Office Depot encouraging employees to lie?

[CaroPhoenix]

Office Depot Employees encouraged to lie?

Employees are charging that managers are forcing to sales people to lie to customers about products being out of stock or whatever else.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Well, if it is true that Office Depot is as anal about their attachment rates as the article says they are, then I guess that sort of thing is inevitable.

[draggar]

I'll just say this from working in similar stores:

This is nothing new nor is it limited to Office Depot.

The best thing to do is act like you want it and then when it is time to ring it all up, decide against the protection plan.

[lordlundar]

I'll just say this from working in similar stores:

This is nothing new nor is it limited to Office Depot.

This. The only differences are how covert or overt the wording and approach is.

When I was in customer service, more than once (I actually lost count of how many) the sales staff got caught lying in what the extended warranties cover and never got reprimanded when I had to tell the customer the truth.

[PepperElf]

simple solution.

Lie to them and indicate you're thinking of buying the attachments. When you get the computer in hand say "i've change my mind. I just want the computer."

All they can do at that point is refuse the sale.
Though I suspect that's illegal.

[draggar]

I don't think it is illegal but you could (and very easily) cause one hell of a stink with them, the store, and the chain.

[Mike Taylor]

There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. If this is true, then Office Depot is encouraging its employees to attach things the WRONG way. They're improving their odds of losing the sale by doing that.

[PepperElf]

it could be false advertising.
i know we hate hearing that complaint but... if it's advertised and not printed that the item can only be purchased with the warranty deals... then i think they can have a big issue on their hands.

[Miyon]

Usually when I go shopping for computer related items, its because somethig of mine broke and I want a replacement now.
If I were told the item was out of stock that would be fine, I would just go to Best Buy or another store.
Im kind of glad I do that now knowing that some stores might practice this method.
Though me and my ex-husband got a free cruise for our honeymoon because the store he worked at had a monthly drawling and your name went in the bowl for each service agreement you sold. The thing was for my ex, he was a very good salesman, had great people skills and would have never lied to sell one.
Though this was 10 yrs ago.

Its sad really that people have to resort to these things due to company expectations.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Usually when I go shopping for computer related items, its because somethig of mine broke and I want a replacement now.
If I were told the item was out of stock that would be fine, I would just go to Best Buy or another store.
Im kind of glad I do that now knowing that some stores might practice this method.
Though me and my ex-husband got a free cruise for our honeymoon because the store he worked at had a monthly drawling and your name went in the bowl for each service agreement you sold. The thing was for my ex, he was a very good salesman, had great people skills and would have never lied to sell one.
Thought this was 10 yrs ago.

Its sad really that people have to resort to these things due to company expectations.

There's an important message in here: Good salespeople don't NEED to lie to sell well.

[JLRodgers]

There's an important message in here: Good salespeople don't NEED to lie to sell well.

Tell that to some companies that wouldn't hire me as a salesman because I refused to lie to them (to "steal their money" as I saw it)

I've always looked at sales in a very simple way: tell the truth. Even if you don't sell something to one person, they'll most likely remember that you didn't try to screw them, and you'll get more customers because of that. Always did confuse managers how I managed to sell big screen televisions worth $2500+ at 8am in the morning to someone who came in to pickup paper or something completely unrelated (granted they were thinking of it anyway -- it's not like someone came in for headache meds and walked out with a big-screen TV too)

[smileyeagle1021]

that is one thing I hated about the call center... they told us point blank that the caller must never know we are at a call center in Salt Lake, they must think we are at the hotel... and you know what... most callers that did find out didn't give a crap... thay were just happy to speak to someone who knew what they were talking about... which nothing against the Philipene call center agents, but they probably know as much about hotels in the United States as I know about hotels in the Philipenes... and while I'd never been to any of the cities I was selling, I'm pretty sure I can make more accurate guesses about them than someone in Manilla... just like they could probably make guesses about cities in their country a lot better than I could.