Not the same thing but, speaking of talking to machines, someone at McDonald’s Corporate apparently decided that when you pull up to the drive through, you need to hear a voice saying “Welcome to McDonald’s! Would you like to try a Mocha Frappe today?”
Except it’s just a recording. And when you say “No thanks, I’d like a numb—” you’re cut off by some new voice from a real person saying “Can I help you?” Annoying as hell. I’m not sure if they’re afraid I’ll be offended if I’m not spoken to the very second I pull up to the box or what but now I just roll my eyes in annoyed silence and wait for the second, real, voice to ask me what I want.
You’re right, now that you mention it I do think they tried some version of this last time I rented a field vehicle. I said something to the effect of “oh well, it’s a corporate credit card, that’s what they’re there for”.
Course with my new company here in the states, I don’t have a corpcard, it’s all on me until I expense it.
I had this pulled on me in 2009. Since we had never heard of this before, we bought the extra coverage. I checked into it and found out that in some states , New York included, “loss of use” for a rental vehicle is covered under an automobile policy and confirmed with my company that I do indeed have this coverage.
It is depressing - no one likes to think of themselves as a Wallet With Legs. I don’t go as far as never giving a business my money again, because I don’t want to cut off my nose to spite my face, but I will remember it. My local Sears store has been incredibly annoying for the last year or so with someone marketing shoppers over the intercom most of the time I’m in the store - I’ve tried to not shop there, but they’re convenient, the prices are good, and I like their clothes - I just hate the marketing with a burning passion. I’ve tried complaining about it at multiple levels to no avail. At this point I just suck it up, find what I’m looking for, and get the hell out.
ETA: If I came up with a replacement store, Sears would never see me again.
When I lived in Austin, area HEB supermarkets made it very difficult for you to just buy groceries and leave. The cashier always made several solicitations …
“Would you like some toothpaste for a dollar?” (points to basket of toiletries by register)
“Do you need any batteries?” (points to batteries by register)
“Would you like to donate a dollar to save abused puppies?”
“Would you like to donate a dollar for breast cancer?”
It got to the point where, when shopping at HEB, the first thing I said t the cashier was “No toothpaste, no shampoo, no batteries, no donations.”
The last time I shopped at Sears, I think I answered four or five questions from the cashier (all of which I responded to with “no”) before I got out. I can’t even remember everything I was being grilled about: loyalty card, donations, that kind of thing.
I’m wondering if what little profit they made from any toothpaste they sold at checkout made up for the frustration shoppers felt by being barraged with suggestive selling and charity pitches.
I like shopping at the gap, but they push the Gap card hard both at the register and before letting you into the dressing room. Really? I can get 10% off my purchase today just by signing up for and putting this purchase on your 23.9% credit card?
I hate being approached by the Costco person while I’m standing in the check-out line.
Fundamentally, it’s bad enough that I’m paying Costco $50 for a membership so I can spend money at Costco, but whatever.
The Costco person then wants to upsell me to a $100 membership.
Financially, this may even make sense to me. However, I reject the company’s selling techniques when they want to engage me in a discussion of the benefits every time I go shopping at Costco. It seems to me Costco would not be aggressively pursuing me as a “Super Elite Member (or whatever it is)” if the conversion did not cause more financial benefit to Costco compared to me.
The market won’t grow if signs are bigger and taller. But as a retailer, I want to grow my share of the market. I do that by being more visible than my competitor. I want to take business away from other retailers. That’s why I have a guy in a gorilla suit waving at you as you drive by. Because you go home and dwell on it and maybe talk about it to other people. Some day you’ll need a widget that I sell. And when you do, somewhere in the back of your mind is a gorilla wearing my uniform holding a widget.
Why wouldn’t you just pay the balance in full? The Gap card also gives you greater discounts than they have in store at other times as well, not only for your first purchase (like 30% off, 35% with the card.) If you often go shopping there, I don’t see why you *wouldn’t *open a Gap card.
