Joined Jun 2006
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I was just CHARGED for trying on a pair of shoes. UPDATE ON POST #431
June 22, 2007 at
12:00 PM
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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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I am the Saucony sales rep for the Chicagoland area and received your e-mail from Saucony regarding your store complaint. First off, thank you for taking the time to write us an e-mail to inform us of this situation. Secondly, this is absolutely not common practice for a run specialty store to operate this way. I am sorry that you had such a terrible experience.
In addition, the selection at the store you visited is very bare, which is probably why they are doing this practice. They have not received Saucony shipment in quite some time. I am guessing that they tried to sell you a Brooks.
And YES, they DID try to push the Brooks on me, even though I went in with a specific LIST of shoes I had SPECIFICALLY wanted to try on. I gave him my list, and he comes back with a pair of Brooks, and not a single pair of Brooks was on my list. So that explains that. Just slimy all around.
Then the next day I got another reply from Saucomy (I had only emailed the companies each once, but Saucomy got back to me three times):
This is a follow up to yesterday's e-mail.
I wanted to thank you again for your valuable feedback regarding your
recent Saucony shopping experience and to let you know that we are
taking this issue very seriously. I have forwarded this issue to our
corporate offices and we are investigating this retailer. If we can
assist in recommending another retailer or supplying information on our
shoes, we are happy to do so.
Again, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. It is our
hope that Saucony will continue to serve you well into the future.
Kindest Regards,
Consumer Relations
www.sauconyrunf
Here is what Asics had to say:
Thank you for contacting ASICS America,
I am very sorry to hear of your problems with The Human Race running store. While we can not set the policies of the stores that carry our shoes it is very uncommon for them to charge for a fitting process. While I know from personal experience that it is greatly appreciated if you buy your shoes from the running store that fits you, at most stores it is by no means policy to charge your for ten minutes of their time to fit you. I will make sure to forward your email on to the local sales rep for the area that covers IL and they will be free to chose what actions they want to take. Once again I am very sorry for your inconvience and hope this does not deter your from looking at asics products in the future.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me again.
We appreciate your support of the ASICS brands,
Sales/Consumer Relations
ASICS America Corporation
Brooks shoes did not seem pleased with it either:
We apologize for any inconvenience that you experienced while out
shopping for a new pair of running shoes. Our sales manager will be
notified of the selling practice that you encountered at this particular
store. They will then be will able to make any decisions about dealing
with the account in the future.
Also, on Monday NBC 5's Target report called me. I wasn't home and missed the call. I was out ALL day and couldn't call back until after business hours and it was to late by then, but she had emailed me:
We are interested and would like to hear more about your story. I tried giving
you a call this afternoon and left a message. If you could give me a call back
here on my direct line, it is at xxx-xxx-xxxx. When you get to the main menu,
press x, then dial my extension, xxxx. I will be near the phone today until 5
PM, so please contact us as soon as you can.
Thank you!
Target 5 Researcher
I tried calling back on Tuesday, but didn't get through, so I emailed back with some more details.. I haven't heard anything since. Weird.
Oh, but bad news seems to be that Discover cards wants to be a b*tch about it.. I don't think I'm getting the chargeback. They said something like if the charge was the store's "policy". I guess it doesn't matter if the policy is deceitful? Whatever Discover... Discover Card sucks.
I am the Saucony sales rep for the Chicagoland area and received your e-mail from Saucony regarding your store complaint. First off, thank you for taking the time to write us an e-mail to inform us of this situation. Secondly, this is absolutely not common practice for a run specialty store to operate this way. I am sorry that you had such a terrible experience.
In addition, the selection at the store you visited is very bare, which is probably why they are doing this practice. They have not received Saucony shipment in quite some time. I am guessing that they tried to sell you a Brooks.
And YES, they DID try to push the Brooks on me, even though I went in with a specific LIST of shoes I had SPECIFICALLY wanted to try on. I gave him my list, and he comes back with a pair of Brooks, and not a single pair of Brooks was on my list. So that explains that. Just slimy all around.
Then the next day I got another reply from Saucomy (I had only emailed the companies each once, but Saucomy got back to me three times):
This is a follow up to yesterday's e-mail.
I wanted to thank you again for your valuable feedback regarding your
recent Saucony shopping experience and to let you know that we are
taking this issue very seriously. I have forwarded this issue to our
corporate offices and we are investigating this retailer. If we can
assist in recommending another retailer or supplying information on our
shoes, we are happy to do so.
Again, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. It is our
hope that Saucony will continue to serve you well into the future.
Kindest Regards,
Consumer Relations
www.sauconyrunf
Here is what Asics had to say:
Thank you for contacting ASICS America,
I am very sorry to hear of your problems with The Human Race running store. While we can not set the policies of the stores that carry our shoes it is very uncommon for them to charge for a fitting process. While I know from personal experience that it is greatly appreciated if you buy your shoes from the running store that fits you, at most stores it is by no means policy to charge your for ten minutes of their time to fit you. I will make sure to forward your email on to the local sales rep for the area that covers IL and they will be free to chose what actions they want to take. Once again I am very sorry for your inconvience and hope this does not deter your from looking at asics products in the future.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me again.
We appreciate your support of the ASICS brands,
Sales/Consumer Relations
ASICS America Corporation
Brooks shoes did not seem pleased with it either:
We apologize for any inconvenience that you experienced while out
shopping for a new pair of running shoes. Our sales manager will be
notified of the selling practice that you encountered at this particular
store. They will then be will able to make any decisions about dealing
with the account in the future.
Also, on Monday NBC 5's Target report called me. I wasn't home and missed the call. I was out ALL day and couldn't call back until after business hours and it was to late by then, but she had emailed me:
We are interested and would like to hear more about your story. I tried giving
you a call this afternoon and left a message. If you could give me a call back
here on my direct line, it is at xxx-xxx-xxxx. When you get to the main menu,
press x, then dial my extension, xxxx. I will be near the phone today until 5
PM, so please contact us as soon as you can.
Thank you!
Target 5 Researcher
I tried calling back on Tuesday, but didn't get through, so I emailed back with some more details.. I haven't heard anything since. Weird.
Oh, but bad news seems to be that Discover cards wants to be a b*tch about it.. I don't think I'm getting the chargeback. They said something like if the charge was the store's "policy". I guess it doesn't matter if the policy is deceitful? Whatever Discover... Discover Card sucks.
Good job!
Oh, wait. Never mind.
.............They have not received Saucony shipment in quite some time. I am guessing that they tried to sell you a Brooks............
..............If we can assist in recommending another retailer or supplying information on our
shoes, we are happy to do so..........
..............Once again I am very sorry for your inconvience and hope this does not deter your from looking at asics products in the future.............
..............Brooks shoes did not seem pleased with it either...........
they're good enough salespeople to get you to feel so uneasy that they got your money.. they probably turned on the same slime when Discover Card called them..
They did not inform you of the charge,
they did not have it clearly posted for you to see - lables on the boxes mean little when it's the SALESPERSON and NOT you getting the shoes for you to try on,
they knew you were new,
and then they wouldn't let you leave... get your anger and passion across to DC..
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I imagine any shoe company that tried to contact the slime-ball store will go something like this:
Shoe Co.: Hey, we heard you charge for try-ons....
Store: Oh that... that was one bad employee .... we fixed the problem ....
Shoe Co.: okthxby
Now insert Discover Card refusal to re-pay because of OFFICIAL store POLICY
..... just remember, being a slime-ball doesn't just happen - it takes some cunning.