Dick's Sporting Goods Business Review
- Eric Atwell
- Dec 30, 2015
- 7 min read
Dick's Sporting Goods Business Logo rights are reserved by Dick's Sporting Goods Stores.
Let me begin this review by saying that this review is founded on the sole basis of a recent purchase made at the Bristol, TN store and is in no way a full reflection of the reputation of Dick's Sporting Goods as a whole.
"Buying The Perfect Headache"
On November 29th, 2015 Dick's Sporting Goods had their Thanksgiving sale and offered some pretty great discounts to the public on select items throughout the store. This was my que to make a mad dash for their archery department. When I arrived there was a line forming in the front of the store leading up to the main entrance. I didn't mind the 15 or so minuets that I stood in line waiting to get inside. At 7:00 p.m the doors to the store opened and about 40 to 60 people hurried inside to possible kick off their own holiday gift shopping as I had intending to do.
The only item on my list of things to buy was a 150 pound crossbow made by Barnett.
After running a gauntlet through the store of dipping, ducking and dodging the madhouse of crazed shoppers I finally made it to the back of the store. Dick's only had three of them on display and they looked rather rough in nature from being handle so much by other passing shoppers. I asked the department manager, which in character acted as if he didn't have the time to answer any questions, if the crossbow that I was holding in my hands was the one listed in the store's circular for the current holiday sales event. His reply was that indeed it was but he wasn't sure what the discounted price was suppose to be for the model in question.
(How do you place something on sale and not know it's price?)
After waiting 20 minuets for him to return I still had no answer to my question about the crossbow's price. When he did finally make it back to me he said that the price was $129.99 and that it was 50% off regular price. I then asked if they had anymore in the back that the crossbows on display where not complete and missing parts. He first said sorry, those are all we have in stock and that the store couldn't do any rain checks on them because they couldn't get anymore.
(I thought to myself, WOW! Who runs a sale on a particular item and then doesn't even stock up for the event?)
Lucky for me another store manager had heard us talking and stepped over to tell me that they did in fact have about 6 more in the back but that they where still in a box. I told him that was perfect and I would at least know that it had not been handled by other shoppers. Then began my next task of finding extra bolts for the crossbow. The specs for this model said to only shoot 18" bolts. So after 30 more minuets of searching the store for 18" arrows it was brought to my attention that they did not have any in stock. Already this store was starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. So I took the crossbow to the front of the store and made my purchase since the box contained (3) bolts inside.
"The Gift Was Wrapped"
After passing by the Christmas tree everyday for 26 days Christmas morning had finally arrived. It was time to open my new toy and go lay down the law on my target that was sitting in the backyard, begging me for mercy. I cocked my crossbow, loaded a bolt into the groove, took aim and fired. I was truly amazed at the slight kick it had when I
released its awesomeness of raw power on my target. BOOYAH!
I then proceeded to reload an fire it again but noticed that the small flat plastic limb that pressed the bolt down into the groove had broken off after the very first shot. I hopped in my truck and drove back to Dick's Sporting Goods with the crossbow, original box and receipt in hand. Upon arrival of the customer service desk located in the front of the store the lady working the desk called to the back and told them to be expecting a customer with a crossbow that needed assistance and then told me to take the crossbow back to the archery department to have it fixed or exchanged.
"Time To Make A Deal With The Devil"
When I sat the crossbow on the counter of the archery department their wasn't anyone there waiting to assist me. After a few minuets a young man in his very early 20's said "Can I help you?" as if he had no idea that I was coming from the service desk to get help with my issue. I explained to him what was wrong with the crossbow and he told me that he would have to have a manager's approval to do the exchange and then said that
Dick's Sporting Goods did not handle any repairs on products sold in their store. That it would void the product's warranty and that it may have to be sent to Barnett Crossbows to get it repaired.
(What kind of major name brand sports authority doesn't stand behind the
products sold in their store?)
Finally the manager came walking out of the backroom and said let me see the crossbow. He then picked it up and walked back into the back room. I was under the impression that he was taking the crossbow with him to compare it with a picture on the side of another box to make sure that he was grabbing the right replacement.
After 10 minuets had passed I started to wonder what was going on in the back so I walked around the corner only to see him stooped over on the floor, taking the crossbow apart and trying to remove the broken part so that it could be repaired.
(This, after being told that Dick's Sporting Goods (DID NOT) handle any repairs?)
I walked back to the archery department counter to continue waiting for the manager to finish with the repair. The manger then came back out to the counter and asked me to join him in the "Employee's Only Room". I walked into the back area with him and he began to explain to me that he had stopped trying to make the repair because he couldn't remove one of the tiny screws that held the broken part in place and then said that the screw was stripped, looking at me as if I had stripped it out. At this point I started to lose my temper a little and replied to him that the screw being stripped was not my handy work and that I had saw him removing them about 5 minuets before he came out to get me. Then I proceeded to tell him that since he wasn't a certified Barnett Crossbow mechanic and had removed the screws from the crossbow that he had voided the warranty on the product and that it was no longer any good.
"Passing The Buck"
After getting caught in his shady cover up he told me that he would have to get the top manager of the entire store to approve the exchange, in a tone of voice suggesting that he was now doing me a favor. Then he stated that everything that Barnett Crossbows sold was for the most part a big piece of sh*t, in those exact words, After another 15 minuets of debate on rather or not I had dry fired the bow I was escorted to the front of the store by the younger salesman that I first encountered in the archery department. He carried the replacement crossbow to the front of the store, leaving me to follow behind and having to carry the broken crossbow's empty box. I told him that I felt like
Dick's Sporting Goods had tried to make me out to be the liar and that the crossbow couldn't be dry fired because of a safety feature that doesn't let you pull the trigger if there isn't any bolt locked into place to release the safety.
(Is the customer not always right anymore?)
Once the young salesman and I had reached the checkout counters in the front of the store a man dressed in royal blue gym shorts and a faded out matching blue t - shirt walked behind the count and proceeded to speak with the salesman fist without greeting me at all. He scanned my old receipt and printed a new one for the new crossbow, asked me to sign the receipt and without as much as a "Have a nice, whatever." he walked away. The young salesman continued to carry the new crossbow and walked me to the exit of the store before he would hand it over to me, as if I was a criminal and would have time to load it without a string cocking device and shoot someone with it before leaving.
(If you are working for a place of business as upper management, do you not have to dress the part? Do you not have to be respectful of paying customers?)
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest score that you can receive.
Dick's Sporting Goods A Solid : (3)
This score is based on Dick's Sporting Goods poor choice of hiring (3) shady employees and truly living up to their name of being a "........" you get the point.
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