The 5 Secrets You Should Know About Home Improvement

There are countless ways you can improve your home, but most people lose control of themselves and end up with a lot of unnecessary and expensive spending. A walk at a large home improvement store can have you confused about what flashy new appliance, tool, or gadget to get for your home. But even when you are certain that the item you are looking at will certainly make your home look better, there are some secrets you need to keep in mind as you make your purchase.   

1. Home Improvement Stores Don’t Always Offer Better Prices

You would think that a home improvement store is a place to be if you want the best prices on various home improvement products. But that is hardly ever the case. These stores have higher prices on certain items as they bring in most of their profits. The quality is not always better either. So, you can buy an appliance at Best Buy at a price that beats what the biggest local home improvement store can give you. The quality is not always better at these big specialist stores either, which is why you should not be so keen on buying home improvement items from them with the reasoning that you will save some money and get better quality as a result.   

2. You can Haggle a Bit

When buying some products from home improvement stores, you can haggle a bit and save yourself some money. Products that you can haggle over include large items like dishwashers, and dryers, where you can get several dollars off the marked price. So, when shopping for a water filter that can be mounted under the kitchen sink don’t let a couple of dollars put it out of your reach. You can try and negotiate and get version you want at a lower price. But don’t expect the store to be welcoming to your attempts to get a better deal, but if you make it clear that you will have to go to a competitor if they don’t offer a better price, you are more than likely to get a better price on the product you want. So, try to get a better price as you shop, saving 30 or so dollars can make a lot of difference.   

3. As far as Home Improvement Stores Go, Bigger Is Not Always Better

You might think that the big home improvement store that can offer you all the products you need is the way to go as it will most likely offer you a better price as well. However, market research has consistently proven that smaller stores are ranked better by customers for their services and products. And why is that? That is because smaller stores tend to offer better customer services, and this is very important when buying some home improvement appliances. In fact, projections indicate that small mom-and-pop stores might witness greater growth than their larger rivals due to the better services they offer. In any case, the products you find at large stores are of the very same quality; and the prices are also comparable, if not better, at smaller stores. So, people are right not to think that a larger store is better; and you should as well.   

4. Be Careful with Credit Card Use

Big home improvement stores offer credit card payments as an extra convenience to you as the buyer. But is it really? They even go the lengths of offering you sign up promotions, such as a 15 per cent discount on your first credit card payment. But should you take them up on their offer? It depends. For instance, if you fail to make timely payments on your cards, you will end up getting huge yearly interest charges and these can wipe off any cost benefits you made when you made a discounted purchase and even eat into your own funds. So, if you know you will have a problem making timely credit card payments, avoid using the credit cards to buy home improvement products altogether; you might be digging yourself into financial problems as a result.  

5. Returns are Harder than they Seem

Many home improvement stores will go to a lot of lengths to convince you that they offer the very best customer support services. However, while they might be very helpful and cooperative when you are making a purchase, don’t expect to get the same kind of friendliness when try to get that easy return they promised in case you qualify for a return under their terms and conditions. For one thing, make sure you always keep the receipt so that you can overcome some of the resistance you might otherwise encounter while trying to make a return. Many people have had their returns denied because they failed to show up with a receipt. Making returns very frequently might also get you into problems with the store’s staff; as there is such a thing as return fraud whereby people might steal items and return them for a price refund. Such actions can affect the profitability of these stores, which is why returns might not be as easy as you think. So, try to hold on to receipts, and don’t make unreasonably many returns, as it might seem like you are onto something fishy and have your refund requests denied.   

Home improvements are exciting, but as you shop for your next batch of home improvement items, keep the above secrets in mind. For instance, large home improvement stores are not all they are made out to be; you could get a better deal and equally good quality from a small hardware store or general online retail store. Also, know that you can get a better deal if you try, even though the stores claim to offer a fixed price on its products. Another thing to note is that credit card use is not as attractive as home improvement stores would like you to think. Finally, be careful about returns, as stores are cautious about being victims of return fraud. Otherwise, smaller stores have a reputation for offering better customer support services, and a lot of people are trying to realize this fact.

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