Specialist shops and aggressive salesmanship

Post Reply New Topic

I really hate going into specialist shops- the kind with very knowledgeable sales staff who will answer any enquiry with a hard-sell pitch for something very expensive that isn't what you actually need. Instead of me being able to tap their expertise, I get treated like an obvious sucker. Depending on my degree of urgency, I either walk away empty-handed and spend several more weeks struggling to locate what I need, or I get hustled and spend several weeks cursing myself for a weak-minded fool.

Same here.  I needed an extender cable for some radio equipment, and the salesperson insisted that I needed a certain item that did not even have the proper connectors.  Then he became angry when I told him that if he would not sell me what I wanted, then I would not purchase what he had for sale.

This is one of the things that is driving customers to make their purchases through Amazon.

Indeed. My determination to support the local high street has been shaken by a couple of incidents lately. At least you don't get this attitude in book shops!

I may have posted this in another thread a while ago, but it doesn't seem entirely out of place here....

It's not just confined to specialist shops though. At the late and lamented Comet stores, it was commonplace for quite a while for their sales assistants (who were not very knowledgeable) to pressurize customers into paying up to £60 for a gold-plated Scart lead, on the grounds that it would produce far better sound and pictures than an ordinary lead (which could be obtained for around £2). Of course, it did no such thing - 99% of people would notice no difference whatsoever in the performance of their TV sets or HiFi equipment..

Damn, I've not seen that before and it's brilliant! Yeah, I think that's basically what's going on in their heads, but in real life they make sure to get your money too....