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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Medusa on February 28, 2004, at 8:45:29
Oh, my.
Anyone else had experience with door-to-door sales, on either side? Last night I reacted pretty out of control - I didn't get violent or anything, but I could definitely feel my anger taking over.
Last week N, the dear former-partner-person, informs me that he's entered a quiz-drawing about a multi-purpose tool, and he thinks it's a sales pitch and that he'll definitely 'win' something.
Uh-huh, okay, whatever.
A few days later, N's on the phone and arguing with someone, saying he'll make an appointment for himself but he can't promise that I'll be there. He then tells me that he indeed 'won' and that he's made an appointment for a demonstration of this multi-purpose tool in our apartment. He's offended that the call center insisted that I be at the appointment - he's fully capable of evaluating a household tool. He asks me to be present at the beginning and then leave - to make a point.
I owe him, so I rearranged my schedule to accommodate this, but when the doorbell rang I wasn't yet finished the project I was working on, so I stayed at the computer in the living room with my back to the goings-on. Two guys in dark pin-striped suits came in carrying massive cases.
So N got to choose his 'prize', then the demonstration got started. The 'multi-purpose tool' turned out to be a vacuum cleaner with a gazillion attachments, and I picked up some of the conversation here and there as I tried to keep working. The guys were really irritated that I wasn't participating and challenged N on whether I really lived there. I guess the woman is supposed to be the easy sell, but I would have been even tougher on them - they claimed the thing had 60 patents, but didn't know on what. They insisted on using a hard metal brush on a very good carpet, and when their 'multi-purpose tool' pulled fibers out of the carpet, they insisted that that wouldn't happen with a quality rug. They kept sending N on little errands, to fetch water and who knows what. I heard his sceptical questions about the shampoo they planned to use on his favorite rug that they'd already started shredding, so I turned around and told him that if he didn't want them to damage his carpet further, not to let them.
The next demonstration was the 'multi-purpose tool' 's ability to clean mattresses. N didn't want the sales guys in his bedroom (no idea why not, it's not like he sleeps in a cage or anything) so I was left alone in the living room with them, and I turned around and tried to make a bit of conversation. They insulted me for not knowing their brand, but couldn't tell me whether the company was privately held or publicly traded.
So when N came back, I went on-line and looked up their little company ... and found tons of consumer reports complaints for their sales methods. I missed a lot of their antics (they emptied the vacuum's filter after the mattress cleaning and ignited contents and asked how we could live among this filth - I only heard the filth question, and thought the burning smell was from the motor) but when the younger dude told N to discard a pile of his own carpet fibers, I told N the guy could take it with him. The guy's expression was priceless. N gave him a plastic bag for it.
They left pretty quickly. I know I shouldn't have let my rage take over like that, but I get really, really nervous when someone's wasting my time.
Any stories in this vein?
Posted by tabitha on February 28, 2004, at 12:28:12
In reply to vacuum-cleaner salesmen, posted by Medusa on February 28, 2004, at 8:45:29
I actually got sucked into (whoo boy, unintentional vacuum pun there!) doing sales pitches for one of those outfits one summer during college. Their recruiting techniques were as deceptive as their salespitch. It took about 3 days of training seminar before they revealed what the job really was. They inflated the sales statistics to make us think we'd be raking in big bucks on commissions. The sales force spent about 8 hours a day distributing leaflets (no pay for that) promising free stuff, then the call center told them all they had to do was 'evaluate' a new 'home cleaning device'. So we'd arrive to folks homes who didn't even actually realize they were about to see a salespitch, and had no idea it was a vacuum cleaner. Man, I could go on and on. I learned a lot about deceptive practices. It was one tiny exaggeration or omission at a time, leading you along, til you'd forgotten whatever you originally thought about anything.
I sold about 10 of the things in 3 months. Unfortunately (I'm still ashamed to this day), part of their recruitment was making you do sales pitches to your friends and relatives. So 2 of those sales were to relatives.
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