Another AD rant

[dchernikoff]

They mystify me sometimes. I went to the local AD yesterday just to browse. The usual salesperson comes by and asks if he can help, and I said "no I'm just browsing". But he recognized that I had been in before and asked if he had helped me. I said that yes he had shown me some watches a few months ago, and I showed him my GMT and said I'm looking to add to my collection some time in the future. So he shows me several watches, lets me try them on, we discuss size and price and pro's and cons. Seemed very low key, but I guess that got him excited, even though I told him up front I was there to browse not to buy. I asked if they had the DeepSea blue, and he said they can order them and in fact several people had them on order. Then he goes off on this rant about "this is not a museum, we don't charge admission, people come in and want to see watches but don't intend to buy". And then he starts with "you've been looking for a long time, several months, when are you planning on purchasing?" and starts to push their finance plans, etc. He gave me his card, and after looking at several I asked him to write down the info on a DateJust two tone that I liked. So he just writes the stock number -- an 8 digit number -- on the back and that's it. Gee thanks.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think there's anything wrong with going to a store and just browsing. I knew I wasn't going to buy that day, so I tried to deflect the salesperson by saying I was just browsing, so he would know not to "waste" his time on me if he had any serious prospects (although the store was completely empty but for me). But I left there with the feeling that I wasn't welcome to browse, and should buy or go elsewhere.

Maybe he sensed that I was just looking and would go online to buy? yes, that's probably true, I most likely will buy from TRF. But hey, the store was empty, and it wasn't like I was demanding he pay attention to me. Why should he care if I look in the glass cases even if I'm not planning on buying there? If nothing else, it makes his store look more busy and therefore more attractive to other customers to come in.

It's just disappointing. I like looking and dreaming and planning, especially on an expensive purchase like this. But it was clear this was not the place to do it. Too bad since the store is very close to my home, and they had a good selection. I didn't get this treatment in their store in San Francisco (same company, second location) -- they were happy to show me things and talk about them and write down info about what I saw, and no pressure to buy Right Now. But that's a long drive just to browse.

-Dan