Watch Salespeople are so dumb

[jfreeman420]

I was in Jared Jewelers yesterday looking at some jewelry.  The salesman noticed my Daytona and says "haven't seen one of those in a while"

Then he starts telling me about the new Hamilton.  They have a valjoux based watch for only $719!

He quickly ran to get it and brings me two Hamiltons.  Neither of which had any chrono registers.

I turn them over to look at the display back and saw the really nice ETA 2824...

The guy acted like he had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[freddy333]

You just learned the difference between a collector & a salesman.

[txcollector]

I've always had luck to find knowledgeable sales people at Tourneau.

 

I'd not go to Jared for watches though. Kind of taking about high performance cars with a random Walmart associate just because they sell tires.

[miagi]

You just learned the difference between a collector & a salesman.

 

indeed.. a couple of years ago i went into the oldest family owned AD in my city. its been in one family since 1866 and i talked to the woman who is in charge of the sales (grand daughter of the original founder i guess) . I was looking at the Omegas and she asked me if i needed any help.

- yes, i replied, id like to try on that planet ocean.

- what? she said..

-the planet ocean, i confirmed

-um..

- that one i right there! i pointed out to her..

 

she gives it to me with a smile and proceeds to talk about "what a handsome watch it is" 

.......

 

 

fast forward to this year, march..

went into the other "high end shop" in town.. had been eying the Longines Legend Diver for a while.. i guess i was a bit unlucky because the owners (father and son) was away at basel world at that time, leaving the shop to their wife/mother and a part time employee..

 

same thing again;

had to point it out again. 

she has no salespitch other than its a "nice watch".. no pedigree, no history no nothing...

i go on to buy it and they take out a small longines box to go with it... i have to step in and tell them which box is supposed to go with this model (rather large wooden box) and i even have to get them to stamp and sign the guarantee card... 

 

... i like the idea of supporting the local stores, but god damn is it too much to ask of them to know what they sell?

and i dont like the smirk approach i allways get when entering the store its a bit like their noses is pointing high upwards like we customers have a certain smell to us..quickly falls down when i start asking questions..

[miagi]

http://youtu.be/XFWeoxrhbE8

Edited December 15, 2012 by miagi

[ninjagaiden]

Geneva Airport is even worse. the salespeople might be very easy on the eye but they don't know very much about their products. A guy at the Hublot stand wanted a black Hublot and salesperson said they don't make all black ones except for the Tourbillion. when he had walked away from the stand I showed him a picture of an Aero bang all black 2 on my PC.

[imajedi]

@miagi hahahaha awesome!! So appropriate for this thread

[danielv2000]

This reminds me of a few years back. I was in the market for a Rolex Submariner LV. I pointed to the LV behind the glass and said, "can I see the LV". I kid you not, the response was, "this is a Rolex, not a Louis Vuitton"! I think for him, it was just that - a Rolex Submariner. No idea of model or the reason it was created!

[Werlynne]

Sadly arn't these stories typical of any specialist or even mainstream product we try and buy......................

[Guest]

This reminds me of a few years back. I was in the market for a Rolex Submariner LV. I pointed to the LV behind the glass and said, "can I see the LV". I kid you not, the response was, "this is a Rolex, not a Louis Vuitton"! I think for him, it was just that - a Rolex Submariner. No idea of model or the reason it was created!

I wonder how he even got the job Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[shirotenshi]

At the amount they (employees) get paid, you dont expect them to know a lot of stuff, I expect friendly customer service more than knowledge from them.

However it is a different story if they are the owner/sons of the stores, i expect them to be well equipped with knowledge and be able to ans most of my questions.

[Ronin]

Same can be said about auto dealerships. If you are a car buff, or shopping for a specific model and did your homework, chances are you will know more than they do.

Thanks to the Internet, the customer is more informed then ever before. Technically the salesmen have access to the same info, but probably don't care...except the sales people who are passionate about what they sell.

The reality about most "Jewelry" stores that sell watches is that watches are often the afterthought for the man whilst shopping for female jewelry. Watches are treated the same as a bracelet or neckless- what looks good, what's your style -vs- a technical instrument of timekeeping.

[panerai153]

I would bet that you are out of luck with getting any expertise with watches unless you happen on and older guy that has been selling watches for years, and has and interest in them, otherwise, you are dealing with sales "clerks" that know almost nothing about the watches they sell. What is so amazing to me is the absolute lack of intellectual curiosity among the young to middle age folks here in the USA. I don't know what they are interested in, but it certainly isn't anything that pertains to their work, or the world around them. When you go in a large chain jewelry store like Jared's, you are going to get a sales person that may be showing someone and engagement ring, a pearl necklace and then a Rolex Datejust. they just sell, they don't know a thing about the product, sad but true.Another factor, these are pretty low end jobs,nice because you get to dress in a nice suit and look important, but in actuality, these are jobs that aren't well paying, and especially in the chain jewelers, the turnover is probably pretty high. any guy/gal who signs on there is probably using that job as an interim position until something better comes along, they figure they aren't going to be there long, so why bother with learning the product.

 

i would expect that almost everyone who frequents this and other watch forums is infinitely more knowledgeable about watches than the person that's taking them out of the display case and showing them to you. You would think that a small family owned jeweler would be knowledgeable about their products, which in the case above, probably the father ,son team are well versed, just the fact that they were in Basel for BaselWorld  says a lot about their watch knowledge, unfortunately, I doubt that the mother daughter team knows or cares much about watches. Now if you were picking out a Crystal or China pattern, they would be in their element!