To be tired of being asked so many questions for even small things in shops?

[Iris65]

I went to ask for a passport renewal form and was subjected to a three minute sales pitch about check and send. When I said no thank you I was asked where I was going on holiday and when, then they tried to sell me travel insurance. I went through the same 5 minute ordeal to post my passport form the next day.
In a department store every time I buy anything I am asked whether I want a store card, what my name and address is, whether I want to give my email for offers advance notice of shopping.
When I buy painkillers form the chemist they give me a three minute speil asking whether I take other medicine, telling me how often I to take them and other advice. Then they ask for me email to send me offers.....
I appreciate that in the chemist they have to give the info and it's fine. I just say 'OK, thank you.' But when did it become OK for every purchase to involve dealing with long sales pitches and dealing with requests for personal information.
I had one assistant ask for personal information saying 'It's not sensitive' and following it up with wanting my name, address, phone number, which bank I used - including sort code and account number! I told her it certainly was sensitive and walked away.

I had to ask for a manager in a shoe shop over the postcode palaver. The assistant genuinely believed that she couldn't sell me shoes for my 3yo if I didn't give her my postcode. I was perfectly polite, I appreciate that they need to ask, but ffs "I'm sorry we're not allowed to sell to you without a postcode and door number" is farcical.

If it wasn't for the fact that DD3 is an absolute nightmare to get shoes for I'd have left them on the counter.

Gosh, I didn't know that this was happening! I haven't bought anything from an actual, physical shop for over 10 years. Last time I did, I wasn't asked for any information, the shop just wanted my money for the item and that was all.

Of course, buying everything online as I do means that my name, address, email etc is in all the retailers' databases.

I suppose what they're doing is trying to capture the same information from their non online customers, because it must have been proven that sending marketing emails, special offers etc to existing customers generates a lot of sales. It's dog eat dog out there - and any business that doesn't go with the trend will likely sink.

Upselling is a big thing in McDonald's and you get moaned at by the managers if you don't do it.

This is probably one of the reasons the high street is doing so badly. Less stressful to shop online. I still like to buy my clothes in actual shops though so I just say no thanks if asked (got asked for my postcode in TK Maxx the other day come to think of it, I did wonder why at the time!)

The thing that pisses me off the most is that the shop assistants are so busy asking you their stock questions, they don't actually listen to what you're answers are. I am always asked if I want a bag and usually will say no. Then they start with the questions and while they are doing that they are packing my stuff into a bag...I know it sounds like a small thing but this is every shop I go into. Maybe it's me...

PrivatePike certainly in our company the postcode giving is to protect the staff against claims of false refunds. The receipt you scribble it on will most likely never be looked at again, unless there's reason to believe the member of staff has been up to something they shouldn't have been. However by the sounds of it our company is a lot better to their staff than some!

It may become similar in other retailers - ie give us your email address or we won't sell to you

Nothing to say you have to be truthful though - I have an old hotmail email that I'm locked out of. I did use that for Curry's the other day. They can spam it all they like ad not bother anyone!

I'm foreign, it comes in useful sometimes. I just speak my language and say nonono to upselling.

Confuugled1

"Can recommend trying it just to see the momentary look of panic, confusion and terror as somebody goes off script"

You sound lovely, thanks for trying to make our working day so much nicer...

If a chemist is asking about my other medications when I buy painkillers, I can see that this is intended for my own safety, so smile sweetly and respond.

Anything else, it infuriates me, particularly if I've had to wait ages in the queue. If I'm asked for an email address I just say I'm not on the internet, or not willing to give it to them. Postcode? Sorry, I sleep in a different bed each night or am of no fixed abode, or I'm forrin.

Upselling - I hold up the palm of my hand and interrupt them with "I just want to pay for this and get out." If they carry on trying to sell me batteries or stamps of whatever, I walk out.

It doesn't make it tricky for sales assistants - it might if they've never had anyone refuse and were not given proper training. So that's when they need to call in their manager - the person who should have trained them.

You don't even need to give your details for cash returns. The manager usually puts the store details in place of yours, to over ride the system.

