Companies make buying craptastic
Consumer advocates seem to love to point out that moms are a big influence on how a family spends their money. Many marketers acknowledge this too. This isn't news -- but many companies still aren't paying attention.
Do they really think moms will think it's OK for the Little Einsteins boys to be able to stand up, but not the girls?
Moms were girls once, after all.
And while we're talking about characters who can't sing on key even though their specialty is supposed to be singing, why do companies think it's OK for toys that play music to feature children who just can't sing? Their grandpa must be the CEO of VTech.
Moms have to listen to this eleventy million times, you know. Our poor ears. Our poor, bleeding ears.
There are lots of toys I could rant about, especially the ones that break within the first hour of play or the ones that are impossible to assemble without an engineering degree or passable translation skills.
But it's not just toys.
It's how parents can spend almost $3 for a box of Gerber Graduates Fruit Twists and get only this:
It's how the manager of our local Best Buy canceled our order for a dishwasher last month without telling us. (Our old one broke down. I know hand washing the dishes is better for the environment -- which I did for a month, thanks to Best Buy. Guess I just became addicted to having the machine do it for me. Don't hate on me, though, because the new one is easy on water and electricity.)
It's how Sony refused to repair our fifth Cybershot digital camera a little more than a year after we bought it. The warranty had just barely expired. We reminded the company we've purchased five of these little guys in six years -- not a good track record for their camera, but afaithful foolish track record of ours. We have a new baby coming! We need a camera! Sony wasn't sympathetic.
I think I'll just go back to 35mm film until I can afford a digital SLR.
Maybe it's just me, but you would think because we're in a recession, companies would be trying harder to win your business and keep you as a customer.
Instead, we get the employee who doesn't know where anything is in the store. The rude newspaper "courtesy call" marketer insisting your bill is overdue even though you paid for a year in advance. (How many in the downtrodden newspaper business dream of having subscribers like us who pay for a year at a time?!) Fewer items in stock. Longer checkout lines.
It's not just large corporations, either. I walked into an independently run baby store last night, quite obviously pregnant, and none of the five employees who passed me offered to help me find anything in the store or asked if I needed help. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she went back to the Rodeo Drive shops that shunned her, "Big mistake. Huge. I have to go shopping now...."
With customer service like this, who really wants to buy anything?
- - - - -
Can you take a few seconds and vote for Tropic of Mom in the Nickelodeon Parents' Picks Awards here? You can vote every day!
For Local Blog in Miami
Do they really think moms will think it's OK for the Little Einsteins boys to be able to stand up, but not the girls?
Moms were girls once, after all.
And while we're talking about characters who can't sing on key even though their specialty is supposed to be singing, why do companies think it's OK for toys that play music to feature children who just can't sing? Their grandpa must be the CEO of VTech.
Moms have to listen to this eleventy million times, you know. Our poor ears. Our poor, bleeding ears.
There are lots of toys I could rant about, especially the ones that break within the first hour of play or the ones that are impossible to assemble without an engineering degree or passable translation skills.
But it's not just toys.
It's how parents can spend almost $3 for a box of Gerber Graduates Fruit Twists and get only this:
It's how the manager of our local Best Buy canceled our order for a dishwasher last month without telling us. (Our old one broke down. I know hand washing the dishes is better for the environment -- which I did for a month, thanks to Best Buy. Guess I just became addicted to having the machine do it for me. Don't hate on me, though, because the new one is easy on water and electricity.)
It's how Sony refused to repair our fifth Cybershot digital camera a little more than a year after we bought it. The warranty had just barely expired. We reminded the company we've purchased five of these little guys in six years -- not a good track record for their camera, but a
I think I'll just go back to 35mm film until I can afford a digital SLR.
Maybe it's just me, but you would think because we're in a recession, companies would be trying harder to win your business and keep you as a customer.
Instead, we get the employee who doesn't know where anything is in the store. The rude newspaper "courtesy call" marketer insisting your bill is overdue even though you paid for a year in advance. (How many in the downtrodden newspaper business dream of having subscribers like us who pay for a year at a time?!) Fewer items in stock. Longer checkout lines.
It's not just large corporations, either. I walked into an independently run baby store last night, quite obviously pregnant, and none of the five employees who passed me offered to help me find anything in the store or asked if I needed help. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she went back to the Rodeo Drive shops that shunned her, "Big mistake. Huge. I have to go shopping now...."
With customer service like this, who really wants to buy anything?
- - - - -
Can you take a few seconds and vote for Tropic of Mom in the Nickelodeon Parents' Picks Awards here? You can vote every day!
For Local Blog in MiamiLabels: domestic life, rants, reviews, shopping, stuff, this is why I'm crazy, toys
posted by Holly at 7:49 AM
12 Comments:
Sales are bloody irritating. When you don't want to be harassed by pushy salespeople, they hound you in packs. When you need help with something, you might as well be on a desert island. And product quality has seriously deteriorated.
And people wonder why I can't/ won't do sales.
Tell me about it. I walked into the lingerie dept at dillards to buy some spanx and none of the three saleswomen (who were doing nothing by the way) asked if I needed any help. Well couldn't find what i wanted so I left went to another store in the mall and then stopped back by dillards on the way out. And one of the sales ladies had the nerve to say "oh you came back" so I said "yeah I just wanted to see if someone would actually offer to help me this time" and then I left without buying anything.
I'm with you! WTF?!
I agree it seems like companies are not in recession the way they are treating customers!
Yeah, I completely agree, there truly is such a disconnnect.
Don't get me started on how frustrated I am with customer service these days. It's bad.
Customer service is an elusive thing. My biggest pet peeve is when I've paid $$$ for things and the cashier says "here's your receipt" to which I say "thank you" and they say "you're welcome" (if they say anything at all) and am I wrong that this is all backwards? I'm pretty sure they are supposed to thank me. Right?
Honestly. I was in retail for 15 years.
The Girl Einsteins can't stand up? How ridiculous.
It reminds me of a baby picture book we were given. The Peekaboo baby, the Yum-Yum baby, the Hee-Hee baby, the Mama! Baby, and the Night-Night baby were all blue-eyed blonds. The Boo-Hoo baby was African American. Maybe someone could have thought that out a little better?
mwhahahaha. i so relate! I have similar conversations with my husband on nearly a weekly basis. (would be more but I've had to limit my shopping/spending because I like to shop like I'm a millionaire, which i'm not, in case you were wondering)
Anywho.....what was I saying?
Oh, yea! I HIGHLY recommend a Canon Powershot. They come in a wide range, one for every budget. And even the tiny elph (which will fit in your pocket on all those trips to the park) takes excellent pictures. We bought our Powershot A80 over 5 years ago and it's still going strong. My brother has an elph that stopped working, he called Canon and they sent him a new camera!!!! In the meantime he got online and figured out which part was faulty, ordered a new part on ebay and now has 2 fully functional cameras.
And I swear I'm not getting paid to say any of this. I really just love my canon. Which is why when I upgraded to an SLR I went with, you guessed it, a Canon!
I'll totally send you some links to pictures I took with my simple point and shoot powershot if you are interested.
Uggghhh..one of the many reasons I HATE shopping and buying things.
Those girls should totally stand up.
And, I would keep calling Sony. I bet you talk to somebody that is willing to help out.
Hmmm...yeah. I could go off on a tangent on this one. I've found myself becoming very picky about where I spend my money. I'm fed up with bad customer service and bad products.
Annie and June can't stand up??!!! That's horrible!!!
I think you need to break up with Sony. Kick 'em out. We're loving our new Olympus. Of course, Nikon and Kodak are also great camera makers.
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