Commission.
At my local independent distributor about two years ago they were pushing LG washing machines I could not tell you how hard. About two months later I was back in their showroom and they were only pushing GE right height washing machines...LG was suddenly you know, "made in Korea" (like they weren't before?)...being completely unable to believe any salesperson on any point has made my job of selecting a washer much harder. There have been problems reported with each of the manufacturers. If you have done your research and are happy with your selection stick to it. If you have not independently researched your selection you may well end up kicking yourself afterwards.

^That.

Also keep in mind that most of these salespeople don't cook and have never actually used any of the products they are promoting or trashing. If a salesman does have first-hand experience with a product and genuinely likes it, that will be one of the first things he mentions to you.

So annoying, isn't it? There seems to be a proliferation of salespeople who know how to write up a sale for what they want to push but don't have the knowledge to help the consumer make an informed choice.

I live in Brooklyn and was able to go to the bricks-and-mortar AJ Madison, and honestly I got more helpful information online than I did with the salesperson on each of my visits. I was teaching her about whether or not the Capital on the sales floor was a Culinarian (it wasn't, she said it was) and the availability of humidity control in a warming drawer ("I've never heard of that. Are you sure?")

The appliance store where I ended up buying had a great salesperson who applauded some of my choices, steered me elsewhere when he thought there was something better available, and made me comfortable with his knowledge of the products.

"Then went on to insult our choice saying if we don't want premium products we should look at Sears!"

I would have asked the owner why his salesperson is an a-hole and refused selling you what you want.

I had a similar experience visiting a high end appliance store when I was looking for my bluestar rangetop. They tend to push whatever they have in inventory and based on whatever commission plans manufacturers may be offering at the time. In my case, he was pushing the ICON appliances over everything else.

If you are looking at bluestar, stick with your choice. I can't be happier with my 36" 6 burner rangetop. I would eliminate Dacor from consideration right away. Not in the same league by a mile. Capital culinarian open burner is a nice product but you need to make sure that's what they are talking about, not the seales burner model. Culinarian tend to run more expensive than bluestar generally. Wolf is a good product but you have to make the open vs. sealed burner choice. I think wolf porcelain top is harder to clean than bluestar but I have limited exposure to wolf.

Reminds me of used car salespeople stereotype.

I have found the same sales people to change recommendations depending on what incentives or bonuses are in place for them. So few actually cook and know the appliances first hand- as mentioned above.

It's amazing how none of the Wolf dealers I talked to knew about the porcelain chipping issues. Disinterested when I suggested they read the threads here.

The salespeople are at best misinformed and at worst will push whatever is earning the biggest commission at the moment. Do your own research by reading on here and reading reputable blogs/reviews and stick to your guns!

A few weeks ago, I went to the fancy appliance store to look at the Bluestar Platinum range top.

When I was greeted, the nice saleslady asked me if she could help me. I said that I wanted to see her Bluestars. She took me over to see it. She wanted to know if there was anything else she could show me. I told her that I had already owned a Wolf and a Thermador in the past. I said I only wanted to look at open burners.

When I saw the Bluestar, I turned to the saleslady and told her that I was about to break it down on her sales floor. Not to worry, I knew how to put it back together again. I proceeded to breakdown the burners so I could see the underlying assembly, judge the weight and fit of the burners. I wanted to see the fit and finish of the range even though I was buying the range top only.

I told her that in the future I would need a new set of double ovens. What would she recommend? She suggested the Wolf. Because I hang out here way too much, I asked her if they had fixed the delamination problem? I wanted to see the depth of her understanding of her product. She gave me a blank stare. I concluded that she was a nice saleslady, but not a subject matter expert.

Buy what you want, not what they sell to you. The commission structure of the business is not my problem. I am only influenced by sales people that I judge to be knowledgeable about their product. If not, I politely blow them off.

P.S. I hope Wolf gets that problem fixed. I would like a set of their ovens.

Ok, so we are not alone in being annoyed.

Good point about commission and questionable cooking experience on the part of the salesperson.

I've only read, watched clips and heard info about some of my choices - as Bluestar isn't 'live' anywhere close by. That being said I can see with my own eyes how it looks for ease of use and clean up. I'm not buying pretty - I'm buying for use! (But I do like the look too!)

I think what gets me so annoyed us that they assume they know what's best for us and our kitchen.

