It’s easier to make additional money off existing customers than to find new ones. Most companies have standard procedures to get us to buy just a bit more every time we make a purchase. From the, “would you like fries with that?” at McDonald’s to “would you like to sign up for an extended warranty?” at Best Buy to the endless pitches we have to endure just to activate a credit card, upsells are everywhere.
But we don’t have to take it. These companies take our valuable time and energy trying to get us to buy one more thing. Instead of simply grinning and bearing it, here’s some advice to help us avoid the upsell:
Etiquette expert Judith Martin, also known as Miss Manners, advises saying: “Thank you, but I’m not interested. Can we please just get on with our business?” Ouch! But she’s right. You don’t owe the company your undying attention.
Personally, the “We’re not interested” response works well for us when we’re being solicited by a person (either directly or via phone.) When it’s an automated phone message from a place I’m trying to contact, we either start hitting “0″ to get to a real person. But ifweI can’t get away from it (which is the case with many of the credit card activation upsells you have to listen to while they “activate” your card (which probably takes three seconds in real time), we simply put the call on speakerphone, set down the phone, and do something else until we hear them give up. — Free Money Finance
Just say no to the ‘upsell’ [MSN Money]
More From Consumerist
-
Nobody Wins When You Play ETF Chicken With ADT
-
There Is No Point Asking Comcast Where You Can Buy A Cable Box
-
How To Get Good Service At A Chronically Understaffed Walmart
-
Best Buy Employee: We’re Not Always Trying To Upsell You Credit Cards And Warranties
-
Current & Former GameStop Employees Chime In On Pre-Order Upsells
I went with my B/F to Men’s Wearhouse yesterday to help pick out and purchase a suit for an upcoming wedding. After he had selected the suit , a shirt and two ties, we were ready to check out… Except that the upsell was freaking relentless!!! The salesman offered us no less than SIX additional items.
First, he sort of stealthily snuck up on the b/f and got him into a butt ugly camel-colored faux suede jacket that looked like it had been unearthed from 1984. Then he asked my b/f if he wanted socks, cufflinks, a belt, cedar hangers and an expensive garment bag. No, no, no, no and NO! I’ve heard of the upsell but this was idiotic!
@Jason:
I’m a dude, I’m married to another dude, and I’m the one who tells HIM what items to buy — but he’s already good at avoiding upsell. And yes, we’re in Massachusetts.
And coming up on our 3rd anniversary this Friday!
Ah, the “I just work here” attitude.
best buy sucketh……………..
As one of the screwed-over wage slaves at these kinds of places, the best way to avoid the upsell, IMO:
1) Listen and make it clear you ARE listening, THEN say something more than just “no thanks.” If we’re trying to sell you an extended warranty, respond, “I have buddies at my IT department who will fix any error you are able to fix for one tenth of the price.” If we’re trying to sell you RewardZone or similar (Movie Gallery’s Discount Rental cards, coffee shop’s ‘buy five get a sixth free’ cards, etc.) take a second and think if you’re going to show up in the near future here again before saying “I don’t think I’ll be coming here often enough to take advantage of that.” If you listen to the upsell, you’ll usually come up with a decent way to shoot it – in specific – down on your own.
2) Three attempts should be the limit on rule #1 (and the limit that any store worth your visiting should be trying). After that one, make it more obvious that you’re tuning out and shorten your answers. Do this enough at the same store and eventually they’ll learn that it’s not worth trying. Get your friends to do this one, if possible – once you have a firm ‘three is the limit’ culture amongst a major portion of customers
3) (This one’s risky and depends on the employee) When they start trying to upsell, grab something small that’s completely unrelated to what they’re selling to you – candy bars at the registers are perfect in most cases. This may shut them up. At some places (rental stores, mostly), though, this may lead to them trying to sell you a snack combo of some sort.
4) Upsell back – i.e. offer them better paying jobs where upsale hell isn’t part of their job description. (I’m not sure this one’s legal, but I’d love to see it.)
5) Come in with the intent of resisting upsells. Be respectful about resisting upsells. Do not, at any time, treat successfully resisting upsells as something to be smug or vindicative over. There’s a reason Best Buy’s doing the whole “categorize customers” thing, and it’s because of the smug jerk upsell-smackdown types who seem to be interested solely in pissing employees off.
