Here is another example of a BAD SALES REP, brought to you by a neighborhood DIY store.
My youngest daughter had a water leak in her condo and as a result needs a new floor in her entire downstairs. My wife, older daughter and I took her to a local DIY store to look at floors about a week ago. A super nice sales person was helping us and answering our questions, so we thought!
Let me tell you what she told us a week ago;
1) They were running a special and installation of the wood floor for under 500SF (my daughters down stairs is about 490SF would be $275.00 flat fee.
2) No charge for the measuring of the space to be floored.
3) She could give us a 10% discount on the flooring and materials.
4) There would be no sales tax charged on the installation OR the materials.
5) The entire job could be completed within 10 days.
6) When they came out to measure they would give us the total estimate before they left.
All this sounded pretty good so my daughter picked out a wood she liked and we set an appointment to have the measurement taken. The appointment was set for 2 days later (not a problem and what I thought was more than reasonable). So far so good. The guy showed up right on time and did the measuring quickly. Still looking good.
Here is when things started to go badly, he told me that he would turn in the estimate and I would hear back the next day. (Look at #6 above) I wasn’t happy about another day being gone but I thought it was reasonable.
The next day came and went and I didn’t hear anything. The day after that came and went and still no word. Now I was starting to see that this wasn’t going to be as smooth a process as I was hoping it would be. The third day I called them and was told that they were very busy and running behind (I wondered if I was supposed to feel sorry for them being busy) but I was assured I would hear by that evening. (I would have bet a pay check that I wouldn’t have heard, I would have LOST) about 9PM the phone rang with the estimate.
The installation charges on the estimate were over $1500.00 (look at #1 above) There was no 10% discount (look at #3 above) Sales Tax was charged on the entire job (look at #4 above) I was told that it takes 10 days just to get the flooring in and then it needs to be in the home for 72 hours before it can be installed making it at least 16 days since we first talked to the sales person (look at #5 above) There was NO measuring charge (look at #2 above, the only true statement made so far)
This evening after dinner my wife, oldest daughter and I took my youngest daughter back to see the sales person. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good visit when she started with the words, “I don’t understand”. She then started to double talk and backtrack everything that she had told us. Like I mentioned my daughters down stairs area is under 500 SF but they were charging us installation on 550SF. The sales person actually told me that was because the flooring is sold by the SF but installation is figured by the SY (square yard)
When I questioned all the items that didn’t match with what she told us she said she would rewrite the order. I stood there with my family for over 2 hours waiting for her to finish. When she was done she showed us the new estimate. THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY!
I asked her what she did and she said she was trying to make it closer to what she told us.
My family was very proud of me, I calmly told the sales person that we were leaving and headed towards the door. No yelling or fighting, just calm resolve NOT to do business with this store.
What lessons can we all learn from this experience?
1) Don’t say things that you are not sure of.
2) Don’t promise discounts that you don’t control.
3) If you make a promise and can’t keep it, admit the mistake don’t make it worse by stalling, double talking or making up more lies.
4) Don’t waste the customer’s time, if it isn’t what you said it will be let them know and allow them to move on.
I am sure that this DIY store won’t go under because my daughter buys her floor someplace else, but I am just as sure that the management would hate to hear they lost a sale not because of the product or the price, but because of the misleading promises made by one of their employees.
If you say it, do it. If you are not sure you can do it, Don’t say it!
Lorin
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