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Stupidity reaches new heights in Dubai


nosoup4u I don't know if stupidity is the right word for how business is done in Dubai Examples: (1) I call a guy for a quote for a 2GB stick of RAM. He gives me a price that is over 300% the cost of the same RAM in the US. I'd understand say a 50% hike in price but 300%? He then argues when I get show him a quote I receive from one of his competitors (which showed about a 60% price difference from the price in the US) saying "That RAM is probably not real." RAM not real? I asked him what that meant, he tells me "Its probably missing chips" .. I was speechless from his sheer stupid words.. (2) I went to the Jaguar showroom not too far from the Audi showroom, to trade my car in for an XK. I have an Audi S4. He takes a look at my car and asks, "Is this a US Model? Is S4 even a model that Audi makes?" I asked the guy how long he's worked in the car industry, he said 15 years and he loves cars. Now, to me if he's a car enthus., he would know what the showroom next to him was selling and what models they have or atleast whats out in the GCC market. (3) Fast food. I order a KFC chicken strips and ask them to give me just the strips, no fries, no bun. Yet everytime, they give me the fries and the bun. Hearing problem? (4) I joined Fitness First, they said I pay 2 months upfront to cover the first and last month and I was on a month to month plan and can cancel anytime. I go after the first month to cancel and they tell me I have to be a member for atleast 4 months before I can cancel. Its not mentioned in my contract but yet they'd still argue about it. Puppets? Please insert this cassette into your mouth and when someone wants to cancel, you play this cassette and put it on repeat regardless of what the customer is saying. You have no brain, you're just a salaried stupid puppet. Feel free to add your tales... :)
aarif thats i think dubai speciality...here every sales person regardless of industry is not polite.....you ask 1 to 2 questions and he is pissed off. sage & onion You probably have some weird Cockney accent or something :lol: nosoup4u
hahah you wish that were the case you jackass :P Not_Sure What do you expect from asian emplyees???? lol nosoup4u
its not just asian employees, the Jaguar car dealership fellow was a whiteboy (UK) :P Jacques79 I remember in 2005 when I visited a lot of car dealerships; Dubai has the worst car salesmen in the world, the most ignorant, stupid car people ever. They don't know squat about cars, it's very depressing. The only respectable dealer was Mitsubishi, and that's because the owner-manager had an EVO and he took me for a joy ride:D devilsdiciple
Dude for your sake I hope that was just a joke... :D chevaliers-de-sion What do you expect from asian emplyees? sage & onion
So what kind of accent do you have soupy?

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St.Lucifer
hahaha if you go to an Asian restaurant you may get your head stuffed with potatos. It would b very easy for the cook too, it seems to be an empty place so stuffin would be an easy job. And making a Bheja(Brain) fry would be impossible with missing bheja. lol devilsdiciple
:lol: :lol:
Maybe a bhoosa(Hay) fry would be better...As I bet there is a lot of that up there.....
:lol: St.Lucifer
hey soupie.. :) wb :D nosoup4u
Thanks man :) How ya been? kay1730
Maybe he was missing some cells from his brain :lol: nosoup4u
seems so :P hahah Chocoholic Oh here's a good one. I go into the Etisalat office near Al Marooj to pay my bill, whilst I'm there I think 'hmmmm I'm pretty low on mobile credit, I'll buy a card here.' Surprise, surprise they don't sell mobile top up cards in the Etisalat pffoce, how dumb can you be. emron
i think you had a bad experience with an Asian :P
lolzzzzzzzzzzz KeithL
dont they have those machine-thingamajiks through which you càn add credit to your mobile??
