If the online merchant solicits feedback, you should respond in a manner that reflects this issue.

If not, contact them directly - and let them know how belittled you felt. The order-taker was only doing her job (and doing it well) though.

I'd have to say I think your pithy attitude is unwarranted. The woman on the other end was being complimentary and double checking that the sizes were correct (given that they were different). How would it be if you received the order unquestioned and then realised you had mistyped a size and wanted to return it? The undercurrent of her compliment about the coats might well have been, "Smart of you to wait until they're on sale" but you were too busy being insulted to realise this.

Nope, she was upselling. And I am sure that this is a tactic. I'd avoid that company in the future, completely.

God forbid we EVER run across a friendly, helpful salesperson, especially on the phone where we can slap her face and tell her how horribly nosy and rude she was!

Please, whatever you do, make sure you phone her supervisor and get her fired - you'd be doing the world a favor from having to put up with "friendly" in this bitter-ridden world!

* clicking on sarcasm OFF button now*

I don't agree she was doing her job, as her job was to recreate my order which they canceled due to their own error. Her job was not to sell me more, to waste my time, or comment on any of my purchases or sizes. (Half my order was in one size and half in the other, so there was no mistaking that I was ordering two different sizes given the number of items I purchased.) One thing I didn't add was that she did not know how to do her job correctly. I had to tell her what to do to finish the order, and I was put on hold a half dozen times because she didn't know what she was doing. I was tempted to just cancel my order, but I remained externally patient.

However, you all have given me another perspective to think about.

And just to be extra clear...any attitude I had was internalized. I was just sharing it here because I was irritated. I was nothing but appreciative and thankful on the phone, although I was not feeling that way on the inside.

This post was edited by alice_sj on Sun, Mar 3, 13 at 2:55

Oh my! GrammyMyrna, you and I seem to have posted at nearly the same time, so I did not see it until now. Goodness, my irritation sure stirred you up. I see why this board has a reputation for scaring people away just for sharing their thoughts and feelings. I enjoy sarcasm, but more for humor, not attacking others. Oh well, hope you feel better letting me know what you really think. I hope you only externalize how you really feel on a forum like this because, dang, your sarcasm is sharp and way over the top. I never said I wanted anyone fired or even treated poorly. I just felt internally irritated and was sharing here. I see my very human internal thoughts have offended you. I guess the fact that I was really polite held no weight for you.

I'd be willing to bet she WAS doing her job, and was reading the prompts that were popping up on her computer after each of your items was listed. Those phone people do NOTHING that's not scripted for them. Look, as annoying as these things are, she's probably working for a pittance--I hate dealing with the people on the other end of a sales call (and telemarketers) as much as the next person, but they're people who most often have limited opportunities and have chosen to work rather than be on the public dole. Good for her--it's just a shame her company put her in the position of ticking you off. Be angry with them--they lost your order, they arranged for her to call, and they are almost surely the ones making her engage in all that selling while she had you.

I have the same problem with my physician's secretary at a large Boston hospital. It happens again and again. Recently I called from appointments for me and my sister who lives an hour away but I go and pick her up. I told the secretary it has to be about ten a.m. and both within an hour of each other. She gives me two four hours apart, I repeat the above. She gives me another option at 3 and 4 . Again I tell her any time in Mar. or April in the morning. I tell her I have to hang up as we've been on the phone for 25 minutes. She calls me back and says she can give me two at four on a Friday (worst traffic time) I again repeat I want a morning appt. to which she says ,"oh, I figured it all out,you stay at your sister's house overnight" I caved, took the appt. lol. Now I make the appts. on the computer. hahha
I hear you about the pushing, I ordered eye glasses via phone and I was being urged twice to buy another pair. I politely declined while gritting my teeth. I don't like that practice of pushing you and I tell them I don't like it so they stop.

I believe that you were polite and patient on the phone, Alice. Just the fact that you had to spend all that extra time was an irritant. That's why I order online a lot of the times, to avoid the irritation of real life shopping. I posted about the cookbook that was delivered to me without wanting it. I was irritated that I had to call the toll-free number and spend 15 minutes of my time canceling something I didn't order in the first place. I was not rude to the employee, as I'm sure you were not. Don't let the comments bother you.

Yes I believe some might be scripted, but I am also wondering if this is a way to make there job more interesting and human?
I was ordering a backpack and when you give the letters, they are repeated in names, so that they get it right. We both started laughing at how absurd it all sounded.
If I don't want to hear so much chatter I will say that sorry but I am in a rush and only have a few seconds to do the order. If we are being taped than the sales rep would certainly be off the hook.

I've never known a salesperson, who, if doing their job correctly, wasn't trying to sell more product - that's what they were hired to do!

your story reminded me of an annoying phone call I got last week from a political party. Silly me, I thought they were calling locally and I wondered to myself why they would be calling during a televised ISU basketball game. When she ran through her script of "How are you doing today, etc." I responded that she needed to make the call quick because I was watching the Cyclone game. She just stuck to her script and I responded "I have to hang up now, the Cyclones are playing on TV. Good bye". After I hung up, I realized that she was probably calling from another state.Once I hung up, I had a good laugh.

Alice, I feel your pain.

Pushy sales techniques, superficially disguised as helpfulness (or flattery), can be quite annoying.

If I ask for help and receive it, I am happy and say, "Thanks."
But if sales people try to get me to buy stuff I don't want, the grouchiness begins.

alicesj, I understand what you are venting about, her flattery was exaggerated , too much is too muchâ¦.. it sounds fake after a while.

Ugh, I'd be annoyed too. I don't mind someone trying to upsell me once in a while, but not on every item. I wish people were better at reading someone, even on the telephone you can "hear" people-if they are getting annoyed or in a hurry, and to quit all the chit-chat.

Is this anything like buying a car, Ma'am?

You know how that goes - you make an offer higher than you expect to get ... and I come back with a response that's lower than I expect to pay, then we go one from there.

So ... if you suggest that I get a second pair of glasses ...

... how be that I suggest that I cut my current order in half ...

... but that wouldn't be so good, as then I'd have only one glass, for one eye (and only one side-arm, to boot) ...

... so that wouldn't be so good for me.

I'd expect to get it for half price, though.

ole joyful

When my DH quit his job, I called AT&T to cancel our call-waiting, just to save that $5 a month. The lady I was talking to tried to sell me every stinkin' feature that AT&T was offering, even though I told her why I was canceling the call-waiting, to save money. Finally I had to ask her to PLEASE just do the one thing I wanted and to stop trying to sell me more stuff. A simple request like what I had took over 30 minutes, I was not happy by the time I got off the phone. I took great cheer a little later in getting rid of the land line altogether. :) That took another 30 minutes, because they were begging me to stay. LOL