My complaint:
To whom it may concern,
Today, I had the displeasure of speaking to a Vincent (Corporate ID: 081999) out of Orlando, Florida, who attempted to sell me on a promotion for IHG’s 40-year anniversary. I am empathetic to frontline salesmen who have to deal with irate customers; However, I find Vincent’s condescending and sarcastic behavior to be unprofessional and offensive.
I originally called to my reservation and was later transferred to a promotion line because I was a “Loyal customer.” Out of politeness, I listened to Vincent expound on the ever-enticing “Free” getaway trip that IHG was offering as celebrating their 40-year anniversary. Prior to his sales pitch, I informed him that I wasn’t interested in committing because it was a discussion that I would need to have with my husband prior to committing to any packages, regardless of the amenities. He requested to be put on hold while I call my husband; however, I explained my husband works in a secure building with no phone access. Vincent later used this information, under the guise of his supervisor’s concern, to insinuate that I would require my husband’s approval to book anything, which I found highly misogynistic.
Subsequently, I had agreed to go through with the offer and provided my card and home information. Once we got to the ation portion of the sale, he mentioned a required 2-hour presentation that I was not interested in attending at the time of redemption. Though he did mention this 2-hour tour prior to the ation, it did not occur to me that it would be required, as I had misunderstood the tour to be an option that we would not elect to participate in as we are a private and introverted family. When I explained that my husband and I were both introverted and did not like to be in social situations where not needed, he made continuous comments that I felt were condescending and ridiculed our preference to remain introverted. These passive aggressive comments were to the effect of, “I mean, you have to talk to the front desk to book your stay, check in and check out… You’re already having to talk to people,” “I guess some people don’t like free trips,” “Free trips aren’t for everyone.”
When I informed him that I didn’t want to pursue the promotion and asked if it was too late to end (because I had already provided by card information), he said, “Well, no, but we’ve been talking on the phone for almost 20 minutes now and we’re already in the ation screen. I don’t understand how a 2-hour presentation is a dealbreaker.” He then stated he would need to talk to his manager and placed me on hold. When he returned, he informed me that he and his manager were confused about the reason why I didn’t want to take the offer and said his manager wanted to speak to my husband. This comment I felt was inappropriate and the moment I no longer felt the need to tolerate continued disrespect. I told him that the manager didn’t need to speak to my husband and that I would like to speak to the manager. He placed me on hold and stated the manager was headed to lunch and wouldn’t get on the phone with me. He continued to be argumentative as to why I felt he was being condescending to which I didn’t feel the need to entertain after previously expressing to him the way I felt.
The overall experience with Vincent has been off-putting to say the least and to rationalize his behavior as being a sales tactic to participate in a timeshare-esque promotion would be repulsive. His ridicule of my husband I’s introverted lifestyle was offensive and his response to my wanting to pull out of a sale is also unprofessional. I encourage you to listen to the call which took place at or around 1:00 pm on 2 August 2023.
Suggested solution:
I'm not.
