How to lose a sale
Dad was in town yesterday, so I took advantage of having access to a vehicle to go round a few places over on Blenheim Road and investigate wood burners (as my one has been declared too old to live by the dreaded ECAN, so I need to replace it before next winter or face a fine). All went well at the first place we visited – the guy there was really helpful and gave me lots of good advice, and I left with a stack of brochures and useful information.
At the second place we visited, the woman was equally helpful, and equally forthcoming with advice and brochures. Except that she directed absolutely everything she said to Dad, not to me. Even though I was the one who’d approached her and said that I was looking for a log burner, and even though Dad was hanging back letting me do all the talking, she still kept talking to him and ignoring me. Every time I asked her a question, she’d turn to Dad and tell him the answer! The single time she directed a comment to me was when she demonstrated a feature on one of the fires and said “We girls like this, because it makes lighting the fire so much easier.” GRRRR. I’ve just been asking you intelligent questions about kilowatt outputs and clearance requirements, and you somehow think I can’t even figure out how light a fire???
So yeah, guess which company I’ll be buying my new log burner from?
Yikes…. I’m sure Bruce would never make the cut with air quality control.
I’m glad I live in the woods and not the city, where these things aren’t quite so controlled!
You are right not to buy from someone who seems so clueless about who the real customer is!!!
Yeah, our air quality rules in Christchurch are pretty draconian – poor Bruce wouldn’t stand a chance. I think ECAN (our environment council) would prefer to ban wood burners entirely, but there’s such a big fuss kicked up every time they try (with good reason – power prices are too high (and we have too many power cuts) for many people to be able to heat their homes with electricity), so they settle for just making the rules as tough as possible.