What do you say to SA's ........

queenvictoria2

psalm 25:4
O.G.
Sep 18, 2006
6,683
330
who give you WRONG info and you know it ???

I was looking for a Blueberry Purse and a SA at Barney's found me one in Ink and told me "The Purse is a NEW style and it only comes in Ink"

She was super nice but... :wtf:
 
I'll just say "erm.. this looks more ink to me than blueberry"

Usually I've found SAs readily admit when they are wrong, or at least admit that they could've been mistaken, and then we just have a good laugh. But if she's persistant, keeps insisting she's right etc then just tell you have done ALOT of research and you know the difference.
 
hahaha... what is interesting to me is that it sounds like she was probably just trying to sell you the bag. pretty unethical.

1. the purse is NOT a new style
2. the purse comes in MANY other colors than ink

I would have just said... "ummm... I know that the purse comes in other colors and in fact, <lie> I have an pistachio purse at home from 2004 so it's obviously not a new style. So, you are out of blueberry purses then?" and if she says yeah, and that is the THE bag you want... then I'd have her call other Barneys to find out for me. <insert sweet smile here>

I think Barneys has pretty badly educated SAs I think... I had a similar experience @ the one in Seattle. They tried to convince me that sky blue was never made... The Barneys in LA was not much better, but at least the SAs didn't try to convince me to buy a metallic orange classique for 30 minutes (ohhh it's so rare! it as JUST returned!) like the SAs at the Barneys in NY did...

Everytime I travel I go to all the Balenciaga stores in that city. It's my form of sightseeing! :lol:
 
on a crappy pre-menopausal day I would say " what are you? a F**king idiot? who taught you how to do your job?"...thats what I would say. Cause ya know what I dont care what field anyone is on, I hate stupid people....on a good day I would be nicer and make sure I gave them the correct info so they know they were wrong! Really hate stupid people who THINK they know what theyre doing. ~hmph~


no really, I would be nicer.

honest I would.
 
I usually try to tell them nicely that it's not what they say it is and sometimes they believe me and sometimes they don't. Once an SA at Neimans told me, "you know a lot about these bags, you should work here!"
 
If a SA gave me such an attitude, I would say "you lost a sale, can I speak with your manager?" with a big smile. Most of Barneys sales staff are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. Best to find one smart, nice person in every store and do all your buying through them. I think I found the only one on Barneys main in NYC.
 
Honestly, I know this is the SA's job to know the product he or she is selling. But sometimes with a sales floor the size of a football field (hence the one at NM in SF) that stocks dozens of different designers, it is hard to know every style, every color, and every size of every designer. There are going to be some designers a SA is more familiar with than others.

But but but! If a SA is obviously incorrect and gives tons of attitude, that is just bad work ethics. Maybe I'm a new SA myself and I sympathize with those who are not as familiar with a designer that has as many similar styles and colors as Balenciaga. I think I would feel really awful if someone thought/called me stupid just b/c I don't know a certain color or a certain style of a designer's collection.
 
^^ it's fine if a SA would just say "I'm not sure, let me find out for you" as opposed to just straight out making up nonsense to sell what happens to be nearby. The SAs who I like to go back to are straight forward about such things -- if you don't know, just say so.

At NM the departments are bigger, but at Barneys NY there is absolutely no excuse for not knowing the merchandise. And the Barneys SA attitude is so bad that it's insult to injury. I sell expensive things to my own clients, and I know this kind of game playing doesn't play well in my field.

Also, I would never call someone stupid. It's not stupid, it's survival. Not well done, mind you.
 
^^ it's fine if a SA would just say "I'm not sure, let me find out for you" as opposed to just straight out making up nonsense to sell what happens to be nearby. The SAs who I like to go back to are straight forward about such things -- if you don't know, just say so.

At NM the departments are bigger, but at Barneys NY there is absolutely no excuse for not knowing the merchandise. And the Barneys SA attitude is so bad that it's insult to injury. I sell expensive things to my own clients, and I know this kind of game playing doesn't play well in my field.

Also, I would never call someone stupid. It's not stupid, it's survival. Not well done, mind you.

I agree with you that if a SA doesn't know something, they need to admit it. In my case, because I'm so new, I always ask the DSA (designated sales associates) if there is one for designers to get more information. If I am not able to do that, then I will just admit to the customer that I don't exactly know. It might look bad that I am not doing my job as well as I should, but I think it's definitely better than blindly giving false information.