Space Kitchens...REVENGE!

aliasojo

Volcano wrote: »

No, his job would have been to sell a £20K kitchen (his final price) for £20K. What he actually did was try and sell it for £29K, blatantly ripping the customer off to get maximum commission.

This isn't the action of someone "so desperate was he to not go on the dole." or someone who's just trying to scrape a living in these difficult times. It's the actions of a greedy git who couldn't care less that he's ripping someone off for an extra £9K!

No sympathy for someone who could easily make a more honest living.

It's business. No-one makes people buy. We do still have free choice. What's that saying about the horse and water?


Edit: Just wanted to add that I think Space Kitchens are deplorable and I'm not defending them in any way, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here and pointing out that messing one salesman about isn't a) a particularly clever thing to do since it says more about the person doing it than the salesman himself, and b) shooting the messenger does nothing but waste your own time.

Space Kitchen workers are told what to do, they are given a script and sometimes their boss will phone round afterwards 'to have a chat' when in reality they are trying to find out what the salesman actually said. We dont know if this particular salesman in the OP was a coniving git happy to rip a potential buyer off, or an average joe bloggs following orders in the hope he'll earn something.

Welshwoofs

I just wanted to give a point of view on this one, as I too exacted my revenge on Space Kitchens, but in a different way.

Around 6 years ago my OH's business was very slack and he was desperate enough to look for other jobs. He had sales experience and went off for an interview at Space Kitchens - neither of us had heard of them. He had to go off for 3 days 'training' where they were told over and over how good the product was, how much better than others in the same price range and how the kitchens were 'bespoke' (this latter claim is total rubbish, the units come in standard sizes as they do in 90% of kitchens, it's the design that's 'bespoke'...because people have different sized kitchens, choose different layouts/colours etc etc). They are told during training that the kitchens are worth every penny of the high end prices they try to sell them for so the salesmen are not attempting to rip people off when they come up with these ridiculous prices...they're going by what Space Kitchens tell them they are worth!

The working conditions at Space Kitchen are awful. They are expected to be on a 'design' appointment for a minimum of 3 hours and phone in to their manager to be given 'reductions'. My OH lasted 2 weeks and then left. He was owed money which they refused to pay, so basically spent those 2 weeks working around 12 hours a day and paying his own petrol for nothing. During that time he was bullied so badly that he was a jibbering wreck. He'd already been suffering from depression due to his own business failing and that experience sent him spiralling right down.

I don't like bullies so I decided to get my revenge. I applied to an advert in the local paper and went for an interview on a Saturday in a business park outside Chester where I met two of the slimiest little shysters it's ever been my displeasure to encounter. I was told that they expected their salesmen to be in the office at 8.30am every day, even if they were at appointments right up to midnight (my OH got home around 1am every day during his 2 weeks because they booked him in for late appointments).

I was asked outright if I had any kids and when I said I hadn't, was asked if I were going to. Again, I said 'no'. They then told me that women never lasted because they only thought of their families and they expected people to put work first, every time. It's hard to describe but the atmosphere was so macho it was untrue, the two of them were continually passing comments about what cars they had/holidays they'd taken and how they needed people with the 'balls' to basically put their life on hold and work 12-14 hours a day, 6 days a week.

After about an hour they offered me a job, even though I was a woman they were going to see if I 'could cut it with the men' :rolleyes: At that point I politely informed them that in fact I had an extremely good job already and that the only reason I was there was to confirm for myself the horror stories my OH had told me. I told them that a great deal they'd told me that day would break a number of laws about equality, discrimination and work-time directives. They weren't too happy, I got called a few choice words and told that if I didn't get out immediately they'd get a security guard to escort me out. So I left...unfortunately on my way out I was so upset that the hand holding my car keys was shaking uncontrollably and accidentally made contact with the side panel of a BMW which I was led to believe during the interview was an object of some pride to a certain Space Kitchen manager.

Amistoso_2

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I just wanted to give a point of view on this one, as I too exacted my revenge on Space Kitchens, but in a different way.

Around 6 years ago my OH's business was very slack and he was desperate enough to look for other jobs. He had sales experience and went off for an interview at Space Kitchens - neither of us had heard of them. He had to go off for 3 days 'training' where they were told over and over how good the product was, how much better than others in the same price range and how the kitchens were 'bespoke' (this latter claim is total rubbish, the units come in standard sizes as they do in 90% of kitchens, it's the design that's 'bespoke'...because people have different sized kitchens, choose different layouts/colours etc etc). They are told during training that the kitchens are worth every penny of the high end prices they try to sell them for so the salesmen are not attempting to rip people off when they come up with these ridiculous prices...they're going by what Space Kitchens tell them they are worth!

The working conditions at Space Kitchen are awful. They are expected to be on a 'design' appointment for a minimum of 3 hours and phone in to their manager to be given 'reductions'. My OH lasted 2 weeks and then left. He was owed money which they refused to pay, so basically spent those 2 weeks working around 12 hours a day and paying his own petrol for nothing. During that time he was bullied so badly that he was a jibbering wreck. He'd already been suffering from depression due to his own business failing and that experience sent him spiralling right down.

