Poll: Moral dilemma: Computer sales **Now with an as-advertised poll!**

[EyeMWing]

A guy placed an order from me. I tacked on my standard profits to the quote. He paid me. Now that the check has cleared, I'm going through and ordering all the bits - my profit is WAY higher than I quoted for.

Should I throw in some free upgrades? Or should I shamelessly pocket the extra dough?

Edit: I suck at polls.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

If you want the money, pocket the dough. If you want to build a good rep and a loyal customer, give the free upgrades.

 

[AreaCode707]

I respect you for considering this a moral dilemma.

When you gave him the quote, did you tell him, "It'll cost you this and my markup is x%" or did you just give him a flat rate? If you gave him a flat rate, the money is yours. If you gave him a % markup and you're making more than that, it would be in very good taste to return the extra. You'd definitely have a repeat customer and some great word of mouth advertising.

 

[Mojoed]

There are many ups and downs in business. If you're always a nice guy, it might end up hurting you long-term. This being said, I wouldn't refund him any cash, but I'd throw in some kind of freebie. Your customer will be happy, your pockets will be fatter and It'll probably guarantee you repeat business.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Freebies or refund (if possible). Better to build a good rep and have the costumer come back (and recomend others to you) then get the a little bit more money now.

 

[2cpuminimum]

It depends. If this is a repeat customer, it may be in your long term best interest to give free upgrades. Otherwise just be glad the prices didn't go the other way.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Don't just give "free" upgrades. That's the same morally as pocketing the difference, because it's not what he asked for. Tell him about the price differences and give him the option of either money back or upgrades.

 

[iamtrout]

Bah, I accidentally voted Ferengi before realizing that they're the equivalent of really really greedy people. I read 'freebies' as 'free money' (for you) lol.

I would go with the freebies. Be nice.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: HotChic
I respect you for considering this a moral dilemma.

When you gave him the quote, did you tell him, "It'll cost you this and my markup is x%" or did you just give him a flat rate? If you gave him a flat rate, the money is yours. If you gave him a % markup and you're making more than that, it would be in very good taste to return the extra. You'd definitely have a repeat customer and some great word of mouth advertising.

Flat rate. I used to do it the other way, but I changed when I found out that n00bs were just using me to get parts lists. Nowadays I rarely even give out the actual model numbers of my components until I actually hand them the box with the packing list.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs
Freebies or refund (if possible). Better to build a good rep and have the costumer come back (and recomend others to you) then get the a little bit more money now.

A refund is NOT an option, because this computer was purchased using grant money, and if the invoiced price isn't >= the payout, there will be some rather unhappy rich folk.

I already bumped him up in motherboard, and I've spoken to him in the past about the potential for free upgrades, but that it wasn't likely.

Oh, and for reference...

A64 3800 Venice
A8N-SLI Deluxe
2x 250gb Cuda's
4x 512mb Crucial DDR
X800Pro 256mb
Crappy keyboard
Crappy mouse
Crappy speakers
Dell 2001FP

 

[KarenMarie]

no refund. you quoted, he accepted and it is done.

i would tell him that i got a better deal than expected, and wanted to share the goodness so am upgrading something....


hopefully, the money you will make from the jobs you get from his high recommendation/word of mouth will make it worth your while to be generous.

 

[Sphexi]

Most retail stores don't fluctuate their prices daily to reflect their wholesale cost. Most pick a price for parts/services and stick with it, until such time as inflation or a sudden rise in prices forces them to change it.

If it's a considerable jump in profit, then throw in some cheap games/software if you have them laying around, or perhaps a better set of speakers, or switch from an X800Pro to the XL or something like that, won't cost much more and will make a difference in performance.

 

[dc]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Don't just give "free" upgrades. That's the same morally as pocketing the difference, because it's not what he asked for. Tell him about the price differences and give him the option of either money back or upgrades.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
Bah, I accidentally voted Ferengi before realizing that they're the equivalent of really really greedy people. I read 'freebies' as 'free money' (for you) lol.

I would go with the freebies. Be nice.

Ferengi != greedy

....far from it.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
no refund. you quoted, he accepted and it is done.

i would tell him that i got a better deal than expected, and wanted to share the goodness so am upgrading something....


hopefully, the money you will make from the jobs you get from his high recommendation/word of mouth will make it worth your while to be generous.

I'm definitely leaning towards exploiting him for all the advertising he's worth; this computer is going into a dorm PSU's main campus, and I definitely wouldn't mind getting a few calls when people's Dells start dying midyear.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Upgrade something, if he ordered a monitor that would be most noticeable.

 

[ironcrotch]

Freebies

 

[Insomniak]

Best poll options to date.