Up-selling / pestering you to buy things you didn't ask for

[Tommy2]

I work at a main dealer, we are constantly told to gather customer details with every sale
Name
Address
Reg
Landline
Mobile
Email

All so they can be out into the database and mail shot(?) at a later date.

All they wanted was a bottle of screenwash and I'm there asking for their particulars just so we can clog up their inbox with stuff they didn't ask for.

Strangely most people give all these details, I would tell me to sod off personally.
To me good customer service is getting what you want when you want it without the fuss.

 

[Lance Jack]

When I left school at sixteen I had my first job at Curry's. Now, this was 1984 and things may have changed but having done the "sales" course this is what we use to do.
A person comes in and looks at a washing machine. You ask "How may I help you?", as the conversation begins you start to throw all these little facts about this lovely washing machine in. If it's a cheap one you will give basic facts but the one next door to it, which costs more, gets the special treatment. They then come up with the line "I cannot afford it". This is where the true up-selling begins and they don't even know it. You say "Do you want me to find out how much it is per month?" So you work out the figure, you have the washing machine plus an extended warranty plus delivery plus unpacking and setting up. All those extras could have added another £150 on top of the price of the washing machine. You work out the monthly total and say "That's ONLY £**.** a month, and if you sign up today I will get it delivered, unpacked and ready to use and even take the old one away (the delivery driver takes it down the scrap man for a back hander) oh, I nearly forgot, I will throw in a five year warranty!" Now to people this sounds a great deal but they have paid for all of that, and, because it's gone on a finance deal they will pay interest on all those "free" extras. We where under a lot of pressure to sell, it was without doubt the worse job I have ever had. I am happy to say I didn't last long as I felt I couldn't rip people off.
Like I say, this was a long time ago and modern shops may not work like this anymore.

 

[Venod]

Its annoying.

Called in for a bag of chips today while out on a ride, the woman serving asked if I'd like mushy peas, curry sauce or a bread cake, I was polite and said no thanks, what happened to giving you just what you asked
for ?

 

[Fnaar]

I'm generally an easy going kinda guy, and I try to be polite unless the person is not thinking through how they try to upsell. I was in the bank recently (bad move, usually) and as the cashier finished, she asked if I had a mortgage with them (as it happens, I do, so I said I did). She said 'how much do you pay a month? I declined to answer, explaining that it was open plan, there were people behind me who might hear details I cared not to discuss in public. She was trying to interest me in getting 1% cashback on summat or other, meaning I'd earn about diddly squat per month. She didn't understand that I didn't want to divulge personal financial info in public. That annoyed me.
Mind you, I got approving glances from a couple of people in the queue. Or maybe my flies were undone.

 

[Risex4]

When I left school at sixteen I had my first job at Curry's. Now, this was 1984 and things may have changed but having done the "sales" course this is what we use to do.
A person comes in and looks at a washing machine. You ask "How may I help you?", as the conversation begins you start to throw all these little facts about this lovely washing machine in. If it's a cheap one you will give basic facts but the one next door to it, which costs more, gets the special treatment. They then come up with the line "I cannot afford it". This is where the true up-selling begins and they don't even know it. You say "Do you want me to find out how much it is per month?" So you work out the figure, you have the washing machine plus an extended warranty plus delivery plus unpacking and setting up. All those extras could have added another £150 on top of the price of the washing machine. You work out the monthly total and say "That's ONLY £**.** a month, and if you sign up today I will get it delivered, unpacked and ready to use and even take the old one away (the delivery driver takes it down the scrap man for a back hander) oh, I nearly forgot, I will throw in a five year warranty!" Now to people this sounds a great deal but they have paid for all of that, and, because it's gone on a finance deal they will pay interest on all those "free" extras. We where under a lot of pressure to sell, it was without doubt the worse job I have ever had. I am happy to say I didn't last long as I felt I couldn't rip people off.
Like I say, this was a long time ago and modern shops may not work like this anymore.

