Have You Been Snubbed?

[Telly]

Aren't clerks in high-end stores basically butlers?

They handle the stuff, but they can't afford it themselves?

[daylatedollarshort]

I have a feeling most people who post here are likely to be impervious to a lot of marketing gimmicks, snobby clerks included.

[growing_older]

Brands - even luxury brands - are not the only providers of their products. If Tiffany treats me poorly (they never have) then I can always go to Cartier. If some people respond by stubbornly insisting on buying when given poor service, then they are welcome to the places that treat them poorly. I rarely have any interest in luxury goods, but have usually been treated very well by salespeople despite my usually very casual dress. In the rare cases I have had bad sales experiences, I have not bought, have not returned, and found other ways to satisfy the desire for that luxury - which sometimes just means don't buy that ever, it is after all a luxury and can be lived without. I hope no marketing gurus get ahold of this notion that people treated badly are more likely to buy. A fad of deliberately snobby salesclerks would make shopping miserable.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I have a feeling most people who post here are likely to be impervious to a lot of marketing gimmicks, snobby clerks included.

+1

I'm not sure I would even notice.

[daylatedollarshort]

The last time we went to buy a car, I remember the sales people at one dealership kept saying "do you love the car"?

Love the car? It isn't a custom made Rolls Royce or a one of a kind old master painting. It is a used, budget priced economy car we are buying for one of the kids, and if we don't buy it here we will buy one of the other 500 almost identical models, perhaps in a different color, available for sale in our metro area, next week or the week after.

To which they replied "Do you love the car?"

The part I find scary is that presumably the love the car line must work on some / most of their other customers or they wouldn't keep using it. This is another marketing tactic I just don't get.

I think many of the people who post here are just wired differently than the masses.

[anethum]

I was snubbed by a real estate agent when I showed up at an open house on my bicycle. I later told the agent I was working with about being snubbed, and he loved the story and told other agents about it. A few weeks later when I saw a listing for another house which sounded promising, I perused the house from the outside by bike, then called the agent I was working with and we met later at the open house that afternoon. I ended up buying the house and still live in it years later.

[growing_older]

Quote:

sales people at one dealership kept saying "do you love the car"?

I was also target of this same relentless question when I last bought a car. I was completely confused why they would keep asking such a strange thing. I guess I finally gave them some non-committal "sure" just to get them to stop. Curious.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover My idea of luxury is shopping Costco instead of Walmart.

Just came back from Costco. Wife looked at the glass case, and they had a $19,999 pendant. That's plenty rich for me. And I have not been buying wine at Costco for a while. Trader Joe's has my price range.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Don't knock costco out of the luxury business. I was there today and there was a bottle of booze that was $5k. What does that work out per shot? Pretty darn luxurious. (It was in a locked cabinet). I never noticed it because I don't peruse the expensive end of that aisle.

Forget about the $5K bottle of booze. I am still building up courage to spring for a bottle of Cognac for $1.5K for my 60th birthday, which is still a while away. I need a lot of prep time to tell myself that for once in my life, I want to see if I can tell the difference between that and the several $150 bottles I have had and still have in my cabinet. Once thought I would do that for my 50th, then even forgot about my birthday.

And speaking of shopping, have you looked at the price of beef and shrimp lately? We just dropped $300 at Costco, and our cart was so empty (well, we had some non-food pricey items, but still). Perhaps I should have put this post on the "how you splurge" thread. Soon, just eating steak and shrimp will be considered splurging for the LBYM crowd.

[mickeyd]

I try to limit most of my retail purchases to filling up the car's gas tank (self service) every 2-3 weeks.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort The part I find scary is that presumably the love the car line must work on some / most of their other customers or they wouldn't keep using it. This is another marketing tactic I just don't get. I think many of the people who post here are just wired differently than the masses.

During my very brief (~a month) career as a car salesman during the two-day training class I was surprised at what works, and what the salespeople are told to say and emphasize. All emotional, no logic. So I suppose that's what works most of the time for most people.

So you're right. That stuff doesn't work on the people who post here.

[daylatedollarshort]

When I think of most designer purchases, I just look at the celebrity lifestyles in the gossip columns and look at how the famous designers live. Any dollar I might potentially spend on their purses or perfumes would be used to fuel their already over the top lifestyles and take away a dollar from my own little FI fund.

Personally, I would rather keep the dollar, use it so our kids never have to have soul sucking, life force draining jobs or donate it to an elephant sanctuary.

[MichaelB]

Isn't "attitude" part of a retail marketing strategy? Salesperson attitude and product exclusivity are part of the value proposition for some successful brands.

[JPatrick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw It made me want to go someplace else to buy the corvette that I wanted. Not what he thought I could afford or handle. Just wanted to make sure he saw the commission he lost from the "little girl". I'll be ordering 2015 corvette this Fall. I'll make sure I take it back there as well! Don't mess with little girls!

Gee I dunno, I've read quite a lot about the 2015's, and I'm just not sure that is a car for a girl. On the other hand, Toyota has some nice wheels..

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 During my very brief (~a month) career as a car salesman during the two-day training class I was surprised at what works, and what the salespeople are told to say and emphasize. All emotional, no logic. So I suppose that's what works most of the time for most people. So you're right. That stuff doesn't work on the people who post here.

We sold a car this week and shopped it around for best offer. One dealer offered $500 less than blue book, which we rejected. They asked what price we would sell it for, accepted that, did their usual keep us waiting for 20 minutes, then when it was time to fill out the pink slip they reneged and went back to the $500 less than blue book offer. So we just left and got $500 more at the next place.

That is another marketing ploy I do not understand. Why offer more then renege on their own offer? What does that do except waste their own time? Why would this ever be effective even on non-engineering brain type buyers?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort That is another marketing ploy I do not understand. Why offer more then renege on their own offer? What does that do except waste their own time?

It doesn't always waste their time. Some fraction of those they try this on will cave and take the reduced offer.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort That is another marketing ploy I do not understand. Why offer more then renege on their own offer? What does that do except waste their own time?

Doesn't make sense to me either. Maybe they figure you'll sell for the lower price since you've decided to sell there and won't move on if they change the terms.

There's a lot about sales that I don't understand and probably never will. Maybe that's why I got fired.

[growing_older]

Quote:

That is another marketing ploy I do not understand. Why offer more then renege on their own offer? What does that do except waste their own time? Why would this ever be effective even on non-engineering brain type buyers?

I encountered this when buying a car as well. The deal we agreed to came back in writing slightly less than what we agreed - in their favor, and each of the three times the paperwork had to "go to finance" for processing it came back with "mistakes" in their favor. Plus long waits for no discernible reason. Maybe if customers have so much time invested they finally cave? My assumption is that this is standard operating procedure and they apologize and "fix the error" if they are called on it, but many people probably don't check and recheck such long documentation every time. A slimy business.

[TrvlBug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 During my very brief (~a month) career as a car salesman during the two-day training class I was surprised at what works, and what the salespeople are told to say and emphasize. All emotional, no logic. So I suppose that's what works most of the time for most people. So you're right. That stuff doesn't work on the people who post here.

This brings back memories of my '94 Camaro purchase. Salesman was also glowing about the car, appealing to my emotional side. I told him that I don't fall in love with cars. To me a car must get me from point A to point B and I was looking for a sporty, functional car and that it would get a wash once in a blue moon. You'd a thought I kicked him in the gut based on the look on his face .

[mystang52]

I bought my new Lexus ES last year. I stopped at the dealership on a last-minute decision since I was in the area anyway. I was in jeans, probably a less-than-pretty T shirt, and hadn't shaved in 3 days (4?). The salesperson took me seriously, but when it came time to haggling dollars that was another story. Part of the issue was they found it difficult to accept that I was neither leasing or financing. It wasn't 'til I started to walk out that they then began to talk turkey in earnest.
Clearly, they "size you up" as soon as you walk in; sometimes they are wrong. I told them that I expected this treatment at "pedestrian" brands, just before I initially walked. I saw a change in their body language with that comment, and after then they talked seriously.

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort We sold a car this week and shopped it around for best offer. One dealer offered $500 less than blue book, which we rejected. They asked what price we would sell it for, accepted that, did their usual keep us waiting for 20 minutes, then when it was time to fill out the pink slip they reneged and went back to the $500 less than blue book offer. So we just left and got $500 more at the next place. That is another marketing ploy I do not understand. Why offer more then renege on their own offer? What does that do except waste their own time? Why would this ever be effective even on non-engineering brain type buyers?

This.

Quote:

I bought my new Lexus ES last year. I stopped at the dealership on a last-minute decision since I was in the area anyway. I was in jeans, probably a less-than-pretty T shirt, and hadn't shaved in 3 days (4?). The salesperson took me seriously, but when it came time to haggling dollars that was another story. Part of the issue was they found it difficult to accept that I was neither leasing or financing. It wasn't 'til I started to walk out that they then began to talk turkey in earnest. Clearly, they "size you up" as soon as you walk in; sometimes they are wrong. I told them that I expected this treatment at "pedestrian" brands, just before I initially walked. I saw a change in their body language with that comment, and after then they talked seriously.

And this.

Perhaps the thread should be retitled...Have you ever snubbed or been snubbed?

omni