6) (This one’s specific to the cables and such that Best Buy sells alongside PCs, TVs, etc.) Take one trip to ‘learn’ about the product you’re buying. Learn exactly what cables, extras, etc. you need or want for it – then go buy them first. It doesn’t matter were, just have them already. Then, when the guy starts upselling, you can respond, “I already have them.” Unless they’re being actively stared at by their boss at that second, they’ll usually shut up at that point.
7) If at all possible, make sure that the employee’s supervisor isn’t near them. They’ll be much quicker to stop trying to upsell if not getting monitored at by their boss. It is a sad truth of retail America that supervisors do the customer service more harm than good overall.
@Nekoincardine:
As one of the screwed-over wage slaves at these kinds of places, the best way to avoid the upsell, IMO:
1) Listen and make it clear you ARE listening, THEN say something more than just “no thanks.” If we’re trying to sell you an extended warranty, respond, “I have buddies at my IT department who will fix any error you are able to fix for one tenth of the price.” If we’re trying to sell you RewardZone or similar (Movie Gallery’s Discount Rental cards, coffee shop’s ‘buy five get a sixth free’ cards, etc.) take a second and think if you’re going to show up in the near future here again before saying “I don’t think I’ll be coming here often enough to take advantage of that.” If you listen to the upsell, you’ll usually come up with a decent way to shoot it – in specific – down on your own.
2) Three attempts should be the limit on rule #1 (and the limit that any store worth your visiting should be trying). After that one, make it more obvious that you’re tuning out and shorten your answers. Do this enough at the same store and eventually they’ll learn that it’s not worth trying. Get your friends to do this one, if possible – once you have a firm ‘three is the limit’ culture amongst a major portion of customers
3) (This one’s risky and depends on the employee) When they start trying to upsell, grab something small that’s completely unrelated to what they’re selling to you – candy bars at the registers are perfect in most cases. This may shut them up. At some places (rental stores, mostly), though, this may lead to them trying to sell you a snack combo of some sort.
4) Upsell back – i.e. offer them better paying jobs where upsale hell isn’t part of their job description. (I’m not sure this one’s legal, but I’d love to see it.)
5) Come in with the intent of resisting upsells. Be respectful about resisting upsells. Do not, at any time, treat successfully resisting upsells as something to be smug or vindicative over. There’s a reason Best Buy’s doing the whole “categorize customers” thing, and it’s because of the smug jerk upsell-smackdown types who seem to be interested solely in pissing employees off.
6) (This one’s specific to the cables and such that Best Buy sells alongside PCs, TVs, etc.) Take one trip to ‘learn’ about the product you’re buying. Learn exactly what cables, extras, etc. you need or want for it – then go buy them first. It doesn’t matter were, just have them already. Then, when the guy starts upselling, you can respond, “I already have them.” Unless they’re being actively stared at by their boss at that second, they’ll usually shut up at that point.
7) If at all possible, make sure that the employee’s supervisor isn’t near them. They’ll be much quicker to stop trying to upsell if not getting monitored at by their boss. It is a sad truth of retail America that supervisors do the customer service more harm than good overall.
–
1) When I go to store, I know what I want. It is not my job to listen to the your lame plea to get me to buy something. All you get is a no, right away. Don’t waste my time.
2) One attempt is too many. Doing three just makes you to the be the jerk nobody wants to deal with. You already got my no. What part of no are you not capable of understanding?
3) I am not going to buy something else to get you to shut up. I already said no. Why are you still being a jerk and trying to sell something I don’t want?
4) Even if I did need someone to work for me, you would be the last person I would want working for me. I value my customers and expect my employees to respect them. It is obvious you have no respect for customers going by your long filled rant about your suck-a$$ job.
5) I could care less if you are pissed off or not. I am here to buy something and I have already told you no. If you are so damn stupid you can’t figure that no means no, tough.
6) If I choose not to spend a week not researching something, I will still say no to your upsell if I don’t want it. Just because I don’t have full knowledge of something doesn’t mean I’m going to let you rip me off or that you now have permission to try and rip me off.
7) Hopefully your supervisor will be near by, that way you won’t act like a total jerk and waste more of my time. I could care less if your supervisor is a even bigger jerk than you. If you don’t like your job, there are others. If there are not other jobs, that is your problem. I have a great job. This is why I am buying something. Something *I* want, not what you want to sell for whatever your quota demands or gives you an extra buck or two.
