Selling Surliness

Have you ever been in a situation where someone has treated you with incredible rudeness or disdain? Has it ever driven you to the point that you have considered making a formal complaint? I have!

This past Monday, Daniel and I scheduled a meeting with an air conditioning contractor who needed access to our house in order to give us an accurate quote and ascertain which system we will need. No problems there…the guy was wonderful! Best service I ever had….

We did, however, have a difficult time convincing the saleslady to open the house for us. Despite the fact that she had agreed to open the house earlier on in the week, on Monday she asked Daniel to cancel the meeting because she didn’t want to go outside in the rain. WTF?!? She wasn’t polite about it either…downright surly to be exact! She didn’t seem to care that the contactor was already on his way to meet us at the house!

Reluctantly, she opened the house for us. However, you could feel the anger and resentment coming off of her. To makes matters worse, the contractor was running five minutes behind schedule; this did not help her mood. At one point she actually stated, “If that damn guy is not here in five minutes, I’m out of here.” When he did show up, she pretty much pushed him down the stairs and told him to hurry up because she was extremely busy and had clients waiting for her back at the sales office. I know that she was lying because we could easily see that there were no cars parked outside the head office. Not to mention the fact, that there was already another person in the office to cover for her during the 10 minutes that she was with us.

This is not the first time we have had to deal with this woman’s incredible rudeness. Every time we call the sales centre to ask a question, she is always abrasive in her response. She always tries to make it come off as if we are greatly inconveniencing her. On occasion, I’ve even heard her yell at the other sales assistant who, coincidently, seems to have left the company.

I could go on and on about other instances that this woman has insulted us. This was pretty much the final straw for me. I wanted to tell her off then and there, however Dan suggested that it might be wiser to complain “after” we have moved into the house. Not a bad idea now that I think about it.

It boggles my mind that someone, especially a person working in customer service, could be so incredibly rude. After paying over $200,000 for a new home, you would think that she might feel inclined to be a little more helpful?!?

I am now writing a formal complaint to the company, informing them of the less-than-satisfactory dealings that we have had with this saleswoman. As first-time homeowners and potential future buyers, first impressions are very important! While our interaction with the actual developer has been positive, the sales aspect wasn’t so pleasant. I hope that the company takes my letter to heart. It should be concerned about who it employs as sales associates, as these are essentially the people responsible for ensuring that the company makes a profit.

On a more childish note, I had to contain myself as we left the house on Monday. It would have been so easy to push her off the sidewalk into the mud! I really do deserve a reward for that…

End of rant!