When a store asks, I ask back... Why? Sometimes there is a beneficial reason. If more people refused to provide this info without incentive then
1/ you wouldn't be asked all the time
2/ you'd get something back, whether reward points, discounts, weekly drawing for prize, etc

I until very recently worked somewhere that does this. It is very very annoying, not only for the customers but the staff too. Do you really think they like pushing extra stuff onto people? No they don't, they hate it but are pressured constantly by management to up their ABV's (average basket value).
I've witnessed first hand zero contract staff let go and prevented from having a decent contract if their selling is crap. Shops are denied extra hours too if their ABV's are down so more work is put onto less staff.

It is a very very unfair system and should be banned. I'm afraid it's not worth moaning at the poor assistant as they have no say what so ever in how the company conducts it's business. You need to put in customer complaints to the company directly.

But please don't blame the staff, you have no idea how much shit they get for not doing it.

I had it in Greggs recently

Assistant: "What are you having with it?"
Me: "Just the coffee, please."
A: "It's coffee and a roll for £2."
Me: "No, thanks."
A: "You don't need to take a roll, you can have a pastry."
Me: "I'm really okay."
A: "But it'll only be 20p extra."
Me: "It's fine. Really."
A: "Is that you on the post-Christmas diet, then?"
Me: "No, but I've just eaten."
A: "Okay then. Do you have a coffee loyalty card...?"

FUCK OFF.

I hate the "Did you find everything you were looking for today?"

When I've answered honestly that no, I didn't, the sales assistant looked flummoxed and didn't know what to say. So what was the point of asking in the first place then ??

The new one seems to be "shall I email your receipt?" Hadn't been clothes shopping for a while then was a bit to keep getting asked when I was out the other day. I just said "no thanks, I'll have it now."

What happens if you have it emailed then, do you get nothing to prove you purchased it - I'd be worried about getting stopped by store detective!

The thing that annoys me with the postcode is that they only really need the first bit. I live in a large town, the town is divided into quite precise post code areas, lets call them AZ1 -AZ30.
I go into the large out of toen shoe shop, and they ask me my post code. The really seriouly only need to know if I live in area A1 or area A30. Then they could see if it is worth opening another shop on the other side of town. I wouldn't mind telling them A1, but if I try to say - A1, you don't need the rest, the system dies!

sativa then I'd say that's bad service.

My response would be 'oh no what didn't you find?' Then you'd either say

1. something we don't sell, so would apologise and if I had seen them somewhere would tell you (also we sell lots online we don't in store so we may sell in but not stock it so could place an order for you or we could just be out of stock so I could place you an order ) Or 2) you would tell me something that we do sell but you didn't see so I'd tell you where it is and you'd go grab it or I'd get a colleague to run and get it and therefore you'd spend more.

So I understand why we get told to ask, lots of people think we don't sell things because they didn't see them, but a lot of times we do.

Upselling is annoying but I always just say no thanks and appear to be in a hurry.

The most annoying one is Ryanair when you are stuck on the plane for 4 hours and can't get away. I appreciate they need to sell stuff to make up for the flights being cheap, but it's the way they do it.

eg. "Now for the most fun part of the flight! If you want to help poor children and win loads of money buy one of our super exciting scratchcards!...." laying it on thick about all the poor children, when they keep most of the money themselves, and hardly anyone ever wins! There's always some deluded person that buys one and it's so tempting to run over and stop them!

puppy

In our shop you get a hard copy of the receipt as well

I would recommend it for large purchases as its nice to have a back up

But it makes no difference to me whether someone does it or not

As long as they are not unpleasant about saying no

And i have no idea what shops con is shopping at but i dont get confused, panicked or terrorized if a customer doesnt play ball

if Woolworths had done the same and sold a 99p chocolate to one in seven customers ... than it would of saved them and they would still be trading

If whsmiths piss off six in seven customers who don't want to be pushed to buy chocolate they very soon won't be trading!

What proportion of customers buy extra chocolate because the sales assistant offered it? What proportion are irritated and avoid returning?

Thats what we do glittery

I happily give 'my' postcode - SW1A 1AA. (Buckingham Palace).

Made my day when the sales guy immediately replied "Thank you, your Majesty"!

If shops stopped this nonsense with 'and can I just take your postcode' and 'would you like a loyalty card' and 'can I take an email address for your receipt', the queues would move a lot faster! It's maddening, and I never give mine.