Saturday, October 27, 2007

Vacuum shopping

I've been waiting to write this story, partly to calm down and partly I don't know why.
The other day we finally found time to go look for a vacuum. We'd been hearing great things about the personal service at Swanson's so we headed over to their Machesney Park store. We were the only ones there and the saleswoman immediately started showing us vacuums. She started with a $650 vacuum, then moved up to $750 and $1000. Now, we know we need to get something good for Ben's allergies, but we also did some research and know we don't need to spend that much. I had heard a scecific model that several people were happy with that was only $200. When we asked the woman about that model, though, she would not even show it to us. She said that one doesn't even have HEPA filtration. Well, Bill kept talking to her and I walked over to it and saw right on the front "HEPA Filtration." So that threw me off. Oh, you should know that during all this the kids got bored and were being themselves (a little crazy). The woman gave them some push vacs to play with and that lasted a few minutes, but finally I had to take them outside while Bill continued to get information. I knew from the beginning that this person was not going to sell us what we wanted, and so would not be selling us anything, but Bill likes a lot of info. So 10 minutes later I see him heading to the door with her information. She made sure to write her name on a card so we would give her credit for the sale when we came back. I know these people make their living from their sales, but I truly believe that service makes the sale, not pushiness. Anyway, Bill hesitated at the door for a minute and then came out and started driving before he said anything. I started to say he should have just come by himself and we should know better by now not to take the kids when he said "she just lost that sale." Well, yeah, she wasn't selling what we want.
"No, she just called the kids brats."
"WHAT!?"
She apparently didn't make sure he left the (very small) store before she started talking about us to her coworker. He heard "One of those little brats has allergies" before he opened the door. Now, why did he not go back in and rip her a new one? I don't know. His gut told him to leave and handle it higher up. We will be contacting the owner today. We also have a slim family connection- Bill's brother's girlfriend's uncle is the owner. We talked to her last night and she thought the whole situation was just crazy. So hopefully soon we will get the vacuum we want and the service we deserve.

No comments: