Northampton

25 February 2010

	Welcome to Freesat Take a Town
	BRITISH rugby fans across the whole of the UK are able to watch this year’s scrums, tries and tackles live in brilliant HD with Freesat – completely subscription-free. Freesat is showing this year’s RBS Six Nations rugby action on the BBC HD channel. These high-adrenaline matches will run until March 20. Emma Scott, Freesat’s managing director, said: “High definition is perfect for making every detail of the fast-paced action appear pin-sharp, so you won’t miss a single drop-kick or throw as England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales play to bring the title home. “With HD offering a picture five times the quality of standard definition TV, rugby fanatics can experience the game as if they were watching it pitch-side. Ms Scott continued: “Freesat will also bring viewers a whole host of first-class sports in HD throughout the year – all without monthly bills to pay and contracts to sign. “The World Cup will be available on BBC HD and ITV1 HD, as well as the Winter Olympics, the Golf Masters, Wimbledon, FA Cup and UEFA Champions league matches.” Meanwhile, why not follow Freesat on Twitter? Information from the world of television – @freesat_TV.

Laurence makes a swift sale

WITHOUT doubt, the best way to interest a customer in a product is to demonstrate it – something that Laurence did very well indeed.
After parking at the local Waitrose, I set off on foot to visit Swift Electrical on Harborough Road.
Laurence greeted me and I said I had heard about Freesat, but wanted to find out more. He asked what TV services we currently had and I said we had Freeview, but the picture quality was not good.
“Freesat is a very good option for anyone who’s in a poor signal area really,” he said. “There are 140 channels on Freesat.”
Laurence told me that there were a couple of options to consider. “You could go for a set-top box or you could have it built-in to your TV.” Within the range of set-top boxes, he explained that I could go for a standard-definition box, a Freesat HD box that would enable me to get BBC HD and ITV HD for free, or I could opt for a box that recorded.
I asked Laurence how much the various boxes cost. He said the Humax Foxsat HD box was £170, while the 320GB Freesat+ PVR from Humax was priced at £320. He showed me the PVR. “You can record the HD content on this,” Laurence said.
“It’s got twin tuners in it, so you’ll have two leads coming off the satellite dish on your house, which will enable you to record one programme and watch another at the same time.”
He then showed me three products Freesat-integrated recorders from Panasonic. He talked me through the DMR-XS350 EBK, the DMR-BS750EBK and the DMR-BS850EBK, which were on sale at £370, £520 and £660 respectively.
Explaining that these products were slightly out of my price range, Laurence said the Humax PVR was simple to use and he began a demonstration of Freesat.
He demonstrated the BBC HD channel and explained that HD content on ITV was available on the red button.
“Recording is dead simple,” he said, as he demonstrated how to record a programme, before showing me how to play back a recording, which was a football match in HD.
“It’s so easy to use, and the picture quality is phenomenal,” he added. I thanked Laurence for his help.
Summary: Laurence was a pleasure to meet. He was able to effortlessly talk me through the options. His demonstration was excellent and I would have bought from him there and then.

Score: 10 out of 10

Trevor demonstrates the difference

TREVOR in HG Rapkin on Kettering Road could not wait to show me HD content from Freesat as he pointed out the “fantastic” picture quality.
When I went into the store, I was greeted by Trevor, who asked if I needed any help. I explained that I was in the process of moving to Northamptonshire and was looking to get Freesat.
“Freesat is an alternative to Freeview, it’s another way of getting digital TV, but through a satellite,” Trevor said. “Some people who have had Sky, and decide they don’t want to pay the subscription anymore, so cancel it and keep the dish.”
Trevor explained that Freesat tuners were built into a number of Panasonic TVs. “I’ll show you now,” he said, collecting a remote control from behind the counter.
On a Panasonic 46in set, Trevor demonstrated Freesat, showing me the BBC HD channel and comparing it with a standard definition channel with the BBC HD offering.
“Freesat is free, with no subscription,” he said. “Once you’ve got a dish, just plug it in and go.”
He pointed out that HD content on ITV was on the red button and he said the number of HD channels would increase.
I asked what sizes the Freesat-integrated sets came in. “Panasonic is bringing out a new range in March, but they start at 32in, which is an LCD panel,” Trevor added.
He checked his computer and said the 32in set would cost £699.
He suggested that I leave my name and phone number so that he could contact me when the new Panasonic sets became available.
I asked Trevor if he could arrange a satellite installation for me and he gave me a flyer for a company called AB Aerials and he said they would charge me around £80.
Summary: Trevor was knowledgeable and was able to talk about and demonstrate Freesat well. Instead of attempting to sell me an old set, he was keen to take my details, which I welcomed.

