25 years ago we built our "dream home" and this year was the year to update that dream. This included new sinks and faucets - yea! Crawford being near, we stopped in.
Salesperson? Anyone? Anyone?? There was lots of looking up...it's not like we were missed...but we were there for a good, long time without anyone approaching us. We're decisive shoppers and we were there long enough to pretty much settle on our selections and STILL no one had approached us. Odd. Not even a, "Take your time looking around but let me know if you need assistance!" Nothing. And note, this is the SHOWROOM part of the business where the homeowners come, not the contractor's side where it's a little more utilitarian.
Finally we got someone's attention and placed our order for two sinks and three faucets, paid the deposit and were off. We were told that most of it would arrive very quickly but it might be two weeks for one sink.
As our items dribbled in I had several occasions to enter the Crawford showroom. I was still in looking mode. Tubs? Showers? Commodes? The first day's inattention was no aberration. Oh, wait...it's all coming back me me... As a young 20-something I remember being routinely ignored when shopping for fixtures for my home. At the time I took it to be salespeople not taking a young buyer seriously. Why not? How many 23-year-olds do you see buying pricey fixtures? Now? I'm not such a young buyer. What's the deal? A salesperson is supposedly anxious to SELL. To be dismissed indicates the effort is assumed to be a waste of time. Uh... Am I supposed to be dressing to impress when I'm picking out sinks? What else would cause a salesperson to dismiss a potential buyer other than the assumption that they can't or won't buy??
Get over yourselves, ladies. You work in a plumbing supply house that deals in high line fixtures. If you think your buyers are dressed like the Kardashians when they're in home improvement mode you've got a lot to learn.
But anyway, that annoyance aside... Here we are, nearly 2-1/2 months later and I FINALLY received my remaining sink. It went missing and by the time I received the call it was in I no longer cared. My summer guests are nearly through with their visit and I'm not tearing up the bathroom NOW.
Trying to get this sink - this ordinary sink that was in stock at Kohler - was a neverending series of unreturned phone calls and excuses. (Not returning calls is pretty standard here) I was once even told it had JUST arrived only to get there and discover it hadn't. They tried to blow me off with the typical, "Well, I don't know who you might have talked to...." Except I did and it was the very man I was talking too. @@ Once I was offered an explanation that channeled Basil Fawlty giving one of his wild excuses...something about how the sink was misdirected and had gone missing in California and as soon as they located it...and all I was thinking was, "How is this my problem?? Order another sink and YOU sort it out on your own time!"
Cherry on top of this order... Went to pick up the sink yesterday and they COULDN'T FIND MY ORDER. omg... What?? They guy who had previously helped me was able to locate it and told me they'd bring it around by my car. Waited... Waited... Waited... Went back in and the guy who couldn't find my order was now saying that the power was out and so they couldn't pull my sink... Again, in jumped the other guy who located it in the loading dock. Someone had pulled it and just left it there. Was I to magically know this and then manhandle a cast iron sink into my car? Paging Mr. Fawlty...
Dismissive, pretentious, disorganized, not responsible... Big house and all we put on this first order were two sinks and three faucets. Did it not occur to them that we might be customers worth keeping?? read more