My wife and I are ying and yang.
This morning she tells me she really wants some Bose over ear noise cancelling headphones as the Shure earbuds and others she has used in the past hurt her ears. She is flying to the US tomorrow.
Having ignored the numerous mentions of sales, including EOFY sales, on Bose gear including some substantial discounts at the QFF shop all the Bose store in Canberra will sell me is the wireless QC35 II - at $499. Ouch. Fortunately I find that according to their website Hardly Normal have some QC 25 (wired) still in stock for $245.
I ring Hardly Normal to check and get them to hold for me. The switch answers, transfers me, the phone rings out. I try again, am transferred, wrong section, they transfer me, it is a fax number. I try a third time, now knowing which section to ask for, I get transferred and it rings and rings, then gets automatically transferred, gets answered in another section who transfers me back, it rings out. We hop into the car and drive to the store. We find the headphones - no Bose there. Ask an indolent youth working there and he points to another section of the store 'where all the Bose products are'. We find the Bose soundbars and other speakers etc, no headphones there. We finally accost a staff member and point out that we have found the headphones and the Bose products but cannot find the Bose headphones - he at least knows where they are and takes us to a different area.
THIS IS WHY RETAIL IN AUSTRALIA IS GOING DOWN THE TOILET MR HARVEY! Slapping 10% GST on low value imports will not change this.
Fortunately they have one left, he attempts to charge me $299, I suggest that they are $245, he checks and agrees, I pay and walk out.
It.
Should.
Not.
Be.
This.
Hard.
[/rant]
