Well Sears has decided who to market with the demise of Voom. I was in there this weekend and they're shoving E* down your throat as the HD provider. They got that lovely demo loop running that comes off of Rainbow 1 and bears no resemblence to their actual HD quality.
Sears made it's choice
- Thread starter SKrueger
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StevenD said:
Okay. I knew their HD promo loop came off a different sat than their service and that it was at 61.5.
There are a half-dozen Sears stores around here and 3-4 of the ones I looked at did NOT have a working VOOM setup to show at all !! They did have a working Dish Network demo (duplicated to multiple TVs).
I specifically recall asking a salesperson if I could see VOOM and was told they aren't hooked up... I said "makes it hard to sell it, doesn't it ??".
I specifically recall asking a salesperson if I could see VOOM and was told they aren't hooked up... I said "makes it hard to sell it, doesn't it ??".
The Sears I ordered Voom from (Westminster, CA) had a working Voom setup at the time, but they were only feeding one TV, although it was their biggest one. They weren't particularly knowledgable, but they did know how to sell it & set up the installation appointment.
Sears was reason #1 why VOOM went BOOM
#2-installs inc
3-CSR's
4-no marketing of any type except av mags
#2-installs inc
3-CSR's
4-no marketing of any type except av mags
RocketRay said:
The Sears in Orange mall on Tustin Avenue had their largest widescreen running voom; but they were much more interested in selling it than the service. So what will you do next week Rocket Ray?
mike in Santa Ana
Are you saying this in a negative or a positive way? Do you mean the Demo loop looks spectacular and the rest of Dish HD looks like crap or vice versa?SKrueger said:
I haven't looked at the Demo loop in several months, but the last time I did, it looked pretty darned good. The channels in the HD Pack look just as good, so please explain what you mean. Thanks.
I work for Sears Electronics and have posted before. The problem with Voom at Sears is that we had no support from any one from Voom. The only person who knew about Voom at my store was me. I got Voom because I bought a 61 inch Samsung DLP. I knew of Voom, but with very little training, what's a sales person to do? At least with Dish, you get support through a rep who comes by the store (What a concept). The problem with Dish is that we get only two hd channels, the DEMO Channel and the Sears PRN (a channel which displays Sears info in HD), which is similar to a channel that every electronics retailer gets. The HD receiver is older than dirt! It is so old in fact, that when we had a training last friday, our rep could not get the new interactive channel to work. I LMAO.
In Sears defense, the company decided to give support to dish because dish supported Sears. Personally, I would love to see voom stay, but I can't blame Sears for the decision.
Also, Dish no longer requires a commitment. Not with Dish Home Plan.
In Sears defense, the company decided to give support to dish because dish supported Sears. Personally, I would love to see voom stay, but I can't blame Sears for the decision.
Also, Dish no longer requires a commitment. Not with Dish Home Plan.
Another of Voom's problems........
Voom apparently didn't have a really good marketing strategy. Most people out there in the continental U.S. have only heard of Direc and Dish. I work at a local retailer in my town (the infamous Wal-mart) and everytime I mentioned satellite providers for HDTV content, Voom was a provider I would mention. Everytime I mentioned it, I got these :shocked kind of reactions. Another thing is that Voom instead of making midnight informercials for networks, they could have put their effort into making numerous 30 second commercials in primetime to show off the glory of Voom and its exclusive channels, while also throwing in the fact that they are the biggest provider of HD channels over Cable, Direc, and Dish. I think this would have gained more momentum and support along with the fact of offering a lease program earlier in the game instead of waiting it out and wanting people to pay lots of cash for one receiver. As all people have mentioned too in these forums, it wouldn't have hurt for them to offer the same amount of SD as the two other DBS carriers. It's always easy looking back in hindsight and saying "what if", but overall Voom was a good satellite venture in making the first big step into providing multiple High-definition channels out there.
Voom apparently didn't have a really good marketing strategy. Most people out there in the continental U.S. have only heard of Direc and Dish. I work at a local retailer in my town (the infamous Wal-mart) and everytime I mentioned satellite providers for HDTV content, Voom was a provider I would mention. Everytime I mentioned it, I got these :shocked kind of reactions. Another thing is that Voom instead of making midnight informercials for networks, they could have put their effort into making numerous 30 second commercials in primetime to show off the glory of Voom and its exclusive channels, while also throwing in the fact that they are the biggest provider of HD channels over Cable, Direc, and Dish. I think this would have gained more momentum and support along with the fact of offering a lease program earlier in the game instead of waiting it out and wanting people to pay lots of cash for one receiver. As all people have mentioned too in these forums, it wouldn't have hurt for them to offer the same amount of SD as the two other DBS carriers. It's always easy looking back in hindsight and saying "what if", but overall Voom was a good satellite venture in making the first big step into providing multiple High-definition channels out there.
tujumaster said:
This was the experience at my store as well. We actually had a pseudo-rep for Voom but she was just a part-time merchandiser with little knowledge of the technology. I was the only associate who ever sold Voom systems, primarily because I was an early adopter. For the original poster who blamed Sears primarily for Voom's demise, I can only say its troubles ran much deeper than Sears alone.
Dish does have much better marketing and product support. There seems to be an even greater push to exibit Dish systems in the stores recently. I do wonder if the presence of Voom stirred Dish to better their incentives to the sales people. They recently added a spiff (set bonus for salespeople) similar to the one Voom offered before it was yanked.
The whole thing was a sad farce toward the end. When Voom's first death was announced we were told to pull all displays from the floor; not long after we put it back out, only to yank it again in a week. I could not in good conscience sell an activation to somone under those circumstances, especially since I've followed this forum from early on and saw the downward spiral.
I loved my Voom system when I had it, but Voom was a great idea born into a market where many people still refuse to give up their 25-inch RCA ColorTrak circa 1989 because "it still works." I just don't think there are enough of us geeks to keep an operation like that afloat. When the average stretch-pants wearing WalMart mom can buy their HDTV for 99 bucks then the market can support it.
