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Forums - Gaming - Todays conversation in the mall...

naznatips said:
For the record, there were 2 other (more serious) times I dealt with this. One employee told every person who walked in and asked for "The new Nintendo system" that it was an Xbox 360.

The other time the guy told everyone who asked for a PSP that it had massive failure rate problems and you should buy a DS instead.

I don't tolerate people lying to the consumers, and since this was the first time I've ever caught this guy at it I won't report him, but people can and will be fired for doing that. You answer all consumer questions honestly so that they come back to the store.

 HAHAHAHa, people asked for the new Nintendo system and he told them it was an Xbox 360, thats actually pretty funny.

 

PSP's didn't really have failure rates did they? 



Xbox Live Gamertag - Deathscythe X

AIM SN - Alexie Di Onie

 

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naznatips said:
jjseth said:
Naz.. I would have kicked you out of the store before that point. When it comes to sales you sell what you have, not what you don't have and won't likely get many in. I'd also post up there at the store to ban you from ever entering the store again. They are there to make money and you don't know why that sales person was telling the person about the PS3 instead of the Wii.

Sure, the salesperson is being deceptive and only telling one side of the story, but when it comes to sales (especially if you are on commission) you push what you have. That's an ethics question they will have to answer themselves and deal with. Not by having someone playing games with no intent to purchase anything talk their customers out of a potential sale and try to give an ethics lesson to them.

If it were me and someone working at a store was doing their best to sell a person on a Wii instead of a PS3 that they were really looking for I'd just stand back, play the demo and laugh quietly everytime they said something bogus. And if they were lying about something that only the PS3 has and the Wii doesn't like a particular game. I may ask them when that game they lied about comes out for the PS3, or if they have any in stock. But I'd do it in another manner instead of getting into a heated debate with the sales monkey.

Shams, I do have to admit, that you should have mentioned to the lady about the 60gb version that does have bc for ps2 games. If the kid really wanted the PS3, what right do you have in trying to convince his parents that he should get the Wii? Now that kid may end up with a gift this Xmas that he doesn't want and could have had the system he really wanted instead.

Wow, you have either never worked in retail before or you worked in a store that needs to be shut down.  I was an employee in the games section of Best Buy for almost a year, and if I had done that I would have been fired instantly.  In fact, if I report this employee he will be fired instantly.  I know, because I've gotten 2 other Gamespot/EB Games employees fired for similar situations in the past.  You are never supposed to lie to the consumer.  EVER. That's the fastest path to unemployment.  I was hardly in a heated debate.  I simply answered the woman's questions the way the employee is paid to do.


 

I have worked retail at a few places when I was younger, and I really don't miss it.  Most of my time though were spent in places where I was on commission and it's completely different how you sell to people then you would at a best buy or GS.   If I didn't sell enough product, I didn't get paid jack if I tried to sell things we didn't have in stock.  And my store was never shut down and I never had an upset customer.  I pushed the sales items where I'd get bonus's for selling certain items over others even if something else was less money and was exactly what they were looking for.  

Like I said, it's not up to you to go and become the ethics enforcement officer for consumers.  The consumers can do that job very well without having someone else step in for them while irritating the person who is there working and trying to make ends meet and a paycheck.  

 And then you brag about having 2 employees fired and that you could get this person fired for that?   Tis the season to be vengeful.  That's something I would never do to someone unless they lied me directly and it caused me grief and monetary loss.  There is a very fine line between outright lying about a product just to get a sale and showing a different side of the story where it still fits into what the person was looking for.    He wasn't lying to the customer although it could be argued that he was misleading them since he should have known exactly what the person was looking for.

 You aren't paid to do that and I'd just let the person paid to do that job do it.  If someone wants to come up to you and ask your opinion while a clerk may be busy with someone else, that's fine.  Go for it.  Otherwise, I keep quiet.   It's the consumers who like to butt in that irritated me the most.  And I never had problems or qualms kicking them out of the store.   But hey, I must have been fired for that right?  Nope, I was promoted to manager of one store and then at another company I worked my way up to a Senior position that had alot of the same duties as a manager would.   My bosses respected my decisions and I'd explain to them reasons why I did what I did (when an incident did come up) and they always approved of it.



