I decided to watch a movie and make a nice dinner for myself this weekend. Of course that required that I go out and buy a grill (or a barbecue as they're called here) , a home entertainment system, and a movie. The trick was to figure out how to get all the big items home since I don't own a car. In both instances the sales rep offered to bring the items home for me as I would get them quicker and it would be cheaper than if I used the delivery service the store offered. Very entrepreneurial of the sales staff to offer to deliver the items - they get cash, under the table and I get my products quickly.
I guess the offer of delivery makes up for the fact that they know absolutely nothing about the products they're selling. When buying the grill I was interested in the specs such as are the grills cast iron, how many btu's, pretty standard stuff. The first guy I talked to had absolutely no idea. He had to go and get the catalog which had a table comparing all the grills on offer. I was shocked that they couldn't answer what seemed like a simple question. What I found a little offensive was when I asked about the btu's they started explaining to me how to cook using a grill!
I had a similar experience when buying the home entertainment system. There were 3 sales guys standing around about 10 feet away from me while I looked at the 2 systems the store had to offer. I was leaning towards the Samsung but wanted to find out if had progressive scan and the option for wireless rear speakers. I had to go up to the sales reps and wait for them to finish their conversation (not work related) and asked for assistance. After I asked my first question the rep said he didn't know and would have to go check the manual. He ran off before I had a chance to say I had more questions. 5 minutes later he came back with the answer and I then asked my 2nd question. Didn't know the answer to that either 0- surprise, surprise. This time he came back with the manual in case I had more questions.
The next question I had was regarding the cables that were included for hooking up and whether it had the proper cables. I unfortunately did not look at the manual so I thought it used s-video the sales clerk said it didn't come with cables for hooking up. I bought the s-video cables and it turns out the Samsung dvd player does not have hook-ups for s-video. Of course I can't return the cables as I opened them prior to reading the directions and they were sealed in one of those vacuum packed plastic wrappings which get destroyed when you open them.
I guess it's normal here that the store sales clerks no nothing about the products they're selling and need to look at the product documentation for what is seemingly basic product questions. At least I got my merchandise delivered right to my front door I guess that counts for something.
1 comment:
The joys of shopping at stores where the help is not interested and does not know anything about the product. I had the same problem getting cross country skis once - and I used my usual nice manner to tell the help they were useless and I also todl the manager. The only time they moved toward me was when I was walking with the skie (commission) - I handed the sales person the skis and said that next time I came in to buy skis they might want to show some interest in me.
Hope you cookout and movie was enjoyable. I do hate the vacuum packed cables that can not be returned in a timely manner.
Have a nice week - mine will be hectic since the other sales person is in Ohio at a funeral. So much for a nice schedule.
dad
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