Déjà vu

We are currently nearing the end of of major house renovations: new roof, new windows, bathroom upgrade, new veranda and a total garden makeover. Our (sort of) lawn had been churned into a muddy field by the heavy machinery and needs to be resown.

I envisaged that the new lawn would require constant attention and, therefore, thought that a robotic lawn mower would be useful. I checked a few things on internet and decided to visit one of the local experts selling garden equipment.

The shop assistant required information about the lawn in order to be able to decide which lawn mower was most suitable. I gave him the information and was quickly informed that one particular model would be the most suitable. It came at a price of just under 11 000 kr (€ 1 100 or £850). I thought that this was a bit on the high side but decided to check out what you got for that amount of money. I quickly found out that the price was for the mower only. A base station was a further 4 000 kr. I expressed my opinion that a mower, with a rechargeable battery, should include a charging system (base station), otherwise it would be useless. The assistant was adamant that a base station is an accessory to the mower and that this should be abundantly clear for any customer with a reasonable level of intelligence. I enquired about a perimeter wire and was told that the mower came with 40 m wire. I pointed out that this was only sufficient for a maximum lawn area of 130 square meters (the actual figure is 127,3) which is much less than the size of our lawn. The assistant disagreed (I did consider offering to prove my hypothesis using differential equations, but decided against this as it would have been a complete waste of time, but offered a starter kit for a further 2 500 kr together with Installation for 4 000 kr and various other accessories for 1 200 kr. I was informed that the installation of a robotic lawn mower is far too advanced for most customers.

Needless to say, I did not buy a robotic lawn mower. As I cycled home, my thoughts were focused on why shop assistants, salespeople, feel a need to belittle their customers. I leave you with a sketch from not the nine o’clock news as a déjà vu example of how bad things can be.

In the end we bought an identical robotic lawn mower from another outlet for a much better price including all of the necessary accessories. I am looking forwards to installing the mower once our lawn is sufficiently established.

While the lawn and garden are growing, we are taking some time off in the south of Sweden for golf, seaside visits and general relaxation.

Life is good!