Joined Jun 2006
L8: Grand Teacher
Forum Thread
I was just CHARGED for trying on a pair of shoes. UPDATE ON POST #431
June 22, 2007 at
12:00 PM
in
Chat
Okay so today I went into a running store to try on some shoes. I'm in the very BEGINNING of my search for new shoes and I just wanted to try on a few brands that were new to me and see if anything was going on with my foot. So I go into this store, the kid asks me if I'd ever been there before.. I said NO.. I said I was looking for shoes.. he says okay great and asks me to take walk in front of him for him to look at my stride/ gate. I do, it takes 2 minutes for him to determine that I'm mostly neutral/ slight overpronator. I try on TWO pairs of shoes. I tell him okay great, I'm going to look around, I might come back. I don't know. I don't know and I don't BS, its as simple as that. I might come back I might not for the shoes. I'm an informed shopper and I next to NEVER buy things on impulse. Then his attitude changed. He starts giving me this schpeel about how they're a high end running store and they take pride in fitting their customers with shoes and if I don't buy the shoes right then and there he was going to have to charge me $20 for the less than 10 minutes of time and two pairs of shoes I tried on. I asked him if he was freakin kidding me. The lady manager had to come over.. APPARENTLY, on the OTHER SIDE of the boxes of shoes he was stacking next to me was a sheet of laminated PAPER that said about this policy, in a not so very large font size. Okay so why did he NOT tell me about this when he asked me if I had ever been in the store? I clearly said no. Why did he let me walk in front of him and and spend the two minutes looking at my feet and not tell me this? I paid the $20 and left. And I know they talked about me when I left.. you could feel it in the air as I was paying. And I just know they were all like "Oh I hate when people do that.. " when in reality they should LOVE it.. $20 PURE PROFIT for under 10 minutes of time! They didn't tell me about this upfront and they stacked the shoes next to the piece of paper that said this. I couldn't even see it!
So I was thinking should I file a report with like BBB? I think $20 is a lot of money for merely trying on a pair of shoes and less than 10 minutes of time especially since I wasn't told about it upfront. I'm a girl and I've tried on my fair share of shoes in my lifetime and NEVER been charged for trying them on.
What do you guys think I should do? Nothing, something? I might just let it go.. but for right now I'm
Sorry I meant to click the RANT icon not chat.. I don't know how that happened.
So I was thinking should I file a report with like BBB? I think $20 is a lot of money for merely trying on a pair of shoes and less than 10 minutes of time especially since I wasn't told about it upfront. I'm a girl and I've tried on my fair share of shoes in my lifetime and NEVER been charged for trying them on.
What do you guys think I should do? Nothing, something? I might just let it go.. but for right now I'm
Sorry I meant to click the RANT icon not chat.. I don't know how that happened.
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Filed a report with the BBB
Contacted all my local consumer watch news programs: CBS 2, NBC 5, ABC 7, WGN 9, And Fox 32 (I don't suspect any of these to really care but it took a mere few seconds to copy and paste into their consumer complaint sections online)
I also contacted the Chicago Sun-Times "The Fixer" which deals with stuff EXACTLY like this.
THEN,
I spammed out that letter to EVERY shoe brand listed on their website to tell them that a store they are stocking to has such shady practices and why I did NOT purchase their shoes.
THEN, I filed an IRS Form 3949-A, with the photocopy of the receipt right here. Retail store charging me for "MERCHANDISE" and what? No itemized tax as IL tax code requires? They're not charging sales tax!?
And I filed the chargeback with my credit card.
Done, Done, done and DONE!
As schoob said, call and have them look up several styles and brands of shoes, keep them on the phone for a while. But - do this from a script that you write up before-hand.
At the end of the call, say "okay where should I send my $20?" Explain to them that you've heard about their cruddy policy and you've gotten a lot of help here and you think they deserve the $20. Blah, blah, blah.
Call back about 5 minutes after you hang up and go through the script again, verbatim. If they ask if you just called, say "no, why?".
Lather, rinse, repeat. Record all calls.
Eventually, the person on the at the other end is going to go bat-shit insane on you over the phone. They will sound very customer-unfriendly. Post the recording of that call on the web somewhere.
Filed a report with the BBB
Contacted all my local consumer watch news programs: CBS 2, NBC 5, ABC 7, WGN 9, And Fox 32 (I don't suspect any of these to really care but it took a mere few seconds to copy and paste into their consumer complaint sections online)
I also contacted the Chicago Sun-Times "The Fixer" which deals with stuff EXACTLY like this.
THEN,
I spammed out that letter to EVERY shoe brand listed on their website to tell them that a store they are stocking to has such shady practices and why I did NOT purchase their shoes.
THEN, I filed an IRS Form 3949-A, with the photocopy of the receipt right here. Retail store charging me for "MERCHANDISE" and what? No itemized tax as IL tax code requires? They're not charging sales tax!?
And I filed the chargeback with my credit card.
Done, Done, done and DONE!
You go girl
Don't you feel empowered now?
Goodness,I hope somebody does this!
Good luck with getting your money back...I think you will be able to. I know I'd probably dwell on this for awhile too if I were you just because it's so annoying, lol.
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i actually know someone with the worst smelling feet ever. it's so gross that the smell gets embedded in the carpet for days to come. think if i gave her $20 and recommend her this store she'd go??
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