Score: 9 out of 10

The silent salesmen

DESPITE all the Freesat point-of-sale material in Currys, I should still have liked to have been served by a non-silent salesman.
My day in Northampton continued with a trip to the Currys store on the Nene Valley Retail Park, where Jamie greeted me as I entered the store.
I headed for the ‘digital services’ area at the back of the store. My first impressions of the Freesat area were not good. Other than five pieces of p-o-s material promoting the subscription-free platform, the area was a mess.
The only product on display was the Humax FoxsatHD set-top box, which was priced at £149.99.
Empty cardboard boxes for the Humax Freesat+ PVR (£289.99) and the Goodmans HD box (£109) were strewn across the display, while the Goodmans SD set-top box was sealed in its display box on the shelf, too.
The display was peppered with information about the Techguys service, which instructed shoppers to ‘Just take to any till to pay’.
In addition to the Freesat p-o-s, I also noticed a large poster about the set-top box area, which highlighted the key features and benefits of Freesat, Sky, Freeview and Virgin Media.
After five minutes of waiting to be approached, a member of staff headed in my direction, before walking off somewhere else.
Disappointed, I left the store.
Summary: The visit started well with a greeting, but, sadly, deteriorated. Other than the good use of p-o-s materials, the visit was disappointing to say the least.

Score: 2 out of 10

Are you sure you don’t want Sky?

KNOWLEDGE is power, Anthony told me, before getting another fact wrong.
My look at Freesat in Northampton had taken me to PC World on the Nene Valley Retail Park, where I headed to the TV area of the store.
A salesman approached me and asked if I needed any help.
Anthony started his Freesat presentation by showing me a Humax Freeview recorder. Realising his mistake, he then showed me the Humax FoxsatHD box, which was on sale at £149.99.
He turned the Humax box round so I could see the connections and he pointed to where I needed to put the “aerial from the satellite dish”.
I asked how many high-definition channels there were on Freesat. “I don’t know,” Anthony said, “they change constantly. Last time I heard, it was eight”.
I said that I did not have a satellite dish and Anthony said that for £89.99 he could arrange to get an engineer out to my house and he’d bring the satellite dish as well.
I asked how many channels were on Freesat in total, so Anthony led me to a computer terminal to check the channel line-up. He attempted to sell me Sky, explaining that I could get a free Sky+ HD box, if I subscribed to the HD channels.
He told me if I went for the Sky basic package, at £16 a month, I would only get “English channels, whereas Freesat has a lot of foreign ones”. I said that I did not want to pay a monthly subscription.
“You’d rather pay 260 quid?” he said. I reiterated that I did not want to pay a monthly fee.
Anthony did a Google search on ‘Sky+ HD channels vs Freesat HD channels’. He then started to talk to me about Virgin Media.
Seeing I was losing patience, Anthony said: “Just to show you, because knowledge is power.” Here we go, I thought. “You could have 65 TV channels, 10MB broadband, with unlimited downloads and internet security, and the V+ box for the TV, plus phone line and rental, for £18 a month.”
I told him, for the third time, that I did not want to pay for a TV subscription. He then started talking about Sky, again, but conceded that Freesat would be the best option.
He scanned a Techguys barcode to check the cost of the installation.
“That’ll be £69.99,” he said. “So with the box, that’ll be £220.”
Summary: Anthony did not listen to me. He carried on talking about Sky and Virgin Media when I made it clear that I did not want to pay a monthly subscription. As well as getting the number of HD channels on Freesat completely wrong, the price of a box and installation came down £40 in the space of 10 minutes.

