Getting ignored in a retail facility while trying to spend money is right at the top of the list.

High end kitchen/bathroom specialty plumbing place. Nobody at either counter, folks behind the windows in the office area looking at me like I'd just dropped in from Mars.

Waited about 5 minutes and got absolutely zero response.

I guess they'd made their profit for the day and didn't need my 2 or 3 hundred dollars.

And they wonder why online shopping is so popular.

Not just old people. I walked into a Porsche dealership when I was about 40 years old, wanting to buy a 944 (they were new, then), but nobody could break away from their supremely important sales meeting (Gee, guys how we gonna sell more of these things?) to talk to me.

I bought something else, somewhere else.

It chaps my ass when I'm in a store, money in hand, ready to transact business, and they answer a ringing phone instead of taking care of me. What an idiotic business model.

call the head office and talk to the owner, let him know

The flip side of that is walking into a store and having a dozen people ask you if they can help you find anything before you get thirty feet inside.

Was recently in A Yoop Ford dealership.
Just me.
No other customers visible.
Sales people walking all around me.
No interest in me at all.
Now I have no interest in them.

quote:

posted August 28, 2017 01:58 PM Hide Post
The flip side of that is walking into a store and having a dozen people ask you if they can help you find anything before you get thirty feet inside.

You just look suspicious. You know might steal something. It is annoying I agree.

In 97 I walked into a Dodge dealership with 27k in my pocket wanting to buy a van. I was dressed poorly, could NOT get service. In 2009 I had the exact same experience at the local Nissan dealer trying to buy a truck. I ended up driving 40 miles to buy a truck two counties over. WTF? Online for me from now on for as much as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
The flip side of that is walking into a store and having a dozen people ask you if they can help you find anything before you get thirty feet inside.

The Gap comes to mind.

I've had people ask if they could help me as soon as I stepped through the door. Sheesh, give a guy a chance to look around the lobby first!

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
In 97 I walked into a Dodge dealership with 27k in my pocket wanting to buy a van. I was dressed poorly, could NOT get service. In 2009 I had the exact same experience at the local Nissan dealer trying to buy a truck. I ended up driving 40 miles to buy a truck two counties over. WTF? Online for me from now on for as much as possible.

I had a similar experience in 1974. I'd received an insurance payout and had cash in my pocket to go buy a truck. I wanted a 1/2 ton, small V-8, standard, vinyl seats and rubber floormats. A work truck IOW.

Ford dealer started telling me all about the F250 XLT Lariat Camper Special Eddie Bauer King Ranch Platinum Edition.

I walked out and went to the Chevy dealer. Same deal: You don't want that, what you REALLY want is blah, blah, blah...

Walked out in the middle of his speech, headed for the Dodge dealer.

Started to get the same spiel. Stopped him mid-sentence, hauled a wad of cabbage out of my pocket and pointed at a D100, 318, 3-on-the-tree, dog dish hubcaps.

"I want that truck. Do you want to sell it to me or not?"

He did. Then I proceeded to the nearest speed shop, bought wheels, tires, headers, mufflers and a tonneau cover...

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
It chaps my ass when I'm in a store, money in hand, ready to transact business, and they answer a ringing phone instead of taking care of me. What an idiotic business model.

I have zero patience for such fools, or companies that hire them.

Some years ago we were renovating a house and I had gone to a supply store to buy material, supplies, etc.

Had a couple carts loaded up, standing nest in in line to check out. Estimated value of what I was trying to buy was about $1800.

Cashier was slower than the 7 year itch, person he was supposed to be checking out had about 30 bucks worth of stuff. After spending 10 minutes watching the asshole clerk stumble around, I asked to see the manager who promptly showed up.

I showed him my cart and informed him that I would be going down the road to his competitor.

I left, followed by several other guys who were buying for their companies.

Not the only time such has happened.

I spent a career working in IBM and still have that "IBM means Service" mentality.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
In 97 I walked into a Dodge dealership with 27k in my pocket wanting to buy a van. I was dressed poorly, could NOT get service. In 2009 I had the exact same experience at the local Nissan dealer trying to buy a truck. I ended up driving 40 miles to buy a truck two counties over. WTF? Online for me from now on for as much as possible.

I had a similar experience in 1974. I'd received an insurance payout and had cash in my pocket to go buy a truck. I wanted a 1/2 ton, small V-8, standard, vinyl seats and rubber floormats. A work truck IOW.

