I have been seriously researching the local (Manila) dealers for a Flat Panel for many months now, and have finally made my purchase.
Here is the ONLY lesson learned:
Go get your unit from the specialized AV Stores.
1. The prices are ridiculous compared to the appliance dealers. Let them sell you your next washing machine or ref. Period.
2. The Q&A portion is a useless exercise with appliance dealers They will tell you what is in the brochure (which a serious buyer already knows) Then will scratch their head or "
itanong ko muna sir" when you ask for the deeper details like, how many A/V connections? Whats the voltage consumption? Does it have an upscaling chip that process it to 1080p?
3. Specialized dealers will LET YOU personally test units, bring your own discs, and will even HOOK the unit or the last 2 choices in their demo rooms and magpkasawa ka doon. (Mine even allowed me to bring beer, yes beer, to the tuning room and left me to my tweaking -all three hours of it) Their owners or experienced technicians (not salespeople) will handle your questions there and then, and if not satisfactory, "
bossing mag surf muna ako ha and research some more, I will call you personally"4. Technical Support is personalized and always available. (just get their email/phone coordinates of course
) Even if you are still in the canvass mode and actually made no purchase yet, these dealers are happy to reply to your queries. And after sales support? man, there is a God!
5. Delivery is almost always on the same day, and installers have "extra" supplies. Need good speaker cables and adaptors, have no fear. Whats a good setup parameter? which plug goes to which jack? the installers are experienced. Sa appliance dealer, que horror, ,
Ser Malay ko dyan, delivery man lang ako, paki sign dito. Oh these appliance stores prides themselves in free delivery and installation, but who here has experienced something like, "
5. Did I mention the price difference between them is ridiculous? If youre lucky, you may even get perks like COD, check terms, utang, or even lend you equipment (test discs, avrs, adaptors etc ) for a night or two.
And for the best dealer out there..... (drum rolls) PM nalang, kaibigan ko na sila halos lahat.
Well I got my AV and HT equipment and supplies from various dealers from Makati, Shangrila, Megamall, Trinoma, Rob Pioneer, and each have their strengths naman.
Another equally important lesson pala:
Let your eyes decide. And imagine the unit in that room where want place it. Specs are good and helpful but at the end of the day, those are just statistics. I actually ended up with a display which I never even considered initially.
Good luck fellow consumers.
Big Mac
