are you ever more knowledgable than your SA?

[amanda]

I guess because I am a purse freak, I really don't understand SAs - particualrly in high-end stores - who know nothing about the bags they are selling. I don't mean to sound snotty about it, but I find it so odd. While I find the SAs at Nordstrom to be genuinely attentive, quite often they don't know much about the bags themselves. For example, rather than me telling them about the different leathers and styles of the Marc Jacobs quilted bags...they shoud be telling me, the customer, about them in order to help me choose a bag. And when I asked one for the name of the style of a Dolce and Gabbana bag on display, they just referred to it as the "large tote" and had no clue that there are actually style names. (It took me just a couple of minutes to figure it out online when I got home) Related to this subject...when in this situation, do you find it hard to keep quiet when an SA isn't able to answer another customer's question and you can?

i find it hard to keep quiet, but i don't want to embarass the SA so i usually wait until they've finished talking and the SA has moved on to someone else and then tell the person the answer to their question privately.

 

[Kat]

This happens quite often with me because I am truly interested in bags like you guys are. What I find is when the SAs realize I really know their line they are eager to show me everything they have. Many times they'll show me stuff that are "in the back" which are already spoken for or their just unlock hidden compartments that have more bags in sleepers. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I check them all out. My husband even got into it yesterday at Dior. The SA opened unlocked a huge hidden closet and my husband was literally inside the closet pulling bags out of sleepers saying, "Kathleen, look at this one ..... look at this one ...." The three of us were cracking up.

 

[blackbutterfly]

I was on my way to Cleveland one day, so I called the LV at Saks-Beachwood looking for the inclusion bracelets...and they had no idea of what I was talking about. They told me that I must be mistaken, there's no bracelets like that, blah-blah-blah. I could understand if the bracelets had just come out, but they had been in stores for a while...

 

[Kat]

The SA at Neiman Marcus is not very knowledgable about any of the lines they carry. At first I was annoyed by this because he couldn't answer my questions. For example, they had a red colored Twiggy there (which I eventually bought) but I wanted to know what color it was. He told me it was "rasberry." No such color. But his lack of knowledge worked out for me in the end because he only charged me seven-hundred-something for the bag instead of a thousand-something. It must have had a wrong tag on it and he was clueless. My gain...

 

[jane]

This happened to me twice recently, in fact it may have even been on the same day. I went into Dior to ask about the Gaucho. They had the single in brown and in red. I asked if they would be getting the single in white. The SA said that the single Gaucho was not made in white. I decided not to argue about it and left. This SA was middle-aged, it was odd.

Then I went into LV and was helped by another middle-aged SA. I asked about the Damier Speedy coming out in the next few months. She had no idea what I was talking about, and in fact denied it. I again decided not to school her, and walked away.

 

[esiders]

When it comes to the purses, I always know more than the SA. Sometimes I get the names mixed up, but they always know what I am referring. The SAs are usually looking at me like because I come in asking for handbags by the model name/number and usually know the dimensions and have a rough estimates of the price. And you know what, it kind of pisses me off that the SAs don't have a clue...

OT: when my sister was looking for a wedding dress, we went to this place in Brooklyn called Kleinfeld which is supposed to have the best dresses. YAWN...we weren't impressed, especially when the elderly SA came out with this hideous dress and said "oh this dress is just bee-yoo-tee-ful...it's GA-VEN-CHEE you know". :weird: My sister looked at her in horror and said "it's pronounced Givenchy". Needlesstosay, we didn't buy anything!

 

[Swanky]

LOL! Yes and it pissed me off! Actually more than once.
I posted about going to Saks and asking about a Dior Gaucho and the SA looking at me like I had 3 heads.
:rollingeyes
My DH and I tend to beat things to death/research so it happens fairly often to us. But it never fails to irritate either of us when we go to buy something and the SA can't handle basic questions.

 

[pursedoc]

I was the same way with my car. I knew a lot about the Corolla and its features, but didn't want to act like a know-it-all in front of the salesman. Instead I just listened to what he had to say, and if it was something I knew, I said something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, I remember reading something like that in a magazine article" or vaguely referring to another information source. In situations like that, I think it's best to let the salesperson talk and try to phrase my knowledge into questions, like, "I read somewhere that (insert your knowledge here). Is that true?" And see what the SA says. In a way, it's letting them know that you've done your research, but you don't come off as looking like someone trying to outsmart them or prove them wrong.

Just my opinion

you mean, like a guy would?

 

[whatzerface]

I"m all about researching things I'm interested in as well... so the SA's are always suprised by how much I know about purses. Espcially the LV manager... he thinks it's fun to test me! I'll always say... "Oh, I've been looking at this (filling in the blank) bag forver... I really love this color...etc... Just so they kind of get the idea that I know what I'm talking about so they won't try to BS me.

I've had it happen with furniture stores before and it drives me crazy. I've worked in the retail furniture/home decor industry for 6 years now and I HATE it when I go into a store and the SA's tell me the wrong info...it's not like I'm going to buy from them anyway so I just let them think they are right.

 

[speedysteph]

Sometimes it might be the person's first day at the job, though. Everyone's been there at one time where you are nervous a new job and just trying to do good.

That's no excuse for sa's that just blatantly give wrong information or are rude about it.

When I've been new at a job and someone asks me something I don't know, I usually say "I'm new here and I'm not sure, but I'll find out for you immediately". Most people emphasize with you and are fine with that.