Me.. an SC... well almost!

[VenomX]

I went out yesterday morning around 10am to Officemax.
I think they open at 7am, when I got there I walk in and theres only the two ladies, one at the registers and one walking around the store. I don't see another employee. I know what I want and where they are.

I get over to the laptops and don't see any of the ones they have in their ad. So I wait around and look at other stuff figuring that someone would come up to me and see if I needed help like usual.

Nope 5 minutes and noone. So I go to the lady walking around and fixing up shelves. As I get near she asks if I need help. I tell her what I am after and she asks if I had looked to see if there was any on the shelf. I tell her I looked and there was none. She uses her radio and asks them if they have anymore.

They tell her to go check on her register. We walk back up front and she looks and sees they have 4. She tells them I want one and someone has to get it from lockup.

While we wait she walks me over to the laptop area and thats where I almost became sucky. She tries to talk me into buying the protection plan. I politely tell her I don't want it, and she asks well what if the screen breaks or something else goes wrong with it?

I again tell her no. Then she asks if I want to buy any software. I tell her no again. She then asks if I am sure I don't want office or something else. Again I say no.

The guy finally brings it out to us. She tells him I don't want anything else and he starts in on the protection plan. I say no. He then asks about software, again NO! As we are are walking away he says "you know it has nothing on it". I turn around and say, Yeah I know, sorry...

He says no don't be sorry, just so you know theres nothing on it.

Well yes there is something on it. It has windows and thats all I need right now.

Even worse after all that when we got up to the register and shes checking me out, she asks again about the damn protection plan!!!!

I only had the money for the laptop. I wasn't expecting to even buy it yet. I have been saving up for one and seen one that appealed to me in their ad and I had just enough for it. I have bought the protection plans before when I had the money. I have also declined it before but they have NEVER pushed me like that before. I usually say no and thats it.

When he started asking me about it after she had just told him I didn't want anything but the laptop I almost told them to forget it and walked out.

Edited to add: Just went to do their survey... I couldnt tell my experience because its limited to 200 characters... LMAO...

[wraiths_crono]

Best buy did that to me, when I bought a HDD (hard drive) from them, kept trying to upsell me, even after I said no. 3 people! gah! I know they are supposed to ask, but over kill...

[wanderingjoe72]

Restrictive store policies take away the ability for people to make judgement calls. It really sucks. Most employees are fine with a no and a smile. Since a lot of the big bosses only think of the money to be made in upselling, they forget about the annoyance factor. They send spies from the head office to test it and the poor employees get written up and/or fired for not asking the mystery shopper all the upsell questions the big boss thought would be a good idea.
Just another effort to turn staff into robots.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I bought my laptop from Dell, and while some people think Dell products are nothing but steaming hunks of crap, I never had a problem with my Dell desktop and haven't had a problem with the laptop either.

Plus I don't have to run the gauntlet of salespeople trying to sell me accessories, software, protection plans, etc. I just click "no" once and that's it.

And then the big bosses wonder why foot traffic in their stores is down. Maybe it's because people want to get their shit and get out, and they can't do that anymore.

[RedRoseSpiral]

Another thing with computers both desktop and laptop is that all electronic stores are selling them at a loss because of competition. That's the reason protection plans and software are pushed. During orientation at the big red box electronic store we were told this and that is the reason they try to upsell so much stuff when customers are buying computers. It sucks but that's how it goes.

[Miyon]

"Devil's Advocate for a minute"

Years ago my ex-hubby worked at Comp-USA. They had a incentive thingy for the sales people for selling 'Protection Plans'. The more you sold the more tickets you would get for a drawing.
My ex was a great salesman and sold a lot of plans. 3 months before our wedding he won the grand prize and we got a free 1 week cruise for our honeymoon!!!

"Back to normal mode"
I never buy those Plans and yes it does irate me when they ask a million times.

[Mordecai]

Ok, I don't mean to seem unsympathetic, but I don't really see any suck on their part. Did the second and third employee know that you had already declined the first time? If so, then yeah, that does sound pretty sucky.

[Broomjockey]

Did the second and third employee know that you had already declined the first time? If so, then yeah, that does sound pretty sucky.

He said the first employee told the second one he said no. And it was the same employee the first and third times.

[corporateslave]

Gah! I hate those things.
The checkout girl at BestBuy tried to upsell me a Product Replacement Plan when I bought my Sony PSP. I know they require employees to try to sell those and the service plans, but it's annoying that they have to keep asking. Most of them are crap anyway.

[Kogarashi]

This is why I just try to take it in stride and keep saying "no," no matter how many times they ask the upsell question. I've been on the employee end before, when Wal-Mart was pushing for us cashiers to ask every single customer if they wanted to apply for a credit card, and if they wanted to donate to the Children's Miracle Network, and I can only assume that the Electronics employees had protection plan upsells as well. So I only get irritated if it's obvious they're never going to get me rung up if I don't say "yes."

Of course, this is also why I'm glad I know enough about building computers that I can just buy my parts from Newegg and cobble it together myself. I'm no computer tech pro, but I can make my own machine run.

[DesignyMia]

Having worked at a big-box electronics store before I have some experience with the way the plans are pushed.

Where I worked, the product service plan was the majority of commission most employees got. And it was the only commission the cashiers got. So if a customer picks up a laptop, doesn't want the sales plan - then a lot of the time the sales person would point them to the cashier and walk away. On the walk to the cashier, every greedy salesperson will accost the poor customer with a pitch about the plan. By the time the person has reached the cashier they've been asked at least 3 times. The cashier has no hope but tries anyways, trying to make more than min wage this month.

That being said. I've found it quite effective to burst into tears on the 3rd harassment ^__^

[Mordecai]

He said the first employee told the second one he said no. And it was the same employee the first and third times.

Sorry, my bad. I was kind of multi-tasking earlier when I posted.

Restrictive store policies take away the ability for people to make judgement calls. It really sucks. Most employees are fine with a no and a smile. Since a lot of the big bosses only think of the money to be made in upselling, they forget about the annoyance factor. They send spies from the head office to test it and the poor employees get written up and/or fired for not asking the mystery shopper all the upsell questions the big boss thought would be a good idea.
Just another effort to turn staff into robots.

That happened to me a few weeks back. Apparently I missed seven points on a checker report simply because I didn't upsell or suggestive sell, despite the fact that the checker said I was polite and did everything else right. I was then written up and told that if it happens again I would be fired. I was quite pissed, to be honest.

[Broomjockey]

Sorry, my bad. I was kind of multi-tasking earlier when I posted.

's quite alright. It was obvious you'd missed it, so I merely clarfied. No harm, no foul. Except that duck over there.

That being said. I've found it quite effective to burst into tears on the 3rd harassment ^__^

You're evil. I like that. Keep it up!

[Becks]

Except that duck over there.

a l'orange?

[Broomjockey]

a l'orange?

Just its bill.