Apparently my watch isn't "good enough".

[VRBeauty]

Hi VR... thank you. I did get a giggle. And I AM still on the hunt for that vintage pear faced LeCoultre.

You mean like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/LeCoultre-Vintage-14KT-Solid-Gold-Diamond-Wristwatch-/260753747025?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item3cb6226c51??

 

[jewelerman]

I'm trying to figure out how he got the managers position?Its amazing how he keeps his job with that type of salesman ship?He probably thought he was really hot stuff belittling your timepiece.I would have schooled him right then and there on customer service and brought my chain some where else for repair.I probably would have told him that my dress Patek was in the bank box or sent back to Switzerland to be cleaned.

 

[kama_s]

Personally, I wouldn't pretend to be anything else, i.e., say you have another expensive watch at home. I have zero tolerance for people like that. It has happened to me before and I usually have one of two responses:

- Thank you, but I like my X just as is.

OR

- I don't think that's any of your business.

 

[that_someone_special]

I really meant it as a joke.. not to pretend to be something else.

 

[kama_s]

I really meant it as a joke.. not to pretend to be something else.

Oh shucks, Bean, I actually didn't read any of the responses before I posted. I honestly only said that because it is another typical response that comes in my head, like when mistreated in the Gucci store for a relatively cheaper bag I want to retort my Prada bag at home costs x number of times more....it's human nature!

 

[shihtzulover]

That's absolutely ridiculous, and completely inappropriate for any jeweler (or anyone at all!) to say. I definitely wouldn't be doing business with him anymore!

I just calculated it out, and my watch cost just over 1% of what my engagement ring cost. I've never really cared about watches that much, and although I've taken more of an interest in them recently, I was much more interested in getting my perfect engagement ring.

Anyway, I love my watch. It has sentimental value, and I really think that it's beautiful and totally 'me', regardless of the price tag.

 

[Cehrabehra]

That is a really offensive way to try to drum up business. I think I would be bugged and probably not go back to the store....

Well, I have to go and pick up my chain. But yeah... I won't be going back after that. I was really just... in awe. There is actually a watch on my wishlist, but it is low priority. Longines Evidenza Mini with diamonds. Black Face. Arabic Numerals.

But it's not something I'd buy myself. It's a 'safe present' so it's on DH's list of things he can buy me when he wants to. But I just could NOT believe the way this guy just brought the watches over and starts handing them to me. LIke I'd be, "Okay, you're right. Here's my credit card."

it woulda been funny if you deadpanned it and said just about that, "Oh really? well how about you pick something out and here's my card." and when they said "oh really?" you said, "Yeah, I always want to give money to people who insult me." Of course this is better done on the way out the LAST time you go in a store, not when you have to go back

 

[Cehrabehra]

I have a 50 dollar timex that I love and if some shmuck from a store tried to say something, ugh.. it's like them trying to tell me that my watch doesn't match my shoes. I know that dumbass!

 

[Black Jade]

Maybe he is having trouble selling watches.

My teenage kids and other kids his age tell me that only 'old people' wear watches anymore as they all tell the time from their cell phones or iphones or whatever. they say that the only reason they know for anyone to wear a watch is to show 'they have money' (not to tell them)--so I don't know if they mean that only old people have money?

Your jeweller would love my watch--my son bought it for $5 in walmart about 7 years ago, it sentimental to me as a gift from him and I intend to keep wearing it until it stops working. And actually, I get compliments on it all the time--it's very art deco filigree looking and pretty. The boy has good taste.

The guy thought you are rich because you have nice stuff and wanted some of your $$$$ and just has no tact whatsoever. Sad, but not not very important.

 

[HopeDream]

Classy ! Laughably bad salesmanship at it's finest. I wonder if that pitch actually works on anyone?

Smile and nod....smile and nod (Then get out as fast as tactfully possible).

Mind you, some people are really keen on matched sets of things, maybe he's one of those really detail oriented people who has to have everything matchy-matchy (Did his cufflinks match his tie pin?). Maybe you should return to browse weekly and aggravate him with your incongruent look - wear some of your finest peices along with a really bad fashion ring on, or some plastic earrings .

 

[Amber St. Clare]

How rude and tacky.

I bet he would have just LOVED my "I Love Lucy" collector watch! It was a 50th anniversary special!!!!

