How not to sell a computer.

[repsac]

This is something that I'm putting in Unsupportable due to the nature of it. It's a perfect example of a computer salesman who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

The rule is simple, something that I've found oddly lacking in many company polices.

NEVER insult the customer's hardware or item. It does not matter whether you think, or know the object is a piece of crap, NEVER say this to the customer.


Case in point: Last year or the year before, my parents bought me a laptop computer. I know it's not the best out there, but that really doesn't matter. It's good for what I use it; so in the end I'm happy.

Recently, a part on it died. Now it's nothing major to replace really, I just don't trust myself to do it. So, I called a few places before settling on a rather well known company whose members are often advertised driving around white and black VW bugs.

Calling them up, I chatted with the tech a bit, explaining the issue and what I had felt caused it. The tech agreed with me, and asked what I wanted done. I asked if it would be possible just to get that part, and swap it out without having to do any other major repairs to the computer. The following is as best a transcript of that conversation after I asked that as I can remember.

Me: Whatcha looking for? Type, company, or something else?
Tech: Parts are sometimes interchangable, but, just to be safe, what company produced it? We can work back from there.
Me: I doubt you'll have heard of it, it's an Averatec.
Tech: (laughing) Why don't you just buy something new then? I'm not going to be able to get a part for that.
Me: (A little unnerved, but none the less) And why is that? I know it's not a normal name and all...
Tech (Laughing harder) Because they're CRAP!

The call ended shortly after that, and I'm tempted to talk to his boss about it.

Here's the fun part of all this though.

The little asshat didn't realise that while the laptop was needing repaired, I'm in the market for a new desktop computer as well. So, I was intending to bring the laptop in and have it repaired, and then buy a two or three thousand dollar system while I was there. Because of what he said though, I'll take my business elsewhere.

[Jet]

You're absolutely right, I've seen some of my co-workers do this and its not a smart thing to do. Everyone has their opinions and most often they will differ from someone elses. Sorry to hear about your bad experience ><

[Sofar]

I've never dealt with those guys, but I like how they go around in the white short-sleve shirts and the black ties with the sun shades. I did yesterday see one of those black and white beetles get a rather nasty parking ticket for parking on the wrong street during rush hour, though, if that makes you feel any better.

[Crosshair]

Call their boss and let them know. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

[Dreamstalker]

I admit to bashing some OEMs from personal experience, but I either do it at home on forums, or over dinner. Never, ever when I think the person is within earshot. Sometimes I'll get users who are just so fed up with their system that they just have to rant about it, and that's fine (hey, you said it, not me).

[HawaiianShirts]

I'm with Crosshair on that one. Let the boss or manager know. That is certainly not appropriate behavior for someone in the sales/service industry. I have never believed that one bad experience should keep someone away from one business or brand entirely.

I have products and places that I prefer over others. There's only one place I've vowed never to shop at again, and that's a pizza place in my hometown. The three times I've eaten there, the food has been incredibly nasty.

When I lived in North Idaho, there were a couple of haircut places in the tiny town where I lived. I went to one regularly, mostly for price and short wait time, but there was one stylist I refused to allow to touch my hair. The first (and only) time she cut my hair, religion came up in the conversation. When I mentioned something that indicated my faith, she said she used to have a neighbor of the same faith. Then she proceeded to stereotype and disparage all people of my faith. I was offended. I informed the supervisor by phone later and let her deal with it. I still go back, I just avoid one person.

I do sell computers. When it comes to customers having trouble with one brand, I try to avoid trash-talking that brand. I might mention my personal complaints about them, but I am very specific and have something to back it up. "They're crap" is general, subjective, and unspecific.

[Gurndigarn]

I'll take the other side. The way he said it was bad, but not the essence of what he said. Most of us would like our service people to express opinions on the quality of the merchandise out there.

