" Could I just ask ."...
- Thread starter JohnnyO
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- Thread Starter
- #18
Another case of corporate execs and "chateau generalship" as few if any have ever worked a sales floor. Just stare at them and start picking your nose as then the clerks will give you the "bum's rush".
If I did that it would be just like looking in a mirror for many of them.
JohnnyO. o/
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- Norfolk, England
Fortunately, our village Post Office has yet to do this, to my knowledge, and our nearest Waitrose doesn't seem to have this policy either. In general, it is very annoying, though, and, as was said, seems to have sprung from a culture that thinks that every transaction, however ordinary, is an opportunity for high-pressure selling.
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- Bangor, Co. Down
And then they wonder why so many of us buy online. Maybe if you just had a short and polite conversation with us instead of trying to sell us crap we don't want or need we'd visit your store more often.
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- Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
"If I wanted whatever it is you're pushing, I'd already have it ..." and carry on about your day.
Businesses are really squeezed today and they don't really know what to do in order to keep customers, so this sugar-coated customer experience we're being offered now ("Did you find everything you wanted?" and/or tying to engage in the same conversations you have with your Barber) is a desperate measure.
What I want is competent, knowledgeable staff that you can attract when you want them ...
Curry's has been mentioned. I popped in the other day to have a nose at a potential handset to be landed on by two sales assistants telling me all about it (I know all about it, I've read all about it) and proceed to read the details off the card to me.
Over at the Chromebook stand, there's a fellow with a Google t-shirt on. "Here goes ...", I thought. "Hi! I'm just over here if you've any questions", he says. Wow! He gave me two or three minutes to browse, fiddle with the machines before approaching and demonstrating a couple of things that he liked about this model or that model. We had a good chat and at no point did I feel pressured to buy, but he had pointed out all the differences, why this model might be better than that one or why that one might not suit. I did actually have questions (largely around exactly which models supported Google Play and see it in action) and he had the answers, showed me what I wanted to see and left me with it. He even agreed that when you're up to £799 you could start to look at Apple instead and we had a giggle at the £999 Google Chromebook, but I had to concede that it was a lovely design and could easily be the future.
That was a good experience.
I think the future of retail has to be the Apple model. The store is likely not the place you'll buy, but could if you wanted, more a place to see, fiddle with and try to break their products.
Rub their face in the Sale of Goods Act.
Businesses are really squeezed today and they don't really know what to do in order to keep customers, so this sugar-coated customer experience we're being offered now ("Did you find everything you wanted?" and/or tying to engage in the same conversations you have with your Barber) is a desperate measure.
What I want is competent, knowledgeable staff that you can attract when you want them ...
Curry's has been mentioned. I popped in the other day to have a nose at a potential handset to be landed on by two sales assistants telling me all about it (I know all about it, I've read all about it) and proceed to read the details off the card to me.
Over at the Chromebook stand, there's a fellow with a Google t-shirt on. "Here goes ...", I thought. "Hi! I'm just over here if you've any questions", he says. Wow! He gave me two or three minutes to browse, fiddle with the machines before approaching and demonstrating a couple of things that he liked about this model or that model. We had a good chat and at no point did I feel pressured to buy, but he had pointed out all the differences, why this model might be better than that one or why that one might not suit. I did actually have questions (largely around exactly which models supported Google Play and see it in action) and he had the answers, showed me what I wanted to see and left me with it. He even agreed that when you're up to £799 you could start to look at Apple instead and we had a giggle at the £999 Google Chromebook, but I had to concede that it was a lovely design and could easily be the future.
That was a good experience.
I think the future of retail has to be the Apple model. The store is likely not the place you'll buy, but could if you wanted, more a place to see, fiddle with and try to break their products.
Rub their face in the Sale of Goods Act.
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- 1,100
It doesn't really bother me as I usually know exactly what I want and I ignore unwanted merchandising attempts.
I have always wanted, when being accosted when leaving Sainsburys to buy a shower, to hug her and say "Thanks love, I'd forgotten the shower, 'Er Indoors would have killed me if I'd gone home without one".
Aldi's model is the one that they should all copy,...it's the only supermarket where you can go in for a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread and come out with a petrol chainsaw and a TIG welder.
I have always wanted, when being accosted when leaving Sainsburys to buy a shower, to hug her and say "Thanks love, I'd forgotten the shower, 'Er Indoors would have killed me if I'd gone home without one".
Aldi's model is the one that they should all copy,...it's the only supermarket where you can go in for a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread and come out with a petrol chainsaw and a TIG welder.
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- Netherlands
It's a trend coming from the USA, I believe. I hate it, but fortunately most shops here realise that it doesn't work.
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- Essex
Haha so true. The other half doesn't let me shop in Aldi alone anymore. I think the final straw was when I went under strict orders to get pasta and tomatoes and came out with a set of pliars and a pair of wellies.
The harassment is much better than it was 10 years ago but I mostly shop online for the greater variety. There's some specific things I'll go in store for. For example there's a TV/hifi retailer which I always visit in person because the service is so good. No upselling or warranty pressure. When the store manager offers to drop an ordered item off at your house on his way home from work, you know you're on to a winner.
I'm happy to name drop Dreams also. Excellent service and zero pressure, despite being given a thorough education on mattress types. Often all you need is space and time to process what's going on. Obviously there are time wasters who just want to get in out of the rain but thankfully most retailers have stopped painting all customers with the same brush. People are a lot more savvy these days so I think the cheesy cliches have a far lower success rate, especially since the Consumer Rights Act.