Any one with street smarts would know that when you "win a complimentary massage and dinner and no obligation" you know they're gonna try and pitch you something. Euro Lounge sells Rainbow products, who's parent company is Rexair.
Whether their products work or not was not the debate or issue; rather, the issue was their sales tactic. They had a very engaged team of a sales head & cook. It was clear from the start that they had done this before.
First walking in, it looks like a massage retreat, until you reach the main room full of massage chairs and ads all around espousing the health benefits of the chairs. The shelf at the front neatly displayed all the varying products and "gifts" they offered and in front was a full demo kitchen.
The whole "experience" is for couples (tactic #1). After 30 minutes on the massage chairs (2 chairs, 15 min per chair per person). We were given a small salad. They then started with the Rainbow pots. This 22 piece set made from surgical steel supposedly could withstand almost anything and had a lifetime guarantee. The cook used the pots to cook. He demonstrated the heat induction transfer method where the pots were stackable and the heat from the bottom pot could transfer and cook the food in the pot stacked at the top. He cooked a spaghetti sauce with frozen chicken and fresh diced onions and garlic.
As the food was cooking, the sales head started. First it was the water filtration system. He gave attestations from know celebrities about the uniqueness and benefits of this triple filter. reverse-osmosis system. He said all starbucks use this in every store around the world (tactic #2). There was demonstration using "tap" water, bottled water and their purified water. The tests were suspect as was the source of tap water.
After about 25 minutes, the sales head continued with the demo of the wonderous Rainbow vacuum which also doubled as a (de)humidifier, an air filter, an air purifier, an incense disseminator, etc....supposedly 10 things in one. Suddenly, behold, someone in the audience used to own an older model. Surprise, surprise! He didn't own it anymore, not because it was broken, but it was lost to his ex in his last divorce.
(sidebar: I will admit, this was probably the most fascinating product of them all and for a fraction of a minute, I was tempted).
After another 30 minutes of this demo, the food was ready. I was excited to see how good this could actually taste. It was served with some rice.
The amount of food was meagre at best. Probably just enough to feed a 6 year old. It was quickly followed by a creme brulet (their version, aka, vanilla ice cream with burnt/melted sugar on top). It was a good small portion. But reading this in conjunction with the other two negative reviews, I imagine you can draw your own conclusions on whether this qualifies as a "three course meal".
Once dinner was finished we clapped to thank them. Then each of us was "assigned" a sales associate. They brought us to a room. My friend and I got the cook.
Going back to my sales tactic #1, I imagine they prefer couples as if you sway one, you are able to sway both; but unfortunately for them, my friend and I were not dating nor were we a couple by any means. Once they sat us down, there was no discussion of price; it was, which of the which of the 2 of 5 "gifts" would you prefer the most, then it was which of the 3 products do you like the most. The catch was the gifts were for sale, but if you bought 1 of the 3 featured products, they would give you 2 gifts.
I won't go into how much everything was. Needless to say, it was ridiculously expensive! I went in with my eyes open and cause I was curious what they were selling and intrigued at the sales tactics they would employ. So back to sales tactic #2, they said every starbucks in the world uses the system of reverse osmosis. While the statement was factually correct, it could be argued that they mis-led the audience and implanted an idea that was in fact false. Starbucks does use the system, it just doesn't use theirs! I checked with my local starbucks the next day and inquired. They use a reverse osmosis system, but a completely different company.
On a side note, I am convinced the audience member who used to own a machine was a paid plant, I infer this conclusion as I was leaving, the gentleman was standing at the office door and not buying a machine. My friend also noticed that during the entire presentation, the gentleman looked as if he had seen it all before and was annoyed.
I have seen many of these sales pitches before, but nothing as subversive as "Euro lounge". At least with timeshares, they tell you that you have to sit there for 4 hours listening to them before they give you the promised theme park tickets, but with euro lounge, what they promise does not equal, what you get. I give it 2 stars cause they made a disingenuous effort to sell me something I didn't need. read more