To be fair, I wouldn't blame the salespeople for lack of awareness about the enamel issue. Where are the they getting their info about the ovens? That's right, Wolf. You think Wolf is going want to emphasize that to salespeople? The only other way for them to find out is by customer feedback. A while back Wolf acknowledged to a customer with the issue that this was happening in 10-15% of ovens. That's a lot of people not reporting an issue. Personally, I believe that more ovens than that are affected, for 2 reasons:

-People not noticing the issue (it can be easy to miss)
-Wolf often goes into "trophy kitchens" where people do not actually cook

Still, the salespeople only know what they can research and are told, just like everyone else, and manufacturers aren't going to make something easy to discover that will lose them a significant amount of sales.

The operative word in salesperson is 'sales'.

To be fair I did find a sales guy at a local appliance store that knew a ton about every single range I was looking at including lots of nitty gritty details that separate different models within a line. He was well aware of the bluestar oven door issue and the platinum oven issues and the wolf porcelain coating issues. He was very upfront about the strengths and weaknesses of each model.

I suspect that it was because he was the scion of the family appliance business and had ben around it for a long time (he probably also not working on commission).

In the end I bought from him even though they were 2 hours away from us. Would have purchased the other appliances there as well had we not already done so elsewhere.

Everything he promised about delivery and installation was spot on. It was the local sears and loses that dropped the ball on my fridge and dishwasher.

Bam, spot on. Not to mention "high end" 30% margins aren't even that when the nearby competition cuts it down to 15% behind the manufacturers back breaking UMRP, and the salesperson that put in all the work loses the sale.

I have had excellent experiences with appliance dealers. One in NYC is something of a guru, he owns and runs a family business and he really, really knows his product and market. His advise was excellent. But that is rare.

Where I live now we have a pretty good retailer though he's an hour away. I've only dealt with them over the phone and had very good service.

But I knew what I wanted. They just did the ordering and walked me through the checklist of what was needed to install.

I received so much bad/wrong/inaccurate information when I was shopping for a new fridge a few months ago I would never take the word of anyone at an appliance store for the most part.

Today's customer, because of the internet and thank goodness for it, can do the research, ask the questions and fine down the choices to the point where you do targeted shopping.

What I mean is that you go and look first at what you think will work for you, make notes, take photos for your reference afterwards. Then look at other things and talk to the sales people about price and options.

Even with the good sales guy on my recent purchase, he was only knowledgeable about certain product lines. He had been to the Wolf/SZ factory for a "tour" and touted that fridge -- one of my 2 finalists -- because he knew it well.

That was fine with me and I appreciated his input. But it didn't provide me with exactly what I required and my own inquires produced information he didn't have -- or even want to have.

So I don't think the enemy is us. I don't think there is an enemy. I think there are foundational changes that have switched the responsibility from sellers to buyers.

Don't know about you folks but the amount of research, checking, deliberation and shopping that goes into an average purchase these days can be overwhelming. It doesn't especially bother me because I've always done research and reporting of one type or another. But even with skills, it gets overwhelming. Or worse boring. I had to buy 3 surge protectors this week after another one of our crazy power events. My eyes were glazed over. And what arrived in the main was still surprising.

You just want to go buy a stove or a fridge not take a graduate course in engineering.

Unfortunately, that's not the way it's going. So forget about the old days. They are so gone. Today, it's research, a little luck, an ability to gauge quality and value and the ability to match expectations and budgets to the market.

And it's not pretty.

Not sure about other store patrons - but I am not the enemy when I enter a retail establishment. I go in with an understanding of what I want and relevant questions to assist in making my purchase.

Margins are lower in a lot of sectors - this is a poor excuse.

My family ran a retail operation for 40 years (until my mom retired last year). I worked there throughout school and helped out on weekends even when I had my own career. We never attempted to sway customers to something because the profit margin was higher. It's how we did business.

What I expect from any salesperson is to provide answers to my questions and make out a purchase order based on what I want.

I've got a lead on a retailer that has been a family business fir 60 years - hoping to go give them our business - keeping fingers crossed that they don't start pushing another brand.

This post was edited by ilovepie on Thu, Dec 25, 14 at 1:18

I don't think live_wire_oak is making excuses - just telling it like it is.

