Consumerist
customer neglect
Posts Tagged “
Sales
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customer neglect
deals
Home Depot Closing 15 Stores
The Home Depot is closing 15 stores nationwide. 3 in Wisconsin, 2 in Ohio, 2 in New Jersey, 2 in Indiana and 1 each in Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York and Vermont. Those would be places to watch for closeout sales. The specific store numbers and cities, inside: More »
nader for president
The Best Sales Line Ever
I walked by this DS-Max/Innovage type salesguy who was trying to sell cheap merchandise on the street one and he started to walk by my side. "Who are you voting for?" he asked. Just to mess with him, I said, "Nader." He screwed up his face like he didn't understand the words I was saying and then said, "Well you're definitely going to need one of these." A few feet away I looked over my shoulder and saw that he had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and was smiling and holding out some large bound object. Walking closer I saw that he was holding an oversized plastic kitten calendar. He had just unintentionally performed the wittiest piece of political comedy I saw all year. It was also a great sales line. No matter what I said, he could follow it up with the same call to buy. I guess it's not foolproof, however, as my walls are still devoid of oversized kitten calendars.
denials
Verizon: Cancel Vonage And Cablevision Phone Lines Or You Can't Have FiOS
Here's an odd little letter. For once a customer was actually pleased with the salesperson that came to their door and convinced them to try FiOS. Yay! The trouble came when the nice salesperson called in and Verizon refused to activate the account unless the customer canceled their phone lines with Vonage and Cablevision and switched all three to Verizon. More »
taxes
New York State To Start Taxing Amazon Purchases
One of the budget-related changes voted in last week by New York State's politicians included a new "Amazon tax":"Another $50 million will come from requiring online retailers like Amazon that do not have a physical presence in New York to collect sales taxes on purchases made by New Yorkers and remit them to the state.New York's argument, based on a reading of the 1992 Quill vs. North Dakota U.S. Supreme Court ruling, is that because Amazon makes sales through affiliates who live in the state, it can be considered to have a physical presence there—which means the new law wouldn't apply to retailers who don't use affiliate programs. More »
bad deals
Dylan writes:
This Toys "R" Us Discount Is Of Dubious Value
Dylan writes:I saw this today at the Toy"R"Us store in Elizabeth, New Jersey and though you folks would be interested. This Lego kit (the Exo Force Sentai Fortress Battle Set) has a sign that indicates its original price was $19.99 and that it is on sale for $69.98. The sign helpfully indicates that this is a savings of negative $49.We've seen fifty-cent adjustments in the wrong direction, but fifty dollars? That's pushing it.
customer service
Verizon CSR: My FiOS Bill Is Always Wrong, Too
The Tampa Bay Tribune has a fascinating article about the sales-centric culture at Verizon's customer service call centers. The CSRs are given large bonuses (sometimes thousands of dollars) for selling services to people who call in looking to correct their bills. More »
confessions
The 10 Lies A Door-to-Door Alarm Salesman Tells
Taylor sells home alarm systems door-to-door, and he is the devil, lying, manipulating, and preying on customer's fears push a product. Now he has stepped forward to confess/brag about his sins:
I lie. I lie to people a lot about their home safety. And I don't feel particularly good about it, but when my iPhone buzzes in my pocket, I forget the lies I've told and think of the MacBook Air that just shipped to my house.The ten lies he tells, inside... More »I sell home security systems for a living and I only work the three summer months of the year, and maybe four or five weeks the rest of the year. What I fail to mention is that my bank account regularly has 6 digits. All because I lie to people for a living....
customer service
Top 10 Complaints Keeping Shoppers From Returning (It's The Sales Staff)
Smartypants at the Wharton School of Business surveyed shoppers to find out what pissed them off most about the in-store experience, and it turns out it's mainly the sales staff. Here's the top 10 problems that shoppers said bothered them to the point that they wouldn't go back to the store.
10. Sales Associate (SA) A ignored you - did not say hello, smile, make eye contact 21
9. SA didn't listen when explaining what you wanted 22
8. Product/item was out of stock 22
7. SA not very polite, courteous 24
6. SA not interested in helping you find what looking for 27
5. SA insensitive to long check-out lines 27
4. SA acted like you were intruding on their time/conversations 29
3. SA followed, pestered when you wanted to browse on own 30
2. Could not find anyone when needed help 31
1. SA had 'that's not my department' attitude 32
Does this hold true for you? What most turns you off when you go out shopping?
Shopper Research Pinpoints Loyalty, Problems [ifoAppleStore] (Thanks to Jgodsey!)
