Young Royce Plays it Safe

[jeriendhal]

So, we're going to be getting new windows for our house, because the old ones offer NO insulation, attract mold, and get stuck easily. Last night I had the unique privilidge of hosting a window salesman for three hours while he sang the praises of his product.

Now these were good windows, make no mistake about that. Triple pane glass, vinyl over aluminium frames, double locking system, custom built at the factory for my house's specification. But....

It would have cost something like 10,000 dollars to replace all of our windows. And this is for a *small* townhouse with six full sized windows and two dinky ones in the basement. And the salesman wanted us to sign the contract that night, even after we told him we were going to have another contractor over to give us a second estimate.

So I said no.

Salesman: "Okay, I'll drop the price by fifteen hundred if you sign now. Because if I have to come back tomorrow that would magically ADD 1500 to the cost and bring it back to the price I first said was the final estimate and promised wouldn't have any hidden fees."

Again I said no, telling him I'd been up since one thirty AM, and it was nine PM now, and I wasn't going to sign anything when I was that sleepy. Besides, we're going to have Sears come by and give us a second estimate (as I mentioned before, Nimrod).

Saleman: "Sears sucks. They use hired contracters, we've got our own technicians. The use pre-made windows, which as my helpful visual aids have demonstrated are nothing short of armeggeddon for your home. Did I mention that the window glass is poured and sealed using the same method as NASA's Space Shuttle?"

Me: "No. Look man, you've got great windows. Unless Sears has Glenda the Good on their side, you're gonna get the contract, but I want a second estimate."

Saleman: "Sigh. Okay, lemme use your phone phone to call my supervisor and let him know I'm done here."

Me: [thinking] At 9:00 pm? And why are using my phone? You mean you're the only saleman in the universe that doesn't have a cell phone?

Salesmen: "Hey, what a coincidence, the head of the company is on the line. Wanna talk to him?"

Me: [deadpan] "Wow, what a coincidence."

HotC: "Sears suxx. Do you want the best for your home, or do you want your windows to rot out, your family to suffer asthma from mold, and your children be driven into poverty by high-heating bills? Did I mention you'd be saving 1500 bucks?"

Me: "Nice talkin' to ya."

Salesman: "You're sure you don't..."

Me: "No! Bye-bye."

Saleman: "Bye." [thinking] "Rotten motherf-cker."

Me: "Good thing I went that job fair for a home-security company a couple of years ago and learned about all those tactics he just used."

Comments

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

One more tiny victory on the side of the consumer. Now if only you can find a way for the commission to go to some other salesman (assuming you do end up buying from that company). I'd be very tempted to tell him "Because of the sleazy sales tactics you just employed, I'm going to buy from someone else even if know their windows are more expensive and/or lower quality." But then I do get stubborn about treatment like this.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it would do much good to give the commision to another saleman, because the I could tell the pattern he was using was very standardized. It was pretty easy to recognize the deliberately leading questions he was asking after comparing his marvelous windows compared to his competitors, and asking "Now which sounds better to *you*?" If he had gone outside his little box of patter, no doubt he would have caught hell from his real supervisor.

Still, I have admit a little surge of guilty pleasure to see the brief jump of startlement he did when I said "No" after agreeing with every single one of his points.