 

[stci]

Strange but I would take it as a compliment for all my other jewelries.

This is not a thing who can shocked me. It's just true or a marketing method like all other.

 

[TooPatient]

Thanks Coati. When I got my VERY FIRST paycheck after passing the Bar, it was burning a hole in my pocket and I was on the way to deposit it and on the way I happened to go to a local Coach store and it was in the case and it seemed like such an extravagance. To spend 300 on JEWELRY that is not an engagement ring (obviously I've changed that mindset).

And my husband (then fiance) wanted me to buy it when I told him about it that night... but I was just out of school with a grad student mind set and could NOT bring myself to do it. But I did visit it often, husband in tow. I couldn't buy it though. We'd gone too many days where hot dogs were the menu item, and the dollar menu was a luxury. So a year later we move to CA and I'm now making a REAL salary, and it's my birthday. My husband stops at the watch counter at Macy's and says... isn't that the watch you wanted last year? And I'm like... HE REMEMBERED! And even though at that point we could have spent more on a watch... I don't think any present could have made me happier. It always reminds me of the time when twenty dollars in my wallet was a REAL luxury... and how far we've come. More than any other piece of mine... it's actually the one that represents "success" to me.

But then again, I equate "success" with comfort. Not with keeping up with the joneses. To each thier own.

(happy tears!)

That is such a wonderful, sentimental story.

I hope that even when you've got a watch with diamonds, this one keeps a special place in your jewelry box.


That "professional" really should learn some tact -- might make more sales if he isn't insulting people

 

[Black Jade]

Wonder what he would have said to former emperor of Japan who wore a Mickey Mouse watch.

 

[Gypsy]

VR-- I've been drooling over that very watch. But it's too fancy for me. I want just plain white gold. There was one a couple of years ago that I didn't bid on and I'm still kicking myself. There is one with a Marquise face now that is similar that I thinking about bidding on. I'll email you the link and you can tell me what you think. I'd have to get a nice band for it though. So I think the price they are asking is too high considering.

Jewelerman, I didn't post the rest of the story... it would have been too long. But let's just say that ACTUALLY compared to the other sales people there, he was a customer service GOD. It's just one of those high end stores that cater to certain clientele and can't be bothered with dealing with anyone who doesn't meet their image of a worthy customer.

Kama, I agree.

Bean, my sense of humor has a 10 minute lag. I never come up with snappy replies.

Shihtzu, that's all that matters.

Cehra, *snicker*... that would have been priceless.

Black Jade, I'm certain that's part of it. Frankly I don't even wear the one I have everyday. My cell phone is always on me. Then there is my computer, my work cell, the car... all of them have the time. Your Walmart watch is priceless. Pics?

Hopedream... I should pick up some jelly neon bracelets and wear them when I go pick up the chain. ROFLMAO.

I agree Amber.

stci-- this might fall under the 'cultural differences' catagory. In the US it's considered rude to put down anything someone is actually WEARING to make a sale.

TooPatient, thank you honey. Yeah, I really love my watch. It's not going anywhere. Even if I did get a diamond watch, this would be my everyday piece anyway. Matching or not.

Black Jade... aristocracy is allowed to have eccentricities. All that in breeding. It's the rest of us that have to be conformist in order to prove we are worthy. lol.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I love imagining the comebacks that could have been but never shall be lol

BTW I *LOVELOVELOVE* your story and I'd be half tempted to print it out and hand it to him. Maybe the guy just has no clue how insulting he is.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

A lot of SA'S play mind games with customers: They deliberately act as though they think a customer can't afford something in order to psych the customer into buying it to prove that he/she can afford it.

 

[jewelerman]

Ive seen the same mind games played by customers.When i was younger(so much younger then today)i had a man come into the store i was working in and was dressed in overalls and and an old sweaty cowboy hat.No sales person would help him because he looked so bad.I struck up a conversation and told him we had some new sparklers in the store that were worth looking at.He looked at several.asked my opinion about rubies and walked out with a $5,000 bracelet(that was a great sale 20 plus years ago).Seems that the my co-workers didn't understand that many a rancher and farmer have money,but not the time to change out of their work clothes to shop.The man complained that he couldn't get much help at the car dealer ship earlier and that's how he ended up at my store.