So we want to redo the tile in our shower and this led us to making an appointment with a big box retailer regarding an estimate on the work. They had pushed their way in a bit, to be honest, by offering the appointment when they did a follow up on a repair to our dishwasher. We do want to have this tile job done so we said ok to an appointment.
Young fellow comes by a few days later, really nice affable kid, looks at my shower and starts to talk about what we could do. One thing I notice early on is he says that he will want to get a yes or no before we are done today. I tell him straight out it will be no today because we have a rule that on these kinds of jobs we get at least three estimates and sleep on any purchase more than $500 for at least a day. He isn't perturbed by this and keeps going, indicating he is pretty confident I will change my mind by the time he's done his spiel. I tell him this is a hard and fast rule which we will not back down on.
Now as we are discussing fixtures, colors and the latest in water resistant barriers the conversation shifts around a bit and we are getting chummy. We discuss our dogs and politics, just having a nice chat about life. I figure he is either going to try and use our new found friendship to manipulate this sale or he is just not interested in actually doing anymore appointments today. If it is the former, well that is why we have our large purchase rules.
So the retailer the kid works for doesn't really have the exact look or materials that my wife wants but we have come up with a selection she is ok with but not super excited about. Regardless lets hear the price for what he has been selling as the best workmanship and the best quality you can find in this, albeit, form over function selection. So he quotes a price and immediately reduces it by a couple of things, like $500 off because I would pay cash and some other stuff. The grand total is about 30% more than I think a reasonable quote is from my cursory research and it's not even what my wife really wants. We want tile and his tile selection is poor, he is pushing acrylic as a much better option. He is adamant that it cleaner, cheaper and more waterproof.
This is where I am really proud of us though. So of course this kid is actually going to try and hard sell me now. He had been trying to build up a relationship to attempt to guilt me into buying something I don't really want on the spot for too much money.
He says he feels sorry for me if I don't go with his guys, they are the best. I tell him that the only proof I have of his claims that he is the best is him though. He is obviously flustered and hems and haws a bit more. I have a few pangs, feeling sorry for this guy, that's what they work on though. So I am a nice guy but not a dumb guy. I tell him, after 4 hours in my house, that I have my rule, it's a rule and I will let him know.
Glad I didn't buy of course, it was too expensive and I saw a bunch of news clips that my wife found later about that retailer, their shoddy work and their many unsatisfy customers. I saw the exact same acrylic in all those bathrooms in all those news clips.
Submitted December 29, 2018 at 12:39PM by bertparx http://bit.ly/2RoUGsL
