Pretty Woman Moment

[JuliaRobHurts]

DH and I were at a homebuilding and renovation show yesterday as we're in the middle of an extension project. Specifically we 're on the hunt for a new front door and while looking around one of the vendors we had a "pretty women" moment.

We had a look at the various products on show before trying to get the attention of one of the representatives who appeared to be avoiding our gaze. Eventually she approached and I said 'hi, we're interested in bespoke front doors and quite like this one on show'.

Without asking our budget or any of our requirements she went into a spiel about how the doors were very expensive, how they were imported from Lithuania and the import charge was also expensive, all the while wincing as she was saying it. She then said we might be better off with a more mass manufactured door. I was absolutely stunned at her condescending tone. She hadn't asked a single question about what we were looking for.

I was so close to confronting her about her approach, but held back. DH calmly told her her sales pitch needs some work and we walked away, but I was fuming. We were both dressed smart/casually so the only thing I can think is she guaged our age (late thirties) and made an assumption we couldn't afford it (even though we can).

WWYD in that situation? I'm half inclined to email the company and provide feedback on our experience but I also don't know if it's worth the energy.

Would love to hear if anyone that's had a similar experience but DID confront the rude person as I'm still annoyed I didn't give her a piece of my mind.

How rude! I’d send an email of complaint

Yes email the company. As a sales manager id be furious about this!

Definitely email the company. That is absolutely outrageous.

Thanks. I've searched them online and there's very little reviews or feedback (11 google reviews and zero on trustpilot). So they're either fairly new or new to sales in the UK. I wouldv'e thought impression at these events were everything, expecially when you're selling a high end product to customers and you don't have a well established reputation.

They probably have this one sales person and therefore don’t make many sales and hence no customer reviews 😂

This happened to me in an upmarket wool and knitting supplies shop. I was browsing the wool and asked how much a ball of wool was. The shopkeeper said “Ohhhh I am terribly sorry, that one is £16.95 a ball, it’s pure merino. Maybe you could try garden centres or B&M for affordable acrylics.” We left the shop, my friends and I were appalled. My friend said “you just got pretty-womaned!”

A few weeks later the same friend told me she had taken her kids into the shop and let them run around as revenge. Ha ha!

I'm confused, what's this got to do with being pretty?

It could be that.. Or it could be that she hates her job and that product is a particular pain in the ass and their customers have complained loads about it.

I've had similar when trying to buy a car, as I'd arrived in a sweatshirt and jeans, driving an admittedly pretty knackered little runaround. I got one word answers, almost grunts - until DH turned up, straight from work in his much nicer car and full suit. Suddenly they were fawning all over us. We left!

It's a classic scene in the film Pretty Woman.

I guess I am just not pretty enough to have ever experienced this.

In the film Pretty Woman there's a snobby saleswoman who won't serve the main character because she thinks she can't afford anything in the shop.

There’s a famous scene in the movie Pretty Woman where snobby shop assistants won’t let Julia Roberts try on any clothes because they assume she’s too poor.

It's about a shop refusing to serve a woman because she is a street prostitute.

Even though that trade show might be open to the public, it's very possible that they're actively seeking B2B customers. Think property developers, overseas clients, distributors, international retailers etc. Most companies use those shows as a way of setting up big deals and meeting their existing contacts in person.

It's no secret in trade show circuits that many businesses actively dislike the private customers who are only looking to buy a single unit of a product. Even if that one item is very expensive, it's still not a big sale for them. Behind the scenes, they will moan about certain days where visitors to the show are usually private families, mom and pop stores etc. Many salespeople will avoid eye contact or engaging with people who clearly look like private visitors. Or they will give you an anti sales talk so they don't have to process the paperwork for one unit.

In all honesty, if you received that treatment when you walk into their showroom then it would be grounds for complaint. But at trade shows, it comes down to whether you look like the buyer for Habitat, a property developer from Dubai or just a random couple wanting a front door. She knows you can afford it, but she's probably tired and hungry and doesn't have the energy to give the whole sales pitch for just one door. And this is obviously with permission from her boss so complaining is not going to do much.

EDIT: Especially considering they barely have an online presence, it suggests the company is very B2B, not B2C. They aren't selling single doors but they're looking for real estate contacts who will buy 20-50 doors at once when constructing a new development.

It's not really anything to do with being pretty.

It’s not to do with being pretty, it’s just a scene where they think she doesn’t have enough money to shop there.

Not in a shop but DH was looking over a fence at a house that was for sale. We were looking to buy our first house at that point. The neighbour came scurrying out of her house and told him "it's a lovely house, but I'm afraid you won't be able to afford it."

Another non-shop experience...I bumped into someone from my NCT group. It was just before all the DCs were about to start school. I asked her where her DS would be going to school and she said, "oh it's a private school so you won't have heard of it."

DH and I were treated like that in Dior in Amsterdam. He was looking for specific pair of shoes that he had seen. We walked out empty handed and we spent a lot of money in other shops who gave great customer service instead.

I had a similar experience - got a door company round and chose what I wanted. The salesman laughed and said “you’ve chosen the most expensive door - don’t you think you ought to ask your husband first?!” I replied “I am not married, it’s my house that I own and pay for myself as well as the doors!” I said thank you and goodbye and went with another company. Where do these people get their sales training?! 🙄

This happened to me with flooring, at a flooring shop, not a trade show. The salesman refused to give me a price for some of it, saying: "that's top of the range". I got my flooring from that place because they had what I wanted, but he was rather obstructive.
When it was all done and they asked me to leave them a review on Google, I emailed instead, saying I was happy with the flooring but rather than leave a review in public I wanted them to know how much trouble I'd had with the salesman all the way through. I said he knew his technical stuff, but that his failure to respond to my emails had delayed the purchase and installation by about a month, so that I was already living there when the flooring was installed.
I said I was ready to spend money, and it shouldn't require a commanding presence to deal with the salesperson.
To my surprise, the owner rang me and thanked me, saying he wouldn't have known otherwise, and that he was going to have a serious talk with the salesman. They also sent me a bottle of expensive floor cleaner.

Why would being late thirties mean someone thought you wouldn’t be able to afford to buy a bespoke front door. Fair play if you said you were both 19 or something but both being close to 40 isn’t exactly giving young and broke vibes.

I’m not making excuses for her because that is very rude, but perhaps she is from a culture where people really dress up. I was surprised at how some Polish friends dressed up recently, obviously she shouldn’t judge ppl on their clothes and that won’t make her successful in the UK.

As someone who dresses like a homeless person and, accordingly, has a rubbish income, I think her approach would have been suitable for me.

Purely out of interest, I'd love to know how much this door actually cost.