You sound like the crybaby phone support loser who was allowed to rant a week or two ago.
@jeremyduffy: At Sears, I sold credit cards at 3 to 8 times my budgeted level. I would say:
“Sure, I understand that. I’ve been disgusted to learn credit cards I’ve owned helped animal molesters. That’s why I was very careful to research the Sears card when I started here. I’m happy to say that both the Sears card and the Sears Gold Mastercard are, and have been, completely animal friendly for years now. In fact, the Sears credit division is leading the industry in anti-molestation measures. With all of that in mind, let’s take about five minutes and get you that Sears Gold card so you can get your shovel for free.”
Yeah, the upsell sucks, but I’m amazed by how many people seem to blame the employee personally. I once worked a holiday retail season at a Toys R Us and can say with certainty that the battery upsell was the most traumatic part of every sale – if you think it’s bad to have to decline the upsell once, imagine having to pitch the upsell for eight hours a day. As mentioned in other posts, cashiers were required to ask each and every customer if they wanted batteries. In some cases, it wasn’t such a bad idea from a customer service perspective – many customers didn’t realize they needed batteries until I mentioned it. That said, pushing batteries on a customer with one or two non-electronic items does nothing but cause ill-will.
I would’ve been perfectly happy to discreetly ignore the upsell in these obvious cases, except for the fact that every register had a sign posted, letting customers know that if they weren’t asked about batteries, they could get a free drink from the cooler. We were truly screwwed both ways – we got dirty looks from people who obviously didn’t need batteries, and we got harassed by every bored jerk who had been staring at the sign while waiting in the register line. (And if you think that people are unlikely to point out the error, you’ve never dealt with frazzled shoppers in December – I had people blatantly lie in order to scam that $1.25 soda.)
The problem here lies solely with the corporate offices, not the poor college kids stuck behind the register. Taking it out on them is not going to reclaim your lost time, and it’s not going to change the store policy. You’d be much better off politely declining in-store, and then sending an email to the corporate offices – you might be ignored, but at least those people have the power to change things. I hate hearing the upsell just as much as the next guy, but I’m not going to take it out on the most convenient target either.
I empathize with the clerks. Unless I’m a repeat customer… it might not really be an upsell, but I’m snappy with you, CVS clerk. I don’t want your rewards card, and I’ve had to decline repeatedly over the last two years.
At one point, I had one, but lost it after a month, thereby proving my point – I can’t use a CVS rewards card. I’m not interested. I forget it, lose it, and never get any rewards. STOP offering, please, stop forever.
Saying “no thanks” doesn’t always work. I can’t tell you how many times I said “No thanks” to a store’s credit card/reward program only to have the cashier continue with their spiel.
I have sympathy for the employees who have no choice but to offer these upsells. What I do NOT have tolerance for are the ones who won’t stop after I already (politely) decline once.
quick question:
Some of you need advice to avoid an upsell?
Let me save you the time of thinking about this too hard:
salesman: Can I interest you in…..
You: No. I want this item only, thank you.
If they persist, explain that one more word on the subject will sour the deal and lead to you walking out.
End of concern.
Seriously, people are really mystified by the upsell?
What is the deal? Am I taking crazy pills? Maybe I should start.
Allow me to explain – I work in sales. I upsell because it makes me more money. But more important than that, my goal is customer satisfaction. My customers return to me because I do business ethically and fairly.
No, refusing the upsell wont put anyone out of business. If margins were that tight to begin with, bankruptcy isn’t too far away to begin with.
Simply say no thank you and proceed to pay for your item.
They don’t like saying it either, so cut them slack.
And if they won’t stop after you decline, tell them in no uncertain terms to shut up or you’ll walk. Think of it this way – they didn’t show you respect by listening to you when you said no, so you don’t owe them the respect of giving them the chance to talk you into it.
I have and will continue to walk away from deals over this annoyance. But before I leave, I let the manager know exactly why I wont be back.
If they don’t care, I call the district manager.
If they don’t care, I’ll write a letter.
Beyond that, the net effect of my lost business and my willingness to tell everyone I know about the situation is enough.
You are a consumer. You need not worry about the effect of your reaction to their policies and behavior.