It is the final price you care about. Who cares how much your getting off over their regular price? What you really need to know is .. when all is said and done how much is the check I need to make out to cover this job>>> Right?, and what Quality are you getting for the money?
The Whole House Scam:
This involves attracting you to the store by offering "whole house" carpet installation for one low price; usually less than two hundred dollars. Don't be taken in, as any logic will let you properly conclude that the dealer is making up the labor cost loss by over pricing the cost of the carpet and pad. There is no free lunch; talented craftsmen do not work for free or minimum wage. Also, when you read the "fine print" of these programs, there are heavy extra charges for moving furniture, pulling up and disposing of the old carpet and pad, and any custom work like stairs etc. This type of advertising is more often seen in the big box stores. This is because their labor pool is drawn from companies that pay their installers the lowest wages.The Private Label Scam:
Not really a "scam" but more of a marketing ploy to prevent you the consumer from shopping using the old "apples to apples" comparison technique. Its kind of like buying a mattress, you can find the exact same mattress under 10 different "names" depending on where you shop. In the case of carpet, the most prevalent use of "private labels" is found in the the big box retailers, and large buying group stores like the Carpet One Chain of carpet stores. In this case, Carpet One uses the Bigelow label as if Bigelow made the carpet, when in fact, Carpet One bought the name Bigelow from Mohawk industries, and can use the "Bigelow" label on any carpet they choose. Yes, Bigelow is an old time mill, but they don't make residential carpet any more. Furthermore, Burlington Industries sold the "Lee's" name to carpet one, and thus , like the Bigelow name, we will see carpets with the Lees name on them that are really made by any mill Carpet One selects. Private labeling is now so prolific, that most larger carpet dealers use some sort of private labeling to keep true comparison shopping to a minimum.Guaranteed Lowest Price Scam
This
ploy is used by many of the giant retailers who want you to think their
price is the lowest. The gimmick is to say that if you can find the
same carpet elsewhere at a lower price, "we'll meet or beat that price
by 5%". Of course you can't find the "SAME" carpet elsewhere because
the giant retailer has it private labeled. Therefore, the only place
you will find the same named carpet is at a branch or division of the
same chain. Someday retailers are going to learn that consumers are not
inane. It is really nice to talk to an expert, you will like our prices. You will Like Rike!!! 35 years of experience, we know flooring!! And we are nice people too!.