I entered the store because the jewelry is stunning. However, the sales associates are HORRIBLE. Based on their tactics, I got the feeling that they got fired as a mattress salesman.
The two women who work here are especially horrid. Not only did they ignore our price range (they almost exclusively showed us things 2-5x our stated range), they laughed/gossiped to each other at the jewelry preferences of my girlfriend right in front of us.
Everything is intentionally overpriced so you can use the following tactics. They also have a clear tactic where they have a list price, a "Maine local discount price" which everyone is eligible for (although they explain the discount as if they are doing you a special favor by offering it to YOU even if you aren't from Maine), and multiple other discounts on top of this so that they can drop their price to at the very least half of its list price and still make profit. This way they can selectively introduce more and more "discounts" until you think you are getting a good deal and are willing to pay. This way, they can sell everything at the absolute most people will pay since they will keep adding discounts until you give in.
When we said we could not afford anything they were showing us (we are both just out of school and have low paying jobs), they said we could pay in installments. They claimed we could in fact pay for the jewelry despite our claims if we just cut back on our spending elsewhere. They suggested we drink less coffee. My girlfriend drinks coffee occasionally but I do not.
After they dissed my girlfriend's jewelry preferences, I asked what they liked (somewhat confrontationally). One of the associates responded, "diamonds. OF COURSE."
To our frustration they did in fact have something we really wanted that was 140 dollars. We threatened to leave, at which point they gave us an offer to buy them for $70. After finally showing us something in our price range, they got excited and tried "throwing in" a set of diamond earrings, which were way out of our range. They claimed if we bought both together we would pay less because we would get a better discount. This is of course false both because clearly their prices were arbitrary and because just because you pay less per item doesn't mean you pay less in total; something they wanted us to not grasp. The diamond earrings were around $1k. I told them this, to which they mockingly apologized.
I started by saying the sales associates make me think they were fired as mattresses salesmen. This is likely too kind, since at least mattresses salesmen don't mock your sleep preferences or your economic situation, and they don't use the aforementioned predatory floating price tactic. read more