 


Get your Portable ID!

 

My pokemon brings all the nerds to the yard. And they're like, "You wanna trade cards?" Damn right, I wanna trade cards. I'll trade this, but not my charizard.

So it sounds like jjseth would have done the same thing if he were in the clerks position.


That blows my theory out of the water, I was thinking nobody was going to defend it =P

Just curious how do you justify this person straight out lying to the customer?

The idea that it is the employees job to come to terms with what he did is partially true, the other side of it is that Naznatips would have to come to terms with not stepping in and stopping that kind of douchebaggery from taking place. I just can't fathom the logic behind saying Naz was in the wrong there, I think the level of dishonesty being displayed made it a moral imperative to intervene and any decent person would have done so imo.



To Each Man, Responsibility


Dallinor said:
jjseth said:
Naz.. I would have kicked you out of the store before that point. When it comes to sales you sell what you have, not what you don't have and won't likely get many in. I'd also post up there at the store to ban you from ever entering the store again. They are there to make money and you don't know why that sales person was telling the person about the PS3 instead of the Wii.

Sure, the salesperson is being deceptive and only telling one side of the story, but when it comes to sales (especially if you are on commission) you push what you have. That's an ethics question they will have to answer themselves and deal with. Not by having someone playing games with no intent to purchase anything talk their customers out of a potential sale and try to give an ethics lesson to them.

If it were me and someone working at a store was doing their best to sell a person on a Wii instead of a PS3 that they were really looking for I'd just stand back, play the demo and laugh quietly everytime they said something bogus. And if they were lying about something that only the PS3 has and the Wii doesn't like a particular game. I may ask them when that game they lied about comes out for the PS3, or if they have any in stock. But I'd do it in another manner instead of getting into a heated debate with the sales monkey.

Shams, I do have to admit, that you should have mentioned to the lady about the 60gb version that does have bc for ps2 games. If the kid really wanted the PS3, what right do you have in trying to convince his parents that he should get the Wii? Now that kid may end up with a gift this Xmas that he doesn't want and could have had the system he really wanted instead.

Well said jjseth. I was in the process or writing a similiar reply when I spotted yours.

@Naznatips, I agree that mentioning that the Wii was probably the one she was looking for was a good idea, but then what followed almost sounded like you were the one behind a counter, trying to sell her a Wii.

Edit: lol Naznatips your not just an internet mod. You keep a tight leash on store clerks too :)


 So it's cool to lie, thanks for clearing up that moral dilema.....



Xbox Live Gamertag - Deathscythe X

AIM SN - Alexie Di Onie

 

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jjseth, so getting this straight, you literally just said: "It's okay if he lies to other people, but if he lies to me I would report him." Nice morals there pal. Also, it's not okay to exploit ignorance. Not at all. Not in any situation. If the employee had said, "Well that's the Wii, and we'll have it in stock again on Sunday" that woman would have come back and bought it on Sunday. But, if he sells her something she didn't want, she'll come back to return the system and never go into that store again.

Do you really have to be paid to do the right thing? I'm sorry, but that's just dumb. Of course it's not my job. It's not my job to call the police if I see someone get robbed either, but I still do it.

Dallinor I gave her no opinion on anything. Just information.

Alexie, no, the PSP never had massive failure rates. That was an outright lie by the clerk to get people to buy the DS instead. I own both, but I don't like seeing people deceive the ignorant.



shams said:

jjseth said:
...

Shams, I do have to admit, that you should have mentioned to the lady about the 60gb version that does have bc for ps2 games. If the kid really wanted the PS3, what right do you have in trying to convince his parents that he should get the Wii? Now that kid may end up with a gift this Xmas that he doesn't want and could have had the system he really wanted instead.

