Would you be bothered?

Let me tell you all about something that happened last night. It all started last week when our doorbell rang ...

Most people who come over to our house don't ring the doorbell, they just walk right in or knock first, then walk in. So when the doorbell rings we automatically know it's someone who is unfamiliar with how our house works. I opened the door to see a young man in an official-looking uniform (including clipboard) standing on our front porch. He introduced himself as a scout for houses that could benefit from his company's services. He worked for a window and siding company who was looking for three houses to participate in an advertising campaign they planned to launch within the next six weeks. He went on to explain that he just wanted our permission to have someone call us about getting new windows, and that we would be offered free products and services in return for 1. putting a sign in our front yard 2. allowing our house to be photographed for their ads 3. writing a testimonial about their company.

A "marketing scam alarm" automatically went off in my head. But I went ahead and gave them permission to call and talk to me. I mean, what if I was giving up a great opportunity to get some new windows for free? A few days later a man calls me and talks to me about what we would want if we decided to use their services. He asked several questions about if we were considering getting new windows (no, in fact, we weren't), where we would look to get new windows (I don't know, we haven't been considering it), and what price range we were in (again, I don't know, I want to know what you're willing to offer me). We eventually scheduled for one of their sales reps to come to our house and give us a quote.

Last night this guy showed up right after we were done eating dinner. He started out with some small talk and then again told us the three things we would be asked to do. We said we would be willing to comply with all of them. He did some demonstrations with our windows compared to their windows. I'll be the first to admit that our windows aren't the greatest and we do eventually need to get new windows. But after doing a major overhaul on the house and expecting a baby, our home remodeling funds have been dwindled down to practically nothing. But again, I was interested in what he had to say and was hoping to be educated a bit on what windows cost, how much time was involved and what new things were being offered. And if the price was right, BSC and I just might consider getting some new windows. We explained all of this to the sales rep.

The sales guy started measuring our windows to give us a quote on what it would cost for all five of the windows we would want replaced. While he was measuring, BSC got out his laptop and started doing some work. He's been swamped at work lately and had deadlines to meet. And I opened our mail for the day. When he was done measuring, he came back to the table and said, "You guys don't seem very interested. I mean, I don't want to waste my, er, your time here if you're not interested."

That statement really bothered me. First off, if we weren't interested in the windows, I wouldn't have scheduled him to come out and talk to us. Second, what were we supposed to do while he measured all the windows ... suck our thumbs? Third, if we don't seem to be very interested, then it's HIS job to get us interested. We explained to him that this wasn't something we had put much thought into and we would have to further discuss if we wanted these new windows.

Well, he gave us the quote ... almost $5,000 for the five windows, which was the DISCOUNTED price. Then he explained that we would have to take a day off work for them to be installed. Excuse me? But if I'm paying $5,000 for new windows then you can work around MY schedule, not the other way around. I would need all the days of work I can get to pay for your $5,000 windows. Then when I told him that it was something we needed to discuss amongst ourselves before we committed to spending that much money, he got all huffy and said that he couldn't guarantee the discounted price if he left. Well, sorry, you just lost the sale then. There's absolutely. no. way. we would just drop that kind of money without having researched other companies, without discussing it, without looking at our finances.

Before he was even half way down our driveway, his quote was thrown in the garbage with all the junk mail. So great, I just wasted 2 hours of my life.