I HATE SALESMEN!

[theBeast]

F&%*ING COMMISSION SALESMEN!
I just had a lady call me and ask what our price on Compaqs were. I informed her that, though we are Compaq Authorized, we tend to stay away from Compaqs because they're hard for us to get (it takes us over a month to get a Deskpro in from Compaq...they value their bulk customers over us). She told me that she wanted a "good" system (so I ask myself, Why Compaq, then?). She then went on to inform me that she just came back from Future Shop, and the one the salesman told her she needed had a "space saver" (LCD) monitor, and was about $4000!!!
YIKES!
I told her that LCD monitors were EXTREMELY expensive this day and age, and are bound to come down in price in the not-so-distant future. Until then, a 17" monitor would be fine for a home user...which would end up saving her $1300 right off the top.
She told me that she wanted a "good computer that won't go out of date."
I told her that there wasn't such a thing. She seemed taken aback. I explained that parts are always changing, and given time, even the highest end computer would be out of date. I suggested that she go with our PIII 800 system (with 128 RAM, 32 meg video, 30 gig hard drive, etc). But she still insisted that she wanted the absolute best.
I asked her what she NEEDED the computer for. She told me that she had two little girls, and she wanted to use it for e-mail, and using the internet. Possibly scanning in pictures to send over the internet.
I told her that she would be best with our $1700 computer, plus a $300 monitor. "But, will it handle highspeed internet?"
"Of course!"
"Will it handle a camera that slides on top?"
"Of course!"

So, I decided to do a little digging. This weiner was trying to sell this lady a Ferrari when she needed a mini-van! The system was a Compuke Per-sorry-o 7000CA. AMD Athlon 1.2GHz, 128MB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive (80 FREAKING GIGABYTES!), 32MB Video, 56K modem (likely Winmodem), 10/100 NIC, SoundMax, MS-Money, MS-Atlas, MS-Works, MS-WinME, Logitech Quickcam. The monitor he told her she NEEDED was an NEC 15" LCD.

Really, isn't this a bit overkill for the average homeuser? Sure some 15 year old kiddie wold LOVE a system like this. It'd run Quake III like a dream. I don't think that a mother of 2 pre-teen girls is likely going to be getting into Quake. And 80 FREAKING GIGS?! Isn't that a tad much for a "first time" computer? I mean, really, I've got a 30 gig at home, have about 100 CDs, have ALL of them installed at max installs...and I'm only 1/2 full! Mind you, I don't have a gaggle of MP3s, or JPGs on my system. My brother-in-law has a PIII733 with a 30 Gig hard drive, and he's into MP3s pretty heavy, and he's still got about 9 gigs free on his drive!
80 FREAKING GIGS?! Really, don't these weinies think? Or was he just getting off on the fact he was going to soak this innocent person for all that she had?

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***the Beast
- I only came for the platypus soup

[Mustang]

Hey we all have seen salesmen try and stick it to customers
I have a habit of standing next to the guy while he's trying to make the sale and just mumble things and the "customer" ends up asking what i was saying and i tell thenm the guy is trying to rape them
tehy dont need all that "fluf" the guy is trying to sell and to get a decent system that can be upgraded

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"May the force be with you ." Obi-Wan Kenobi

[This message has been edited by Mustang (edited February 05, 2001).]

[LabRat]

End users do tend to get a rough deal and at the same time they want the 24 hour support package with the 5 year or lifetime support. To that end, I might consider asking them if they want insurance for getting help, but some places automatically tack it on.

How many salesmen (yourself included) actually know what they are selling? Price tag excluded.

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If you make a smarter computer, the user will find a subtler hammer.

[Cable Modem Tech]

i used to work at a computer shop and we did not work for comission. heck we hardly even got paid.... so it was a big selling point for the customer when i told them that i made not a cent off of the sale... and would sugest a system that was right for them and they would know that i was telling them the truth insted of feeding them a line of bull just to make a sale.... you have to be honest to the customer.... sure these bums in the superstores might make an extra few bucks selling the top of the line system to everyone. but there is more money to be made when you treat someone fairly if you do then they will always come back to you for more .....repair, upgrades etc....


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Give a man a fish and tomorrow he will be back bugging you for another one!

[scout970]

i can sympathize with the end users to some extent on this i walked into a "chain" pc parts store here in cadillac girlgeek you probably know which one they have a high turnover rate on tech's and salespeople go figure anyway i was trying to find a ps2 to at keyboard adapter got a ton of them but they seem to run away at the most inoportune times anyway this darned fool starts trying to sell me a mobo then tells me that such an adapter doesn't exist then tries to tell me that i need a new keyboard after about 30 min of this i blew supervisor hears me going off sticks his head out from behind the counter and proceeds to run the salesman out the door i mean we all have to make a living but come on before this the same moron sold a lady a agp vid card for a old 486 assured her it would work perfectly

[aubreypaul]

I'll sympathise with some of them but not those customers that go in acting like they know everything. Trying to make you believe that they know everything about computers. Using the wrong terms or making up terms. These guys deserve to get ripped off.

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Damn Windows 3.1 runs fast on a P3 800.

[AlienDyne]

All I want to say, is that I really HATE salesmen when trying to act as if they were Techies! I REALLY HATE THAT!!!

