Unethical sales tactics = never going back. I called to ask if they had any queen-sized headboard and footboard bed sets in Arts and Crafts style (another name for Mission style), as I had previously bought furniture in that style from Slumberland. I also asked whether they had any solid wood queen-sized bed sets. The salesman told me yes on both counts, and to ask for him when I came in. When I got there, he showed me no solid wood sets (everything he showed me was particleboard with veneer, even though he continued to assert that they were solid wood), and there was not a single Arts and Crafts style bed in the store. When I asked the salesman why he had told me yes on both counts, when the answer was clearly no on both counts, he replied, "I have nothing to tell you." I asked to speak to the manager, who was apologetic. The manager admitted that the beds were particleboard with veneer; that the salesman should not have told me that they were solid wood; and that the salesman should not have told me that they had Arts and Crafts style beds in stock when he clearly didn't know what that term meant. The manager also said that they would have to work on refining their "training." It seems to me that the first rule of any ethical sales training should be: "Don't lie to the customer." Whether you say you definitely have something in stock when you know you don't, or whether you say you definitely have something in stock when you actually don't know what it is or whether it is in stock, you are lying to the customer. I was ready to spend a substantial amount of money on a queen-sized mattress, box spring, headboard, footboard, and frame - which I did later that afternoon at a different store - so the unethical salesman lost not only a big sale, but my future business. I won't go back to a store that doesn't have an ironclad rule that salespeople may not lie to customers. read more