Also with an account with First Gulf Bank, you can call toll free to transfer credit to your phone... helps when you're completely out of credit
nosoup4u You can also add credit to your phone using this website / Just an FYI :) Concord I bought a brand new mobile but it would not charge so I took it back to Axiom. Of course I could not take it to the store I bought it but to the service center on SZR - eventhough I had bought it the day before. I was in no mood to argue and so happens I was going to be near there. The woman at the counter tells me that I need to leave it as they will replace it with a new one because the "whachamacallit" was bad and then she proceeds to ask me for my mobile number. I tell her that I do not have one as she has the mobile in her hand and it does not work. She persists that I need to give her my mobile number because they'll need to call me when the phone is ready! I tried to explain how ridicolous it is but she would have none of it. I say: let me give you my office number. She says: no because the computer does it automatically! I say: the computer will just dial whatever number you put in whether (050... or 040..). Well she thought I was trying to explain quantum physics to her. At the end I gave her a made up number something like 050-324-1123 so I could leave. I would imagine that the woman had a college degree - well spoken and presentable - but robotic. oh that's not all. I called after 3 weeks and they said the shipment had not arrived. I thought it was strange so I asked them to check. I also said why not call another store and have then bring the phone to you. The person who checked told me that unfortunately a shipment had arrived for the store but it was for the sales section not the service section. That is, brand new identical phones were delivered to the store but for a different section (the store is no bigger than my living room). I proceeded to ask the person to simply give me one of those phones and when mine arrives service gives it back to sales. Afterall why should I have to wait so long for a phone which they already have. My god, I thought the poor guy's head was going to explode after that concept. Frustrated, I simply hung up the phone and called back a week or 2 later! The good news is that the phone was only about 150 AED and I have managed not to lose it in 2 months. Well, at least I've owned longer than it was out for service! bushra21 150 only...wow i didnt know there were mobiles at that price in dubai bushra21 i was so amazed i had to post twice :oops: Chocoholic If the phone was faulty, they should have just replaced it on the spot. It amazes me the hassles you have to go through here to get anything done. And I usually top my mobile up using the Etisalat website. It just amazed me that in their own stores they don't sell phone cards. nosoup4u I have 10 mobile phones.. same modem Nokia 6021. I bought these duringh a deal with warranty so far two have gone bad (can't hear in one, the other keeps switching on and off) Its been almost 4 weeks in the service center.. no word back.. Just yesterday #3 went bad, the screen kept flickering, instead of driving and wasting time and effort and gas, I threw it out :P lucky me, I have 7 more to waste :P St.Lucifer :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: 10 mobile phones.. :shock: :shock: thats weird :D MAC
please send me a phone. i have to go to public phone to call girl and usually there is line. if you send me phone i will call you. make sure phone has credit on it or i won't call you. send me extra battery also. i need camera too. make sure not too bulky shud be slim. I don't like fat girls or fat phones. Public phone fat but have no choice.
thank you. nosoup4u
hahah funny MACO! Go buy your own phone buddy boy :P You can buy 10 for like AED 175 each
I ain't a supply counter.. :P MAC
ok so nospoup4u or byriani either. St.Lucifer
R u serious?? huh didnt know .. so concord's 150 dirham isnt a typo .. :shock: thats news.. dave101 dubai sales people really are as dumb as they come! i think i know more about every item i have ever asked about, bluetooth deviced, HDDVD's, HDTV's etc. virgin megastore are not even going to get in HD DVD because they are 'not as good as blueray' 1 month ago they didnt even understand what HDDVD or blueray was. and why the hell do we have to pick our veg and wait for some indian to weigh it and price it for us? in the 1990's you had self service weighing for veg, and now the checkouts are automatic weigh systems (in the uk anyhoo). i try to be nice, i know its not there fault, but then i see a checkout man, no eye contact, no 'please' 'thankyou' just '10 dirham' and then u r gone. it is kind of refreshing tho, old skool, see how the rest of the world live. is it the rest of the world? or just themiddle east? Concord
I'm impressed. You know what HDDVD is and lived or live in the UK. I'll send you a medal when the new shipment arrives.
Maybe someone did not have the same opportunities as you and because they have the same neeeds as all of us (shelter, food, etc.) they are working as salespeople and weighing your vegetables. You should say please and thank you to them each time. And be thankful you do not have to do that job (or maybe you are not qualified to do it). St.Lucifer ^^^^^ Quality post. Concord
Thanks. All 2604 to date are :wink: nosoup4u Concie, I kinda disagree. I do agree that people have to feed their families, need food, shelter, etc etc When they take up a job, they either do it with heart or don't do it at all. Here, its usually the other way around. The customer aren't rude, the person selling is. Example: I go to buy a cell phone or a tv. I ask the person to explain what a specific feature means. Even if he doesn't know, he can say "May I ask you wait? I'll get someone else who is more knowledgable than me as I just started" or something like that instead of saying "I don't know" and the customer then has to figure out what next.. What does that tell ya? Customer Service training is inadequate or the person just doesn't understand what Customer Service means. Illiteracy is no longer an excuse. In this day and age, training is provided by all companies. Its upto the person whether they have the capacity to learn and improve. Concord
I can't say I've ever encountered a rude salesperson. It is true that many "do not know". As your example points out many time people will say "I do not know" and I would rather have that than them making something up. Customer service and "incentives" do not exist. In most cases a sales person will make the same 700 dhs per month whether they sell one tv or 100 in a day! Perhaps the top management figure the product will move anyway (transient clientele, high demand, etc.) so why bother - or they don't understand the concept of customer service themselves.
