apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Do you mean this?

http://store.sprouthome.com/bentwoodlamp3.html

Prissy shop owners need to be stopped. I mean it's one thing if you can sell a customer an item. But if you can't (or won't) then I think that you could at least provide some information about it.

I'm with SubKnit -- that snotty shop owner needs to be pinned to the proverbial mat for not accommodating a buyer, either by a sale or info. Reminds me of a prissy woman I heard on Marketplace about a decade ago, refused to sell a Bakelite bracelet to a customer because she just didn't "appreciate it" enough.

What a great shop owner! Seriously, what's up with that? You should send her a picture of you with your new lamp purchased from another store.

Yay for SubwayKnitter. That looks like the exact lamp.

I admired that same lamp when I was in P-town this weekend!

Whats up with the shop owner?

Well, customers that come in, find what they want, get the information and then go online to buy it.

Sorry, retailers are not your personal showroom. They are in the business to sell things, not help you to find them cheaper!

From the story posted, it doesn't sound like the shopkeeper would sell it to A., either. So, if a retailer is not actually willing to sell things at, you know, retail, what exactly are they good for other than being our personal showrooms?

raydesignstudio , I don't think that you read through the post entirely. The entire point is that the shop keeper would not sell the lamp because it was a floor model. But she also would not provide any information about the lamp itself. This is exceptionally rude, and a horrible way to treat customers. 'A' would have bought it in the store if he/she could have.

Anyhow, this shopkeeper's customer service 'skills' will hopefully come back to bite him/her in the ass. I would certainly not go back to a store like that, whereas if the shopkeeper were apologetic and gave me information to track down the lamp, or would help me with a special order I would be more inclined to visit in the future.

I would think about the exceptional treatment I received and how helpful the clerk was. I don't re-visit stores where the owners or employees are snots or stuck up, and being un-helpful is also a determining factor as to whether or not I return. I do not believe in 'The customer is always right' because people have become self-entitled and unreasonable, but it's not unreasonable for someone to expect good customer service.

It's the floor model of what?

I guess that's the discussion. If you buy a lamp for your store and it belongs to the store, i.e., not for sale, you should offer information about where someone could get another one. I guess in this instance, one would try to get the customer to buy an actual featured product, one that is actually for sale.

If you sell a lamp, and only have the floor model left, you should sell the floor model. It shouldn't be hard-wired in that case. If you want to keep the floor model as a display, tell the customer when to expect the stock to be replenished or allow them to order.

That's what's wrong with this shop-owner, they decided to do neither. Everything this shop-owner did was to discourage a sale in their shop. I realize nobody wants to give you the info that allows you to spend your money somewhere else, but that's what they effectively did. Even if you never find that lamp, you're not going to settle for something in that store that is for sale, and yet, if you ask someone who might know, you find out what that lamp is, and buy it somewhere else.

There are some examples that may be one-of-a-kind, and I can understand if the owner didn't want to sell something they used to decorate the store if it was unique, but then they could explain (as places I have worked with vintage lighting) that this piece belongs to me/the store, thank you, it's vintage, and right now we don't have anything else like that, and a long list of people we promised to call if we ever get one in, but then we'd offer as much information as we could, other than naming other stores where one might find similar fixtures.

I know from working retail that often we were not allowed to sell the floor models of lamps, especially hardwired ones because of the fire hazard risk and risk of being sued should something go wrong with the light. Plus, often the way ceiling lamps were hung, it would be very difficult to get it down and often the cords were altered to accomodate the showroom.

However, there is no excuse for not providing some info on it.

I am amazed at how nasty some of these responses are based on TWO lines of a story.

Maybe the gist was to say hey, look, find this hear. But it somehow as turned against the retailer. Which I think makes my general point correct.

Retailers are lothe to help you, the customer, because, generally, you go out and buy it somewhere else cheaper. Sorry, I am not going to help you to do that.

Maybe she offered to order the lamp, and the buyer said, no thanks. Then why would I give you the info? This happens ALL the time.

Oh, I saw this sofa online and just wanted to sit on it. Great, would you like for me to order it for you? Oh, no, I will get it online. Great. Thanks for wasting my time.

This is the view from the retailer side. Now, I am one for a good deal .... but I think you need to understand WHY retailers have become weary of giving out information.

And so I go back to the original post. Why ask where you can get it, when the store would have probably ordered it?

I have to agree with Randy Dandy here. As a retailer, we are up against a huge disadvantage when customers can find out the manufacturer of an item and go and get it at some discount online retailer or ebay. My policy is to order an item for a customer if I can't sell them the one in the store for some reason. Hopefully the customer will be willing to wait for the order to arrive and appreciate the personal attention given by taking the special order for them.

In any case, hope the original poster gets their lamp soon. I will actually be selling them soon as well and I can say, in person they are GORGEOUS!

Randy and Birch, if you want someone to buy something from you that you do not have in stock and will not give the information out, then offer to order it in. Otherwise, don't be snippy.

There's this thing called being nice to people and it goes a long way.

This poster obviously would have taken her up on that and as such wouldn't be posting on here if that had been an apparent option.

These lamps are being importaed by a company in Washington. called La Vida Verde. It is a fair trade product. Here is a link to info on that lamp and how/where it is made: http://www.lavidaverde.com/index.htm

I just added one to my home office, actually, and was researching the designer for a blog post (coming soon on my personal blog).