I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being upsold. take tires: i go in for two new tires-old tires still pass inspection, no abnormal wear, no funny driving conditions. all i want :two new tires (in front) mounted, balanced, and installed. Now for the upselling:
-“sir, you need an alignment”
-you need new valaves
-you neeed our “roadmaster” protection plan
-you need nitrogen (instead of air/80 % nitrogen)
Final estimate 9including all the upsold stuff) $64.00 extra/tire.
I told the guy:“I want two new tires, mounted and balanced”.
-“But sir, you really need to…”
What would you do?
So, say “no.” But, you can’t fault the guy for trying to improve his bottom line. Upselling has been a fundamental part of retail selling since the beginning for a reason.
If they’re insistent to the point of being annoying, I tend to walk out. I’ve walked out of Best Buy many times after they insisted that I should reeeeeeally get the extended warranty because their products are just that shitty. I’ve worked in customer service before and I understand that some companies give the employees a lot of shit for not pushing the items that garner most profit, and I’ll generally be tolerant if they throw it out there what kind of extra “services” are available to me. But if they keep insisting after I say no, I walk away. The sleezy ones have honed in on the easily manipulated and anything other than a firm rejection will encourage them to pursue the extras sale. After they’ve told you about those upselling features that are available for you, and you pause to think about it, they will take that hesitation to mean you might be persuaded to change your mind even after an initial “no”.
If there are multiple salespeople and I feel like being a bitch that day or when I really don’t feel like driving somewhere else, I usually hold a hand up to the annoying one and tell them to stop with the spiel, then walk over to someone else and explain that I’ve been receiving very poor customer service from their co-worker and am hoping to be served by someone who will not insist on selling me something I do not need. The few times I’ve done that, the second salesperson made no peep about extended warranties after I’ve made it clear I’ve already heard about that particular “service”.
Good luck on not being forced to buy new valves with your tires. The last time I was waiting for my truck to be done at the local tire and alignment shop, I was watching them dismount tires. Every single time, they used some sort of prybar to yank the valve out of the wheel before breaking the bead.
As for the other stuff, if I was planning on keeping the car a long time, I might consider the road hazard warranty - but you need to read them carefully for exclusions like sidewall damage. A resounding no for nitrogen.
Being told you need alignment is tougher - if the service writer is pushing alignment before anyone’s looked at the car, I’ll skip it unless the car’s been handling funny. If someone comes to me after the car’s on the lift and says my tires are being worn unevenly, then the car *does *need an alignment (or possibly some worn-out suspension parts replaced).
I tend to walk out on hard-sellers. Pisses me off to no end. If I say “no thank you” and they continue to insist that I “need” this or that, I tell them that they have lost my business. Pretty simple.
I’ve only had to walk out on one clueless sales rep. Most of the rest took my initial no thank you to mean no.
Of course, it may work in my favor that people tend to get the impression I’m wouldn’t object to reaching down their throat, grabbing their colon, and yanking them inside out.
I’d walk out and go to Costco for tires. No upselling, no extra charges, and nitrogen’s included.
I don’t deal with upsellers. Best Buy gets a firm but unequivocal “No, thank you,” and they’ve never tried to push. Most places I say no with a little smirk like the cashier and I are in on our little joke: I know that they know that I know they have to say it 'cause their manager’s a douche, but we both know no one in their right might would take it. Seems to work just fine.
I’ve actually told salespeople “If you try to upsell me/suggest a warrenty one more time, I’m walking out of here.” It’s especially effective if you have a cart or armful of stuff you are about to pay for.
The few times that hasn’t worked, I’ve passed by the customer service desk on my way out, depositing all my unpurchased items on the counter (assuming it’s not busy) and made a comment that they had just lost a sale due to the selling tactics. Extra points it the manager happens to be at the service counter.
I love this. My car came from the factory with nitrogen in the tires, which I though was pretty neat until I realized it was just a useless gimmick. But when I had a flat, the mechanic a) tried to sell me on a nitrogen-refill instead of compressed air for something like $10 (which I could have done for free at the dealership) and b) warned me not to mix compressed air and nitrogen in the tires because they could interact and “damage” the tires. :smack: