Yah, you should see me on a cranky day. :-)

> Man, I never heard of anyone so irritated by extended warranty upsells.

I let them ask once. Never a second time.

When I rent cars, it's always "no upgrade necessary, I reserved the exact size I wanted, no extra insurance, I don't buy gasoline, and I'll bring it back full." If their script requires them to waste my time by asking later about gas or insurance after I gave them my speech, I just ask "What part of my instructions did you fail to catch?"

I don't mind playing rude if they're going to play pushy or dumb.

I'm a customer, actually a very long-running repeat customer at most places I rent from, not a revenue-emitter than can be stroked for upgrades like an aphid stroked by their ants.

> I've never been hounded to buy an extended warranty. They just usually ask
> once when they ring me up but I say no, usually. No fuss, no problems. Now
> if they try again stating some "benefits" to me, I might get a
> little irritated.

That script again. For every reason you might give 'em, they have a come-back reply. Maybe you live in an area that tends to respect customers more than where I am? Who knows. The relentless upsell is pervasive. Like all the marketing colleges are now teaching courses in designing and pushing upsell as if it's the reason you're in the store.

> What irritates me almost every time, though, is being upsold some random,
> unrelated product. Like if you go to Radio Shack they try to upsell
> everyone on a cell phone plan regardless of what you are buying at that
> point in time. WTF?

Oh, that. I love it that clerks can't understand that almost everybody who needs a cell already has one, and the market is saturated and growth HAS to slow down. How many phones can possibly get sold in malls with 42 free-standing cell phone kiosks, when 100% of the mall visitors already have one?!?