That’s as may be. And then again it might not, in the long run. My experience has been the hassles of “joining the club” at whatever store always outweigh the benefits. The answer is NO, NO, NO to all inane offers I get at a cash register.
While I’m on the subject, a cashier should never ask for my zip code or phone number. I always flatly refuse, and have never had them balk at taking my money for a purchase. I’m looking at you Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Supermarkets were mentioned earlier, and I totally agree that it’s silly not to have enough cashiers on duty. Twice this month I have abandoned a full shopping cart at the front of the store because the lines were too long. This was after saying something to the manager, and seeing no action taken. I hope it cost them a lot in labor and possibly spoilage to put it all back.
What are these hassles you speak of? I’ve seen this sentiment often on this board and never understood it. The only thing that ever happens after signing up for a store card is that I’ll get the occasional coupon in the mail.
Then again, I am not one of those people who are weirdly secretive about the zip code I live in. Oh noes! Random company knows I live in the same part of town as 100,000 other people! Oh the horror!
The “Gap Card” is not just a store card like the supermarkets use, it’s an actual credit card with a very high interest rate that’s being hard pushed in a store that sells mostly to young 20’s who probably have never had a credit card and are most likely to pay only the minimum required payment which will fark up their credit rating long term just so they could get $5. off a pair of new jeans.
Geez, there should probably be commas or periods up in there somewhere.
Oh, how I hate that one. Nearly any time you say how much you hate and are irritated by some advert, there will be someone present to smugly retort “Ah! but you remembered it! - so the ad worked!”. Bullshit. I’m convinced this is a lie put about by advertising execs, so they can’t ever be wrong, even when they fail.
I have to fill out a form to join the club, wasting my time and possibly that of others in line behind me. It gives the store information about me I may not want to share, which they will then sell to others. Then I get more junk mail, both physical and electronic. The card clutters my wallet with another item I have to sift through to find what I really need.
No thanks. I prefer to simply get what I pay for. Besides which, I’m more likely to shop at a store with lower prices in the first place that doesn’t need to push me to sign up for some kind of club card, which means I’m saving money anyway.
Odd – this never happens at the CostCo’s here in the Twin Cities. And I’ve been there often, like just yesterday.
So it must be something decided on by your local store or regional manager. So complain to them. Point out that it is NOT corporate policy, it’s isn’t done in all stores. “Why are you doing this rude thing in our store?”
(P.S. I still think the best way to deal with this is not to respond. Ignore that person when they come up to you in the line. Don’t look at them, speak to them, or respond at all. Eventually they will go away.
If they actually touch you, then you can respond: Scream loudly: “Help! Stop touching me! Someone help me! Who is this person and why are they touching me? Are you a pervert? …” It will stop very quickly.)
In many cases (or at least the cards that I’ve applied for) the company requires a working email or phone number for “confirmation”, and by signing up for the card, you are also signing up for spam and/or telemarketing. This is part of the contract. If you don’t want the spam or telemarketing, your choice is to not get the card.
I called a place that was running three different versions of this message – two male and one female voice recordings – interrupting the (radio, and poorly-tuned at that) hold music. At one point, I shit you not, the female recording interrupted one of the male recordings.
I did not feel like my call was three times as important. I just felt three times as annoyed.
I don’t mind giving out a ZIP code (postal service code). However, a lot of businesses want to keep track of their customers by phone number. And even if you are assured that they won’t use it for telemarketing, they’ll call you up to let you know of a “special sale”.
If that’s not telemarketing, I don’t know what is. Yeah, they’re legally entitled to telemarket to people who have done business with them. However, if I ask them to remove my number from their marketing list, and I get two more calls after that, they have lost my business.
The Gap card also gives you greater discounts than they have in store at other times as well, not only for your first purchase (like 30% off, 35% with the card.) If you often go shopping there, I don’t see why you *wouldn’t *open a Gap card.