Hassle While Shopping

[Simbo]

Whenever I go shopping for furniture, electrical goods, etc. as soon as I walk in the store, I am pounced on. I duly explain that I am looking around and if I see something I like, I will call them over. This seems to have no effect. As soon as I stop at a product, they are over telling me about it. I tell them again, but they do not listen. Usually, I end up walking out the shop. Why can't they just let you browse at leisure.

I've had this problem in the UK, but never as much as here, and once told, they leave you alone.

[astral]

They all want the commission on anything you buy.

I do agree they are a pest.

[falong]

Whenever I go shopping for furniture, electrical goods, etc. as soon as I walk in the store, I am pounced on. I duly explain that I am looking around and if I see something I like, I will call them over. This seems to have no effect. As soon as I stop at a product, they are over telling me about it. I tell them again, but they do not listen. Usually, I end up walking out the shop. Why can't they just let you browse at leisure.

I've had this problem in the UK, but never as much as here, and once told, they leave you alone.

I agree. Not to mention that they often dont know anything about the products they are selling. Buyer beware takes on a new meaning.

[penelope]

Whenever I go shopping for furniture, electrical goods, etc. as soon as I walk in the store, I am pounced on. I duly explain that I am looking around and if I see something I like, I will call them over. This seems to have no effect. As soon as I stop at a product, they are over telling me about it. I tell them again, but they do not listen. Usually, I end up walking out the shop. Why can't they just let you browse at leisure.

I've had this problem in the UK, but never as much as here, and once told, they leave you alone.

I usually wear my MP3 player headphones while shopping. They won't come near you.

[StrongView]

You're absolutely right. I was just talking about this lastnight with my wife. We went into Home Pro Lad Prao....turned a corner....and about 30 (no joke) staff are standing there chatting away (how may bed salesmen do you really need?). As soon as they saw us, they were all following like flies. It made me look really quickly and get out of there. I personally need to be left alone while looking around...just browse, think, compare prices on different models and if I need help, I ask for it. I didn't know that other people felt the same way (though, how could you not). I guess some retailers are losing money over this, since we're running out of the stores before we can decide on a purchase.

[Insight]

Buying an audio cable, I asked my new found shadow how long it was. He told me it was 2 meters but it looked more like 10. There's a significant difference in visible packaging size between 2 and 10 meters, but this was way over my shadows head. Turned out it was 10 meters. I dispair, I really do.

[kat]

This is a funny topic for me, because it is one of my biggest gripes about living in Thailand. A friend of mine in mainland China complains about the same thing. I think it is largely a cultural thing, because "just looking" is not really a concept here the way it is in the west. It is assumed that if you are in a store, you want something, and you buy it. You either want it or you don't, and I think this norm applies to other things in the culture as well, such as dating. You make a commitment right away, there is no such thing as "just looking" or "just dating" generally. These attitudes are largely new here, and not really applied in the same way as in the west. Anyway, this is my theory.

It drives me crazy when I shop, but now I just try to ignore them until they get tired of following me around. I also try to stay very polite, because it's not really their fault, I just think "customer service" as a concept is very different here. The headphones idea sounds like the best approach.

[chanchao]

Shop at Lorus/Carrefour/BigC

[Highwayman]

Shop at Lorus/Carrefour/BigC

[Ajarn]

It used to be much more difficult to get a salesperson to offer help. It seemed as if the first sight of a farang sent everyone scattering.....Perceived lack of English skills or shyness, I suppose.

That doesn't seem to be the case too much anymore, but the fact that they rarely have a clue about what they're selling makes them almost useless... I usually just say, 'duu chuey-chuey' (browsing), and that always gets them to back off for a while-- until you show interest in something...

I've asked a few sales people over the years about sales commissions (mostly appliance stores). They've always told me that they don't get a sales commission, just a salary, but some have said that they are required to meet certain sales quotas set for sales people.

I like to shop at Siam TV in Chiang Mai because of their excellent after-sales service. I've been a customer of theirs for a long time, and I've never had an problem with them except that the sales people are still clueless...But, they will deliver and install anything for free, and always within a few hours of the purchase. On 2 occasions, the installers beat me to my house...Everything they sell has a two-year warranty, and, in my experience, they've always lived up to that, coming to my home to take care of the problem within hours of my call...They also come every 90 days like clockwork to service the aircons, free for 2 years....

