Best ways to deal with a pushy register consultant?

Babebet · October 2013

After visiting a BB&B to register with my Fiance I encountered a very pushy sales woman, I was so overwhelemed I left early faking an 'appointment'. I noticed other people have had this problem as well. I was wondering what are the best ways to confront a consultant who is overbearing? How do you let them know that you want to be in charge without coming off as agressive or rude? I want to register in store because I like physically seeing what I am signing up for. What are y'alls suggestions on this?

blueobsidian · October 2013

What's wrong with being aggressive? While you don't need to be rude, there is nothing wrong with putting your foot down and telling the consultant that you are going to be in charge. You are a customer who is driving them business. It's OK to say "This is what I am going to do."

RebeccaB88 · October 2013

What she said. Also, you can go in on your own and just look around, decide what you want, then go home and create the registry online. If you need to go look at more things, a quick "I just need to add a few more things to my registry, I don't need help" should be enough to make them back off.

emmyg65 · October 2013

I would state up front, "Thank you for your help, but I'd like to look around on my own. I'll let you know if I have any questions."

Of course, I also have trouble with confrontation and probably would have done what you did.

Maggie0829 · October 2013

When I registered at BB&B the consultant did not walk around with us. Of course she tried her sales pitch to get us to register for fine china and luggage but as soon as we said no to that she kind of left us alone.

There is nothing wrong with being forceful and saying "Thank you but we do not need your help."

photokitty · October 2013

I would have her removed as my registry consultant. I would call the manger and them them what happened, that yo felt uncomfortable and you would like a new consultant and not to have her receive the commission off your registry. I think this is the best way to make them understand that the tactics they are using are not wanted - hit her int he paycheck. She certainly didn't help you and therefore doesn't deserve to make money off of your wedding IMHO.

GL!

Coalette2013 · November 2013

This happened to us as well. Our consultant was very friendly but was very pushy when it came time to go around the store. We were expecting to go around ourselves very leisurely but she ended up going with us the whole time; it took over 2 hours. She kept insisting that we "needed" to have at least 150 items for our guests to choose from, we only had 90. We have both been on our own for 5 years and are pretty established when it comes to household items, so we didn't feel the need to just put stuff on the registry for the sake of just putting stuff down. Needless to say, we were both grumpy by the end of it. There were items that we had no interest in what so ever, but just said sure so we could move on. I promptly removed a portion of the registry as soon as I got home. I spoke with one my friends about it later who used to work at BB&B, and she said that there was some kind of reward or incentive for the consultant based on the number of items that they get a couple to put on their registry. Explains why she kept pushing us to have at least 150 items on our registry.

erinlin25 · October 2013

our sales consultant started walking with us and I just said nicely, we knew what we wanted so do not need additional help right now. she gave us the scanner and let us go to town, checking in every now and then. Afterwards I updated online so I did not keep my fiance there for too long

hoffse · October 2013

Honestly I just decided to delete the registry and go somewhere else. I'm not a confrontational person, and I wouldn't feel comfortable calling the manager while the consultant was standing right there. I know that's what people always suggest, but I think it takes a certain personality to do that, I just don't have it. I did tell our consultant we knew what we wanted and I asked for the scan gun. He flat out told us no. Maybe I should have pursued it, but I don't like to cause a scene.

I did call BBB's customer service after the experience to let them know what happened and to tell them I would no longer be doing business with them because of their pushy registry consultants. Ours didn't just push us, ours actually registered us for things we told him flat out we didn't want. I found that entirely inappropriate. And honestly, all these years I've been judging brides who register for like 2 or 3 sets of pots and pans at BBB.... now I sort of wonder if the same thing didn't happen to them, and if they just didn't check their registries when they got home.

I just decided that if my wedding was likely to generate several thousand dollars of sales for a particular store, I wanted it to be at a store that treated me and H appropriately. We switched to Macy's instead and it worked great for us.

mbrooke2008 · October 2013

I went in stores and picked out my important things like china, goblets, and flatware, wrote down their names and then went home and registered online. I liked doing it online because I could read reviews. We were long distance at the time of our engagement, so the only way to do it semi-together was online which I ended up really liking!

Jen4948 · October 2013

I'd tell the consultant, "Thanks, but I'd like to walk around right now and figure out what I want. I'll come see you if I have any questions." And if that didn't make her back off, I'd ask for the manager and explain that the consultant is making me uncomfortable with her aggressiveness.

kitty8403 · October 2013

hoffse said: Honestly I just decided to delete the registry and go somewhere else. I'm not a confrontational person, and I wouldn't feel comfortable calling the manager while the consultant was standing right there. I know that's what people always suggest, but I think it takes a certain personality to do that, I just don't have it. I did tell our consultant we knew what we wanted and I asked for the scan gun. He flat out told us no. Maybe I should have pursued it, but I don't like to cause a scene.
I did call BBB's customer service after the experience to let them know what happened and to tell them I would no longer be doing business with them because of their pushy registry consultants. Ours didn't just push us, ours actually registered us for things we told him flat out we didn't want. I found that entirely inappropriate. And honestly, all these years I've been judging brides who register for like 2 or 3 sets of pots and pans at BBB.... now I sort of wonder if the same thing didn't happen to them, and if they just didn't check their registries when they got home.
I just decided that if my wedding was likely to generate several thousand dollars of sales for a particular store, I wanted it to be at a store that treated me and H appropriately. We switched to Macy's instead and it worked great for us.

(Quote box) Online registries can also have this problem. I realized this when my mother questioned some of my linens selections and I hadn't even gotten to that department yet. Apparently some computer systems will auto-populate registries with suggestions or popular buys. And then you get to go through and pull off what you don't want.

mrsbizzz · October 2013

hoffse said:

Honestly I just decided to delete the registry and go somewhere else. I'm not a confrontational person, and I wouldn't feel comfortable calling the manager while the consultant was standing right there. I know that's what people always suggest, but I think it takes a certain personality to do that, I just don't have it. I did tell our consultant we knew what we wanted and I asked for the scan gun. He flat out told us no. Maybe I should have pursued it, but I don't like to cause a scene.

I did call BBB's customer service after the experience to let them know what happened and to tell them I would no longer be doing business with them because of their pushy registry consultants. Ours didn't just push us, ours actually registered us for things we told him flat out we didn't want. I found that entirely inappropriate. And honestly, all these years I've been judging brides who register for like 2 or 3 sets of pots and pans at BBB.... now I sort of wonder if the same thing didn't happen to them, and if they just didn't check their registries when they got home.

I just decided that if my wedding was likely to generate several thousand dollars of sales for a particular store, I wanted it to be at a store that treated me and H appropriately. We switched to Macy's instead and it worked great for us.

This happened to my FI and I too. I'm glad to know it wasn't just me. When we objected to what she told us to register for, she repeatedly told us "you're too young, you don't know what you need." After the experience, I called the store manager and that woman was taken off our registry as the consultant.

In retrospect, I should have done was @maggie0829 did. We were just so unsure of how it worked, we didn't know any better than to have the consultant walk around with us.

Best ways to deal with a pushy register consultant?

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