I don't think you read my comments properly.

1/ I did mention that the PS3 DOES play PS2 games. They were obviously interested in the "silver" (cheap) one.

2/ I didn't do any convincing

3/ Again - it sounds like the Wii was already on order (not from yesterday) - and I have no idea what their real interest in the PS3 is. I suspect they were just checking it out, 'cos their kid was badgering them.

...

@naz - great story. People seem to have missed that the Wii *was* sold out. If it wasn't - the store clerk would have almost definitely have pushed that instead. You can't make sales/revenue from something you don't have in stock!

 


 My bad... I read through that post of yours rather quickly and must have missed that.  But, who knows, the parents could be misdirecting him so he doesn't think he'll be getting a PS3 and it will still be a surprise.



 


Get your Portable ID!

 

My pokemon brings all the nerds to the yard. And they're like, "You wanna trade cards?" Damn right, I wanna trade cards. I'll trade this, but not my charizard.

Sqrl said:
So it sounds like jjseth would have done the same thing if he were in the clerks position.


That blows my theory out of the water, I was thinking nobody was going to defend it =P

Just curious how do you justify this person straight out lying to the customer?

The idea that it is the employees job to come to terms with what he did is partially true, the other side of it is that Naznatips would have to come to terms with not stepping in and stopping that kind of douchebaggery from taking place. I just can't fathom the logic behind saying Naz was in the wrong there, I think the level of dishonesty being displayed made it a moral imperative to intervene and any decent person would have done so imo.

 Nope... I wouldn't have done that if I was a clerk at someplace like that.   If I wasn't getting any commission and just making a flat salary, I'd tell them exactly what it is that they want, and then of course tell them that we were out of them right now, but given her/him advice on where to find the system they wanted.  

I wasn't there so I am not so sure it would have been flat out lying or just twisting his sales pitch to have the ps3 fit what she could have wanted.  If she said she wanted a system that had motion controls I'd have brought up the PS3 as well, especialy if the wii was out of stock.  But if she started to ask if it had specific games that the wii will only have, then I'd tell her that the Wii is what she wants.  

I was more or less saying that the way that he was arguing with the clerk about it was the wrong way to do it. He could have said what he needed to in one sentence, then the lady would have seen the clerk was full of BS.  



 


Get your Portable ID!

 

My pokemon brings all the nerds to the yard. And they're like, "You wanna trade cards?" Damn right, I wanna trade cards. I'll trade this, but not my charizard.

naznatips said:
jjseth, so getting this straight, you literally just said: "It's okay if he lies to other people, but if he lies to me I would report him." Nice morals there pal. Also, it's not okay to exploit ignorance. Not at all. Not in any situation. If the employee had said, "Well that's the Wii, and we'll have it in stock again on Sunday" that woman would have come back and bought it on Sunday. But, if he sells her something she didn't want, she'll come back to return the system and never go into that store again.

Do you really have to be paid to do the right thing? I'm sorry, but that's just dumb. Of course it's not my job. It's not my job to call the police if I see someone get robbed either, but I still do it.

Dallinor I gave her no opinion on anything. Just information.

Alexie, no, the PSP never had massive failure rates. That was an outright lie by the clerk to get people to buy the DS instead. I own both, but I don't like seeing people deceive the ignorant.

 Someone getting robbed/assaulted/raped is completely different then a sales clerk misleading a customer.   In his position, he gained nothing from trying to push the PS3 on her.   If he was commissioned, I could understand him wanting to sell what he has.



 


Get your Portable ID!

 

My pokemon brings all the nerds to the yard. And they're like, "You wanna trade cards?" Damn right, I wanna trade cards. I'll trade this, but not my charizard.

NJ5 said:
Prepare to be killed by Sony fanboys.

 *Whips out my transcontinental sniper rifle*

But seriously, must we have the need for so much violence?