What level of deception

If you join a package tour to China the itinerary will include visits to a silk store, a gem store, a tea shop and the Baoshu Tang Healthcare centre. The tour operator in China gets a commission from the shops when tour participants make purchases. The commission is then partially passed back to the consumers in the form of lower tour package prices. Not only is time wasted at these shops in place of spending more time at tourist attractions, a lot of cold selling also takes place. Fortunately nowadays tour agencies in Singapore have begun to offer tour packages at higher prices minus such visits.

Apart from cold selling, over-pricing and trickery are well known.   For example in a silk store when sales is slow or when the tour group shows little interest in the product, the prices are continuously slashed to make the offers attractive and one-for-one is not uncommon.

From my past experience visiting various parts of China, a usual 'business model' at gem stores is when the tour group is told of its unusual luck to have their visit coincide with that of the founder of the company. The so called founder or MD then drops in to shake hands and either claims business ties with Singapore's so-and-so or claims to be the son of some ex-general in Myanmar who has a large gemstone mine. Out of goodwill and wanting to establish friendship the 'MD' then slashes the prices of the gems on sale till he claims he just breaks even.

On a recent trip to Hainan there was a visit to a gem store as well. Only this time the story told was rather different that keeps me wondering at the level of deception if any. Ours was a small group of 10 people, seasoned travelers to China whom the tour guide would have noticed were not big spenders. At the gem store we were seated in a small room where tea as usual was served. A young  salesgirl in uniform occupied us with light bantering and jokes whilst awaiting the 'teacher' who will teach us to appreciate the value of true gemstones. After quite a while the 'teacher' entered and we were taken by surprise to see a pretty young girl dressed to the hilts, porcelain skin, manicured and decked with jeweleries. She appeared very nervous and tense and begged for our patience to hear her out and not drive her away. She mentioned about her brother and her father (referring to the owners of the store indirectly) challenging her to deliver a talk about gems and rewarding her with a few days' leave from work. She said she was perplexed why no other 'teachers' wanted to deliver the talk to our group forcing her to do so. She said judging from the carriers from a tea shop we were carrying
we probably had spent a lot of money at the tea shop already. She spoke some smattering of English and claimed to be a graduate from a university in Moscow. When asked why she went to Moscow for further studies she said she wanted to stay away from the control of her family. Whilst delivering a few tips on choosing pearls she really sounded very nervous and appeared very tense whilst kept on asking whether we understood her. I find it hard to believe she is acting for she seems so fragile, pampered and naive. In fact the tour group had to constantly assure her that she was doing fine. She then went to deliver tips on differentiating between fake and true jade which she claimed was her forte which thus accounted for her being less stressed and more confident. To cut a long story short she brought us to the shop after the talk and gave steep discounts for some pearl accessories, whilst assuring the salesgirls in attendance who either were really shocked or acted shocked that she would answer to her father. In any case those were really cheap stuff and some of us bought because they were the price of costume jeweleries in Singapore. Incidentally the salesgirls in attendance with their muted look did appear as if they didn't really respect her but feared her as the boss' daughter. All had that look and I find it hard to believe they are all staging an act. If so the whole team actually did well. The final act was when the 'boss daughter' again offered steep discounts for some jade pendants again telling the staff she would answer for it. When none of us were interested she sort of played the sympathy game telling us she needed to prove herself to her fathert  None of us bought, not because we didn't really believe her but we were really broke. Whilst on our way out I did notice she did look a bit disappointed staring aimlessly into an empty room, like not knowing how to 下台 infront of her staff.

Fake or real I ain't too sure even now. For a girl who spent some years in Moscow to escape from the family's clutches, her naivety and nervousness seemed out of place. Yet the silent disdain in all the staffs' faces seemed difficult to orchestrate. Certainly there is deception but at what level is a puzzle. Perhaps the Chinese have achieved yet another level of creativity in selling.