4 ms·

I still can't believe retail establishments think it's a good idea to degrade the customer experience by letting third-party salespeople rove their stores. I k

I still can't believe retail establishments think it's a good idea to degrade the customer experience by letting third-party salespeople rove their stores. I know Home Depot et al are making money from it, but I can't imagine there are many customers coming away with positive feelings from these come-ons.

rpeden 8y ago
Even first-party roving salespeople can be a big turn-off. I've found that my local Walmart is often cheaper than Amazon, but I've been shopping at Amazon more frequently ever since I was repeatedly ambushed by people trying to get me to sign up for a Walmart Mastercard while I was wandering around the store shopping.
ghostly_s 8y ago
Is this a regional thing? I've never seen any 3rd-party sales staff in a Home Depot here in Chicago, or anything like this in any other big box store I frequent.
- dboreham 8y ago
  Perhaps it's a sun thing?
- Keverw 8y ago
  I’ve seen it here in Ohio. Sams Club and also Menards. Usually some guy at a aisle or back of the store trying to sell satellite tv. It is annoying... Just shopping for whatever you needed and some random guy asks what you have for television. Also seen a woman trying to sell perfume and wanted to spray some on people at another store, kinda pushy near where the cash registers are. Aren’t some people allergic to that stuff? I think it would be better to have samples next to the actual perfume for when someone is actually shopping for that.
  - magduf 8y ago
    >Just shopping for whatever you needed and some random guy asks what you have for television. I've had that in Costco, trying to sell me cable TV service. Then they act completely flabbergasted when I say I don't watch TV and don't care about cable.
    - RankingMember 8y ago
      Haha, I had the same response from a door-to-door cable pusher.
NegativeLatency 8y ago
Costco has been doing this with Direct TV recently. Its a very bad experience imo. You walk in the door and sometimes there's someone saying: "I can save you money on your TV service"
- x2f10 8y ago
  Comcast does this in Walmart. The people Comcast hires are ultra-aggressive, obnoxious, crude individuals that actually follow you while shopping asking what you spend on service, what service you have, etc. I flat out no longer shop in my local Walmart for this reason alone. Otherwise, I don't mind Walmart.
ryanmercer 8y ago
It seems to be a largely Home Depot thing, they seem to regularly have someone trying to sell me satellite television service in the stores here in Indy while Lowes has never had any such thing that I've seen.

rpeden 8y ago

Even first-party roving salespeople can be a big turn-off. I've found that my local Walmart is often cheaper than Amazon, but I've been shopping at Amazon more frequently ever since I was repeatedly ambushed by people trying to get me to sign up for a Walmart Mastercard while I was wandering around the store shopping.

ghostly_s 8y ago

Is this a regional thing? I've never seen any 3rd-party sales staff in a Home Depot here in Chicago, or anything like this in any other big box store I frequent.

dboreham 8y ago
Perhaps it's a sun thing?
Keverw 8y ago
I’ve seen it here in Ohio. Sams Club and also Menards. Usually some guy at a aisle or back of the store trying to sell satellite tv. It is annoying... Just shopping for whatever you needed and some random guy asks what you have for television. Also seen a woman trying to sell perfume and wanted to spray some on people at another store, kinda pushy near where the cash registers are. Aren’t some people allergic to that stuff? I think it would be better to have samples next to the actual perfume for when someone is actually shopping for that.
- magduf 8y ago
  >Just shopping for whatever you needed and some random guy asks what you have for television. I've had that in Costco, trying to sell me cable TV service. Then they act completely flabbergasted when I say I don't watch TV and don't care about cable.
  - RankingMember 8y ago
    Haha, I had the same response from a door-to-door cable pusher.

NegativeLatency 8y ago

Costco has been doing this with Direct TV recently. Its a very bad experience imo. You walk in the door and sometimes there's someone saying: "I can save you money on your TV service"

x2f10 8y ago
Comcast does this in Walmart. The people Comcast hires are ultra-aggressive, obnoxious, crude individuals that actually follow you while shopping asking what you spend on service, what service you have, etc. I flat out no longer shop in my local Walmart for this reason alone. Otherwise, I don't mind Walmart.

ryanmercer 8y ago

It seems to be a largely Home Depot thing, they seem to regularly have someone trying to sell me satellite television service in the stores here in Indy while Lowes has never had any such thing that I've seen.