I don't mind paying a commission for advice that benefits me but I do mind paying a commission for advice that really only benefits the manufacturer...

Practigal - exactly!

We had a similar experience in appliance buying with a local store in our area. They didn't trash our decisions but they plugged one manufacture and kept leading us toward that brand (probably because of commission).

I'm glad the days of 50% profit margins are over. Thats insane and can you imagine paying $18K-$20 for a subzero fridge just so the sales person can put their kids through college? What happened to taking pride in your job? It didn't take me terribly long to go on the internet and do some basic research on different manufactures.

I've found that many sales people in general just don't give a s**t anymore. We just bought a new house. The community 'sales' manager was a complete dumbo. She didn't know jack about the community, the development, home building and buying (mind you she is a realtor). I was telling her about the building process (and I knew nothing before we started looking). If I was a realtor in a community, I would know at least the basics about these things but it seems like some people don't take pride in their jobs anymore - it's all about the sale (and sometimes BSing customers). Maybe I'm just super type A and educate myself too much on big purchases but I can't imagine it any other way.

Go with what you think is best and find someone who will sell it to you for a decent price. Look around as we ended up getting a fantastic deal on a set of products.

"I've found that many sales people in general just don't give a s**t anymore."

This is certainly not limited to appliance sales people, or even sales people in general- it is pervasive throughout every facet of our lives.

Sadly, I find that we live in a day and age where simple competence within one's field is laudable, and that is very sad.

I taught a trade for many years and the one thing I found it difficult to instill into my students was a work ethic and pride on one's performance. I was always taught to be meticulous even when no one would see my work, even when no one was looking, and even when no one but me would know.

In the latter years of my career I saw students less and less willing to go the extra distance "just because." Everyone wants to know shortcuts, tricks, and how to dazzle- they care very little about doing something well simply for the sake of doing a good job. They want to do the minimum possible to get by, get their money, and go.

I'm rambling, I know.
But I see real competence in any field less and less each year that passes- when I find myself thanking a business for simply returning a phone call in a timely manner or doing what they said they would I know something is badly wrong.

Others have explained well how the salespersons have become inept and indifferent to customer satisfaction because of low wages and comissions. Let me put forth a theory on why it is so. I think it is basically because we need well-informed sales persons much less than we used to. The last two appliances I bought were a washing machine and a sandwich maker, I knew exactly what model I needed when I stepped into the store. I talked to the sales persons just for fun and I was aware they knew nothing and had their own reasons for pushing whatever model. I was only there to tell them to fetch me the specific items I had already decided to buy. I plan to buy a LED TV and a fridge soon and I already know what model without talking to any sales people. ThatâÂÂs possible thanks to the internet. Internet gives us instant access to unlimited amounts of fair user reviews and disinterested forum posts on everything. The salespersons are not that important any more for getting information on the products, in some cases they serve merely as security so that people donâÂÂt pick stuff and walk out. And they do not need expertise or skill to do that. In other words, skill is rapidly becoming a redundancy for sales people and thatâÂÂs why businesses are hiring unskilled labor on minimum wage to watch on their goods instead of helping the customers. Does that mean things are getting better or worse, I donâÂÂt know. But our lives are changing rapidly thatâÂÂs for sure.

Really ? commission? I work at home depot and can tell you that I push LG because i believe in their appliances and also know that samsung / whirlpool have the WORST customer service on record right now- because samsung has 3 class action lawsuits for appliances right now and both will leave you in the lurch when it comes to customer service. How do i know? ive spent half my day on hold and not getting anything resolved for a customer with issues with both those companies and rarely had positive outcomes. I also own ALL LG appliances and think their customer service is on top right now. i also know that whirlpool(who owns maytag, kitvhenaid , admiral, amana) are having SEVERE supply chain issues and can tell you that they slap a ASSEMBLED IN AMERICA sticker on thier stuff even though almost 100 percent of their parts now comes from overseas and is "assembled in the USA. GE has the minimum of parts required by law of parts made here in the usa while the rest of the parts come from all over the globe and they are assembled in mexico- despite being "made in the usa". I also know that lg used to make parts for whirlpool back when whirlpool made top notch appliances that lasted forever and then lg became to expensive for whirlpool and they went to the lowest bidder. I know more too, and dont make a dime in commission. so listen to your f'ing sales people and maybe shut your mouth when you arent a professional.