Rex, I agree and would shop at Columbia Photo, yet everytime I go there I find I’m way out of my league. For instance, I bought a digital camera the Christmas before last, spending $250. I went to every store in town I could think of that sells cameras because I wanted to look at each one, compare prices and features and never wonder if I picked the best camera for me.
When I went to Columbia Photo, their cheapest digital camera was $400. Now I didn’t buy (or want) the cheapest digital camera on the market. I wanted something nicer, yet something I could afford. (Same issue when I bought my DVD player. The one I bought was $175. Their cheapest model was $300.)
That’s why I don’t shop there. They don’t have any middle-of-the-market items. They’re really too small to cater to anything other than the high end customer.
Well lets see what I’ve bought at Best Buy over the years on sale:
32" TV, it was open but instead of 500-600 I paid 300, didn’t get a remote but who cares, the only thing that I can’t do is use PIP that I don’t miss anyway.
A TV stand for said TV for $80, normally over 200, it was the last one and it was put together. The stand had one chip out of it, who cares?
A new CD player for the car for 140, under 200 installed.
I also use the 10% off coupons that they send me once a year. Not once have I been asked more then once for the service plan, I think it’s the evil eye I give them.
After reading this thread I have come up with a full-proof plan to combat annoying salespeople, the “Just Say No to Retail” cards!
Each card would be printed with the following bullet points in bold-faced text:
I Do Not Want an Extended Warranty I Do Not Want Peripheral Products I Do Not Want to Make Light Conversation While Shopping I Do Not Want to Hear About Other Deals
Armed with such a card the holder can combat pushy retail salespeople with a simple flick of the wrist.
This is why you need to make it the manager’s problem. Tell the salesperson who won’t take no for an answer that you want to speak to their manager. Explain your problem to the manager and tell them that you don’t want to hear the sales pitch any more, and you’ll leave if you hear it. Don’t just threaten to leave, make sure the time wasted is a burden to the manager.
When I bought my truck, I got through with the salesperson and was sent into the room with the guy who does all the paperwork. He tried to sell me the service contract at least a dozen times, despite me telling him in no uncertain terms that I did not want it. I finally told him that if he mentioned it one more time, I was going to have to ask him to go get his manager. Of course, he mentioned it again, and I had to summon the manager. While waiting for the manager to arrive, he continued to try to sell me the service contract, despite the fact that I was at this point refusing to even talk to him. When the manager arrived, I explained the problem and said that I wasn’t going to talk to the pushy guy any more, and from that point on would only deal with the manager. The pushy guy tried some more to explain the service contract, and I asked the manager to make him leave. He left, and the manager and I finished the paperwork in peace.
It was really satisfying not only because I got to kick the guy out of his own office, but because I turned the whole hard-sell into a problem for the sales manager. If enough people do this, it’ll waste enough of the sales manager’s time that he’ll tell his people to take it easy on customers who obviously are dead-set against whatever they’re pushing.
See, and I had just the opposite experience when I bought my car in January. I was expecting the massive hard sell and the guy asked once. I told him I wasn’t interested. He did ask to be sure I understood that I was passing up the offer and had me sign a paper that he’d presented it to me and I declined but there was no pressure whatsoever.
On the other hand, I booked a massage yesterday and the freakin’ masseur tried to upsell me! From a one-hour to a two-hour session.