You don’t believe you paid full price for your carpet? Of course you did. But don’t be concerned. Everyone does.
Wait a minute. How about all those ads I see with discounts and sale pricing for THIS WEEK ONLY! Huh? How about that.
Ask yourself the following questions.
- Discounted from what? In the flooring industry, and I believe in any industry, there is no such thing as a manufacturer’s suggested retail price.(M.S.R.P.) why should there be? How does the manufacturer know what my costs are, what my labor is or even what profit I may like to make?
- Why , as a business, would I give up any profit? Would you? If the product is worth $30 Square yard why should I sell it for less? Were you maybe being lied to about its initial value or were you being gouged by the original price?
- What about the hidden costs that are crucial to the job and are added on as the salesman gauges your reaction to each item on the job list? “Well, we have the carpet picked out, how about the underlayment (Pad)? You want the premium pad, don’t you? Or maybe the space foam pad, or how about the salesman retirement pad?” Why are you specifying the underlayment? Isn’t this the job of the salesman after interviewing you and finding out just what type of flooring will best suit your needs?
- Ah, pad. How often have you been told that you need to “upgrade” your pad and you can use a cheaper carpet? Really? If you put makeup on a monkey you still have a monkey. The carpet Cushion Council – http://www.carpetcushion.org/cushion-criteria.cfm has charts for which pad is for which carpet. Manufacturers and pad manufacturers spend millions of dollars testing and refining their product, why would they let you determine which to use?
- Free or discounted labor. Really? I recently was told by an intelligent customer that the big box store only charged $37 to carpet their entire house. Why was I charging over $300? I asked him if he would go to the warehouse, wait 30 to 45 minutes for the product, drive across town , move all the furniture, remove and replace all the flooring and replace the furniture for $37? Although he admitted he would not, he still thought they were not somehow lying to him about the floor price breakdown. Why would you purchase from a company that advertises their lie? The same big box store in Show Low Arizona pays my crew 120% of what they would get here in Phoenix. They deposit over $1000 in our account each week. They are not installing 30 houses a week.
- Free Pad! This week only. Same story, different line item. I called my pad manufacturer here in Phoenix and gave him a lecture. Why are you giving my competitors free pad? He seemed perplexed. Well I said, they cannot give say it is free if they are hiding the cost somewhere else, or it wouldn’t be free would it? I could hear him shake his head and he said, “They hide it in the carpet cost or hope to get the upgrade for three times their cost.” Oops. I of course apologized. Pad costs me about $2 Square yard. Think of that when you buy from someone else.
- What is the final cost? Is it the same quality? Did you give each of the bidders the same information so they could do their best and get you the best product for you needs? Are you comfortable with your choice? If so Happy Flooring.
You cannot buy the same quality flooring as I do for less money than I pay. If the store is a liquidator you are not getting the best product no matter what the nice clerk says. I had a client that bought their cheapest laminate, they cannot stock it because the tongue and groove will break if handled too much. Lovely. There is a lot of junk out there. Be aware. When you deal with RNB Flooring Inc you are dealing with the owner. I have a vested interest in your flooring.
You get what you pay for…at best. Think before you buy. If it is on sale, ask yourself: would you buy it at the stated price if it was not on sale? Do you think the salesman is losing money? And are you willing to play their game?
