Tonight was my first time... - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

ernie · 02-22-2006, 12:26 PM

I remember one fine Saturday day when my Dad was disturbed by a vacuum salesman on his day off. He tried to politely show him the door immediately but the guy wouldn't give up. Finally my dad got that glint in his eye and gladly opened the door to the guy (he sometimes gets a similar glint when JW's show up on the doorstep). He let the guy start in with his pitch and then he goes into the whole get your vacuum and let's compare thing.

So he got my dad to vacuum to a spot on the carpet well. Then he did the coffee filter thing and said "ah hah look at how much stuff your vacuum left behind you must buy this one!" My dad calmly grabs his own coffee filter rigs it up to our vacuum cleaner and vacuums over the same spot...of course the coffee filter has just as much stuff on it as the salespersons did. He turns to the salesmen and says "ah hah get the hell out of my house!".

Bobblehead · 02-22-2006, 12:41 PM

In university, I tried selling Kirby vacuums for about 5/6 weeks.(*feels shame*)

It is a BRUTUAL way to try and earn tuition. I sold 5 of them. If you sell at full price, you get a nice commission. As soon as the price drops (and it ALWAYS drops) this comes out of your commission.

I still shudder about those days, but I still recognize the sales techniques when I see them used by sales people.

GreenTeaFrapp · 02-22-2006, 01:11 PM

When the sales geek wouldn't leave you should have, to copy some advice from another recent thread, whipped it out. Then you tell the sales geek that you want to see some sucking action ASAP!

Buff · 02-22-2006, 04:21 PM

My friend used to sell vacuum cleaners like this down here in Lethbridge. Well actually, he went through the training, and went on 3 sales calls with an experienced sales rep, and then had to go on 3 calls on his own. Then his training would be complete and he could get paid, but only if he completed his training. He quit when he completed his training. He told me it was a sham. It was an impressive vacuum cleaner but not worth the money he was supposed to sell it for.

He told me the spiel he was supposed to go through and it was good, but he sure didn't sound like himself when he was showing it to me. It was one job that he was glad to quit. I don't remember the figures but I remember he was allowed to sell the vacuum cleaner for 50% of the original price and he was certain that at that price it was still a massive markup. He was even allowed to give discounts for the lamest of reasons.

ken0042 · 02-22-2006, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernie

So he got my dad to vacuum to a spot on the carpet well. Then he did the coffee filter thing and said "ah hah look at how much stuff your vacuum left behind you must buy this one!" My dad calmly grabs his own coffee filter rigs it up to our vacuum cleaner and vacuums over the same spot...of course the coffee filter has just as much stuff on it as the salespersons did.

Refresh my memory; how did they hook up the coffee filter?

Just in case I get one of these guys showing up at my door.

Hack&Lube · 02-22-2006, 04:36 PM

Alberta Fairness Act - haha, there's no such thing. Does this mean if you record a conversation with a Tristar salesman, you can sue Tristar for false advertising or something?

Neeper · 02-22-2006, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Alberta Fairness Act - haha, there's no such thing. Does this mean if you record a conversation with a Tristar salesman, you can sue Tristar for false advertising or something?

The salesman told me about this "act". He said in his door to door sales industry, they are regulated heavily by the government. To sum it all up, I had to take the offer he was making today or else I can't take advantage of it for 1 year. He said it wouldn't be fair if he went to my neighbor and they agreed to buy for $2100, but offered it to me for $1598. To make it short, I told him we had to "think" about it. If I had to think about it for more than 10 minutes, deal is void, basically. That's when I finally said, forget it then. If you can't let me think about spending $2000, then I don't want it.

Sounds like a bull**** ploy to me, this Fariness Act.

FlamesAddiction · 02-22-2006, 06:41 PM

I had a visit form one of those people before. It was when I was around 19 or 20. I had some friends over, and being young and rebellious, we were experimenting with a particular herb that evening.

It was really a wierd experience. The guy just cold called and was really insistant about showing us the vaccuum. We were all kind of puzzled, but it was fun I guess.

icarus · 02-22-2006, 11:54 PM

What a crazy story, I can't believe it has happened to so many. I would love to **** around with the salesman's head. If that happened to me I would call the guy on the "Alberta Fairness Act" nonsense. As soon as you prove he's lying, he's screwed.

Incinerator · 02-23-2006, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeper

The salesman told me about this "act". He said in his door to door sales industry, they are regulated heavily by the government. To sum it all up, I had to take the offer he was making today or else I can't take advantage of it for 1 year. He said it wouldn't be fair if he went to my neighbor and they agreed to buy for $2100, but offered it to me for $1598. To make it short, I told him we had to "think" about it. If I had to think about it for more than 10 minutes, deal is void, basically. That's when I finally said, forget it then. If you can't let me think about spending $2000, then I don't want it.

Sounds like a bull**** ploy to me, this Fariness Act.

Man...what is with these salesdroids thinking tiny asians who appear to be nice people will believe any garbage they spew

Sylvanfan · 02-23-2006, 12:06 PM

Yeah, I'm pretty much scared to answer my phone in my house these days. But I don't feel the least bit bad about hanging up on a telemarketer. When they say they're doing a survey I tell them pay me $1000 up front because my opinion is that valuable or get stuffed I'm not even going to fart for free for you. I've made it a policy to not give any personal information to anyone anymore. I won't even fill out draws to win free stuff because it will come back to bite you with a call like this eventually. In a way it's sad, but I really belive you have to be a big time prick to get by in this world these days. But my wife has not picked up on this in the least.....

mykalberta · 02-23-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

When the sales geek wouldn't leave you should have, to copy some advice from another recent thread, whipped it out. Then you tell the sales geek that you want to see some sucking action ASAP!

