How knowledgeable are the sales people in your area?

[Hameister]

I'd really appreciate a little feedback from people on these forums.

I can't help but wonder, if the ignorance I run into all the time in electronics stores, is just my dumb luck, or is this a wider problem.

It doesn't matter if it's Radio Shack, Best Buy, CompUSA, BrandsMart, etc., they're all about the same. I listen when customers ask questions, and rely on the sales person to give them advice to help with their purchase.

Sometimes the advice the sales people give is only partially correct, and misleading. Often times, it's totally erroneous, completely untrue.

A few weeks ago, an elderly couple were telling a salesman in Best Buy, that they knew very little about computers, and just wanted something they could learn on, and e-mail their grandchildren. The salesman was showing them various desktops, ranging in price from $700 to $900, and explaining that this one has a better video card, or that one a faster CPU, and how more ram is faster.

I couldn't stand it anymore so I suggested a $379.00 laptop to them that was on sale, and they were so happy because of the size, and the price. The salesman was annoyed, and I told him he should listen to the customer, and sell them what they need, not what he wants to sell.

I stopped off at a Radio Shack store to pick up a 25' roll of 18 gauge lamp cord to use for speaker wire. The salesman asked if he could help, and I told him what I needed. He said he was sorry they were all out. I said fine, I can use this 22 gauge telephone wire. He said, "Sir that wire is not for speakers, it's for telephones".

I said, that it's just for a small bookshelf extension speaker in a kitchen for back ground music, and it will never see more than 2 watts. He further insisted that the speaker might be damaged, because the telephone wire was designed for voice, and not music, and Radio Shack would not be responsible if the speaker was damaged. I told him that was just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard, and walked out.

I've had numerous other scenarios very much like these. If you live in my area, may the good Lord protect you from sales people. You must research, and know what you want before you buy.

Is it the same where you live?

 

[Tech Explorer]

Since you're asking, I deal with some dummies from the Cricket store. One store dummy didn't know why my phone occasionally ran slow which I later learned was due to throttling. Then I inquired as to how much Cricket charges for 4G LTE service in Tucson which the store dummy couldn't answer (I know that MetroPCS has a plan starting at $50 a month).

To mention when I worked at Cablevision I fixed problems other reps should have fixed.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

Someone behind the 'Tech Guys' (The supposed Computer experts who fix peoples computer for massive prices) counter in a Currys/PC World store asked me what a Graphics card was once.

Never been back.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Yeah, ever seen a DC jack repair from Currys?

Bad, really bad.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

Yeah, ever seen a DC jack repair from Currys?

Bad, really bad.

I was doing a bit of scoping out the competition once, and took a laptop with the DC jack half ripped out and asked them to quote me, I got quoted something like £200, and I know the work is always shoddy there.

We used to offer the same service for £80, and we had a specialist technician who would do them so you couldn't even tell the difference from the original jack. This is why i'm so unsure why people don't just use small local companies, makes me mad.

 

[Bahawolf1]

I think it's a global thing but I blame the stores more than the people. When I worked for a particular technical outlet years ago, their home office section had the best sales people. Their technical experience varied from none to just enough to be dangerous.

I get more upset when it's a web developer or Internet marketer that lies or does a job wrong. That's been my expertise for years and to have to explain to clientele that they were lied to or not informed properly is not my favorite part of my business practice.

 

[cb600fshornet]

I was doing a bit of scoping out the competition once, and took a laptop with the DC jack half ripped out and asked them to quote me, I got quoted something like £200, and I know the work is always shoddy there.

We used to offer the same service for £80, and we had a specialist technician who would do them so you couldn't even tell the difference from the original jack. This is why i'm so unsure why people don't just use small local companies, makes me mad.

Yup, exactly the same here, we charge same price, same result.

Some people do it for like £30, but their end result is usually terrible.

 

[strollin]

Well, as in just about any subject, you just can't generalize. I'm sure there are very competent salespeople that work at Radio Shack, Best Buy, Curry's, etc... and there are those that are less competent. You need to judge each as an individual.

The general reason for low knowledge salespeople is due to the fact that most of them are paid only minimum wage. If someone is truly tech knowledgeable, they won't stay long at a job that pays only minimum wage because they are over qualified (or underpaid). Why should a competent tech person stay at a job being paid minimum wage when they can get paid more at a different job?

Back in 2002, I got laid off from my job as a Software Engineer. I couldn't find a job in my field right away so I took a salesperson job at Radio Shack. I worked there a total of 3 months before I found a job in my field and left. At the new job I was paid 5X what I was being paid at RS (any question why I left?). The manager and asst manager at Radio Shack tried their hardest to get me to stay but they really didn't have much to offer other then telling me they had talked to the district manager and there were plans to promote me to store manager but, of course, "no guarantees".

 

[berry120]

Currys / PC World have been pretty consistently bad for me, with the one exception when a trainee store manager was very knowledgeable and helpful in helping me choose an appropriate camera (and giving me a discount on the official bag to match the price of the third party one because it was out of stock.)

Save for that one incident though, I wouldn't really trust much that they say.

As above, I blame the store more than the people - it should be the store that's responsible for training them up to the required standard, which they clearly don't always do.

 

[MMM]

Have a look at the age of most sales people, they are young teenagers to early 20's and mostly just shop assistants which would explain their limited experience.....no fault on them but the stores attitude in employing cheap labour.

A true sales person would know his job quite well with experience.

A sign of times I suppose.