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Registry and Gift Forum

Pushy Registry Consultants - a little long

Are all registry consultants as pushy as the ones FI met with yesterday at Macy's and Bed Bath & Beyond?  We were told by two women (who knew our guest list is only about 50) who kept checking our picks and trying to steer us in another direction:

1. You need to register for 2 gifts for every person invited
2. guests want to buy you as much as they can as gifts
3. anything in your house that is over 6 months old you should replace

Both consultants were told when we first met them that FI and I combined two households at the beginning of the year and the local Goodwill got some huge, very nice donations.  There is very little that we actually need.  We are in our mid and late thirties.  We buy things made to last. We don't bring clutter into the house, ie. things we don't need and will just take up space.

We also tried to pick things that are middle of the road price wise and these two women kept finding us to try to convince us to register for the more expensive ones.  At one point Macy's lady said we'd get a free gift if somebody purchsed the higher priced one.  FI asked her what the gift was and her response was, "It's a free gift.  Who cares what it is." 

The topper though was BB&B lady trying to convince FI to put a $500 beertender on the registry because we'd be surprised to find out how many did this as a joke and somebody bought it for them.

EDIT:  They were also told that there were not going to be any showers.

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AKA GoodLuckBear14

Re: Pushy Registry Consultants - a little long

  • The only registry I did in store was Macy's.  I went to the registry office, the woman set us up and gave us a little spiel on the free gifts (which are not bad, really), and then she walked around with us just long enough to show us how to use the gun.  After about 5 minutes, she left us alone and went back to the office, and we wandered around on our own.  She never told us how many gifts to register for or tried to convince us to register for any particular item.  She encouraged us to do our registering in multiple trips, so when we went to return the gun and she printed out what we had done, she didn't say anything at all about needing to add more.  After that, we added items online, and set up our amazon registry online (obviously).

    I was pleasantly surprised that there was pretty much zero pressure.
    Married 10/2/10
  • BBB registry consultants tend to be pushy.  It's their job, so just keep saying no.  I don't think they follow you around during registering except for the first time you go in, so you can either register online or go to the store a second time if you want to get away from them.
  • tldhtldh member
    2500 Comments
    She wasn't following us.  She kept checking on her computer what we had scanned and then would come find us,
    image
    AKA GoodLuckBear14
  • That's really weird.  I would go to a different BBB if there is another one that is convenient, or just fix things online.
  • The consultant at BBB was pretty pushy, but nice about it.  We just mostly ignored her.  Yes it was annoying, but she can't force you to register for stuff you don't need. After a while I just would say okay till she went away.  I did add some stuff she sort of pressured me into, but I just went back online at home and deleted it all.

    Macy's was actually better, she mostly left us alone.

    But yeah, it is nothing to get to bent out of shape about.  Just realize they can be like that and be prepared for it.  When we went back, we just did everythign on our own and they left us alone.  You just have to assertive I guess!
  • We did Macy's today, the lady was pretty laid back but did give us the china and silverware push several times; weddings are probably the only time anyone buys china lol.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


  • Its just crazy. We went in telling the lady at BBB not to follow us around, or we were leaving. We did not need her help. She kept insisting that she "was an expert on these things". Well, I'm a freaking expert on what I need, and I do tons of research before I buy things, and we had a list of what WE needed on there, not what the average couple in their 20s coming straight out of their parents house needs. We also know the budgets of our guests well enough to not waste our time on stuff no one will buy. Screw free gifts.
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    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • tldhtldh member
    2500 Comments
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_pushy-registry-consultants-little-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:34Discussion:2dfbffc5-c9a8-4690-a056-38d81bd16b80Post:faf1a0d6-e5ba-4919-8739-478d6bb2fec5">Re: Pushy Registry Consultants - a little long</a>:
    [QUOTE]We did Macy's today, the lady was pretty laid back but did give us the china and silverware push several times; weddings are probably the only time anyone buys china lol.
    Posted by vegasgroom[/QUOTE]

    True.  We didn't need any china though since I inherited a great great great grandmother's set (with the stipulation that it be used and not just displayed).  I had also already bought the stemware to go with it a few years ago.

    The one thing that i did want was real silverwear until I saw it was $600 a setting for the least expensive.  I had to flat out tell the consultant three times that there was no way it was going on the registry.
    image
    AKA GoodLuckBear14
  • We started our registries (BBB and Macys) last weekend and had very pleasant experiences at both. The BBB consultant kept pushing to register for twice as many gifts as guests thing, but he pretty much left us alone. He would check in on us occasionally, but not in a pushy way, just making sure we didn't need help finding stuff. At Macy's, the consultant did try to push the fine china. FI and I haven't decided about china yet and the consultant definitely tried her hardest to convince us to do it. Other than that though, she gave us the whole spiel and then let us wander around. She ended up leaving for the day while we were still scanning, but told us to take our time and got someone else to print our registry for us. Overall, a pretty nice experience. And I love my free tote from Macys.
  • I guess it depends on where you go and when you go. We went to a BBB on a Saturday evening when there weren't many people there, and the lady who helped us just stayed behind the counter and just gave us minimal instructions. She didn't pressure us about anything. It was a really pleasant experience.

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  • I've heard that BBB trains their registry employees to be really pushy, but some stores either don't enforce this or their employees just... don't push, lol.

    image
  • FI and I registered at BBB, Crate and Barrel and for kicks we put a tv on our list at Target. The BBB person was a little pushy and when FI said he wanted money for the wedding instead of replacing some stuff, she told him that we can do that. I keep telling him, no you can't ask for money directly or expect anyone to give us money as a wedding gift.
    ~~~Lynsey~~~
  • I hated registering at BBB, the consultant wouldn't let me have the scan gun and kept pushing us towards really expensive stuff.  A few times when we asked specifically for stuff she took us directly to the most expensive set of something then got annoyed when we asked for a lower price-point set.  (ie.- knives she wanted us to pick teh $500 set then add stuff on, we were thinking $200 at the most)

    We finally just left and finished the registry online. 
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  • I noticed this about the BBB consultants also! She kept following us around, telling us to register for pricey sheets and expensive brands. It was awkward and annoying so we finished our registry online. You can always go online and delete some of the items too (that they "forced" you to register in the first place).
    ~Alicia BabyFruit Ticker
  • Our consultant at BBB was very pushy; it made us uncomfortable.  She walked around the whole store with us, her holding the gun and scanning things, and really pushing us towards the more expensive items.  Once we did a whole lap, she let us go by ourselves to get the 'small little things' but really we walked around and registered for the items we wanted, then when we went home we deleted everything she had selected.  The worst part though, she registered us for things after we left the store!  There were items on our registry that we never even saw in the store..
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  • I'm not a BBB fan in the first place, so I'm glad we didn't go there.  I thought the list they give you at Macy's was hilarious - telling you how many things you need and backups.  Like seriously, I know by now what I need for guests and so on and so forth.  I do think it's wise to just shop at times without the registry gun and think about what you could use over time.  We registered for some stuff that we don't totally need but that will certainly come in handy and certainly don't want to buy ourselves.
  • FI is a push-over, so I went into it knowing that we'd go back and delete things later.  We took off the uber expensive copper pots and replaced them with the few pots/pans we need.  We also took off the towels, silverware, wine glasses, beer glasses, etc. 

    We were also given the talk about registering for 2 times as many guests we're inviting, but I understand having extra stuff on there for people who buy the day before the wedding.  I'm also guessing people who buy a 99 cent napkin ring will buy more than one....
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