Score: 0 out of 10

Kim catches some Blu-rays

MY NEXT visit in Northampton was to the Comet store on the Nene Valley Retail Park. Inside the store, it was very busy, with a number of customers being served a number of customers browsing.
I headed to the TV department and couldn’t help but notice a Panasonic display.
On closer inspection, a Panasonic TV (the TXL37G10B at £799), was connected to one of the Freesat-integrated Blu-ray recorders. The DMR-BS750EBK was priced at £549.99 and was playing a promotional Blu-ray disc.
After nearly three minutes browsing, Kim approached me and asked if I needed any help. I asked what I could do with the Panasonic Blu-ray recorder.
“You can put a Blu-ray disc in the machine and you can record full HD Blu-rays straight onto the hard drive,” Kim said, “or write them to a disc.”
I asked Kim what Freesat was. “The Blu-ray recorder has a built-in Freesat tuner, so you can record Freesat as well,” he said.
“Now that the analogue signal is being phased out, there is Freeview, which comes down a cable, but Freesat is via a satellite and you can get HD channels, so you can record the HD channels.
“You’ll need someone to come and install a dish, which costs £89.”
Kim told me that there were “quite a lot of HD channels”, but he said he was not sure how many there were.
To get the best signal, Kim told me that I would need to buy a “high-powered Monster cable”, which would “filter the best signal through for you”.
He pointed to a package that was on promotion, which combined an HDMI cable with a Monster energy-saving unit.
Kim demonstrated the Monster HDP850 Green Power Centre, explaining that it eliminated ‘dirty energy’.
The HDP850 was priced at £99.99, while the HDMI cable he recommended was on sale at £79.99.
Kim said the promotional price for the package was £167.
I thanked him for his help.
Summary: Kim was friendly and keen. His Freesat knowledge was limited as he did not know how many HD channels were on the platform. Also, he did not sell any of the benefits of the twin tuners of the Blu-ray recorder.

Score: 5 out of 10

We’ll throw in the stand

AFTER a good sales pitch, Patrick disappointed me by offering to throw in a glass stand. Had he asked in a different way, he could have got a lucrative add-on sale.
In Blasons Sound & Vision Centre on Wellingborough Road, I started browsing while Patrick was talking to a customer on the telephone.
After his call, he asked if I needed any assistance. I said that I had been reading about Freesat, but wanted to find out more about the service.
“Freesat is basically free-to-air satellite, without a subscription, with Freesat HD, you will also receive BBC HD and ITV HD,” Patrick said. “And it’s built into numerous TVs.” He said there were more than 140 channels.
I asked what sizes the sets came in with a Freesat built-in tuner. “It’s built into 32in, 37in, 40in, 46in and 52in sets,” he said. I said a 37in set would best suit my needs.
Pointing to a TV at the front of the store, which was switched off, Patrick said: “The most popular 37in set is the Panasonic one there, which is winning all the reviews.” The Panasonic (TXL37G10B) was priced at £899.99.
Patrick then asked me whether I would need a stand for the set to sit on and I said that I would be looking for a stand of some kind.
“We are doing an offer at the moment,” Patrick said, “on a three-shelf glass AV rack, which has cable management at the back. Panasonic is also offering a free five-year guarantee.” Patrick pointed out that the stand normally retailed at £150, “but we are throwing it in free”.
I asked if he could organise a dish installation and he said his company used a local contactor.
Patrick said that it would cost £90 to install a dish and he said his company would deliver and set up the panel free of charge.
Summary: Patrick was helpful. He explained Freesat well, but I’ve knocked off two points, as he did not demonstrate the platform and, although the stand and five-year guarantee were an attempt to close the sale, he could have tried to sell me a stand for a decent margin.

Score: 8 out of 10

The lights were on but...

WHILE the lights were on, no one appeared to be at home in the Maplin store on the Becket Retail Park.
I headed straight to the set-top box area of the store and began to browse the products on display.
A few bits of Freesat p-o-s decorated the shelves. The display was close to the disco equipment section, so lights were flashing and music blaring out of speakers.
There were a number of Freesat products on display. The Humax Freesat+ PVR and the Goodmans PVR were both priced at £279.99.
The Humax FoxsatHD box, the Technisat HD and the Goodmans HD boxes were priced at £149.99, £189.99 and £99.99. The Grundig SD box was priced at £59.99.
Staff were wandering around the store, but customers seemed to be browsing and walking out. Despite a couple of members of staff getting within feet of where I was standing, nobody actually approached me.
The music and lights continued, but for me, I was done and left.
Summary: I have given one point to the store for the eye-catching use of point-of-sale materials. That said, staff cannot afford to ignore customers – this is bad practice.

Score: 1 out of 10