Yay, something else we won't sell

[Aethian]

Going to be waiting a loooonnnngggg time Irv.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

We sold another Zip delivery Friday. It was for several pieces of bedroom furniture, which totaled $1200.

It remained sold until Sunday night, when the customer decided to return everything because Zip evidently couldn't deliver her stuff fast enough for her liking. And because she paid for everything with cash, the service desk person had to go into the safe to get her money.

And I got stuck dragging all the items back into their backstock locations this morning.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Maybe I can find a working vacuum tube TV that doesn't have anything, just an antenna sticking out the top.

I have one of those. Bloody thing was still working when I left it at The Cabin In The Woods.

[underemployeed]

I HATE pushy sales people I don't care if your supposed to ask me if I want your rewards card. When I used the statement, No i don't have it and I don't want it. STOP. As multiple people have pointed out these policies don't increase sales they just make me go somewhere else.

I also hate those repair services since most don't offer accidental damage on laptops anymore and circuit city was horrible at repairs anyways. Didn't repair my moms laptop right (needed reinstall that was covered) to the point after waiting 2weeks for it it crashed 15 min after we got home because all the did was uninstall the antivirus that they felt was responsible, um thanks?. My Gf being the klutz she is didn't zip her bag before going up stairs. Broke screen, and manged to throw the fan off balance where it sounded like a 747 same for Cd drive. The company picking up the repairs refused to fix it, after receiving it 3 times for same issue. Even guy at radio shack responsible for shipping it to the repair company KNEW it was broken. (well the fixed screen, noise and excessive vibrations were claimed not to be covered)

I support that services need to be priced reasonable $100 to run the backup software that auto starts and prompts you to put in blank dvds to make backup is in no way reasonable.

I actually have went for the extended service plan bit on a few expensive purchases because $30 for 2 years of coverage seems reasonable for my $499 PS3. However, $30 for 2 years coverage on a $40 DVD player that is gonna be a gift, is not at all a smart investment.

And friend who worked at best buy highly recommend having them install your flat screen TV if you wanted it wall mounted because he said they guaranteed it and when your dropping $5000 on a tv I guess it worth extra little bit have a professional do it and even if they botch the job and it falls off the wall it covered.

@Irving Patrick Freleigh,
So what your telling me is you have managed to sell 2 ZIP deliveries? And neither of them went smoothly and management expects you to keep up this bothering people for service that makes your company look like idiots?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Another thing I just thought of! Why can't I think of these things all at once?

We're also offering setup and installation on video game consoles. Most. Pointless. Service. EVAR.

Is it really so hard to match the colored plugs on the cables with the colored inputs on your TV? Is that really so hard? So hard you have to wait a few days or a week until the Zip guy shows up while your kids are whining "I wanna play Wii!"? If it is I'm not sure I want to go on living anymore.

My personal belief: Anyone who needs this service really has no business being near a game console in the first place.

I HATE pushy sales people I don't care if your supposed to ask me if I want your rewards card. When I used the statement, No i don't have it and I don't want it. STOP. As multiple people have pointed out these policies don't increase sales they just make me go somewhere else.

Many retailers require their employees to offer such things to every customer with the threat of a write up or other penalty if it does not happen. Also a lot of companies require employees to ask more than once before accepting a "No." response as final. This is true in both commission and non commission businesses.

[Magpie]

My personal belief: Anyone who needs this service really has no business being near a game console in the first place.

Add a disclaimer for physical limitations and I'm with you 100%. Although everyone needs to start somewhere, you really ought to make sure you have someone who can help you when you have trouble. If this person isn't willing to help you do setup, are they going to be willing to help you otherwise?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I actually have went for the extended service plan bit on a few expensive purchases because $30 for 2 years of coverage seems reasonable for my $499 PS3. However, $30 for 2 years coverage on a $40 DVD player that is gonna be a gift, is not at all a smart investment.

The front end manager at the swamp prints out the report that shows all the stores' extended protection plan sales and conversion percentages, and posts it near the breakroom each day, because as our district leadership team says, "winners keep score."

On the report she'll write comments that are meant to be encouraging, but come off as desperate. "We're last in the district on EPPs, what's happening? Do we need some more role play assistance? Decide to sell EPPs every day and the sales will come. We need to grow this end of our business."

It's almost comical at first, but then you realize upper management is laying the pressure on her thick to get those conversion rates up. Currently, out of about 130 stores, we rank 125th in EPP sales. And we're almost always very low on the list. It doesn't help when your clientele is largely old and cheap, and buying cheaper items where an EPP makes no sense at all. But no matter; if they decided to fire all the managers at the store simply over EPPs sales rates, they could do that, so we're all pressured to SELL SELL SELL.

Sucks, but that's what retail has come to; selling things that people don't need or want because it's free money. If the item breaks, the store doesn't have to fix or replace it. That falls on the insurance company standing behind the EPPs instead.

@Irving Patrick Freleigh,
So what your telling me is you have managed to sell 2 ZIP deliveries? And neither of them went smoothly and management expects you to keep up this bothering people for service that makes your company look like idiots?

Yup, pretty much. I have mentioned ZIP to some people who've indicated to me that delivery or assembly would be an issue for them, but gotten no takers. Those people are the only ones I would try to sell ZIP services to.

[Ravenzfire]

Years ago I used to work for Best Buy in computer sales. We didn't have commission which was nice so there wasn't the pressue to sell that comes with that. However we did have goals that our area managers wanted us to meet. The worst was the EPPs. I hated these with a passion becuase we were always getting pushed to sell them.

My origional area manager was pretty cool and things were good under him but then he got promoted and we got this cocky jerk to replace him. He was the main reason I ended up quiting becuase I just got fed up with his pushiness and had another one lined up and was just working part time at this point on Saturdays.

So anytime we would sell a computer or a laptop he could come over and be like "Did you get a plan on that?" Most of the time the answer was "No" to which he would respond "Well why not". Now we were supposed to be able to overcome the customers refusal of these plans or extra accessories and sell them. So basically we were supposed to offer it over and over again and come up with explanations as to how their reasoning for not wanting it was wrong and they really should get it. THIS DOES NOT WORK. EVER. The only times I sold them were either to guys who were coming in buying the biggest and best and had the money to burn or I could sometimes convince someone who was very computer illiterate that they may want one of these in case there were issues down the line. If you are already spending almost $1000 or more on a computer you dont' want to spend another $250 on some service plan.

So it got to the point where he was just driving me crazy and I felt so pressured at work to sell these damn things that I quit and focused on my other job. I later heard he got transfered out and one of my cool coworkers was now the area manager and things were much better.

My biggest issue was that sales people know how to feel out a customer and know if they are interested at all in a service like that. Forcing us to keep pestering them about it when they obvioulsy aren't interested is just going to drive away a future customer. I once saw a customer explode on a co sales person who lived the selling process becuase he kept trying to "sell the experience" when the guy just wanted a simple computer. Shouting match ensued and we had to seperate them and bring another guy over to help the man get a simple computer.

[Imogene]

. Also a lot of companies require employees to ask more than once before accepting a "No." response as final.

Yes, yes they do, However, pushing that hard is more likely to push potential customers farther away, maybe even to the point of just leaving the store, much like two magnets with similar poles...
And management does NOT understand this, because they don't live in the trenches like we do.

Do we need some more role play assistance?

Only if I get to be the saucy cheerleader this time.