I don't like bullies so I decided to get my revenge. I applied to an advert in the local paper and went for an interview on a Saturday in a business park outside Chester where I met two of the slimiest little shysters it's ever been my displeasure to encounter. I was told that they expected their salesmen to be in the office at 8.30am every day, even if they were at appointments right up to midnight (my OH got home around 1am every day during his 2 weeks because they booked him in for late appointments).

I was asked outright if I had any kids and when I said I hadn't, was asked if I were going to. Again, I said 'no'. They then told me that women never lasted because they only thought of their families and they expected people to put work first, every time. It's hard to describe but the atmosphere was so macho it was untrue, the two of them were continually passing comments about what cars they had/holidays they'd taken and how they needed people with the 'balls' to basically put their life on hold and work 12-14 hours a day, 6 days a week.

After about an hour they offered me a job, even though I was a woman they were going to see if I 'could cut it with the men' :rolleyes: At that point I politely informed them that in fact I had an extremely good job already and that the only reason I was there was to confirm for myself the horror stories my OH had told me. I told them that a great deal they'd told me that day would break a number of laws about equality, discrimination and work-time directives. They weren't too happy, I got called a few choice words and told that if I didn't get out immediately they'd get a security guard to escort me out. So I left...unfortunately on my way out I was so upset that the hand holding my car keys was shaking uncontrollably and accidentally made contact with the side panel of a BMW which I was led to believe during the interview was an object of some pride to a certain Space Kitchen manager.

sureley whatever they told you they would have told to your husband as well before he made the desicion to join their company? yet he did so anyway. Damaging someones property just because you feel your husband was hard done by isn't big or clever and I don't know why your on here bragging about it? that's not revenge, it's criminal damage :rolleyes:

mrcol1000

Welshwoofs wrote: »

After about an hour they offered me a job, even though I was a woman they were going to see if I 'could cut it with the men' :rolleyes: At that point I politely informed them that in fact I had an extremely good job already and that the only reason I was there was to confirm for myself the horror stories my OH had told me. I told them that a great deal they'd told me that day would break a number of laws about equality, discrimination and work-time directives. They weren't too happy, I got called a few choice words and told that if I didn't get out immediately they'd get a security guard to escort me out. So I left...unfortunately on my way out I was so upset that the hand holding my car keys was shaking uncontrollably and accidentally made contact with the side panel of a BMW which I was led to believe during the interview was an object of some pride to a certain Space Kitchen manager.

So there is a good chance that these people will remember you. You have just admitted to damaging their car. Plus they probably still have your personal detials on file from the interview. I hope for your sake your making this up.

I have had no experience of this company but there are going to be loads more companies in sales doing a lot worse than this.

Nukumai

Welshwoofs wrote: »

...unfortunately on my way out I was so upset that the hand holding my car keys was shaking uncontrollably and accidentally made contact with the side panel of a BMW which I was led to believe during the interview was an object of some pride to a certain Space Kitchen manager.

Nicely phrased! :rotfl:

sagalout1954

mwilletts wrote: »

As a lot of you may know, through my previous posts, that I am a kitchen designer and salesman by trade and I'm always willing to do my part to help people out. I thought I would help you out today by having a Space Kitchens rep. come round and try to sell me a kitchen and I'd see just how much of their time I could waste.

Are you SURE you did this "to help people out" - perhaps if you didn't appear to be in the same field of work yourself........................

IMO you were perhaps enjoying a bit of 'sport' purely for your own amusement. This company may well be rubbish (I don't dispute that) but are they also pinching trade that might be yours? I'm not altogether convinced of your noble motives.

Meepster

sagalout1954 wrote: »

Are you SURE you did this "to help people out" - perhaps if you didn't appear to be in the same field of work yourself........................

IMO you were perhaps enjoying a bit of 'sport' purely for your own amusement. This company may well be rubbish (I don't dispute that) but are they also pinching trade that might be yours? I'm not altogether convinced of your noble motives.

Pinching trade that might be mine? Well, not that I am aware of, I can't say I've EVER lost a sale to Space kitchens, infact I can't honestly recall a time where someone has been to see me about a kitchen and has mentioned they have had been looking at Space. My customers come to me, I don't cold call, make offers of a free kitchen or generally oversell my product, just so I can get my foot in the door and then generally lie about what I can do and belittle other companies for no reason.

I'm actually offended that you think I did this for personal gain. sagalout1954 - take a look through my other posts and tell me how many times I have helped someone out, with the intention of getting myself some business. I can tell you know, it's ZERO...

What I did, I did to prove a point, nothing else. And maybe because of this, at least one "designer" may think twice before trying to rip someone off...

marywooyeah

mwilletts wrote: »

So it's ok for them to waste 4 hours of someone's day, by being sat in their house, trying to pressure them into buying an overpriced kitchen?

you invited him round! you didnt have to! then you could have saved him and yourself 4 hours!