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"Matter is passive. In spite of its power, it can't be controlled without the human mind." - Sokrates

My Hardware Info, Hardware Media and Computer History page

[jaeger]

Techies acting the part of salesmen is allright and I think that the customer, for the most part, would be in better hands. But if a dumb@ss salesman ever tried to come behind my bench...

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Life isn't one damn thing after another, it's the same damn thing over and over.

[Darren Wilson]

I used to have exactly the same thing. In the end it caused the company to go bust as Joe Public would rather buy a PB or Compaq thinking they were getting a better deal than a system that was a little faster for less money from me. I used to sell more Celeron 600/633 machines than any other as most people only wanted a system to surf the net. I could have sold them Cyrix MIII's like some of the big chain stores where for peanuts but why should I have to suffer the comebacks when the system locks 99% of the time when using the net??? The amount of arguements I had with my Boss after talking someone out of buying a 800Mhz + system because they wanted to type letters and send e-mail was unbeliveable. Over here in the UK we now have supermarkets selling PC's and people think they are getting a good deal from Tesco's (Fujitsu systems), but the amount of Motherboards I have changed from these I have lost count of!!! One of the systems had non matching brass standoffs and everytime you turned the system on 1 out of 10 times it worked. This had been back to Fujitsu 5 times b4 it came to me!!!! They said they couldn't see what the problem was!!!!!! One company even had the gaul to tell the customer that he would have to buy a new system as there was nothing that could be done!!!! Everything worked fine after changing the standoffs for matching ones The customer was that happy with the fix (and I didn't charge him either as he is a friend of my next door neighbour) that he gave me a Dual P-Pro 200 system that he never used!!!!!

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Darren Wilson
Webmaster
The Carpers Lodge.net
The Webs Number One Resource for Today's Carp Angler.

FLAMERS

[theBeast]

I try to push more people to the Celeron way also. Most of these people aren't going to be having LAN parties, and playing the latest 3D shmups. The vast majority of these people are going to be surfing the net, writing e-mails and probably playing Solitare. Hell, a Pentium 200 would be great for them!
When a customer comes into the store the first thing I ask them is if the system is for home or business. If they say "home", I ask them if they have teenagers. If they do, I point them in PIII800 way. If not, I point them in Celeron 633 way. I explain that the main difference is that the P3 will handle the highest end games better than the Celeron, but both will be able to play all the games on the market today. It's 3 years from now that makes the difference in the systems (for what the average customer...NOT power gamer). If some hot-shot kid comes in, I'll point him to the P3-866, or P3-933. He'll more than likely use it's full potential, or learn how to use it.

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***the Beast
- I only came for the platypus soup

[CPUMan]

The first thing I do whenever a customer asks me to build them a system, is ask what are you planning on doing with your system?? Next, I show them a building checklist of all parts and I go over it with them at least twice. Finally, with a bit of help they pic what the really NEED.

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"What we have here is failure to communicate"

[Jvaguy]

yes and the fun part is about us tech's they figutred out i had higher sales then the salesman did cause everytime i walked across the floor to get something i would end up selling a system and then they said hey you need to work on the floor .. then they took one of the salesman who know some about puters and let him fix them .. well needless to say customers are doing better about their systems they buy .. but now tech support is shot .. and im working on the floor .. its nice making twice as much money but im also doing twice as much work .. and now im doing both jobs ..

the sad part is our company is doing restucture and ive been cut to part time .. and yet those cheating salesman cant sell and im out of my full time job .. its not fair .. i do the job right but it seems scaming is the right thing to do .. yet i dont have it in my blood .. and how was your week

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1,2,3,4,5,6,7 all good children go to heaven

[captpackrat]

I used to get stuff like this all the time at CR. "I want a computer to send e-mail. Nothing else, just e-mail. My friend says I need a Pentium III, 256M of RAM, absurdly large hard drive, etc. etc." I'd show them this system, and then show them the price tag (~$3000). Then I'd say, "If all you want it for is e-mail, we have this used Pentium for $300. It'll be more than enough for what you want, and it's even got an ethernet card for a high-speed cable modem!"

I got SOOOOOO many customer referals....

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Captain Troy D. Pack Rat
`akbar Press

If you're furry and you know it, hug the mouse!

[theBeast]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by captpackrat:
I used to get stuff like this all the time at CR. "I want a computer to send e-mail. Nothing else, just e-mail. My friend says I need a Pentium III, 256M of RAM, absurdly large hard drive, etc. etc." I'd show them this system, and then show them the price tag (~$3000). Then I'd say, "If all you want it for is e-mail, we have this used Pentium for $300. It'll be more than enough for what you want, and it's even got an ethernet card for a high-speed cable modem!"

I got SOOOOOO many customer referals....

</font>

But, according to Future Shop, you NEED a 1.2GHz computer with an 80 Gig hard drive to access high speed internet.
When I mentioned to this woman about the Pentium III we had for $1900 including monitor she was like, "Well, will it handle high speed internet?"
"Yes ma'am,"
"Will it handle the video cameras for the Internet?"
"Yes ma'am,"
"Will it handle a scanner?"
"Yes ma'am."

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***the Beast
- I only came for the platypus soup

[CREEPINGDEATH]

preach on brother beast!

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Now Doctor would you say that It's time for all citizens to crack open thier neigbors heads and feast on what flows forth? "Hmmm yes I would Kent."