What Customers Expect Sales Associates To Contribute Toward The In-Store Experience (Powerpoint)
(Photo: Getty)
activation fees
Follow Up: AT&T Says There's No Activation Fee For GoPhones
Earlier this week we posted an email from a man who said an AT&T salesman tried to charge him an "activation fee" to switch his daughter's already-active SIM card to a GoPhone. We got a lot of useful (if sometimes contradictory) advice from readers in the comments section, and now an AT&T spokesman has written in with an official statement about it. More »
investigations
Beware The Craftmatic Bed Scam
The commercial says you can win a free Craftmatic bed, but all you're likely to win is a salesman worming his way into your home. An Inside Edition investigation revealed some shady high-pressure tactics by Craftmatic bed salesmen targeting the elderly. Typical sales tactics involve starting with a high price, $5,000 and then using a series of phony price drops to get the person to buy today. The salespeople say the bed is so great that it will solve acid reflux and heart disease! And at a seminar where you learn to be a better Craftmatic bed salesperson, a hidden camera showed instructor Carolyn Nilson talking about the lengths she would go to to close a deal, saying "I've done it all. Dug checks out of the garbage that they didn't shred...reactivated credit cards, gone to the bank." Most contests are just "lead-generation" opportunities for the businesses. Warn elderly friends and family about the sleazy tactics of the Crapmatic sales force.
For the retail managers lurking here: an analysis of data from a "US specialty retailer" shows that not reducing staff during lean times leads to an increase in profit margins. [The Times South Africa]
misleading
Is It Legal To Use Out Of Date List Prices For Comparison On Sales?
Last week we pointed out how Apple artificially inflates the discount of its refurbished units by using the original introductory list price as a comparison, even if the price has since dropped and the true list price is now lower. Now a reader writes in to say he caught Toys R Us doing the same thing on sale prices of Playstation 3 bundles and 30 gig Zunes. Our question: is this legal? New York City's consumer protection law seems to imply that—at least for retailers doing business in NYC—it's not, unless you clearly indicate the trail of price reductions, something neither company is doing. More »
liquidation
CompUSA Sells "Defective" DVD Player That "Does Not Work" "As Is" For $179.98
CompUSA is selling a broken Sony DVD player for $179.98—that's 40% off the sticker price! The Wife over at Bastion of Mediocrity noticed that the sticker also reads: "Defective," "Does Not Work," "As Is." More »
leaks
From inside a Comcast call center, we got a sales goal sheet designed to excite call center reps to sell more new customer bundles using with four cartoons icons of cold; Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat,, Mr. Freeze from Batman, Frozone from The Incredibles, and Ice-Man from X-Men. The flyer exhorts: "ANTI FREEZE INCENTIVE. Don't let these freeze masters get you...Sell some bundles and protect yourself from the cold!!!" If you're in the top three of your department, the flyer continues, you can win $250, $150, or $100 for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, respectively. Exciting. What is the symbolic function of the "freeze masters" as a performance incentive? What does, "the cold" represent? Left out in the cold? Given the cold shoulder by your peers if you're not contributing enough to the 2000 bundle goal? An inability to pay one's heating bills? We have no idea, we're just glad we don't work in a call center, we've never been too good at winning knife fights. (click to enlarge).
Comcast Call Center Sales Contest Sheet: "Don't Let These Freeze Masters Get You"
From inside a Comcast call center, we got a sales goal sheet designed to excite call center reps to sell more new customer bundles using with four cartoons icons of cold; Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat,, Mr. Freeze from Batman, Frozone from The Incredibles, and Ice-Man from X-Men. The flyer exhorts: "ANTI FREEZE INCENTIVE. Don't let these freeze masters get you...Sell some bundles and protect yourself from the cold!!!" If you're in the top three of your department, the flyer continues, you can win $250, $150, or $100 for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, respectively. Exciting. What is the symbolic function of the "freeze masters" as a performance incentive? What does, "the cold" represent? Left out in the cold? Given the cold shoulder by your peers if you're not contributing enough to the 2000 bundle goal? An inability to pay one's heating bills? We have no idea, we're just glad we don't work in a call center, we've never been too good at winning knife fights. (click to enlarge).
sales
Video Game Industry On Nitro While Music Cries Alone In The Dark With No Friends
The video game industry is on fire! Wooo! Sales are up! Times are good!In December, Nintendo had its biggest month ever with the hot-selling game system. Holiday shoppers bought 1.4 million Wiis, according to sales data released Thursday by the NPD Group. The Wii's success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006's $12.5 billion, which was also a record.Meanwhile the music industry isn't having such a fun time. Sales are down. People are getting fired at EMI and the Rolling Stones are all pissed off about it. More »
pressure
Gold's Gym's Slippery Salesperson Manages To Talk Himself Out Of A Sale
If you don't like high pressure sales environments, stay the hell out of Gold's Gym. Seattlest tried to sign up for a membership yesterday but was so put-off by the confusing sales pitch that they just walked out. More »
schadenfreude