That's why I don't like shopping at Tesco and all the others. They don't have that level of after-sales service, and warranties have always been only 3-6 months, in my experience... I do support these mega stores being around because I think they do help to keep consumer prices down, and even the smaller local appliance stores have been carrying better selections than in the past, seemingly in order to try to remain competitive...

[trigz]

Yes it bugs me 2. I quite enjoy leading the shadow around by keeping just one step ahead!

[Serendipitist]

Agree fully with the sentiments above. And it's so true that they are only too willing to help with little more than the purest cluelessness about what they're supposed to be selling.

The headphones tactic I can most certainly vouch for. I've employed same quite recently, as it happens, in Phuket to obliterate the irritating 'tuk- tuk' beckoning call that seemed to follow us everywhere we perambulated. I strongly suspect that the cause of same is to wit: legions of gainfully under-employed natives, standing astride certain two stroke engines for whom the sight of pale flesh is, owing to the immediacies of economic necessity, the very cause of said guttural cry. Nonetheless, upon sighting my Sennheisers not even the slightest movement may be evidenced (or indeed observed) from said chaps' mouths. In addition, is it that they quieten so as to identify whether it's Puff Daddy or Jay Z I'm listening to?

[Insight]

The headphones sound like a top idea - might even sing loudly too when they're even tempted to approach.

Will just need to remind myself to take them off as I leave the store and step onto the pavement. Don't want to get flattened by a stray moto-si/tuk-tuk/car/wagon/skytrain/soi dog....

[RooBoy]

Its a great idea, but how many of us want to carry a walkman round, I wonder if just wearing the stereo radio hands free with my nokia phone would work??

That they are clueless is so true, but there are instances where you can turn them to your advantage. A friend wanted to buy a surround sound amplifier, so we got the staff in Robinsons Seacon to hook up every amp around 20K baht and we spent almost 2 hours listening to them all. We had 4 guys setting up every brand they carry, and then watching the same DVD, which meant they couldnt talk to us anyway!

[meemiathai]

This has been bothering me all the time here in HK!

So makes me think it is not that bad in Thailand.

[penelope]

Its a great idea, but how many of us want to carry a walkman round, I wonder if just wearing the stereo radio hands free with my nokia phone would work??

That they are clueless is so true, but there are instances where you can turn them to your advantage. A friend wanted to buy a surround sound amplifier, so we got the staff in Robinsons Seacon to hook up every amp around 20K baht and we spent almost 2 hours listening to them all. We had 4 guys setting up every brand they carry, and then watching the same DVD, which meant they couldnt talk to us anyway!

I have an "all in one" radio,mp3 player, cellphone, pda

[orchis]

You go and pounce right back on them!

[Tarragona]

Only ever experienced this at HomePro

[Darknight]

i smile at them and lead them on, or we play a game , catch me if you can, They come up to me and i turn around , they get the point after a while

What aggrevates me more is when you ask for something and they don't know is they send you to the other side of the store , "o it's there sir"...

Of course it isn't.

[Rags]

Definitely agree with all of the above.

Although for me the thing that is even more irritating than salespeople not knowing anything about the electrical applicances they are selling, is when you are happily reading the labels yourself and they proceed to read every bullet point on the label as if they are imparting some great wisdom....

....this is a Sony Sir....

....yes I know, it says here.....!

....100 channels Sir....

....yes I know, it says here....!

....etc.......

[Harry Palmer]

Whenever I go shopping for furniture, electrical goods, etc. as soon as I walk in the store, I am pounced on. I duly explain that I am looking around and if I see something I like, I will call them over. This seems to have no effect. As soon as I stop at a product, they are over telling me about it. I tell them again, but they do not listen. Usually, I end up walking out the shop. Why can't they just let you browse at leisure.

I've had this problem in the UK, but never as much as here, and once told, they leave you alone.

It's mostly my experience in the UK that the retail staff couldn't give a toss about their customers. Don't seem to be keen at all on selling, poor product knowledge, lethargic, apathetic etc.

Just tell the locals that you are browsing & they will surely go away...

[mowlem]

Just say "do choi choi" (literally....i am looking aimlessly).

But the best one was in a large department store when I had the All-Thailand Mincing champion -who spoke excellent English and was there to help farangs- but knew little about the product, and a specialist salesman....who knew nothing about the product!!!!

[bluebear]

I quite enjoy leading the shadow around by keeping just one step ahead!

and then occasionally double back and ooops bump!

[Baht Simpson]

The worst one is where you go into a clothes shop to browse and within seconds they have 18 rolls of silk laid out in front of you. You end up so mesmerised you don't know what you want.

I remember going into a border town shop near Mae Sot and my Thai friends persuading me that I need one of those Thai jackets, you know, the silk ones with the buttons down the front, the ones that feel like cardboard.

I'm rather broad across the shoulders and none of them fit. I remember standing there crammed into a jacket two sizes too small whilst everyone was looking on in satisfaction and thinking to myself "How the devil did I get into this mess." You gotta love the Thais.

[keestha]

Service staff in shops jumping on you right away is usually not what you want......"doo cheuy cheuy" (just looking around without any purpose in mind) is easy to pronounce and will do the trick, but coming out of the mouth of a Thai person it would sound a bit silly (###### doesnt the guy have anything better to do?). Mostly I use "hai phom doo eng, dee kwa (let me look myself, that is better), or "mai thong duhn tham" (you dont have to walk following me). Invariably they seem relieved when I thus release them from this particular duty!

[keestha]

Why does the opposite of heaven have to be filtered away(#####). Sinners should be constantly reminded of what awaits them in the hereafter!

[Yohan]

I like this kind of shopping, it is nice, but you need a lot of time for that....just walk around, then talk a bit with the staff, then walk around again, smile a lot, and talk with them about all and everything, but surely not, that you came here to buy something.....a lot of helpful staff with plenty of time.....lot of fun!

[sbk]

Whenever I go shopping for furniture, electrical goods, etc. as soon as I walk in the store, I am pounced on. I duly explain that I am looking around and if I see something I like, I will call them over. This seems to have no effect. As soon as I stop at a product, they are over telling me about it. I tell them again, but they do not listen. Usually, I end up walking out the shop. Why can't they just let you browse at leisure.

I've had this problem in the UK, but never as much as here, and once told, they leave you alone.

This has always annoyed me too until, one day, my husband asked the owner of a small shop that he was friendly with why they did this and he was told that the reason his staff followed people around was because he lost more to shoplifting than he sold.

[NedKelly]

C'mon guys....I know what u mean about being follwed aorund a shop. But it reallyis only a smal thing........back home in Oz recently Ihad a problem with my ATM card and tried calling the bank to say that it was being rejected all the time....it was an aussie card and the atm's were saying that the pin was incorrect. ANyway, what about the response at the bank.......the woman said to me which I quote ..." you should have listed all your card number before you went to Thailand....you should have done your home work"...........needless to say....my blood pressure went through the roof.....i was so angry i wanted to go to find that women and rip her f%$&^ing heart out !

What a response from her......she stopped in her tracks as soon as I told her that the number had not changed and should be ok.....and that the card was also in good order........then she went on to say she could not help me unless I paid for a new card.........Now I am an Aussie........and this woman and her stupid f%$##@@$ing bank are worthless pieces of <deleted> as far as I am concerned...........but think about this compared to a young shop attendent actually doing their job with enthusiasm in a shop in Thailand....they ar ethere to help you.....let them. hey some of them are little hornbags !!

[Highwayman]

the reason his staff followed people around was because he lost more to shoplifting than he sold.

Having worked in retail l'm well aware of that ploy, having used it myself (selectively) which is why l hate it so much when it's applied to me (l don't need to shoplift btw). There are a couple of stores l no longer go to because l just can't look at stuff without a staff member following me around the store, watching my every move. Must be the way l dress...

Funny thing is when you do want to buy something the staff then all manage to melt into the background. A while back l needed to buy something for my computer and had 5 sales staff totally ignore my requests for assistance. It finally took a very nice security guard to come over and try to help me with my purchase, apologising for the other staff as she had seen what had happened.