Is it true what they say of Hong Kong retailers?

Question

That they are rude to tourists & non-Cantonese speaking people? You go to their shops to browse around their goods & if you don't buy any, they make unwelcomed remarks?
(No offence intended, just want to clarify 'cause that's what I heard)

Answer 1

It gets worse than that. I was shopping for a camera in HK. Moving from shop to shop to make comparisons for the best deal. I went into one shop run by an older man. He had some of his friends in the shop and they were drinking tea or coffee. I asked the price for the camera and he gave me a pretty good quote. I said, "That's a good price. May I have your business card?" And he just went off. He said, "That's why Americans are hated everywhere" and had some other rude things to say in Chinese. He was very threatening and his posture was really aggressive. I am over 6 feet tall and 108 kilos so it was not that big of a deal, but I can Imagine how intimidating that this would be to an older lady or younger individual. His friends thought that this was just the funniest thing to ever happen. I have kind of a short fuse but I know face is a big deal. I kept my cool and said simply that I really didn't think that he was interested in my business and wished him an interesting life and left the shop. I guess that I just didn't fit his standards. In other words, buy my product at my price or you are a rude American. The funny thing is, I probably would have purchased my camera through him.

This is just the most blatant personal experience that I had. General rudeness and rude comments behind the hand happen every day to anyone who is not Asian. Bigotry exists in many forms.
It is true what they say!

PS: That being said. I did run into some amazingly nice people in HK as well. You can't judge and entire city by the few people who misbehave. The shop owners who are rude and unthinking will gradually lose their tourist clients. The word gets around. The people that are friendly and nice will gain more business by word of mouth and succeed. So it goes!

Answer 2

I don't find that to be true at all, many retailers depend on tourists to make a living, and for them to treat all foreigners rudely really doesn't make good business sense, does it?
I live in Asia, and have been to Hong Kong 100 times or so, I don't speak Cantonese and although some retailers may not be overly friendly, most are friendly and happy to do business with you. I imagine if you are an overbearing tourist that tries to bargain the price down to a ridiculous level, yeah, then maybe you will get treated rudely. I find most retailers in Hong Kong to be like anywhere else, they treat you like you treat them.

Answer 3

From what my aunt said after getting back from Hong Kong recently if you didn't speak their language they were way more willing to bargain and try to get you to buy things. It would depends on the seller though too, just like people some are nice and some aren't. They got lucky with helpful guides and sellers.

Answer 4

Rude retailers are prevalent in HK but there are nice people around

Answer 5

You are right if you were refering to the situation about 20 years ago, but that's not true at all today.

Answer 6

I bought a digital camera there, and the retailers were friendly and always helped me out.

They weren't rude to me at all.

Answer 7

it's true. they are rude to people who dont speak the language n of different color and if u ask to check out something their question to you would be, are u planning to buy it or just looking at it? u cant check your purchase in other words. and yes they would tell u off if u dont buy it.

Answer 8

if you are looking to buy electronics then HK has much better prices than mainland china...so suck up the remarks and happy shopping.

Answer 9

Well, it is the same as US or Canada. Sometimes they give rude services and sometimes they are nice.