Furniture Store Employee Wants You To Know There's Something Wrong With Your Salesperson
Jeff and his wife bought a couch, chair, and armoire from Basset Furniture in Rockville, Maryland this weekend, and while the actual experience was rather pleasant, they might not be going back. It wasn't because their salesperson was rude, but rather because another employee they'd never dealt with pulled them aside at the last minute to warn them that there was "something wrong" with the woman who'd been helping them. What? What the hell does that mean? Did she sell them haunted furniture? Was she really a robber who was pretending to sell furniture to get the customers out of the store so she could finish her robbery? Was she a replicant?
Here's the letter Jeff's wife wrote to Basset Furniture, describing the strange encounter:
My husband and I first visited this store on 11/15. First I would like to say how helpful both Dagmar and Jerry were during our shopping experience. They were both extremely patient and enjoyable and were not pushy or annoying. Dagmar was our sales person and was able to answer most of our questions, if we asked something she wasn't sure about she brought Jerry in for his expertise. We appreciated this very much. Jerry and Dagmar helped us to design a custom couch however, it was a little more than we were planning to spend. We went home and looked more on Basset's website and found a different couch and love seat. We returned to the store on 11/16 to purchase the couch and love seat we found online and an armoire we found in the store.
As we were getting ready to pay another sales woman, she was either a member of management or another sales person, grabbed my arm rather hard and literally pulled me to the side. I was completely taken aback that someone, especially a store representative would put their hand on me like that. She then proceeded to asked me if we were ever going to come back to the store after working with Dagmar. I let her know that both Dagmar and Jerry were very helpful. Then she said "Oh did Jerry tell you there is something wrong with her?" I found this statement again to be highly inappropriate and totally unnecessary. Our shopping experience up to this point had been excellent. We did purchase our couch, love seat, and armoire from Bassett today, due to Dagmar and Jerry. However, I am truly appalled that an employee of Bassett would find it necessary to go out of their way to harass a customer and degrade a co-worker in such a manner. I am sorry to say that I did not catch the woman's name as I was in shock, but she has shoulder length wavy brunette hair, a while blazer with a dark brown or black floral pattern and is the one who owes Dagmar as well as Jerry an apology for ruining the pleasant rapport they had built between us and Basset.
Whether Dagmar is new and still learning the sales process, or whether she is working to overcome something, there is nothing she could have done to be more helpful or better represent Basset. Please let Dagmar and Jerry know how much we appreciated their help. The only reason we would now consider not returning to Basset in the future is the unpleasant assault by your other representative.
Dagmar, watch your back! One of your coworkers is kind of a bitch.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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Comments:
The DC Metro goes right there. I'm kind of tempted to go and find out what exactly is wrong with Dagmar.
@illtron: My thoughts exactly. I have off of Wednesday and I was thinking about taking a trip up there to check this place out myself and see if I can find the name of that rude woman (long ride from Franconia though...)
Wasn't that a Monty Python sketch where the couple wants to buy a bed, but whenever they say a certain word the salesman starts singing?
Publishing this without any investigation is lazy at best but more probably irresponsible and unethical. Not to mention not very ground-breaking news- or interest-wise. Surely not every odd encounter with an employee of a corporation is noteworthy enough to be blogged.
very unethical. very maryland.
Was she a replicant?
That made me laugh.
Seriously though, if there had actually been something wrong with Dagmar the other woman would have simply said what the problem was. If you're trying to warn someone that someone else is stealing credit card numbers you say, "I've seen her stealing credit card numbers." You don't say that there's "something wrong" with her.
I also fail to see how a warning so vague necessitates hurting someone's arm to get their attention.
Kind of an aside: I find it interesting that this post was tagged handicapped because the first thing I thought when I got to the "something wrong" bit was that the other woman was trying to imply Dagmar was handicapped.
@BeeBoo: "Noteworthy enough to be blogged"?
Hi! Welcome to the internet. You will discover that customs are different here. Enjoy having a look around on your first day.
I hope you changed the names of the innocent in this post. Otherwise, isn't it libel if you knowingly republish the accusations? Regardless of the law, it would be very uncool to publish the accusations, this woman's name and her place of employment. Her name sounds distinct, and I can't imagine there's anyone else with the same name at the store.
Maybe she was trying to steal a commission?
@BeeBoo: *sigh*
Seriously?
It's a slightly off-beat piece of news. Jeff's wife chose to share her experience (which was with a rather RUDE and unprofessional sales associate - Consumerist worthy IMO) with the blog. There's no investigation to be done on the part of Consumerist. If Jeff's wife would like to share Bassett's response with them, then fine.
And if you really want to talk about ethics and responsibility - say, Chris were to further investigate Dagmar or the snotty associate's "problem" (whether personal or with one another) and then report on it? It would probably then be tacky and distasteful if something bad happened to Dagmar and then Chris blogged about it for the entire world to read about.
You didn't like what was blogged but yet you took the time to type out that response? If you didn't like it, stop reading as soon as you realize it and hit the back button.
I need my tea.
@BeeBoo: The consumerist isn't meant to be a news site. It's more like the BBB, only they get more views.
If this story does get attention by the management of Basset, and they do "re-train" or address the issue with the wavy haired lady, then the Consumerist did it's job.
That doesn't mean the wavy haired lady gets fired, or even that she's guilty. We've seen one sided, and incredibly misrepresented articles before. But when they are addressed appropriately, the companies come out looking better.
@SabreDC: I've got a better idea.
How about a bunch of DC-area Consumerists go to this store and specifically ask for Dagmar. This will actively have the nameless cut-throat bitch's karma visited upon her.