Ford dealer started telling me all about the F250 XLT Lariat Camper Special Eddie Bauer King Ranch Platinum Edition.

I walked out and went to the Chevy dealer. Same deal: You don't want that, what you REALLY want is blah, blah, blah...

Walked out in the middle of his speech, headed for the Dodge dealer.

Started to get the same spiel. Stopped him mid-sentence, hauled a wad of cabbage out of my pocket and pointed at a D100, 318, 3-on-the-tree, dog dish hubcaps.

"I want that truck. Do you want to sell it to me or not?"

He did. Then I proceeded to the nearest speed shop, bought wheels, tires, headers, mufflers and a tonneau cover...

When we bought my wife's Buick (2000) we had reached a strategy. If the dealer rep was male, wife did the talking. If a female, I did the "negotiating". Before we even got to the dealership we had decided how much we were willing to pay, knew exactly what we wanted. etc.

Brand of car was not all that important.

We got up and walked out of 2 dealers when they refused to stop the high pressure sales tactics.

We got to the Buick dealer, I told the sales rep what we wanted and how much we were willing to pay. YES OR NO!!! No repeated trips to the sales manager, etc etc.

The guy said he would have to take our offer to the sales manager. OK. He came back with a counter offer. We stood up and started out. He wanted to know what was wrong and I reminded him of the "rule" about no dickering. Yes or no.

He asked us to wait a minute, went back to the manager, came back with approval and we bought the car. Still have it, immaculate, garage kept and has less than 70K miles on it. Wife would not trade it for a Mercedes. But then she does not like Mercedes anyway.

We bought a Chrysler Pacific in December. Yes, end of the month, close to holiday.

We looked at Honda and Toyota but like the "stow-n-go" option.

However, I went through four dealers before I bought. Three of them were worthless. Salesmen that didn't know their product, or wanted us to buy the car, then they'd bring the car in, then we could drive it. Had one that tried to store a child seat. I pointed out where the seat went but no, it had to go into the floor.

Finally drove to little Enumclaw in the foothills of Mt Rainier. Good old boys wearing gimme hats. Really am going to keep them in minds

Ya wanna know what really chafes me good? It's when some crotchety old codger from... oh, say Downeast Maine, for example... when said codger invents a really neato invention to chop weeds and trees and such down, and then karmas it off, say... say to me, for example... and then I still don't have it, and it's been like 24 hours at least since I said it was just fine, totally fine really, to mail it to me. And don't blame it on the postal service, that excuse is getting SOOOO old. That's what really frosts me.

That is all.

I usually ask for help if I need it in a store. I prefer it that way rather than being inundated with people asking if they can help me when I don't need any help.

I figure I'd give the sales people a break since they can't win no matter what they do. Cranky old men are gonna bitch no matter what.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
I usually ask for help if I need it in a store. I prefer it that way rather than being inundated with people asking if they can help me when I don't need any help.

I figure I'd give the sales people a break since they can't win no matter what they do. Cranky old men are gonna bitch no matter what.

Hard to ask for help when there's nobody there. Sorta my point, ya know?

quote:

Originally posted by slabsides45:
Ya wanna know what really chafes me good? It's when some crotchety old codger from... oh, say Downeast Maine, for example... when said codger invents a really neato invention to chop weeds and trees and such down, and then karmas it off, say... say to me, for example... and then I still don't have it, and it's been like 24 hours at least since I said it was just fine, totally fine really, to mail it to me. And don't blame it on the postal service, that excuse is getting SOOOO old. That's what really frosts me.

That is all.

Hey, don't get pissy with ME, Mister!

Local post office is waiting on a delivery of stamps. You got ANY idea how many stamps it takes to mail something like that? Well, DO ya?

Sheesh.

You said there were people in the office area looking at you through the window. They didn't respond when you waved at them? If they didn't, I would have walked over and knocked on the window until they came out. I'm kind of a dick though.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
You said there were people in the office area looking at you through the window. They didn't respond when you waved at them? If they didn't, I would have walked over and knocked on the window until they came out. I'm kind of a dick though.

Well, yes, I guess I could have done that. Just cheeses me off to have to beg someone to take my money tho.

And I hear ya on the dick thing. It's been mentioned in the same sentence with my name on occasion...

In every dealership I have ever been in, I have been accosted within seconds. The only exception was a Ferrari dealership in Pennsylvania. I would have had a better chance of seeing another human being, if I had just landed on the moon. I guess I didn't look like the Ferrari type.