Things haven't changed all that much Jack, they've just got a bit cleverer and pretentious about how they do it.

Legislation throughout the 90s and 00s blocked a lot of the overt ghost selling techniques; for example you can't just add on a guarantee to a credit agreement anymore as you have to now provide a quotation with and without the cost of said guarantee, and get the customer to sign a separate quotation for simply the cost of the guarantee alone to make sure they've "seen" and "accept" it.
They now just concentrate on flowery and persistent sales techniques structured around how to "minimize the psychological price impact" (break it down to its smallest sum - for example a weekly/daily equivalent figure - compare it favorably to the cost of an every day commodity like a pint of milk, then paint a bleak picture of engineer and labour costs etc) and "addressing and overcoming objections" (there's about 8 -10 objections which come up 99% of the time, there's a reassuring answer provided for them all).

You're right about the pressure though. I will refrain from citing specific examples lest I get some party in trouble, but some of the techniques I witnessed beggared belief.

 

[Sara_H]

I'm generally an easy going kinda guy, and I try to be polite unless the person is not thinking through how they try to upsell. I was in the bank recently (bad move, usually) and as the cashier finished, she asked if I had a mortgage with them (as it happens, I do, so I said I did). She said 'how much do you pay a month? I declined to answer, explaining that it was open plan, there were people behind me who might hear details I cared not to discuss in public. She was trying to interest me in getting 1% cashback on summat or other, meaning I'd earn about diddly squat per month. She didn't understand that I didn't want to divulge personal financial info in public. That annoyed me.
Mind you, I got approving glances from a couple of people in the queue. Or maybe my flies were undone.

That does get my goat. Every time I o to pay a cheque in I get asked about my mortgate and home insurance, and also they now want me to change my current account. GET LOST!!!!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Called in for a bag of chips today while out on a ride, the woman serving asked if I'd like mushy peas, curry sauce or a bread cake, I was polite and said no thanks, what happened to giving you just what you asked for ?

What, you turned down mushy peas, curry sauce and breadcake?

 

[Fnaar]

That does get my goat. Every time I o to pay a cheque in I get asked about my mortgate and home insurance, and also they now want me to change my current account. GET LOST!!!!

I don't especially mind the selling bit ( I can just say no thanks) it was her persistence in trying to get me to say out loud how much I paid on my mortgage per month, with other customers in easy earshot. Amd she didn't really accept my first go at declining to give that info out loud...she persisted in asking me how much... even after I'd explained why I didn't want to give that info. So I explained again. I was on the point of asking her to tell me how much she paid for her own mortgage.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

There's another, more sleekit (sorry, I can't think of an English equivalent that carries the same disdain) method used in a chippy in Tyndrum. I ordered my fish and chips and the guy asked, "Would you like peas or mushy peas with that?" but said it in such a way that suggested it came as part of the meal and he was merely seeking my preference.

I was rather pìssed of to find it had added £1.20 to my bill!

GC

 

[Fnaar]

In fact, i was almost angry enough to eat a pizza with a crust stuffed with feckin' sausage!

 

[Globalti]

When I was a spotty teenager furtively buying Mayfair off the top shelf, nobody in WH Smith offered me a tub of Swarfega and a packet of Kleenex.

.....you mean that's not what Swarfega is for....? Oh.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

So how much do you pay then fnaar, you can tell us, we're anonymous folks off of the internet?

*gets the thumberland branch of Wet Nest on the phone*

 

[Fnaar]

So how much do you pay then fnaar, you can tell us, we're anonymous folks off of the internet?

*gets the thumberland branch of Wet Nest on the phone*

One arm, one leg What i didn't tell her was that I also have another mortgage with a totally different bank
Who's laughing now, eh?...er...not me

 

[boybiker]

Never take your car to a main dealer up selling is the name of the game!

 

[Tommy2]

Never take your car to a main dealer up selling is the name of the game!

Take it to Halfords, they'll do a far better job