Ideas For Stress Free Shopping

[folwer 0]

Hi, I have been reading the post here and it seems that a lot of people has complaints about their experiences. Quite frankly, I feel that a lot of problems can be avoided if we take some steps to protect ourselves. Sales people all have their bags of tricks to close their sales, furniture shop all have various strategy to earn money...

I think we might as well pool our ideas and experiences in dealing with them. Here is my experiences in dealing with them:

Before buying:

- do a first round of shortlisting, go shopping alone, best during weekday. When the sales ask how they can help you, just reply..."I'm looking around and will bring my family around this weekend if I see something suitable" they will normally leave you alone or even if they talk to you, they will quickly realized you will nit commit without the agreement of your other half.

- no matter how much you like or how good the promotion, be prepared to walk away. I purchased a sofa at 50% off but I refused to meet the sales man deadline of comiting on the spot. In fact, I call back a few day after the end of promotion and the sales man was able to 'fight for me' to get back the promo price - what a joke

- do not pay in full, even if it is a policy for pro optional item or even if they have to 'shipped' from Europe. I have yet to encounter a sales person that is unable to convince their boss of your special request. If really cannot, then walk away, you wouldn't want to buy from a company that is afraid that you will reject their goods anyway. Of course dun be unreasonable and offer only 1 dollar down or 10% down la.

- go only to those well establish shops around for 5-10 years, especially those with good reps.

When taking delivery:

- make sure you hve a couple of dates and set the delivery on the earliest of your dates

- insist they call you you before they deliver. The delivery centre will always say they need to have a 4-5 hours time window, but I alway tell them with handphones, it doesn't take much effort for their driver to call. Never take leave, just ask for time off and go home when they call you. So far, only they wait for me, rarely I wait for them - and because the delivery guys is already committed to deliver the goods and collect the money (hope you have not paid in full), I find them to be more accommodative. But please be graceful and not let them wait for hours, they need to make a living too.

- if you see goods not right, reject them straight. It's important you select company of good repute as they will normally work out a solution for you. In my case I reject a dinning table before. Instead of taking it back, they actually let me use it until they can get me a replacement a week later. This will not be possible if I did not select a good shop in the first place. In fact, it happen just before cny, and I end up having a brand new table after I used the first one for my party...

Finally, keep the receipt for at least 2 years.

The above are just some of the strategies I adopted after years of making silly mistakes...usually it's not really about the money, but about the nagging feeling that you have been taken for a ride that bothers me. So I have learnt that if you dun take steps to protect your own I terse, you only ave yourselves to blame...