Kudos to Dick's Sporting Goods

Well, it's FINALLY spring here in Michigan -- or so they tell us. I need a few consecutive days above 50 to make it feel like it's really spring. We're getting close to that. ;-)

And what does spring mean? Soccer! My son plays basketball in the fall/winter and soccer in the spring. And of course he's grown a whole shoe size since last spring, so last weekend we were off to Dick's Sporting Goods to get him some soccer shoes (I had a gift card given to me by the parents of the basketball team -- as a thank you for being the assistant coach.)

Turns out everyone in the state was at Dick's looking for soccer or baseball or golf shoes. We found three that we kind of liked, rounded up a clerk (which was hard to do in the crowd), and asked her to find my son's size in the various shoes. She disappeared for 10 minutes, came back, and we tried them all on. After some debate/discussion about which he liked best, which fit best, and so on, we landed on a particular pair.

Just to confirm, my wife asked the price of the shoes. The clerk scanned them with a hand scanner and informed us they were $39.99. Yikes! We showed her the spot where we'd taken the original shoe when we'd asked for it in my son's size -- and the price there was $24.99. She looked it over and gave us a couple excuses as to why the price was wrong -- the wrong shoe had been placed there and that was for a youth shoe anyway (turns out my son is now an "adult" since he's above a size six.) But before we could put up much of a protest (we simply said, "Oh, we thought they were $24.99"), she said, "I suppose we can let you have them for $24.99."

Needless to say, we took them. They were my son's favorites and were at a decent price (the price we had expected -- whether they had been misplaced or not.) All was right with the world.

I have to give kudos to Dick's for:

1. Developing an environment where clerks can do the right thing for the customer
2. Hiring people to actually do the right thing when a problem comes up
3. Not being the greatest at making sure the right shoe is on the right display and priced correctly ;-)

Ok, that last one was a bit of fun on my part, but I do have to give them thumbs up for taking care of their customers. Many stores/clerks would have given us the "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do" speech, but Dick's had a different outcome. I've always enjoyed shopping there, but now I'm even more inclined to do so as I know they're at least trying to put the customer first.

Comments

[Sentient Money]

Just a note for the future: By law, Dick's had to give you those shoes for $24.99. I used to be an auditor for a major department store (now Macy's) and that was always a big issue when we audited the store floors. Any price listed is the price the store HAS to sell the item at. Mislabeling is not a good enough excuse.

[Mark B.]

I had a similar thing happen to me at Kohl's but it was much less pleasant.

I saw rack of coats with a big sign that said "80% off Winter Coats". So I found my size, the tag said $100 so I thought I would be paying $20 for the coat. When I went to the check-out it rang up as $60. I politely noted that the sign said it was 80% off.

The clerk then said that someone must have misplaced the coat and it was on the wrong rack, so I would have to pay $60. She goes on to say that "$60 is a great deal, you should keep it for that price."

I protested and she brought over a manager who agreed that the rack was mislabeled, but they had to sell it to me for the 80% off since it was marked as such. So she tells the clerk to give me another 40% off.

Then it gets better, the clerk takes the 40% off of the $60, so the price is $36, not the $20 it should be. I had to argue with both the clerk and manager that 80% off of $100 is $20. They just didn't get it. Finally the store's general manager came over, changed the price to $20, and asked the clerk to change the sign.

I commend the general manager for taking care of the situation, but the way I was treated by the clerk and manager was inexcusable, I was treated as though I was stealing the coat.

[Katrina W]

I don't understand why people sound so offended that stores would try to sell you something FOR THE CORRECT PRICE. By your logic I could pick something expensive up, move it to the clearance rack, then go up front and demand to get an absurd amount off. Stores shouldn't have to police where merchanidise is put after people pick it up and walk around the store with it. Now I understand signs that are completely mislabeled and specifically list the item on sale. But items which just happen to be laying near 50% off signs should not be forced to be sold as that (even if it is the law).

[Trent D.]

My experience with Dick's Sporting Goods has been pretty miserable lately - the last three times I've been in there looking for shoes, and the most recent time my wife was looking for shoes, we were totally ignored by store staff.

Four of them stood in the middle of the department watching a game on TV and tossing a football around. One finally went to get the shoes, handed them to us, and walked away. He didn't lace them up or even wait around to see if they fit.

Needless to say, I voted with my dollar and we left the store :)

[jim]

I've had a similar experience w/ Dick's.

The downside is the salespersons are pretty inattentive, even though there seems to be plenty on the floor... they seem to avoid the customers.

However, any time I ask them to match a competitor price or ask for a break, they seem to comply.

[tom]

Exactly the same experience at REI. The carabiners I bought had a wrong price tag, and after checking it they sold them to me at this price. (nearly 50% less than normal value)

[Treat people as you would like to be treated]

This is called taking advantage....and not in a good way. They screwed up so apparently they owe you a $15 discount. Every time you misspell something on your blog you owe me a quarter because I expected it to be spelled correctly. Not exactly the same thing but you get my drift.

[A Concerned Customer]

I can tell that none of you have worked retail, they didnt HAVE to give you that shoe for the price. You can complain to the better business bureau all you want, they wont side with you. and if that coat in an early comment is ticketed at $100, technically they could have sold it at $100 not $60, so consider yourself lucky. to conclude, but on your big boy pants when you go into these selected stores and GROW UP!