can make a quick buck. For this reason I do a LOT of research on technology I want to buy. In this day and age, you can't trust a salesperson, that works for commission, to have your best interests at heart. It's rare to find a salesman that will tell you NOT to buy something because it won't fit your needs.
 
It's not the retailer/manufacturer's fault if the customer doesn't do his research before. He fails to ask questions about what he is buying he deserves what he gets.

It's the customers responsibility to be informed of any buying decisions. If he isn't that's his fault.
 
stefan9 said:
It's not the retailer/manufacturer's fault if the customer doesn't do his research before. He fails to ask questions about what he is buying he deserves what he gets.
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I disagree.

The salesperson is there not just to take a client to the till. He is there to find out the needs of the client and advise what options there are including pros and cons.

This is particularly necessary in the pc sales area where there is a lot of choice, and a lot of ignorance.
 
Hardcore world you live in, stefan9.

So, if I go into a shop and ask "Will this celeron with 512mb RAM run Vista a-okay?" it's my fault if the salesmoran lies to me?

Most of us here know a thing or two about computers - but what if we were talking about, I dunno, dishwashers? Would it be my duty as a customer to educate myself about all the specs/pitfalls of dishwasher buying before venturing into a store to make a purchase that I wouldn't have to repeat for several years?

Face it, salesfolk need to be up-to-date on whatever they're selling, and should attempt to understand the customer's needs before palming them off with the quickest, easiest sale.
 
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chiskop said:
So, if I go into a shop and ask "Will this celeron with 512mb RAM run Vista a-okay?" it's my fault if the salesmoran lies to me?
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This is where integrity and consumer responsibility comes in.

'Yes' would be technically correct depending on your definition of a-okay.

Proper business ethics would require a very different response.
 
chiskop said:
Hardcore world you live in, stefan9.

So, if I go into a shop and ask "Will this celeron with 512mb RAM run Vista a-okay?" it's my fault if the salesmoran lies to me?

Most of us here know a thing or two about computers - but what if we were talking about, I dunno, dishwashers? Would it be my duty as a customer to educate myself about all the specs/pitfalls of dishwasher buying before venturing into a store to make a purchase that I wouldn't have to repeat for several years?

Face it, salesfolk need to be up-to-date on whatever they're selling, and should attempt to understand the customer's needs before palming them off with the quickest, easiest sale.
Click to expand...

If I am buying something expensive like a dish washer,pc ,etc then it's my responsibility to get us much information on the item as possible.

I would certainly not go into a store and trust the salesmen to give me proper advice on which dishwasher to get.

We are in the digital age and there's more than enough places to get the information you require.

Would you buy a car without doing proper research first or would you trust the car salesmen to give you the proper advice?? I think you wouldn't.

At the end of the day it's your responsibility to make sure you are buying the right item for yourself, it's not the salesmen's job to look out for you.

On what the salesmen needs depends on what he wants. Is he into sales long term that he needs to build long term relationships with the customer or is this merely a part time gig to get some money till he lands his real job?
 
It has been my experience that retailers like Incredible Connection, Makro and Game just want to make a sale. Their sales staff have little, if any, training on the products they sell. Some don't even know the difference between an RJ11 and an RJ45! :mad: They will say anything to make a sale! :(

I've seen Vista sold with 256MB of RAM and a Celeron CPU ... I just shook my head and suggested the person return the unit. To my mind anybody who would sell such a system has no ethics whatsoever.

I sell only P4s. If I'm asked to quote on a system the minimum RAM I will sell is 1GB for XP and 2GB for Vista. As yet I've talked all my potential Vista customers into taking XP Pro.

The hidden costs of Vista are horrendous. Nobody seems to realise a lot of peripherals are not going to work with Vista and will need replacing. I did a quick test in my workshop. I installed Vista Business on my admin computer. My HP 1010 won't work, my camera doesn't play nicely with it and scanner doesn't work either. Of my 3 USB flash drives only one will work with Vista. Oh, and my bookkeeping software threw random BSODs. :eek: With 1GB of RAM it was like trying to run through waist-deep water. I returned to XP within an hour!
 
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I've been in the trade for 15 years and know far from everything about pc's.

It is impossible for the layman to have all the options and peculiarities at his/her fingertips.

What is the point of having salespeople if everyone knows exactly what they want ?
 
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