Frankly if I were making 700 to 1000 dhs a month I would not be a happy camper. But by in large all the sales staff everywhere in Dubai are pleasant. nosoup4u Well Concie, then you need to introduce us to the sales people you meet because i'm yet to meet one with a smile on his face. :P When a person is not happy, they find something to blame. They will never look at themselves first which is what we all should do. We all have one life to live, I say live it up. True we can't walk around with a smile on our faces 24/7 but that doesn't mean just because we're not happy, lets treat someone else like crap and not care. All I gotta say about Dubai is, I see it growing in technology, real estate but the quality of work and people is worse than what it was 6-7 yrs ago and showing no signs of improvement. I do like the Cops here tho :P gtmash
:roll: St.Lucifer A few things worth noting. Therer's a huge number of incompetent counter sales persons in dubai standing to serve the scores of wandering mall hoppers. Many a times, people just go to shops as they go to an exhibition hall. Just to look around and increase general knowledge , I guess. This tires down even a normal knowledgeable counter sales person. Another thing I've found here is stereotyping, its increasingly evident, snobby, all dressed people get more care and respect from mthe sales persons regarless of whether they buy or not. :) oh and yea, the well dressed, smarty sales men with their hair gelled back, would ofcourse be happier serving to a petite young women with over dose of all available cosmetics than serving just another bloke from the street. :D But, having said this, Dave101's post is harsh on the weighing n packing guys that u find in supermarkets n stores, they r some of the most helpful people around.. MAC only stupid one is the one at airport who let them in. dave101 hi concord, i say thank you each time to the vegetable weigher, occasionally the guy will smile, the last one, a girl, as i said 'thank you' was already on to the next in the queue and totally ignored me, so i went on my way. MAC
ok concord will send you a medal and ask you money for dogs (maybe girls who are "dogs" i dont know) asc_26 I am regular customer of this XYZ shop. I am standing next to their customer service counter while waiting for those lovely ladies to be served. A customer called up looking for the manager but he’s not around. (I believe the caller is a HE, as I heard her say SIR). The customer service staff offered to take his message & contact details so she can ask her manager to call him back. This customer obediently followed her suggestion. Unfortunately, she couldn’t understand the contact details of the customer, because his number is something like this: oh 4 – 269 not not X not and his mobile number is oh 5 oh - 2 not three - double not XX. Then she asked if he has other contact numbers because there’s no such NOT NOT numbers ! I wonder also what's NOT NOT?! :roll: After minutes of not understanding what a NOT NOT & before she will hang up the phone, which I think she would most likely do, I offered to take the message. I introduce myself, informed him that I can take his message on behalf of the staff etc etc and he agreed. I jot down his name & numbers – OH 4- 269 nought nought XY and his mobile number is OH 5 OH – 2 nought 3 double nought XX. Whadda man?!!! I gave the piece of paper to the staff & explain things to her that NOT/NOUGHT/NAUGHT/OH is ZERO in some parts of the world. She smiled while fixing her shella.
See?! That customer can save time & energy, if he pronounces ZERO as ZERO, which is understandable by all and considering he’s in Dubai!
Customers can sometimes be a pain in the AZZ! ^ian^
Customers can be pains in the arse, just remember who pays the bills at the end of the day. Concord
out of hiatus or ... asc_26
Yey! Welcome Back. :D
We have to consider also that this is Dubai with millions of people, who don't have English as their mother tongue. They were taught one to nine and zero as numbers during their kindergarten days and NOUGHT, NAUGHT, OH double, triple are already a bonus. :D
Sometimes we forget, it happens to me most of the time, no one understand me so i end up figuring it out myself. :P Concord
You can say that again. nosoup4u Errr.. doesn't that all fall under "Proper training provided"? before you throw the employee into the lions den and just expect them to be perfect? Dubai wants to be an international base. Having said that, the common world language "English" has to be taught and taught well. Simple cycle really.. Step 1. Business provides training (be it language or customer service skills or product training or whatever more they may need to give training for) Step 2. employee gets trained in all these and leanrs that every business depends on customer service and support. Step 3. employee can hereby serve a customer well with the right knowledge instead of "I don't know" Step 4. Keep the employee up to date on product releases, product changes or provide additional training as and when needed asc_26
I don't think you were able to get the point. That arabic customer service staff is actually very good. It was her first time to encounter a customer saying nought, nought for the number ZERO. I don't think the company will invest on trainings to cater the needs of specific customer (small percentage or not actually their target market), unless if you're in a country of that kind of people. St.Lucifer ^^^^ Yea it requires a lot of common sense.. :D nosoup4u
Sorry I couldn't log in to reply back. I did get your point, I was just making mine. I will say that if the customer does act like a needle, sock it to them. Form a fist and punch their lights out :P hehehe



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