Homepro Membership

[BaanOz]

This afternoon we went to buy a kitchen at Homepro. Spent an hour or more going through options and negotiating.

Happy on a setup and gave the nod.

Salesperson asked us to wait at the front desks and we waited and waited. Ended up walking back and the salesperson had been entering the parts into the computer and wanted to know if we had a membersip card. "No, but our sister has one". Salesperson said that's ok what is the number (privacy?) and she searched and searched for ages for it.

By this time another hour had passed.

Pissed off by now I ended up trying to find what the delay was and apparently we couldn't purchase until we setup a membership card (so we would "receive points") as they could not find the sisters. Setting up a memebership card would take even more time but we couldn't care less about their points.

Had enough and decided to walk out.

As we drove out pass the entrance we saw the salesperson standing there and opened the car window She said we can buy the kitchen now and was crying. As we had invested so much time we agreed to come back inside. Apparently between the time we walked out and returned (3-5mins max) they had found the sisters membership.

Can anyone shed any light on why Homepro insist we have a membership card to purchase larger ticket items there? We supply all details, address, mobile etc no worries but what is this membership card and why is it so important?

Feel a bit guilty about the saleperson being upset but from the time of the nod until we walked out was well over an hour.

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by BaanOz

[CharlieH]

Cant shed any light on the card aspect but the girl was probably upset at potentially losing a chunk of commission on the large ticket item.

 

 

[BaanOz]

20 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Cant shed any light on the card aspect

Thanks, yes probably commission.

This card thing has happened to us in the past when purchasing a washing machine and not living here full time, not intersted in being a member of Homepro.

Edited October 6, 2018 by BaanOz

[canopy]

Applying for the card is essentially a consent form to allow them to spam you with SMS advertisements for homepro products. Haven fallen for that one now whenever they insist i get a card i insist they do not get my phone number.

 

[bankruatsteve]

To my recall, our Home Pro card (as well as most other 'membership' cards) take less than a minute to obtain.  Although my wife's phone number is attached to the card, I'm pretty sure that she is not inundated with promotions.  In the OP's case, the large sale will probably end up with several hundred baht rebate and the staff was probably just trying to help the customer to get that.

[longball53098]

Have had the card for years. Never get ads or spam that I know of. All cards have a phone number link. If you had supplied the sister's number they could have got her card number in a few seconds

[BaanOz]

2 hours ago, longball53098 said:

Have had the card for years. Never get ads or spam that I know of. All cards have a phone number link. If you had supplied the sister's number they could have got her card number in a few seconds

Sisters mobile number had changed a few times since getting the membership card and had no idea what it was.

Just asked Mrs Baanoz again, she had told the salesperson we don't want a membership card and the salesperson persisted looking for the sisters info ignoring that we didn't want one or that we didn't care about points or that we had somewhere else to be for a birthday party and told this to the salesperson and she replied "Happy Birthday" lol

We wanted the item so we were stuck waiting and waiting until they demanded we sign up and that was enough and walked out. They seemed surprised we were upset at waiting.

By the way, at the speed of about one keystroke/10 seconds on the computer, then looking at the screen it's no wonder it takes them so long.

 

2 hours ago, bankruatsteve said:

In the OP's case, the large sale will probably end up with several hundred baht rebate and the staff was probably just trying to help the customer to get that.

Maybe this but item was already on sale and we received an extra discount.

Anyway, have to remember it's amazing Thailand.

[anon2736434]

I never shop at homepro, the other major home stores are better and cheaper.

[BaanOz]

14 hours ago, Notagain said:

other major home stores are better and cheaper.

Yes, Thai Watsadu isn't too far from us but no have.

[fullcave]

Home pro, I hate that place, all the reps trying to push crap that doesn't work on you. Worst of the worst.

[kamalabob2]

I've carried a HomePro membership card for over 10 years. I've carried a HomePro Visa credit card for a few months. No spam SMS in either case. If I tender a charge on my HomePro Visa card I do get an SMS from the bank that issued that branded card. HomePro has the most creative  "sale sign makers" and a very good selection of blue Scotch painters tape. A good selection of King brand paint brushes. However never the low price leader on any major brand item in my personal experience. The reps work hard to hit sales quotas and possible commissions at many stores, not just Homepro. 

[anon2736434]

Homepro was really good when it was the only game in town where I live but even global house have upped their quality and choices available, then there's Do Home Thai watsuda Home Hub all much cheaper than homepro.