"We do our best to ensure all of our customers enjoy a happy shopping experience", is what it says on the Sports Direct website. Today I had a very less than happy shopping experience when going back to branch to ask for a replacement for a rucksack that had torn after just 9 months use.
"It's over 6-months old" and "I can see it's been used", said the manager who came down to examine the torn rucksack my teenager used for school. Of course it has been used. I didn't buy it to sit in a cupboard. But not able to stay together for even 9 months is too much to expect? Really? Entire babies are built in that.
"Can I get this in writing?", I asked. To be fair this manager did just that, even giving a phone number (head office?) when I said I would be going to BBC 3 counties about this. It took another request for him to add his own name too but he did.
What really gets me is, if Sports Direct think 6 months is the life expectancy of such products then why not make that clear at the point of sale. Tell me directly and openly, before I buy, that the £14.99 I am about to pay for the rucksack reduced from £29.99, is only expected to last up to 6 months. If I still choose to buy it and it fails even at 6 months the fair enough. But why choose to tell me this is really a £30 rucksack bargain, reduced by 50% to just £15, and then, when it fails, refuse to honour the quality they implied they sold me?
I'm taking this to JVS on BBC 3 counties radio. The monetary value on my individual item is not much but, spread across other such customers, the total injustice is probably huge.