[TheSHAD0W]

A few years ago Best Buy was seriously pressuring people to buy service plans, to the point of not letting them ring up their orders without one. My brother was buying a laptop PC there and the cashier and a manager were both berating him to buy a plan. My brother says, "so let me get this straight, this laptop is so unreliable that I need a service plan with it? In that case I'd better not buy it" and walks out the door.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

A few years ago Best Buy was seriously pressuring people to buy service plans, to the point of not letting them ring up their orders without one. My brother was buying a laptop PC there and the cashier and a manager were both berating him to buy a plan. My brother says, "so let me get this straight, this laptop is so unreliable that I need a service plan with it? In that case I'd better not buy it" and walks out the door.

Bloody Brilliant!

I am torn on the pushy sales stuff. On the one hand I hate having to do it (both because I think it's unnecessary and because of I feel when I am on the other end of such a sale), on the other hand I have to do it to keep my job.

Corporate has on occasion suggested some very scummy tactics to try and boost numbers, such as automatically adding a warranty to the sale and giving the customer the total, then removing the add on only IF the customer notices and complains. Even my assistant manager didn't go along with that one.

[Racket_Man]

A few years ago Best Buy was seriously pressuring people to buy service plans, to the point of not letting them ring up their orders without one. My brother was buying a laptop PC there and the cashier and a manager were both berating him to buy a plan. My brother says, "so let me get this straight, this laptop is so unreliable that I need a service plan with it? In that case I'd better not buy it" and walks out the door.

same thing happened to me when I bought a PC about 8 years ago. the difference was the "salesperson" was some wet-behind-the-ears 18 yo. they told me straight up that (and I quote) "OH that particular brand of PC (an e-machine) has a 30 - 40% out of the box failure rate. So you might want to protect yourself"

Yeah I know at that time BB employees were NOT on commission AND they were pushing hard on the extended warranty plans, but to blatantly make that kind of a statement to a potential customer.....??????

now by that time I had been involved with computers for like 20 years (had an Apple ][+ to start and before that I worked on mainframes) and I just wanted to say to him one of the following in a loud and clear voice....

"Well if that is the case, WHY IN THE HELL do you sell such pieces shit?? I THOUGTH this company sold QUALITY merchandise????"
or
"Listen son, I was working with computers long before the best of you ran outta yo mommas ass and if your statement were true no one would be buying from you or the manufactorer"

but I just laughed at him and walked away.

[Shalom]

same thing happened to me when I bought a PC about 8 years ago. the difference was the "salesperson" was some wet-behind-the-ears 18 yo. they told me straight up that (and I quote) "OH that particular brand of PC (an e-machine) has a 30 - 40% out of the box failure rate. So you might want to protect yourself"

He was right, though...

A few years ago Best Buy was seriously pressuring people to buy service plans, to the point of not letting them ring up their orders without one.

When I bought my laptop (Toshiba Satellite) at CompUSA , the salesman flat refused to sell me it without a service plan. He said if I didn't want the plan, then he didn't want any part of the sale, and I should go and buy it at the Business counter instead. Which I did.

I did eventually purchase an extra two one-year warranties from Toshiba themselves when the factory warranty ran out, but I think that cost me considerably less than I'd've spent at the store. Also I saved at least that much in repair costs, because I had to send it in for service a couple of times, and I had no idea how to fix laptops then. Fortunately it hasn't needed repairs since the final year ran out, although I've upgraded the memory and the hard drive since then.

My brother was buying a laptop PC there and the cashier and a manager were both berating him to buy a plan. My brother says, "so let me get this straight, this laptop is so unreliable that I need a service plan with it? In that case I'd better not buy it" and walks out the door.

Bwahahaha !!!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Another Zip delivery sold--on a three-piece seating group (chair, loveseat and couch) that is notorious for being returned because it's defective, looks like crap, not quite what the customer thought it would be, just because, etc.

I told my co-worker to gas up his truck so we're ready when we're called to haul that shit back to the store.

[Racket_Man]

He was right, though...



:

well I beat the snot outta my e-machine and had no problems with it for 4 or 5 years until I left it turned on in a upstairs room with little ventilation. fried something (I guess a heat sensor) but no other problems for 4 years. I guess I got lucky.