Contractors are banging on homeowners doors, promising huge savings for installing solar panels on their roofs. But after they’re installed and the customer has paid out big money, the panels have failed to produce a single kilowatt of energy and the salesmen have evaporated. [More]
salesmen
Predatory Car Sales Tricks To Watch Out For
By 6.24.11
Effective car salesmen have a sizable bag of tricks from which to draw when moving in for the kill. To avoid falling prey to the ruses, you need to know how to spot them. [More]
10 Confessions Of An Insurance Telemarketer
By 2.10.11
One of our readers works sales in an insurance telemarketing operation. He’s stepped forward to give us the skinny on how he gets commission, the real reasons that drive some of their tactics, and what personal information you should never give over the phone to a telemarketer. [More]
Police Reports Contradict ADT Rep's Warnings Of Local Break-Ins
By 12.30.10
Sarah says that last night an ADT sales rep came to her door trying to sell her an alarm system. He said that there were two break-ins “last week” and that whenever these occur ADT sends out a rep to “give away” two “free” alarm systems. [More]
RadioShack Employee Buys Customer An Accessory In Order To Get System To Approve Phone Upgrade
By 9.27.10
Has RadioShack gone too far with its sales quotas? Allison wrote us to say that when she tried to upgrade her phone recently, the employee had to add accessories to the transaction before the system would approve it. She said he canceled some, and she ended up paying $2 for “two plastic covers for phones I don’t own.” But she says her mom had an even more bizarre experience at a RadioShack, where the assistant actually paid for the accessories herself. [More]
"I Spent Two Days As A Door-To-Door Salesman"
By 5.26.10
Kole McRae is a writer in Toronto who says he worked for two days as a door-to-door salesman for an unnamed company. The sales pitch involved asking people who answered the door whether they were happy with their current service, so I’m guessing the company sold something something related to phone, cable, or utilities. [More]
LA Fitness Will Say Anything To Avoid Honoring Free 3 Day Pass
By 7.10.09
The sales team at the LA Fitness in Floral Park New Hyde Park, Long Island, were so pushy to a prospective customer that they basically forced her to take her business elsewhere. Apparently if they actually let a customer redeem one of their free passes, the gym will be sucked into a vortex of non-commission, so they have to deny you access.
Door To Door Alarm Salesmen In Kansas Caught Scamming Homeowners
By 6.24.09
Salesmen for Pinnacle Security have reportedly been going through Wichita neighborhoods and telling customers of CastleRock Security that the company has gone out of business. “These imposters then attempt to remove the CastleRock security equipment and attempt to obtain a blank, voided check so that they can start billing withdrawals from the customers’ checking accounts.”
Don't Buy Your Magazines From Door-To-Door Salesmen This Summer
By 5.5.09
A couple of years ago, the New York Times did a piece on the poor treatment of teens hired to travel the country and sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but they’re not the only ones getting the raw end of the deal.
Beware Of The "Model Home" Ploy From Window Salesmen
By 4.30.09
Thomas says his wife was approached by a belligerent salesman the other day regarding the windows on their home. He tried to get her to agree to an instant estimate and promised a huge discount for being a “model home” for the window upgrades, but when she refused to make an instant decision, Thomas says he “snatched the card out of her hand” and “yelled at her.”
Best Buy Not Honoring Price Match Guarantee
By 3.18.09
Not to be outdone by all the negative publicity Office Depot is getting over their “not in stock” lies, Best Buy stores in the New York area have been uncovered refusing to price match TV prices in accordance with their official policy. When pressed, the sales associates said that the TVs weren’t covered due to imaginary exclusions that aren’t included in the official policy language. An employee at one of the stores gave in, but then made up a new imaginary policy that said free delivery would cost $100.
Office Depot Employee Claims He Photoshops Price Tags
By 3.17.09
Who needs to lie about inventory when you can inflate the price directly? LAPTOP has uncovered more dirty secrets of Office Depot employees being dishonest to customers, this time by altering price tags on clearance items to incorporate the cost of an extended service plan.
Office Depot Employees Claim They're Told To Lie About Stock If You're Not Buying Extras
By 3.11.09
According to LAPTOP mag, Office Depot has implemented such a stringent sales quota program that the company has essentially broken the in-store laptop buying experience. If you don’t buy accessories and extended service plans, many associates will tell you the laptop is out of stock. Of course, this doesn’t happen at every Office Depot, but LAPTOP writes that they were surprised by the number of similar reports they received of it happening at multiple locations.
Is Silicon Solar Ripping Off Its Customers, Or Is It Just Incompetent?
By 1.12.09
Update: company co-founder Matt addresses some of the accusations in a comment below. Why are there so many complaints online about Silicon Solar? One customer, Dennis, told us how he was lied to by a salesman, then strung along by a woman in customer support until the 14-day return period had expired. A quick Google search turns up dozens of similar stories about being treated badly by customer service, receiving products that don’t work as advertised, and never being given the RMAs necessary to send items back. Writes one reviewer on DavesGarden.com, “I can’t express the anger and frustration I felt when dealing with this company.”
Furniture Store Employee Wants You To Know There's Something Wrong With Your Salesperson
By 11.17.08
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?
Just What The Heck Is MonaVie, And Should I Sell It?
By 10.6.08
I’ve been approached by a friend to join up with MonaVie acai juice—it’s a “superfood” juice that’s sold through “network marketing.” I actually do like the product, and this is a friend I trust, but my alarm bells are still going off. I don’t want to get sucked into a scam, obviously. There’s nothing about this company on your site, so I thought I’d drop you a line and see if you had any advice.
Sears Offer To Mail Customer Missing Key To Floor Model Snowblower
By 9.6.08
Aaron visited Sears to pick up a new Craftsman snowblower he bought for 10% off on Sears.com, but the store only had one floor model in stock. Aaron agreed to take the unit after staff assured him that it came with a warranty, manuals, and all the things normally bundled with new snowblowers. Of course, Sears couldn’t find either the manual or the keys. A salesman promised that “Ray from Lawn & Garden” would mail the key whenever he returned, an offer Aaron refused. The salesman then offered a key from another snowblower, promising “the keys are basically universal.” That key didn’t work because, as a different associate later discovered, the unit was missing its electric start socket.
ATT Chatbots (People?) Don't Even Pretend To Help Anymore
By 9.3.08
This unedited transcript from a recent “customer support” chat is pure, undiluted idiocy. Do not be surprised if after reading it, you feel a little dead inside, or a little stupider. That’s how you know the customer service chatbot—or person, which is kind of sad—is doing its job.
