upgrading fail

[lurtsman]

I went to my hot single tonight to upgrade it to a spiral. I had told the person at the front desk before, but was too inexperienced to seek out the owners. When I brought it in today they rushed out, and I told them we had brought a fancier machine to thank them for their generous support. She said it didn't match the color scheme. (It was a purple spiral, their color scheme was focused on yellow)  I told her we'd be happy to leave the yellow one in instead if she preferred, because we wanted her to be happy. We had just thought the children would enjoy the spiral, and wanted to show our appreciation. She said it would work good for lunch, they just had a more upscale clientele for dinner. Fair enough, I told her again if she wanted to keep the more discrete (her word) yellow single head that would be okay with us. She said she'd see how the spiral did and if they got any comments. As she's saying it someone walks in with her child, the owner says "what do you think of the spiral?" the kid loves it, and the mom looks at us and says "We hate people like you". Well I was seriously concerned about having that be the first review, and my wife started crying after we got home. Were this not our most profitable account, I would've considered giving the woman a lecture on manners.

I'm planning to go in soon and see what they are thinking, because I do not want to lose the account, or have them call the library/go in to complain about it. Seeing as I'm handling the library's "expansion vending" on my own time, and no one there knows anything about vending or business.

Ideas or advice? I realized I should have sought out an owner/general manager and brought a picture of the machine. I figured if her clientele for dinner talked like that they were not too upscale. Maybe she just meant rude? Who knows, but now my concern is just keeping the manager pleased, and if it means keeping the super 60 in there instead that's just fine. I just saw a location turning out almost 30$/month on gumballs and figured "spiral might make 60".

Edit: PS. This is the last account I plan to get on the grounds of helping the library expansion fund, because it's just too much work. With the NCCS tag line it doesn't matter if people don't like me. There are tons of NCCS vendors, but I don't want them complaining to the library because they have a vendetta against vendors.

[kai1836]

Well that was clearly rude on the womans part. If she wasn't joking that is...... Hopefully the spiral works out well for you! Good luck!

[cavity]

she probably said that because her kid is always asking her for money to put in a machine.   Mommy, mommy can I have a gumball?

 I think it will be a winner!

[Jax Snacks]

Lurtsman,

That is the one downside of charity vending. When you wish to upgrade a location, the location may push back or reject it After all, there is NOTHING in it for them when you are representing a charity and wanting to add or swap equipment. So the extra size (or in this case the color) can really matter to them. It's a privledge for you to be in that location rent free and the location will sometimes let you know that. Hopefully, it all works out and the lady calms down.

Jax

[MrEen]

I would not be surprised if the woman was actually trying to make a joke out of her reply. Maybe she'd had a bad day and it just didn't come across the way it was meant (many women "blame" me for cheating on their diet.) I hope this is the case in your situation.

Scott

[lurtsman]

I hope she was making a joke and that we were the only ones who didn't get it. I had ignored it when she said it, my only focus was how does this affect my placing situation, and what is the manager feeling? Clearly, a mistake not to consult with her first. She did say it would go much better if we could get the machine in red, orange, or yellow. Then the spiral could fit their color theme.

When I talk to her I may follow up on that and look at buying a spiral in that color--or just painting mine. Would it be good to go in tomorrow, or is that too soon? I had been big on using the library because it was only a 20% commission and I wouldn't have to count it out there. (Without a counting machine it takes quite a while)

[Quarter Master]

Lurtsman,

I wouldn't worry too much about what the mother said.Your main concern is to keep the business owners happy,thus keeping your machine in place.It almost sounds like you were trying to "slam" another machine and possibly the owner was aware of that from previous experience.I think you should just let things lye for now without jepordizing the location.

[sbishop]

forget the lady and just keep the owner happy. You have to be carefull if they see tons of money coming out of a location you can loose it to them buying their own machine

That happened to me with a machine doing $30-$40 a month. The was a commission account not charity, though