Shopping for a telly - Part 2

http://www.mediamarkt.es/

OK, both Neil and I like technology, we like gadgets, we like electronic gimics - we have found our Mecca as we walk through the door of Media Markt, it is like Christmas to us.

As we approach the TV's we can tell there are more tellys here than in the previous places combined. Not only do we have choice of make and size, but even same make, size - different styles.

So, we start off with the Sony's. So far we haven't seen any LCD above 40" in Sony so we decided which Sony we liked to compare it to the 42" LG's - after all, once we have the set at home are we really going to notice a 2" difference? We've had a few LG products before including previous flat screen TV's and the American Fridge/Freezer and we've always found them good. (And the American Fridge/Freezer is 2-3 times the price over here than the UK)

We noticed some tellys were much better pictures than others so we started reading all the small print on the product cards, and realised the difference was the resolution. OK, something else to think about. The prices we had previously been quoted were not for the higher resolution - and of course you pay more for higher resolution - but wow, they were obviously better.

So, as we get older and the eye sight gets worse - a big telly that's really clear should suit us best. OK, another re-think on the price. We decide we like the LG 42". The 50" are really too big - ah, what's this? LG do a 47" - unfortunately it wasn't switched on or connected up to check the picture. But it didn't really matter, the 42" was big enough, wasn't it?

Well, after wandering back and forth around the department, we agreed on the LG 42" high resolution set. We couldn't buy it today as we were on our way to the airport - but decision made, we could come back in a few days and that would be another job done.

So, 2 days later we were back on the road for Cartagena to buy agreed telly from Media
Markt - or so you would think.

When we arrived at the Centro Comercial straight ahead of us was CarreFour. Now, I've read a lot of mixed reviews about the place but know they sell TV's - so, 'maybe we should check it out before we buy, just to make sure we have the best deal' I said to Neil as he's about to park up. OK, we're not in a rush so we'll have a walk round and see what they have.

http://www.carrefour.es/index.html

And that's when a decision made became all fuzzy. They had a good selection of large screen TV's and they had the LG's we had seen before and they had another LG 42" high resolution which was a further €100 less than the one we had decided to buy already. Close inspection of the TV and the product card left us none the wiser as to why this one should be cheaper than the one in Media Markt. Oh, confusion reigns!

Nothing else for it, take loads of notes and go back to Media Markt and compare.

Why is life never easy. Rather than going back to the car and driving across the carpark, we decided to walk through the shopping centre, the nearest place I have found to Meadowhall - and I thought it would be good to know what was there in case any visitors needed a real shopping fix.

It's a really good shopping centre inside which is, yes you've guessed an electrical store which sells amongst other electrical stuff - large screen telly's.

We looked at each other - and yes, we decided we really needed to check it out.

So there we are, standing infront of a working 47" LG LCD cheaper than we've seen it anywhere before and cupid's arrow has hit both of us together. Suddenly, the 42" look small! As we both stood there gazing at the clarity of the screen a young assistant came over to us and said 'Is it Hola or Hello?'

Now, to cut a long story short, we never got back to Media Markt, we got the 47" from this shop cheaper then the 42" in CarreFour, which was cheaper than the one in Media Markt.

Bigger telly for less money - seems too good to be true. No, the one we were wanting, we could take away with us - the additional saving was because it was last years model, the new model has a red back and a posh lit up hole on the front which is the touch sensitive on/off switch (we agreed we could live with out a red back and gimmicky on/off switch) and we were getting an additional reduction as it was the display model on sale.

So, we told the assistant to box it up and we'd take it with us. He did ask if we had a big car, but we were happy it would go in the back - and it did.

So, we now have a beautiful telly all connected up and working and it's brilliant after spending the last 6 months watching a 22" screen. And the savings we had made - well, we spent that on a home cinema kit - big screen, big noise! And because we were buying both together we got 10% off the home cinema kit.

So, how did it compare to Comet's online price? Well, with the Euro as it is we paid about £100 more than if we'd bought it from Comet, but then there would be the delivery, the worry about it getting here OK and problems if it went wrong AND Neil is currently watching Arsenal & WestHam rather than still waiting for it to be delivered - we're both happy with our purchase.

And the moral to this story - do your research on the big stores where there are lots to compare and you can see all the pictures next to one another, after all without we wouldn't have realised about the different resolutions. Be prepared to travel to the bigger Centros Commercial and don't forget about the smaller independent shops who are giving good service and good prices in the current economic times, they have some good deals on and if it's on what you are looking to buy - and don't stick to english speaking shops, we found all the product cards were in english because it's how the manufacturers print them, so we had no problems checking what we wanted. We bought from Miró in The Centro Comercial Mediterráneo in Cartagena.

What you may also need to ask friends about is whether there is a local guy that installs TV's and satellite as that's where the problems may be if you aren't familiar with the technology. It took us a while of pressing buttons on all the remotes before the sound came out of the seperate speakers, by which time the volume was up around twice comfort level and all the street shared our new system and the pups went in to hiding.