home pro staff[p-ssed me off]

[meatboy]

i have always bought at home pro branch in the mall so all the staff got the message [dont follow me round,the last 2yrs they have opened a superstore not far away so we now go there as well,the last twice i went there i knew exactly what i wanted,[1] grass cutter petrol looked at 2 decided i would buy the dearer one that was till one of the staff told the mrs.the other one is better as they have had a few returns of the one i liked so we went for the cheaper one.well we got it home arranged for the gardener to come and cut the grass,no can start you have to take it back,so the mrs went back with him and she this time saw the bloke in charge of the dept.guess what this one should not have been sold to you most of them are faulty,she came home with the one i wanted in the first place[staff got it wrong]then this week i had to go and buy a new pump for our pond,i had all the details of the old one,

hp,flow pr.minute,wattage,and length,staff following us as if we were theives i told the mrs.tell them to piss off and do some work.went to the pump dept.and found exactly the same one we took off,that one will do tell the bird to test it,but the bird said to the mrs.why dont you have this one its better,well bigger wattage,double the outflow so now i am pissed off so i told the mrs.we will walk out if she doesnt do what i want she did say something but i didnt understand but it worked,as we have spent a lot of money at home pro i am starting to wonder how much rubbish we have been sold in the past,a lot of electric items we bought have not lasted more than 2yrs.

[David48]

A re-wording of above ...

I have always bought at home pro branch in the mall so all the staff got the message [don't follow me round].

The last 2yrs they have opened a superstore not far away so we now go there as well,

The last two times I went there I knew exactly what I wanted,

[1] grass cutter petrol looked at

[2] decided I would buy the dearer one

... that was till one of the staff told the Mrs the other one is better as they have had a few returns of the one I liked so we went for the cheaper one.

Well we got it home arranged for the gardener to come and cut the grass, no can start you have to take it back, so the Mrs went back with him and she this time saw the bloke in charge of the Dept.

Guess what this one should not have been sold to you most of them are faulty, she came home with the one I wanted in the first place ... [staff got it wrong] ...

Then this week I had to go and buy a new pump for our pond, I had all the details of the old one, horse power, flow per minute, wattage and length.

Staff following us as if we were thieves I told the Mrs ... 'tell them to piss off and do some work'.

We went to the pump Dept and found exactly the same one we took off, that one will do tell the bird to test it.

But the bird said to the Mrs ... why don't you have this one its better, well bigger wattage, double the outflow.

So now I am pissed off, so I told the Mrs we will walk out if she doesn't do what I want.

She did say something but I didn't understand but it worked.

As we have spent a lot of money at home pro I am starting to wonder how much rubbish we have been sold in the past, a lot of electric items we bought have not lasted more than 2yrs.

Hope that helps ...

.

Edited June 22, 2013 by David48

[Stradavarius37]

google translate - where are you?

[NanLaew]

If I was the OP, I would be more pissed off at the buggers that sold me a keyboard that had all the bloody punctuation keys missing!... or maybe it's one of those with ARM?*

Thanks David

* Automatic Rant Mode

[PaullyW]

I'm sorry but the OP is largely unintelligible to me. I tried reading it twice.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Made sense to me, you guys just haven't been here long enough....

Mac

[Crossy]

Thanks for the translation David, white-space costs nothing MB.

Whatever, back on topic:

Ah yes, HomePro and their staff, one could write volumes of (mostly negative) comments, other TV members have in the past....

Too many, pushy / followy, mostly less than knowledgeable about the products (there are notable exceptions, the girls on the electrical department in the Rangsit branch are great).

If you get the 'wrong' one they won't sell you what you want but try to push 'their' brand (they are provided and paid by the manufacturers), it wouldn't be the first time I've nearly walked out empty handed, usually when buying a big ticket item (TV, A/C, washer), grrrrr!

It doesn't stop me shopping there, but our local hardware / builders merchant is closer and has most of the commonly needed stuff and we have a pro. electrical shop 15 minutes away for those pesky electrical bits.

[kikoman]

If you already knew what you wanted, how is a salespersons suggestion going to change your mind? Purchase what you went to purchase!

Following people around is common in Thailand, I usually tell them I am only looking. It may be a requirement of their job by their employer.

The only time it bothers me is when I am in a small shop and feel as if I am being watched, if I feel uneasy I just leave the shop and look elsewhere to see what I may need.

I can not change their way of doing things in their shops, but I can decide to look elsewhere and never return to that shop again!

Cheers:

Edited June 22, 2013 by kikoman

[highonthai]

Well, I never expect anyone in a DIY home center to be knowledgeable about anything. If they knew anything they would probably be working in that field.

Even in the USA at a Home depot. Home Pro or Global House in Thailand is no different.

And, I would never send my wife to pick up hardware for me, even if I gave her the old part.

[meatboy]

A re-wording of above ...

I have always bought at home pro branch in the mall so all the staff got the message [don't follow me round].

The last 2yrs they have opened a superstore not far away so we now go there as well,

The last two times I went there I knew exactly what I wanted,

[1] grass cutter petrol looked at

[2] decided I would buy the dearer one

... that was till one of the staff told the Mrs the other one is better as they have had a few returns of the one I liked so we went for the cheaper one.

Well we got it home arranged for the gardener to come and cut the grass, no can start you have to take it back, so the Mrs went back with him and she this time saw the bloke in charge of the Dept.

Guess what this one should not have been sold to you most of them are faulty, she came home with the one I wanted in the first place ... [staff got it wrong] ...

Then this week I had to go and buy a new pump for our pond, I had all the details of the old one, horse power, flow per minute, wattage and length.

Staff following us as if we were thieves I told the Mrs ... 'tell them to piss off and do some work'.

We went to the pump Dept and found exactly the same one we took off, that one will do tell the bird to test it.

But the bird said to the Mrs ... why don't you have this one its better, well bigger wattage, double the outflow.

So now I am pissed off, so I told the Mrs we will walk out if she doesn't do what I want.

She did say something but I didn't understand but it worked.

As we have spent a lot of money at home pro I am starting to wonder how much rubbish we have been sold in the past, a lot of electric items we bought have not lasted more than 2yrs.

Hope that helps ...

.

thanks dai being from the valley's of sheep shaggers i could not have wrote it any better than you,its lovelly

[David48]

meatboy ... your welcome ...

Actually, I'm yet to discover the joys of shopping at Home Pro.

Soon though I hope to do some modest renovations at the Farm House and will need some hardware type stuff.

Wandering through the Hardware Warehouses in the West is a joy for most men.

But, judging from the responses above, the Thai experience will be less so ...

I'll be finding out for myself in 2 months time!

.

[krisb]

Weekly complaints on here about Home Pro. Not very "Pro" are they.

[robblok]

Got similar experiences in home pro people not knowing the products and pushing their brand getting angry and annoyed when you don't buy their brand. Best to do your own research before buying and forget about them. They are all paid for by some brand and will promote it even if its crap.

Back where I come from the Netherlands people working in those shops do have the knowledge and they are paid by the store not brands so they tell you what product is really good (though that is also in their opinion of course)

[pattayadingo]

Similar thing in a certain BigC store. I knew what I wanted but they tried to push a different model onto me that was not the same spec or as good. Difficult to escape some of these staff and then they make you feel like some lower form of life because you did not buy what they suggested.

Whenever I have walked around in Home-Pro, I too feel like a criminal or potential shoplifter and have to ask several times to be left alone, something they do after they eventually get the message.

I used to get some funny looks and comments when walking around various shops looking at and pricing items, but in the U.K. It is half the fun and often you will find the same item cheaper.

Now for hardware I tend to use one independent hardware shop here in Pattaya because they leave you alone to browse their aisles but the staff are happy to help find an item if you ask.

[boosta]

Wandering through the Hardware Warehouses in the West is a joy for most men.

-

Used to be, but where I come from hasn't been a decent experience for decades now since the modern big box retailing model's pushed all the mom-and-pop shops out of business.

Have to go to a small country town out in the middle of nowhere to find a traditional decent hardware store these days, probably true in most of our home countries now.

[meatboy]

meatboy ... your welcome ...

Actually, I'm yet to discover the joys of shopping at Home Pro.

Soon though I hope to do some modest renovations at the Farm House and will need some hardware type stuff.

Wandering through the Hardware Warehouses in the West is a joy for most men.

But, judging from the responses above, the Thai experience will be less so ...

I'll be finding out for myself in 2 months time!

.

the store just inside the city[korat] had plenty of parking and it was only a short drive

[5min] so you reached there without tooooooooooooooooooooooo much stress,but the superstore is very much bigger and have a lot more stock and very easy to get to.there are some very good hardwear stores in the center but trying to park and dodging the up and coming racing drivers its not worth the stress,anyway off topic roll on 16.30 i can hear the lions roaring now.

[Gsxrnz]

There's privately owned hardware store in my home town, been in the same family for generations and stocked EVERYTHING.

Lets say you wanted a left handed thingamajig with a 3/8 female gas thread, two male spigots at a 45 degree angle, one with a gate valve and the other with a 10mm thread, with an inspection port (translation - something that's virtually impossible to find and probably never made anyway).

You could go and ask this guy for one of the above and he would look at you like you'd just stepped off a Martian spaceship, and say "yes of course we have those, do ya want it in brass, steel or plastic, and what colour handle on the gate valve?"

This shop had stock that was pre war as well as made yesterday. He'd get requests from all over the country for obtuse pieces or fittings. The warehouse covered half an acre and you could get lost if you weren't careeful. Half the boxes of stuff had prices in the old pounds, shilling a and pence days.

[boosta]

There's privately owned hardware store in my home town, been in the same family for generations and stocked EVERYTHING.

Lets say you wanted a left handed thingamajig with a 3/8 female gas thread, two male spigots at a 45 degree angle, one with a gate valve and the other with a 10mm thread, with an inspection port (translation - something that's virtually impossible to find and probably never made anyway).

You could go and ask this guy for one of the above and he would look at you like you'd just stepped off a Martian spaceship, and say "yes of course we have those, do ya want it in brass, steel or plastic, and what colour handle on the gate valve?"

This shop had stock that was pre war as well as made yesterday. He'd get requests from all over the country for obtuse pieces or fittings. The warehouse covered half an acre and you could get lost if you weren't careeful. Half the boxes of stuff had prices in the old pounds, shilling a and pence days.

-

And next time you go back they'll be gone 8-(

Seriously treasure such places while they still exist, disappearing quickly worldwide, except perhaps those places where they've wisely banned the big-box chains to sparsely populated areas only.

[phutoie2]

I once wasted a couple of hours of my life in Rangsit Home Pro. Looking at 5 lawnmowers on a display and asked staff if they had this model in stock. "not have", OK how about this one?, "not have".

"Do you have any lawnmowers out in the back ?"

"No, not have".

"Well can I buy one of these display ones".

"No cannot, for display only".

I never went to another home pro again.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[crazygreg44]

I'm sorry but the OP is largely unintelligible to me. I tried reading it twice.

maybe if you learn to read thai, you outguessed the rant better. As the Thais never use space and punctuation . . .

[GreenSnapper]

I hate shopping in Thailand.

The stupidity of the staff, the stalking for the commission alone, the lack of service, the scams, the overpriced imports and the crap quality locally made ... in short: I avoid it as much as possible.

Import things yourself, buy from ebay/Hongkong for example, everything half price and friendly service. Or just buy at home when you visit.

Thailand now is only food, cheap t-shirts and such stuff, the rest of my money goes abroad.

[boosta]

the stalking for the commission alone

-

They're also preventing shoplifting.

[crazygreg44]

I wanted to complete our new kitchenette with a small stainless steel extractor hood. As there was no duct the steam could have been extracted to, I was looking for a hood with exchangeable filter foams.

When we entered the shop, Home Pro staff came rushing and surrounded us as if we were giving out something for free . . so I focused on one guy that seemed a bit more professional as he was already talking to my old lady like a waterfall after she told him what we wanted.

They had many different hoods on display, i picked one which seemd fit, opened the grille releases at the bottom . . .no filters!

I kindly asked the guy what happened to the filters, aren't they supplied with the hood.

He did not understand.

I described it to my old lady, she knew what I wanted, because I had shown it to her on the computer, together with pictures of it, so she described it to the staff.

The lower bottoms can be released, for exchanging the filters that are supposed to be right there. Or am I wrong ?

"You don't need any filter for this hood" was the reply

So, where will all the steam go, there are no ducts or vents in our kitchen.

Of course he said, " You don't need"

Do you have any filters for sale ?

" No, not have, because you don't need"

I checked through all the hoods on display. NONE of them had any filters foams, but the grilles were obviously constructed as to hold them in place were they are supposed to be.

I did insist there must be filters for those hoods, I must have been insisting, discussing and explaining it to him for 30 minutes or so, technical aspects aside, we just can't use a hood without any filter foams or my kitchen goes bleaky.

He kept proclaiming that such was not needed as the hood would blow all the grime and fatty steams away ! But he just could not explain to me exactly WHERE the grimes would eventually end up. I had a good laugh at the prospects of having to cook on the balcony with a fan when cooking oil is involved, and it amazed him to watch me getting a laugh out of the situation.

How do you explain to a Thai that the non-existence of an item in their stock does not automatically mean that said item is not needed . . . ?

I insisted, and kept insisting, the guy finally crammed through some paper manuals from a drawer near all the hoods on display, and Whoppee, he said, oh yes there are filters!!!!

Wow!

A long call on the telephone followed. Finally :

"But we no have. You have to order."

How much would it cost ?

Another very, very long telephone call.

The price turned out it would be four times from what I would have to pay in Europe, we kindly turned it down, said thank you and left, as I can have them brought over by friends.

Home Pro is a place where you just should !!NEVER!! I say, never . . . trust any of their advice !

The basic problem is, understandably, no one who works there has ever used or owned any of the items that are on sale. And nobody will train them on the use and the technical specifications of any of these things. All it takes would be studying some manuals that come with larger items, but have you ever seen them doing this ? They often even don't know the location of certain items among the rows of shelves, sometimes we have been mislead by "we not have" and after checking through the rows, found out they indeed have such an item ! I always keep saying to my old lady "when they claim they not have this or that in stock, I will keep looking for it anyways, so please ask them not to bother us much, I can help myself !" I have already pissed some of them by rejecting their help.

I must admit that in some Home Pro's, there are exceptions among them, some guys or girls who are real helpful and show some experience and knowledge. But these are really rare gems.

my five cents . . .

Edited June 22, 2013 by crazygreg44

[David48]

So, if not Home Pro ... what other choices are there?

.

[robblok]

So, if not Home Pro ... what other choices are there?

.

It is as bad in the other shops, though for construction items i have seen the bigger local shops have much more knowledge about building materials and paints and such. We have a chinese ran shop that supplies sand concrete almost everything (no electrical stuff) and they are great and tell you what kind of concrete for what kind of job ect.

For appliances just buy the stuff you want after investigating it on the internet.

[krisb]

Next time your in Home Pro, and they're annoying, ask them for a flux capacitor. Its what makes time travel possible. Tell them last time you travelled there, they had them in stock.

[Gsxrnz]

So, if not Home Pro ... what other choices are there?

.

The "homepro" type outlets are all the same in the way of "advice", so you really have no choice. The small side of the road Mum and dad type operations are often more helpful for smaller fittings etc, but you're stuck with the Homepro and similar outfits for larger stuff.

My MO is to refuse all help, "just looking" approach, and do just that.....look until you find what you want. Don't ask or accept any opinions from the staff, and as they follow you around (which can be annoying), hand them the stuff that you want to buy - saves pushing a trolley or carrying a basket. I've found they're quite good at sensing your personal space requirement and will hang back - if they don't, do a few quick 180 turns or walk backwards into them - they get the message.

Their stock is actually quite comprehensive so you'll normally find what you want, or close enough so that you can explain that you want one of "these", but bigger/longer/smaller etc. The trick is that you have to have a reasonable knowledge of what you want before you go there, and as somebody earlier said, the www provides a host of information.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Gsxrnz

[boosta]

Yes twenty minutes of googling and you know far more than they do on any given area of their inventory.

[Beetlejuice]

I often visit Home Pro and always found the staff to be very accommodating and polite, never had any problems.

Firstly, the staff are under pressure from their bosses to be seen trying to assist the customers and if a certain product is not selling, or is something the store wants to push, the staff are ordered to try and steer the customers into buying these particular items. They are only doing their job and what they are told to do. Telling them to piss off will not gain anyone benefits or the upper-hand in Thailand. It`s a pig headed attitude, simply not acceptable here.

Usually if a persistent member of staff begins tagging on to me at these stores, I just smile; say thank you very much, but I am only looking at the moment, and then they just go away and leave me to browse at my own leisure. Always, without fail.

What I usually do if I am not sure of a certain product, is to first visit the store, check it out, make notes, then go home and check the details online, and if I consider a product is right for me, I return to the store and purchase it. In the past I have bought some goods that have been faulty, but never had any problems taking them back and either exchanging them or receiving a refund.

So what’s the OP`s problem? Perhaps he should learn some basic Thai rather than having to rely on his wife to deal with all his business when he is out?

I am capable of running my own business affairs in Thailand, in full control of my life here and do not require my wife or anyone else to be holding my hand if in situations like the OP.

[boosta]

Yes to everything said, best is to say I don't need any help and walk off. If anyone follows you just stop, make eye contact and very politely say you don't want any help.

If you do want to ask a question, generally the people working stock in a specific area know a little bit more than the commission guys at the entrance, but that's not saying much, usually just as useless but at least less annoying.

You need to know exactly what you're looking for, and if you don't get that knowledge elsewhere and then come back to make your purchase.

I must admit that in some Home Pro's, there are exceptions among them, some guys or girls who are real helpful and show some experience and knowledge. But these are really rare gems.

These tend to be the ones specializing in a particular vendor's products, and they are paid by the vendor rather than the store. Therefore a direct incentive for them to get some training.