Gutter Guard Scam Jonesville SC
Gutter Guard Scam Jonesville SC - Beware High-Pressure Sales
One of my newsletter subscribers responded to a call I put out about gutter guard sales presentation and installation horror stories. I asked them to share any tales about high-pressure sales tactics and the use of undisclosed subcontractors.
That input of information helped create my Gutter Guard Cost page. You should look at it. It contains OTHER gutter guard scam links.
BEWARE Powerful Psychology
His story is powerful and it speaks to the often unethical tactics used by salespeople that prey on folks like you. They make use of extremely effective psychology that works on every human being. It's much like the Jedi mind tricks Obi-Wan Kenobi used in the original Star Wars movie.
This psychology is all covered in an easy-to-read book titled: Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion
I link to it below my subscriber's story. I BEG YOU TO BUY IT so you NEVER GET SCREWED AGAIN.
LeafGuard is going to be none too happy about this story but they only have their dealer to blame. Federal Law allows me to publish stories like this so you can avoid heartache as my subscriber suffered.
Tim,
We called a local company, LeafGuard, for an estimate after extensively researching gutter guards. After we found the guards we wanted (stainless steel mesh) we priced the guards on Samsclub.com. From comments on that website from people who had paid someone to install them, we had a price in mind and we were comfortable with paying a little more if need be.
A salesman came out and "measured" from the ground. All we wanted was an estimate but we got a four-hour hard sell.
Even though this company advertises that they will use your existing gutters (ours were six years old and in great shape) the salesman said their product would not fit our gutters and they would need to be replaced! We just had these six-inch gutters installed and now he wanted to replace them with five-inch gutters.
He gave us an initial quote of almost $5000 dollars and after we got up off the floor we said Absolutely Not. That's when he went into his spiel about how he could maybe give us a discount for various things:
- time of year (his crews needed winter work)
- a special discount from his manager (he actually called him (?) on the phone)
- a discount because we would be buying gutters at the same time
The discounts kept coming and we kept saying NO and trying to get this guy to LEAVE.
Finally, when he got down to $2995, he got mad and told us we were wasting his time. He said he couldn't afford to give the product away and became very agitated.
I was a little frightened but luckily he finally left. The next day we ordered stainless steel mesh gutter guards from Sam's. We needed just over 200 feet and since they sell it in boxes containing 92 ft., we got three boxes for $255.00.
Then we found a local handyman company to install them. They charged us $200.00. We had enough materials left over to do our garage gutters too and we could reach them with just a step ladder.
So instead of almost $5000, we got the house AND the garage completed for around $450.00.
I know you can't use this as one of your examples of how we got "taken" by a shady company- because we didn't. But it does serve as a cautionary tale. Thanks for staying vigilant for us, Tim. We appreciate all you do.
The LeafGuard salesman was invoking the reciprocity, authority, and scarcity psychological triggers:
- Reciprocity (Offering generous discounts - makes you feel obligated to give your SIGNATURE in return)
- Authority (Calling his manager)
- Scarcity (taking the deal away if you don't sign RIGHT NOW)
Scarcity is the most powerful psychological trick of all. It's why we waterboard POWs. We take away oxygen and the POW starts singing like a canary.
Psychology Tricks Book
Purchase this book ASAP and read it. It's very simple to understand.
Once you read it, NO HIGH-PRESSURE SALESMAN will EVER BE ABLE TO SCREW YOU AGAIN!