am I being too sensitive? Rude Avon lady

[AshleyWilkes]

Had the same Avon lady for around 6 months now, she's always been ok. I never spend huge amounts, just the odd piece of jewellery or bottle of perfume.

Last week I ordered a body spray for my MIL, was £1.50.
Avon lady texted to say she would deliver tonight, I was working late so asked DH to pay her (he had afternoon off and was at home).
He had no change at all, so I told him to pay with his card (she had previously let me pay with her card machine for an £8 order).

So she turned up and basically got really pissy with him.
"I'm not using my card machine for £1.50. Haven't you even got £1.50 on you?" Her exact words.

He explained no sorry, had absolutely no change, he wasn't even aware that she was coming before I'd texted him.

She was apparently really snotty then and was all like "well I suppose I can call back tomorrow evening, how's that for you?" with an angry tone and a condescending head tilt.

So DH wasn't bothered when relating it, but I'm quite annoyed, as I'm giving her my business, (plenty of other Avon ladies in the area to choose from!) and a pissy attitude is not what I expect, simply because on one occasion we didn't have change.

There's a chance I'm possibly just being over sensitive though

[The80sweregreat]

it was an oversight but a lot of companies are snotty about transactions under £5 ( I think they have to pay for the use of the machine too). I am not condoning her attitude, but maybe she had a bad day and lots of hassle? I I would personally give her the benefit of the doubt and if she is rude again then change reps.

[ilovesooty]

I looked into having a card machine for my self employment. I decided the costs were prohibitive.

[Leelu6]

I repeat - you should have texted her to say you don't have any cash in the house.

Please do her a favour and don't order anything unless you have a £5 worth of goods to order at least.

Funny how you don't realise you were BU. Did you expect sympathy?

[AshleyWilkes]

Leelu

With hindsight there's lots of things I would have"should have" done differently! Its not something you really think of though when you're having a manic day at work and the Avon lady texts to say can she come a bit earlier, I just replied"yes" then thought about it later.

Not expecting sympathy, no, I appreciate everyone's viewpoints and realise with hindsight that I was probably being U expecting to use her card machine, however when someone says"this is for my customers to use when they don't have change" that's what I subconsciously tucked away at the back of my mind!

No matter now anyway, I have change

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

I had a go at selling Avon door to door once.

It was shit. From your £1.50, she gets to "keep" about 35p. But she doesn't - because she has to buy her own brochures, buy those crappy little paper bags that your order comes in, buy "free" samples in the hope customers will like things and buy them, spend time (and maybe petrol) coming round to deliver the order and then you wanted her to pay the charges to accept a card payment? So you wanted her to make a LOSS on your order? Most Avon reps will probably just smile through gritted teeth & do it anyway, hoping to keep the customer happy and hopefully get a bigger order next time. I imagine she mainly has a card machine to help people pay for larger orders - £10 and over.

What makes your situation worse is that she told you she was bringing it round that day. Why do you think she did this? She did it to give you ample opportunity to say "sorry, there's no change in the house today, could you deliver it tomorrow/next day etc. etc. etc." or for you to find some change or let her know if no-one was going to be home.

I know the mantra is "the customer is always right" but a bit of human decency never goes a miss.

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

X-posts - I am relieved you can now see it from her point of view!

[kissmethere]

Yabu.
Is she local? If she is I'd offer to pass by with the payment. If Dh had no change I would have used the time to text her to say sorry it's not convenient, not telling DH she has a card machine. My Avon lady is lovely. I show my book to friends to build interest for her.

[AshleyWilkes]

Yes as already stated that's the beauty of hindsight, should have dealt with her, but instead texted DH as needed to text him anyway to remind him to put the recycling out

[ZoeTurtle]

I don't know why all these posters are making it the OP's problem that Avon treat their 'staff' badly. It's not up to her to sort it out. Nor is it up to customers to deal with bank charges for card machines, that's for the retailers.

YANBU.

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

If you are 'fully aware' of how much Avon ladies make, you should have a bit more sympathy Usual scenario.

OP" Am I being unreasonable?"
Majority of posters : "YABU"
OP: : NO IAM NBU! (Probably accompanied by foot stamping, but of course I cannot prove this)

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

Ok, so cross posts, You appreciate you were a bit UR. However, your slightly snotty 'I am fully aware how much Avon ladies make' struck me as being unecessary.

[kissmethere]

Zoe
Avon representatives aren't staff of avon they they sell their products which they make commission on.

[AshleyWilkes]

Slightly snotty? "Fully aware" is just an expression I used

[ZoeTurtle]

kissmethere that's why 'staff' was in quote marks.

[WoodHeaven]

JUst a quick comment re card payments.
There are now plenty of different card payment systems, not all of them are extortionate.
The one I use will accept payments from £1.00 and charge 2.5% on the transaction, that 4 pences for the payment the OP wanted to do.

I have no idea if the Avon distributors can chose who to use for card transactions but surely, it should be a system that is manageable for small payments??
I also agree that if you do take card payment but have a minimum amount, then you should let your customer know.

The thing is I'm sure that trying to earn some money like is pants. I'm sure they don't make a lot of money out of it. But the starting point should ALWAYS be to have a happy customer if you want to make it work. You can't be relying on your customer 'knowing' about transaction charges and how little profit you make out of it. That's not their problem! And you can easily be wrong by assuming that sort of things anyway (eg depending on what sort of products you are selling, you can make a very nice wage out of it for example. I know some people for who 'parties' and 'door to door' selling is their job).

[kissmethere]

Why not just say representatives?

[ZoeTurtle]

Why not type "type" instead of say?

What a weird person you are.

[Gruntfuttock]

Whenever I placed an Avon order I'd put the cash aside so that I knew I'd have it when it was delivered. You could and should have put £1.50 aside.

[Janeymoo50]

I get her point but she didn't need to be rude, but everyone has a bad day now and then. But also remember, you weren't there to see the exchange so it is possible that you have an image of what you believe the conversation to have been when it might not have actually been that bad.

[kissmethere]

My point was Zoe that Avon do have staff which would be those who work at their HQ.
And no I'm not weird thanks

[ZoeTurtle]

It is weird to make a fuss about something so insignificant. back at you, sweetie.

[Imknackeredzzz]

Sorry but YABU accept it

[Leelu6]

i didn't realise you'd had a manic day, OP, I can appreciate your POV now.

[BlueJug]

OP has accepted that with hindsight she should have thought this through. We all do things that might have been done better if we'd thought them through.

Avon Lady didn't play it quite right. It seems she wrong-footed the op by coming and by not explaining the card payment process but it cost her a wasted journey and showing her irritation has cost her a client.

What is interesting is the debate about this type of franchised home working and how low paid and thankless it is. The only people who do it are usually those who have little choice, (women with kids). Would any of us genuinely think, "That's fine and lovely for you to pay by card and for me to pay my commission plus some for privilege"? Would any of us have smilingly offered to do the journey again for 30p in the cold and dark? Only those who didn't have any choice.

It is impossible for the small business to compete with the likes of Amazon and yet we expect them to try.

So OP YWBU but you YANBU now.

[insameboattoo]

I used to do Avon. You should have made sure £1.50 was available in cash, even a cheque would have been better.

I would never use a card to pay for low cost transactions