• Notice regarding image hosts and attachments. See here.

Sales Assistants

CliffyBiro

CliffyBiro

CliffyBiro

Caporegime
Joined
1 Mar 2008
Posts
26,303
Do those sales assistants who try to sell you everything the shop has in stock as an essential item for your new purchase **** you off as much as they do me?

My Mum and sister went to a well known electronics shop today to buy my sister a new laptop. They knew which one they wanted so asked one of the assistants to fetch it for them. During this time, I was in Halfords and then noticed they were standing outside waiting for me. The guy had told them that they needed Office 2007 and Norton AntiVirus and maybe even Windows Vista Premium and had pushed for the sale and wouldn't take no for an answer so they said they would ask me first as I blag knowledge on the subject. :D

So I go back with them and he approaches us and asks what we would like to do. I say we'll just need the laptop to which he asks if I want the extra software added too. I politely point out that for one thing, Vista is already installed on the laptop and that I already have Windows on disc at home as well as ample antivirus and office software. He then asks, pretty rudely where I acquired the Windows disc, seemingly suggesting that I downloaded it illegally so I say, "I downloaded it from a site" To which he responds, "You do know that's illegal?" and I delight in replying "O rly? Microsoft can't be too happy about finding that out then. Offering Windows 7 for free and all. I could always install Linux I guess" to which he looked bemused. :D

So again I said we'll just be taking the laptop and got out before they offered a Dyson vacuum with free rinding.

These people get on my breasticles.
 
Congrats, you out-geeked a sales assistant.

They are paid to maximise profit for the company by upselling products. Thats the point in being a salesman.
 
[TW]Fox;14644482 said:
Congrats, you out-geeked a sales assistant.

They are paid to maximise profit for the company by upselling products. Thats the point in being a salesman.
Click to expand...

Still lying to be fair. It was my sister's (15) own money that was buying the laptop and to then say a good £250 worth of software is needed on top of that is despicable.
 
Why waste time with them? Just say "Look, all I want is the laptop, no extras, that's it."

However tempting it may be to try and outsmart them and argue with them, you just make both them and you look like a right tit, waste of time.
 
skippi90 said:
Still lying to be fair. It was my sister's (15) own money that was buying the laptop and to then say a good £250 worth of software is needed on top of that is despicable.
Click to expand...

Well I'd say for a PC owner, some form of virus protection is essential, and at 15, as a student MS Office is a given.

The trying to sell Windows as an extra aside, I would say that if you didn't have either of the above already, you would probably need them, and no doubt they do sell a lot, so that is why they no doubt offer them when you buy a machine.
 
Nexus said:
Well I'd say for a PC owner, some form of virus protection is essential, and at 15, as a student MS Office is a given.

The trying to sell Windows as an extra aside, I would say that if you didn't have either of the above already, you would probably need them, and no doubt they do sell a lot, so that is why they no doubt offer them when you buy a machine.
Click to expand...

He had said that they would need that specific software.

What's wrong with OpenOffice and Avast?
 
I hate them with a passion. Often quoting or mis quoting jibberish
Yes they are paid to upsell but they also profit personally in a lot of cases.

I had a great one with a dishwasher. Wasnt cheap, about £400. Salesman, "you probaly want to extend this cover to covr yourself for 5 years"
Me "nah I will take the risk"
Salesman "well it could break in 13 months"
Me "are you saying its that bad it will break in 13 months, hmm maybe I should leave it"
Salesman " no of course not"
me " well why say it then"
salesman "erm.............. what if I knock £20 off the price so you get the insurance cheaper"
me "im not sure I want one that will break in 13 months, even covered its hastle to get repaired"
salesman "no it will be fine, its very unlikely to break in 13 months"
me "so your trying to sell me cover I dont need?"
salesman "no not at all sir, its really just for piece of mind"
me (starting to walk away) "dont think i trust this store" (spoken rather loudly)
salesman "dont worry sir it will be fine, do you want it without cover"
me (spoken very loudly in busy shop) "only if you deliver it for free after wasting my time trying to sell me cover for something I dont need"
salesman (looking a little pale now) "yes sir please come this way"

I wont go into the one who tried to sell me £200 worth of HDMI cables and surge protectors etc for a £500 telly
 
I used to work for the store in the OP. We got comission if we sold Norton and Office together. If i recall correctly, it was £2.50 or something like that but it all adds if if you do it a couple of times a day.

I was just doing my job. /shrug.
 
I'm glad I'm not a sales assistant, I'd lose my temper if I had to deal with people like robskinner on a daily basis. They're sales people, trying to sell you stuff is their job.
 
robskinner said:
I hate them with a passion. Often quoting or mis quoting jibberish
Yes they are paid to upsell but they also profit personally in a lot of cases.

I had a great one with a dishwasher. Wasnt cheap, about £400. Salesman, "you probaly want to extend this cover to covr yourself for 5 years"
Me "nah I will take the risk"
Salesman "well it could break in 13 months"
Me "are you saying its that bad it will break in 13 months, hmm maybe I should leave it"
Salesman " no of course not"
me " well why say it then"
salesman "erm.............. what if I knock £20 off the price so you get the insurance cheaper"
me "im not sure I want one that will break in 13 months, even covered its hastle to get repaired"
salesman "no it will be fine, its very unlikely to break in 13 months"
me "so your trying to sell me cover I dont need?"
salesman "no not at all sir, its really just for piece of mind"
me (starting to walk away) "dont think i trust this store" (spoken rather loudly)
salesman "dont worry sir it will be fine, do you want it without cover"
me (spoken very loudly in busy shop) "only if you deliver it for free after wasting my time trying to sell me cover for something I dont need"
salesman (looking a little pale now) "yes sir please come this way"

I wont go into the one who tried to sell me £200 worth of HDMI cables and surge protectors etc for a £500 telly
Click to expand...

I bet you looked like a right pleb in the store acting like that.
 
I was told I needed an £80 HDMI cable to connect my PS3 to my new Plasma TV.

Apparently the £10 ones from another shop don't work as well :/
 
reason sales assistant didn't mention OO or avast is simply becasue the shop doesn't sell it, so no profit that's why norton + office are pushed so much.
If it's the company i work for then are targets on software and the sales assistant would have got grief from their manager, for not selling it.
It's ok to **** them off on here but at the end of the day their doing there job, and getting pressured from management above if not selling said software.
 
I take it this was the computer shop with the purple shirts? I don't imagine they get too many tech savvy folk in there, so they can just blag their way into selling more expensive stuff than the customer needs. They're not going to worry about looking silly on those few occasions someone knows more about the product than them.
 
I thought the job description for a sales assistant would be to help customers with there purchase, offering honest advice?

I say this because I was a sales assistant in a sports shop and I was told to do just this.

I also never approached customers unless I thought they needed help or asked me directly. How it should be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom