DW surprised me with an in-house term life promo

[kgtest]

Saw the high-pressure TimeShare post and had to share a similar experience.

Long story short, new baby. DW put her email into some mommy form and next thing I know she's telling me how we get something free and that I need to be home on such and such date when they drop it off.

Originally the red flags flew right by me. Then that Sunday came right after dinner, "So you will be home after dinner this person is stopping by".

Shoot, why would I need to be home "No I', not" DW to me:"But they said both parents need to be there"

Oh boy... now the red flag is up.

Feller shows up, offers us some free child safety kit if we donate canned goods, and proceeds to befriend us asking about our roots, high school alum etc, and also pries about insurance. Term, Life, Insurance.

I turn to DW with my surprised-eyed look, in the middle of his napkin numbers game and say, "well typically before I commit to a Term Life Insurance plan I do my diligence which includes diligent research". Trying to elude that I was somewhat surprised by his offering and not ready to commit...in a nice way. Of course he starts rattling off different products and returns and all I can think of is how I bought AAPL at $96/share and how I bought VHT way back at $70...and how I have enough money to cover any possible short term insurance loss...

And I finally interrupt him and his pitch and just blatantly state "Look we have enough, I am adequately insured and my investments more than outweigh my risks". He got the message and left but not before signing us up for "free" $2,000 worth of supplemental life.


That was one of those moments where I didn't even really need to recap with DW what happened, she knew it was a mistake.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Along the same lines

When were were having a baby, an in home salesman came to show us a high chair, this thing did everything, it converted to all sorts of contraptions. He told me "look this thing will NOT tip over." Me and him pushed and tugged, yup it was solid.

Then came the price. My rent was $350 a month in those days, I think the high chair was 1200 dollars. I was sort of embarrassed, as I was used to always saying yes to anything my wife wanted. Then I started muttering some nonsense like I have to think about it, or some such stammering. I think the freebie was some bibs.

Wow that was 33-34 years ago , how time flies.

 

[bobandsherry]

When were were having a baby, an in home salesman came to show us a high chair, this thing did everything, it converted to all sorts of contraptions. He told me "look this thing will NOT tip over." Me and him pushed and tugged, yup it was solid.

Then came the price. My rent was $350 a month in those days, I think the high chair was 1200 dollars. I was sort of embarrassed, as I was used to always saying yes to anything my wife wanted. Then I started muttering some nonsense like I have to think about it, or some such stammering. I think the freebie was some bibs.

Wow that was 33-34 years ago , how time flies.

Yup, I remember that - it was called the Wonda Chair if memory serves.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Yup, I remember that - it was called the Wonda Chair if memory serves.

OMG, thats unbelievable, I believe this is it. Or its clone. You have a fantastic memory. Thank you.

Update, yes 100 % this is it. Nice job

 

[btdt22]

When someone charges $1200 for a high chair that you will use for a very limited time, I suspect that is one of those things that is rather hard to forget

 

[Sunset]

I once spent a week or so, selling Kirby vacuums.
They were about $1,500 when you could by a regular vacuum for $250 or less.
It taught me a lot of the scummy sales techniques people use to sell overpriced stuff.

 

[Nemo2]

I once spent a week or so, selling Kirby vacuums.
They were about $1,500 when you could by a regular vacuum for $250 or less.
It taught me a lot of the scummy sales techniques people use to sell overpriced stuff.

I once worked with a guy who'd spent some time pushing photos (primarily of kids). As per usual, those who could least afford them were the first to buy.

They'd take the pics, at a supermarket or somesuch after putting up misleading ads pricewise, compile some (much more expensive) albums and literally wait for the welfare cheques to be delivered.

One technique, if the mother balked at the price, (and it was usually the mother), was to say that they had to dispose of the unpurchased pics and then slowly tear Little Johnny's photo up in front of her.

The mothers would invariably say that, if the pics had to be destroyed couldn't they just give them to her?

"I'm so sorry, but I'm not allowed to do that" was the stock response.

 

[Calico]

Wonda-Chair

It appears to have the Good Housekeeping seal of approval!

 

[jazz4cash]

I'm surprised at a home visit by a salesperson for term life. When I ER'd we had a guy come out but he tried to pitch a lot of other stuff before accepting that I was only interested in the term life product.

 

[Jerry1]

I recall the time I asked Sears to come out and quote a job to put siding on my house. I expected to hear about $5,000 (which was admittedly too low but I didn't know that at the time). I kept telling the guy that he could save us both a bunch of time if he'd just give me a ballpark estimate to see if it was even something I could afford (was young at the time). By the time he spit out the number ($20,000), I laughed in his face. He acted like I was kidding and kept on telling me about the quality of the job and materials. Eventually, I literally had to verbally kick him out of the house. I wasn't laughing by that time. In the end, it did cost around $15,000, which was still shocking, but at least I did save around $5,000. As I've grown older and wiser (I mean less tolerant), I pretty much don't let anyone in my house or get too far in the sales pitch before I shut them down. I find that the people who do quality work have to be sought out.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, they don't call you. And you have to wait months too.

 

[bobandsherry]

OMG, thats unbelievable, I believe this is it. Or its clone. You have a fantastic memory. Thank you.

Update, yes 100 % this is it. Nice job

I recalled it for at the time I was think "I wunda how they think they can charge so much for that chare". $1,200 30+ years ago was basically 7-8 months of car payments.

It was also done in a large group, must have been 30-40 parents all gathered around in meeting room in a store which I think was called "The Babys Room".

 

[athena53]

My first husband had a cleanliness fetish. I swear that the smell of newly-Windexed counters was an aphrodisiac to him. His first wife got the Electrolux in the divorce and he HAD to have another one. No other brand would do. It was sold by in-home sales people so we had an appointment one evening right after I'd finished my regularly-scheduled study session for an actuarial exam I was taking- in other words, the scant free time I had left when not working, eating, sleeping or studying. BF (he wasn't my husband at the time) managed to work late and miss all but the tail end of the long pitch, demo, etc. We bought it, of course, but that was predetermined.

I cringe now that I sat through all that crap but I'm a people-pleaser and was much worse back then (30+ years ago). In retrospect I should have told him, "I want this, I don't want the sales pitch, and if you can get the deal done in X minutes I'll buy it."

Oh, yeah, the BF and I married, 13 years later we divorced, and he took the Electrolux.

 

[SecondCor521]

I got the Kirby sales pitch once. I was suckered in by the offer to clean a part of my carpet for free, which of course turned in to a 4 hour sales pitch.

Eventually when they figured out I wasn't going to buy it, we got into some interesting conversations about how they sell, who buys, etc.

IIRC they had a pretty high conversion rate. The other thing I found out is that they start at some ridiculous price ($3000?) but can easily be talked down to about $1200 or so.

The other thing they told me was that about 99% of them are financed. What surprised me is that the Kirby company didn't get any portion of the financing deal even though it was like 20% on a 4-year term. They just handed it off completely to the financing company. Maybe participating would be considered an illegal kickback or something, I dunno.

 

[Amethyst]

This is why we no longer go to "home shows."
In 2011, we needed a new roof. We made the mistake of mentioning this to the overly friendly young fellow at a roofer's stall at the "home show." We gave our phone number, also a mistake. We started getting a slew of phone calls offering roof estimates. They wanted $60,000 for a "lifetime roof," and were willing to allow us to pay it off in monthly installments at a mere 6% interest.
Our other estimates ranged from $10K to $20K and we ended up paying $14K, cash. Only a 30-year guarantee, but for us that's pretty much "lifetime."

 

[jollystomper]

about 20 or so years ago when we first looked to replace 10 windows, we contacted one of those window places that mailed us flyers every other month. Over the phone they could not give us a ballpark cost range and said they had to send someone out. Though we warned them that we would not be buying and just wanted an estimate, the salesperson who came out tried his best to give us a high pressure pitch about how bad our windows were and how much better this new was technology. Long story short it took us an hour to get an estimate out of him, which was 10x what we expected. I was just laughed and said sorry, not interested this is way too high, at which point he begins berating us for wasting *his* time.

We called the company at told them what happened, and said if we ever got another flyer or solicitation from them again we would do our best to let every house in the neighborhood and everyone we worked and socialized with with know about this visit. We never heard from them again.

 

[athena53]

The other thing they told me was that about 99% of them are financed. What surprised me is that the Kirby company didn't get any portion of the financing deal even though it was like 20% on a 4-year term. They just handed it off completely to the financing company. Maybe participating would be considered an illegal kickback or something, I dunno.

My guess is that they have a pretty high default rate so have to charge high interest rates to compensate. It's probably a personal loan, so not secured by the vacuum so they can't repossess it. It could also be that the financing company is giving them a portion of the profits at the corporate level but the salespeople aren't told that.

 

[PatrickA5]

Right before our first child was born, an encyclopedia salesman shows up. By the time he was gone, we'd spent $750 on all sorts of books. I mean our child NEEDED them, right? She wouldn't fall behind in school and all of her friends would think she's a genius! Took 3 years to pay them off. Never opened them up, but they looked nice in the bookcase. Fast forward 25 years and I had a hard time even getting the local library to take them off my hands.

 

[aja8888]

Never opened them up, but they looked nice in the bookcase.

This was the sole reason my ex wanted to buy the encyclopedia set.

 

[beowulf]

My encyclopedia was at the public library one block away from where we lived . But that didn't stop my Mom from buying the first volume of every encyclopedia that was sold in our local supermarket from time to time - that one was free with any purchase over $10. I guess they figured you would get hooked. They didn't know my Mom. I had lots of fun and actually learned a lot about everything that began with A, B, or C, depending on the brand . We also had lots of free bank give aways in our area for opening a new $25 savings account. Toasters, blankets, can openers, etc. Usually you had to keep the money in the bank for 6 months. At 6 months and 1 day, the accounts would be closed. This was in the late 1950s and early '60s. Needless to say, door to door salesmen didn't get very far at our home.

When I was young, I followed some of the same habits. But my new wife wanted to know what we would do with all this crap and what the point was. That type of accumulation didn't last long. Now I do it with credit cards and airline points .

 

[jollystomper]

Right before our first child was born, an encyclopedia salesman shows up. By the time he was gone, we'd spent $750 on all sorts of books. I mean our child NEEDED them, right? She wouldn't fall behind in school and all of her friends would think she's a genius! Took 3 years to pay them off. Never opened them up, but they looked nice in the bookcase. Fast forward 25 years and I had a hard time even getting the local library to take them off my hands.

Interestingly, my parents also bought the multi-volume World Book Encyclopedia back in the early 60s for what was probably an outrageous price. However, being immigrants, English not being my fathers native language, and my Mom without a high school degree, they read the volumes pretty much from cover to cover, as did us kids. If we ever said we were bored or had nothing to do, they would say "you can always go read the encyclopedia!" Based on how their kids turned out it was money well spent.

 

[athena53]

Ah, encyclopedias. Ours was Collier's. Apparently the pitch my parents fell for was that they were getting the encyclopedias for free in return to showing them to all their friends, and ALSO for buying their "Yearbook" update for the next 10 years. I was the oldest and not yet reading at the time so it was a bit early to buy encyclopedias. I wonder how many people actually continued buying the Yearbooks for the agreed period.

I also remember reading the A volume of a dictionary my grandma picked up at the grocery store (the articles on amethyst and anteaters were my favorites) and spending HOURS reading a kids' encyclopedia set, which my mother did buy in its entirety at the grocery store.

 

[Amethyst]

I also remember reading the A volume of a dictionary my grandma picked up at the grocery store (the articles on amethyst and anteaters were my favorites) .

 

[Rummy]

We thought it would be a nice gesture to donate our encyclopedia set to one of our local Amish schools. They said they have more sets than students and didn't want it..

 

[Walt34]

I recall the time I asked Sears to come out and quote a job to put siding on my house. I expected to hear about $5,000 (which was admittedly too low but I didn't know that at the time).

You too?

I think it was about 1997 give or take a year, DW wanted new siding on the house (never mind that there wasn't a dang thing wrong with the old siding except she didn't like the color, green, and it was the old 1950's asbestos) but what we needed was a new roof. So I called Sears for an estimate and like you this guy quoted about $15k for the siding and I didn't ask about the roof. We'd already had one quote quite a bit lower than that, I think about $6k, and the Sears guy went on and on about the quality, lifetime guarantee, etc. until like you I about had to physically eject him. They kept calling until I told the last one I was going to make an application for an arrest warrant for harassing telephone calls.

I ended up dealing with a small local company that had done both roofing and siding jobs for half the SWAT team members over the years (not exactly the guys one would choose to rip off) and they did a fine job on both the roof and siding for a combined $6k.