This month we’re asking retailers, what has a customer said that has momentarily left you speechless?

Joseph Shenton – Joseph James Furniture Outlet LLP

We received some of the early samples from the DFS Vegan range – which are made out of pineapple. When a customer was enquiring about the sofas in store, they asked ‘when is the sell by date?’. No, they weren’t joking.

George Sinclair – Nimbus Beds

 I once got offered to go home and ‘test’ the new mattress out with the customer!

Grant Berry – Home World

True story – we did have a lady manager of a Massage Parlour in Grimsby call in looking for two bedframes, being very open and honest that the bed frames had to “take some hammer”. We treated her like any other customer obviously and she did buy two very nice strong glitzy bedframes from us. I must admit, I was momentarily speechless at first though. I’ve often wondered how much “hammer” they got.

Vic Smith – Vic Smith Beds

Had a shop full of customers, typically everyone else had gone to lunch! An older lady walked in, pointed to one of our cheaper options and asked how long it should last. I told her that if it was looked after, around 8-10 years. She shouted “liar – mine has lasted 18 years!” Funny thing was, everyone else in the shop bought after that!

Huw Williams – Toons

The one that left me speechless was the lady who complained to me that the smell of food from our popular instore café was affecting her ability to purchase a sofa. We have never had any complaints before or since regarding this!