Well,
I just got back from my local Bass Pro here in San Antonio and have to say that I am completely disappointed in their customer service. I know that right behind the desk they have a sign that says something like "100% Satisfaction With Every Purchase" but that must mean for them, not for the customer.
Back at Christmas time, my Wife took my 8 year old daughter to shop for a gift for Daddy (That's me). She has mighty expensive taste because, when the smoke from the credit card settled, she had gotten me a HHA Bow Sight worth nearly $250. I was presented with it back at Christmas but didn't have the time to mess with it until recently. (I work overseas and was gone to Africa and then Trinidad for several months) I recently put it on a bow and gave it a try but I don't like the feel of messing with a single pin sight. I put everything right back in the box the way I had received it and headed up to Bass Pro to exchange it for a store credit (My Wife and Daughter couldn't find the receipt and I can completely understand not wanting to give cash out on a return for something without one.) Here's where things go odd.
The girl at the returns desk scanned the sight and immediately got a nervous look on her face. She explained that, due to the high price of the item, she could not approve the return and would need the Manager. Ok, I understand this. She made a call and a few minutes later, a woman with a white shirt (I'm assuming she was the manager because she never introduced herself). She told me that, without the receipt, she couldn't even do store credit because the expensive item might have been purchased somewhere else and there was no way of knowing. I asked here if that meant I was stuck with it and she said yes. Again stating that without proof of purchase she couldn't do the return.
I accepted this because I can only imagine that there is a certain amount of scamming that goes on in the retail world. At this point, I thought "Well maybe they can pull up the transaction via our credit card number". My Wife was just across the isle from me with our son so I stepped over to ask her how she had paid for the sight. In this time, the "Manager" walked away. I asked the girl at the counter if she could look it up via our card number and she informed me that, even easier than that, she could look it up by my BP Rewards Card. Sure enough, in a matter of a minute, she had a copy of the receipt complete with the last 4 digits of my Visa number right there for me. I asked if we could do the return now and she said that she again needed to call the Manager. This time, the "Manager" didn't even come up. The girl hung up the phone and, now, informed me that "It has been too long since the purchase so we can't return it." I about ruptured but, instead, kept my cool. I asked for the "Manager's" name and a contact number for her Supervisor. I was given some name and the number I was given was the generic number for the store I was standing in.
Needless to say, I AM NOT NEARLY 100% SATISFIED with this transaction. I will be pursuing this with BP Corporate but don't really expect any different result. (My rational on not expecting any difference is that any company who has Management that does this is supporting the behavior from the top.) I don't know what the whole deal is but it certainly feels like they were looking for any reason to not return the item. I can understand not wanting to give cash at that point, maybe because it has been so long since the sight was purchased. None the less, a store credit would keep the customer (ME) quite satisfied with the deal and they would keep the money.
Instead, that Manager just came across as trying to be sly and cheap for the company. With the economy as tight as it is, you can darned well bet that I will pursue this further and , if they cannot make right, I will work hard to get folks voting with their dollar. These companies have to remember that, with the power of the internet and the amount of forums and blogs out here, it is really foolish to screw over customers or appear to screw them over and not have a real explanation for the behavior at the ready. To run off from me, the customer, during a conversation and then not come back when the receipt was produced, reeks of knowing that she was wrong and not wanting to face up to it.
This is just frustrating and sad. My Daughter spent my hard earned money at their store and I've always shopped there with the, evidently false, sense of comfort that they stood behind the very customers that helped make them the icon they are. Now I see that they have grow so big that they don't really care about the individual customer any longer.
Just sad.. Talk about a hard lesson learned.
Reagan "Doc" Bretz
recondoc
FMF 8404 USN/USMC
Iraq 2003 1st MarDiv RCT 1
Semper Fi! Corpsman Up!