That was just sick and if anyone on this forum would ever do that - no matter how annoying sales/telemarketers are (I get an average of 2 calls a say being a Network Engineer and I either immediately hang up on them, or put them on inevitable hold) should be ashamed of themselves. And for you to even suggest someone doing that makes me sad that you and I have just the least in common with being a member of the same forum.

MYK

troutman · 02-23-2006, 01:47 PM

Kirby vaccuums are pretty nice; we have one, and it can even shampoo our carpets.

The Kirby sales strategy is quite sleazy though; seems they rely on new sales-people to sell a few units to relatives and friends that feel obligated to help out the struggling vacuum salesman in the family. Then the new salesperson quits after realizing no one else wants to hear the pitch, and the process starts all over again with new sales people.

The ultimate movie about the salesman's life:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/quotes

Blake: We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize?
[Holds up prize]

Blake: Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.

ken0042 · 02-23-2006, 01:50 PM

MYK, I'm sure in both threads that comment was intended to be funny.

Or, at least I found it to be funny.

GreenTeaFrapp · 02-23-2006, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mykalberta

That was just sick and if anyone on this forum would ever do that - no matter how annoying sales/telemarketers are (I get an average of 2 calls a say being a Network Engineer and I either immediately hang up on them, or put them on inevitable hold) should be ashamed of themselves. And for you to even suggest someone doing that makes me sad that you and I have just the least in common with being a member of the same forum.

MYK

What are you? Some ****ing 80 year old spinster virgin prude that lives with a dozen cats?

First of all it was a joke, just like it was in the other thread.

Second of all, even if it wasn't a joke, what is so sick about the human body? It's not like it was some 16 year old girl selling the vacuum. If some guy is going to get all bent out of shape about seeing some guy's schlong, he's had issues in his life before you whipped it out.

If the sales guy was a geek he'd probably get flustered and take off ASAP. If it was just some naive college student looking to make some beer money, he'd probably take off and then have a story to tell his buddies about the guy who whipped it out when he was trying to sell him a vacuum.

JiriHrdina · 02-24-2006, 01:50 AM

My grandma was the unfortunate victim of one of these salespeople. I say victim because she was at the time developing Alzheimers and did not exactly have all her wits about here. She ended up spending over 2 grand on a vacuum.

We found the thing stashed away in her basement months later. She had realized at some point that she had been duped and didn't want us to find out.

Gotta be a pretty low life to put one over on an old lady.

notoepik · 02-24-2006, 08:12 AM

One day my husband came home from a yard sale with an old, really old, vacuum he had gotten off the *free* pile. He said it was an antique. I told him it was a good thing he didn't pay anything for that piece of junk.

So he did a little research on the internet and called the Rainbow company and asked about his special little vacuum. Turns out it was a pre WWWII, with a low serial number. He tinkered a little on it, cleaned it up and it ran. Too bad I told him, get it outta here.

THEN the salesman called. Do they have radar or what? So Hubby says yes come on over I want to show you something too!! The Rainbow salesman comes in, all eager beaver to sell the best ever vacuum to Hubby. But NO, he doesn't even get to demonstate. Hubby takes out the antique and does his own demo, shows the salesman how good this thing is even though it is older than dirt he is vacuuming up! Tells him how much he NEEDS this vacuum for his demos, to show the longevity etc. In short order the salesman is writing out a check for $100.00 and leaving with the *free* pile vacuum.

I bet his wife was ****ed

ernie · 02-24-2006, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

Refresh my memory; how did they hook up the coffee filter?

Just in case I get one of these guys showing up at my door.

you know I honestly can't remember that...I was 7 or 8 at the time. I just remember the broad strokes such as the coffee filters (common vacuum saleman technique for ages) and I of course remember the "ah hah get the hell out of my house" from my Dad. He tells the story to this day. If I remember I'll ask him. I'm guessing it was probably just wrapped around the nozzle which was then put on the powerhead attachment or something, but honestly don't remember.

Buff · 02-24-2006, 09:41 AM

notoepik just reminded me that my parents bought a Rainbow vacuum cleaner from some salesman who probably worked in a similar manner. It was actually a good vacuum cleaner, but a pain in the butt to use b/c you were always dragging the canister around with you and it was much easier to tip over than you were supposed to believe. It lasted a long time though.

I'm not sure if my dad was always cheap and frugle with his purchases but I can see him haggling the salesman down to an unprecedented low price for the vacuum. I don't know how my dad does it but he knows how to work salesmen... I wish that rubbed off on me.

Bobblehead · 02-24-2006, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

Refresh my memory; how did they hook up the coffee filter?

Just in case I get one of these guys showing up at my door.

In the case of the Kirby, the bag isn't attached and instead there is a PVC part that connects. A cloth it stretched over the mouth and held in place by a thick elastic.

16 years ago, that part of the spiel went as follows:
Take some carpet freshener (after asking if they are alergic) and sprinkle it on one spot.
With the customers vaccuum, go over that section until they are positive it has sucked up everything, then go over it a few more times.
The take the Kirby, with a fresh cloth attached, and set it over the area.
Ask the customer for a value between 1 & 5. Tell them this is how long you will run the Kirby. Then only flip it on and immediately off no matter what they said.
There is always some of the freshener that is picked up (it is a good vaccuum, although horrendously overpriced).

And for the record, upright vaccuums (especially hoover) did the best at getting the most freshener out. Cannister vaccuums left a lot behind.