Badmouthing a past purchase is tacky and not the best way to do it, granted, but not, IMO, worth the effort of bugging a manager about. How many of us like it when customers yell about how we responded to them, when we were just trying to help out? Or, in other words, it's bad, but not something worth the manager's time to analyze the customer vs. employee's point of views.

[repsac]

The main problem people have with the Averatec systems is the earlier ones use a variation on the S3 chipset. I think mine, has what's known as the Unichrome pro. Without getting into huge details on the capabilities and such, the Unichrome is basically a copy of an Nvidia card.

That said, I think from my personal experience it's just the fact that Averatec isn't a well known brand. (not produced in the US from what I can tell) and the video issues that prompted that. I've called and spoken with the manager, and he agreed that the actions were uncalled for and said he'd speak with the techie.


That doesn't change that I'm not taking my Av there to be fixed, but it brings up a rather amusing memory.


I think I attract these kinds of people. My car, is yet another example of this.

I own a Daewoo.

Strange name no? Well, Daewoo is a korean company that you saw here in the US for a while before the export division was bought out. The cars are near on impossible to find now, but you know what? They're REALLY good. Mine has around 100k miles on it, but you'd never know it. The car runs like a dream and has a ton of options that were standard. Yet, because the US division went out of business, they'e hard (not impossible) to buy parts for. At one point, I considered trading the car in on a truck.

I don't remember the exact conversation, save for one little incident right before I left.

Me: As you can see, I've got that over there. It's a Daewoo.
Salesman: (derisive snort) Yeah. I've heard about them.
(at this point, his answer could have meant anything, and I gave him the chance to keep from putting his foot in his mouth.)
Me: Oh really? (Crossing my arms and rather looking at him with a look that best says "and what have you heard?" also known as the you're about to make an idiot out of yourself look._
Salesman: Oh they're no good, you really need to buy this over here (points at something OLDER than my car.)
Me: Hmm. Jake still working here? (lot manager)
Salesman: Well, you don't need him, I can do the sale for you. We'll trade that in and get you a couple hundred.
Me: I don't want to trade it in. I want to talk to him.
Salesman: (with as snotty a look as he can get) Why?
Me: To get you fired for insulting me over my car.

I remember him crapping and giving me this look. He knew he had made a mistake. Now, before you ask, did I get him fired? No. However I loved telling him that and then I did go talk to Jake, a good friend of mine. I just wanted to tell him that I was going to have to miss his bachelor party. Even so, the salesman didn't have to know that.


I hate pushy salesmen.

[kw524]

You can read all about the guys in VW's at thereparentcompanysux.org just change
thereparentcompany part to there parent company. If you work for them don't get caught reading or posting them though.

[Cedophile]

I had a similar experience cell phone shopping. There are three companies in Japan that are really popular: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI AU, and Vodafone. I'd heard that AU had a really good yearly plan, and also that docomo was really popular. Vodafone was good for prepaid plans.

So I went to a DoCoMo shop. The sales rep was very patient with me through my question/answer period, gave me the brochure, and was overall very nice.

The AU guy pushed a brochure at me and gave me an "I don't give a crap about you" vibe.

Now this was just one AU shop out of hundreds, but out of moral imperative I went with docomo. I have a bit of buyers remorse, because AU would have been cheaper in the long run, but screw it.

[Hemily]

I own a Daewoo.

Strange name no? Well, Daewoo is a korean company that you saw here in the US for a while before the export division was bought out. The cars are near on impossible to find now, but you know what? They're REALLY good. Mine has around 100k miles on it, but you'd never know it. The car runs like a dream and has a ton of options that were standard. Yet, because the US division went out of business, they'e hard (not impossible) to buy parts for. At one point, I considered trading the car in on a truck.

actually, you can still get Daewoo in the US, they're just sold under another badge, they're called Chevrolet now

yes, Daewoo is honestly making the small cheap Chevrolets now....

[protege]

GM took over Daewoo after 2001. Badge-engineering at its finest