@levenhopper: Wouldn't be the first time I've seen that happen.
But if they bought 2 of the 3 pieces online and only one in the store, is that worthy of something like that? Do they get commission on Web sales?
Whats with all of the armchair lawyers on this site lately?
@FuryOfFirestorm: God, I'm going to have to get business cards made with that on it... +1 internets for you!
@chgoeditor: Isn't there a difference between saying "Person is X" and saying that "Someone said Person is X"?
As far as accusations go, "something wrong" is just about as vague as it gets. I can't imagine it's going to hurt Dagmar much. The person making the accusation is the one who ends up looking bad here and we don't know their name.
To me it sounds something wasn't right with the "arm grabber" if she thought her rude behavior was going to get her whatever it was she wanted.
@FuryOfFirestorm: This is one of the most insulting comments I've ever read. But fortunately for you, since your insult was heaped upon Conservative Christians, nobody will care, and many will even applaud. Yeah, no double standards at work here at all...
@FuryOfFirestorm: Unwed mother does not count. Remember, having a pregnant teenage daughter made Bible Spice seem 'more human' according to the GOPpers.
Awww she just wanted to check on how toned your arms were, and that was the best excuse she could come up with.
@Lucifer_Cat: Anything remotely negative about the religious hard right automatically equals "religious persecution" even if it happens to be absolutely true.
@bsalamon: Very 'maryland' ? WTF - what are you basing this on? And how is maryland any more/less ethical then other states? GTFO.
@TPK: Hey, it's not our fault that Conservative Christians consistently give themselves a bad name, misinterpret and bastardize the wording their own holy books, hold back beneficial medical and scientific research based on said point prior, otherwise alienate or abuse any other company or person or religion who does not conform to their own beliefs, and always manage to be the most hypocritical religion in the known world simply by not practicing their own "do onto others as you would have them do onto you" creed.
Yeah, no double standards from you at all. Try not being so ignorant, and next time, actually bother to find out WHY some hate Conservative Christians as much as they do.
@BeeBoo: Ah, just sour that Ben hasn't posted one of your stories yet? I'm sure the man receives dozens per day; not all of them can be published.
I worked in a furniture store, and there was something wrong with almost everyone who worked there. They constantly stole sales from each other, gossiped about each other, and plotted to get each other fired. One guy tried to strangle another one, and one of the salesmen assaulted me with his shoe. The store manager, the night I met him, offered to pay me in exchange for being his mistress. I come from a dysfunctional family so basically this wasn't much different.
There probably is something wrong with Dagmar, but as long as your furniture comes in as expected, I wouldn't worry about it.
Please: It wasnt the employee, it was Bassett. Those guys took over 14 months to fix my couch that they delivered broken not to mention the 'at the factory change' from the microfiber we ordered to something else.
We had the recliner on the end lolling at an angle and it wouldnt recline correctly. Then the other recliners cable broke off. Getting ANYONE to do anything at the stores was hell on steroids. There is NO company worse at resolving issues than Bassett.
I actually called the corporate offices and was told it was a local matter. I told them it would be a very non-local issue as the website was going up in 2 days with the pictures I had sent them of the seams that were unfinished and the issues with the recliners. They said they would get back with us. We were even told that some girl had been terminated at the store in chesterfield for not taking care of returns. Funny we had called 2 stores and gotten nowhere...
After almost a year and a half they brought us a fixed couch and told us that our 'fabric warranty' that I paid extra for was used up. I told them there was no fabric warranty use they delivered a broken unfinished couch. To make matters even better they left the old piece in my driveway for 5 days to be fair it was over the weekend but they left it there!
The couch is not what I expected for that amount of money. The difference in the showroom version and what I got was pretty large. Even the cushions were less fluffy.
I will NEVER set foot in a Basset store again ever. They have nothing of quality to offer.
She's just jealous that Dagmar has a full set of enchanted plate and she's still in cloth.
@nerdette314159: No I live in Maryland, and he's right.
If you live in MD and can't see it, you've obviously never been anywhere else.
Probably can't drive either. I'm trapped in the land of black and white tags, and not a single person here knows how to USE A TURN SIGNAL.
./rant
Wow, waay fishy.
Sounds like this nutcase was fishing for you to ask what was wrong with Dagmar, but you didn't bite.
I think this store needs a visit by the special ops branch of the the Consumerist army to find out what's really going on...
@Lucifer_Cat: Personally, I find it insulting because it lumps Christians together under one umbrella and applies a negative stereotype to them. (The stereotype being that they are all bigotted assholes) Luckily for FuryOfFirestorm, it's perfectly acceptable to make dickhead comments about Christians anywhere on the Internet, so normal standards of civility don't apply.
@RamV10: If you use a turn signal, that notifies the driver with a huge gap behind you to pull up into your blind spot so you cannot get in front of them. Simple enough reason; thought it was obvious! ;)
Now, if you can find a rational explanation for full stops on entrance ramps yields, you'll be my hero. Bonus points if there's a dedicated merge lane in front of them too!
(PS. I am also stuck in MD since 1998.)
I wonder if Dagmar is German? I used to know a woman named Dagmar and she was a little bit strange. She moved here from Germany and could sometimes come off as "gruff". If you're reading this, Dagmar....you still rock!
sounds to me like employees trying to set the poor girl up to fail. See this all the time in retail, I know of 3 friends (funny enough all female) who have lost their jobs due to some cut-throat bitch being hired and then seemingly setting up the good employees to fail or be fired so they can get a management position instead.