- This topic has 13 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 2 months ago by
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age old problem…
you know the one big house flash cars…
cheap piece of cr**p appliance
choices1 do you tell them thay have bought a pile of sh$$$$te, and suffer the hassle you may possibily get when they complain to retailer /manufacturer????…
2 or do you say nothing..head down appliance fixed??
3 what if they ask your opinion???i know the first choice is extremely tempting every time,
i always want to tell them ( what did you think you wer buying for £169.00)…did you not think it would be unreliable..did the retailer not think they would get complaints ????? to me this is blindinlgy ovious..bottom line is it keeps the industry ticking over very nicely..
so why rock the boat…????
allyRe: DO YOU TELL THEM
1. Not the sort of thing i’d say to anyone really….it would effectively be saying ‘you’re not able to make good choices in your purchasing’ which can be taken as insulting. Much better would be to ‘big up’ other brands…this often leads to a sale too 😀
2. We’re always open and honest even if it means being frank about cost effectiveness etc.
3. We freely give it but in a balanced way comparing the positive side of all products….gives the customer the power to make their own decision based upon the professional advice we’ve given them, and as in 1. this often leads to a sale (even if they opt for the repair option at that visit they return for a new appliance months/years later)
All in all, the customer is the one who makes the final call but if i think they are making the wrong decision (in my opinion) then i’m not afraid to give them my opinion. 😆
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
Moi, give an opinion. 😈
Yes, if I am asked then I will give as honest an opinion as possible without being derogatory to the appliance, retailer or customer. However that doesn’t mean to say that I won’t say that, in my opinion, any one of them are wrong.
Sadly some people take the opinion and twist it to their own ends, as customers are want to to do, How often have you heard, “but the engineer told me…” when the engineer, in fact, said nothing like what the customer reports. Normally I find that this happens when the customer, who has a problem, wants a replacement appliance and goes back to the retailer or manufacturer with some fairy tale to justify getting what they want.
What I don’t understand about these situations is that the customer seems to think that the agent won’t talk to the retailer/manufacturer and their version of events will just be taken as read.
So my standard reply to point one is, “it’s not the worst machine but it’s not the best either, a better choice for your needs could perhaps have been…”. That gets you off the hook without telling the customer that it’s a pile of Chinese rubbish.
The worst possible thing you can do is tell the customer anythign liek the machine is a pile of steaming poo as it’ll only backfire. It may well be the truth but as Tom Cruise once mooted, misquoted, they can’t handle the truth.
On two, I tend to just get on with it and, if the machine really is a problem, I simply say that I have to get some technical advise as it’s a new problem. Usually though this is because some bright spark has introduced a new model and forgotten to tell us about it, again.
What I will do and, it’s perfectly true, is say something along the lines of, “the quality of the product is, like most things, reflected in the price” when that comes up. Leave the customer to draw their own conclusions, which they will most often do anyway I find, irrespective of what you tell them as they only hear what they want to hear, the rest to them doesn’t matter.
K.
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
funkyboogy wrote:so why rock the boat…????
Answering a direct question by your customer as to your opinion of the product leads to a frank and honest appraisal that they will value. However, voluntarily telling a customer that their machine is a pile of junk is at best derogatory and at worst a direct insult towards them for buying it in the first place. 🙁
So best keep trap shut unless asked is the way to go IMHO. 😉
Footnote:
How confusing it is for Joe Public these days when they can stroll into Comet and buy a brand new plasma TV to stick on the wall for only £1,000 that was available 3 years ago at ten times the price? The quality is just as good for a fraction of the price and it will last for years with no bother.
But in the same store, rows of washing machines all under £250 all with well recognised and respected brand names. Joe Public takes his pick and we then give thanks for the heap of junk he has bought. After all, it will keep us in a job sooner rather than later and long before his plasma tv goes belly up. Brown goods engineers fell foul of the quality of the products they were trying to fix long ago…..Long may the trend continue.. 😉
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
the point i was trying to get across is
i am completely astounded by people who buy washing machines for under £200, and think they have bought a rollsroyce..and complain about it breaking after only 6 months…
and when you call to give them a rough idea of time your are likely to call they want you to give them the precise minute of when your going to arrive..
they want top dollar after-sales… again what did they think they were buying for under £200…???
allyRe: DO YOU TELL THEM
I think it’s like this Ally…
I often have had to find myself biting my tongue very often, especially when people start prattling on about how they didn’t expect the cheap integrated dishwasher that they bought is goosed. The reason I have to zip it is that I really want to ask them and, sometimes have in a roundabout way, is why they think that some machine at less than half the price of a “quality brand” alternative is almost twice the price.
What they percieve the product is and what it actually is are often poles apart.
K.
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
When I worked for one manufacturer (we all know who?!) I used to get a heap of agro especially returning for the third time to replace bearings, module or refit a spun backplate, 👿
The customer would ask ‘Do you get much trouble with these?’
To which i’d reply in a sarcastic tone ‘No madam, its a quality product’
If they still didn’t take the hint i’d say ‘oh well only another 15 calls to do today’ or ‘I can’t move on that Transit for backplates and modules’
One customer had all the old drums in her front garden growing plants in them 😆
SteveRe: DO YOU TELL THEM
Yeah, the worst part of that is trying to keep a straight face whilst saying, “never seen that happen before”.
I gave up telling lies some time ago. 😉
K.
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
It always amuses me how genuinely shocked people can be that something broke down at all within the 1st year. They are often astounded that it broke exclaiming, “it’s only 6 months old” in a tone that implies they previously believed this was an impossible event.
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
I got to say, it must be hard for the engineers out there who took over our work, I wouldn’t want it back on double pay, the products or the customer. 🙁
But, there will always be a market for it and there will always be a few quid in it to keep the wolf from our door.
The ones that I found the worse that had alovely old Bosch WFF2001 and then got rid of it for a S****s M3024 etc and complained that it was noisy, I actually found myself saying ‘Well why the fcuk did you get rid of it for this pile!’ needless to say I had a few complaints and customer liason did ring up and ask me if i could stop telling the customer the product was crap!! I obliged by changing to my Quality Product line which seemed to agrevate them more.
I did actually have a stetson hat and a pair of cowboy boots in the van, very often or not left on the dashboard, on occasions i even signed the jobsheet Lone Ranger 😆
Oh well, it was all fun while it lasted, the good ole days eh 😉
SteveRe: DO YOU TELL THEM
Any of you old Hotpoint guys remember the John Cleese educational videos. 😆
Classic one liner, “aww my gawwwwd who sold you this then?”
One of these days I will come out with it 😳
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
maltheviking wrote:Any of you old Hotpoint guys remember the John Clease educational videos? Classic one liner, “aww my gawwwwd who sold you this then?” One of these days I will come out with it 😳
I remember it well. He shorted out a single tub or spinner with his screwdriver lol.
I believe people usually want to kill the messenger if he’s bringing unpalatable news, so why upset someone? We need to be much more subtle. I mean, would you look at the blokes wife and say, “gawd, who told you that …..”
Re: DO YOU TELL THEM
funkyboogy wrote:they want top dollar after-sales
It amuses me when you have to charge them for writing the machine off as NE to R they think you should call for nothing 😕
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