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General Climbing Discussion

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dodgy retailers 3-Sep-2009 At 12:07:22 PM anthonyk

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Pretty unimpressed with the lack of professionalism at a certain retail store in Sydney.. particularly since its a store that in general doesn't offer discounts and charges high prices for all their products, supposedly because of the service they offer..

I was looking for a pair of climbing shoes a while ago, i tried on a bunch of sizes and they were out of stock of the right size, I wasn't even going to try on the smaller size again but the shop assistant convinced me to give it a go. I tried it and was sure it was too small, but the shop assistant kept pushing that it was right. I told him about 3 times, no its too small, but he kept pushing saying he's used them so many times and the size is perfect, they stretch so much, trust me. In the end I ended up getting them, basically full price ($200+), and needless to say after many sessions trying to get them to fit they were just too small.

Of course it was too late to exchange them for a different size now, but I went back to the retailer, told them my story and asked what kind of discount they would offer on another pair. Now i've worked in retail, and from my experience a shop should take responsibility for actions they've made, and should be making an effort to find a suitable product that the customer will be happy with. Considering we are looking at a full-price transaction, it deserves the full service, ie do whatever is reasonable to get the customer the product they need for the given price.

So what does the manager of the store offer? Nothing. Well, a 10% discount off the full retail price ($250) which I would get anyway, for a second purchase. No consideration at all that their staff have offered bad advice, pressured the customer to make a bad purchase, and then expect them to pay full price again, and make a second profit even though the first was a failure.

Quite simply, this is insulting.

I think the shop deserves a full name and shame for this sort of behaviour, but i'll leave it unless people think its appropriate.