My Golfsmith Club Situation...

[RSchaffer29]

I think the Golfsmith horror stories I've read on the board far outnumber the praise their service recieves. Either that, or people just love to complain.

 

I think it's the latter. People are much more likely to share a bad story like this one then they are if they had a good experience.

 

The analogy I used with the manager was if someone brings their car in to rotate his tires and when he gets it back there is a huge scratch on the hood. This is almost like the bug story you told and I agree with your conclusion. If a car service damaged my car I would be less likely to go back there for service in the future.

[dmboak]

Also, I think you guys are being too nice to this guy. He was not friendly to me at all and I had to fight with him before he would offer anything so I returned the favor.

 

That's the art of negotiation. Basically he has to feel you out to see how firm you are in your case and he wound up accomodating you when you took your stand. As for the GG comment, it could have been avoided with a simple "I'll take care of it when the time comes" or something similar.

[DOUGLY]

As a manager of a retail store, I can tell you that after your comment indicating you would not be returning to regrip, I would politely return your club to you and rescind my generous offer.

The manager went WAY beyond to make you happy.

People like you should do the work themselves to avoid the situation.

[chrism]

Of course the guy is going to think you caused the problem - you took the club away and didn't notice the problem until the NEXT DAY! Think how many people he could have coming back in and saying "you broke my club". When you pick up the club you should agree that you are happy with the condition of it, not checking it out the next day to see.

 

Maybe he could have dealt with the situation better to start with but after you telling him what you want and him then agreeing to meet your request (which was very surprising as he certainly went way beyond what I think he should have) you then might as well have punched him in the face by telling him that even though he did what you wanted to make you happy you were still going to go elsewhere.

[DemolitionMan]

Also, I think you guys are being too nice to this guy. He was not friendly to me at all and I had to fight with him before he would offer anything so I returned the favor.

 

That's the art of negotiation. Basically he has to feel you out to see how firm you are in your case and he wound up accomodating you when you took your stand. As for the GG comment, it could have been avoided with a simple "I'll take care of it when the time comes" or something similar.

 

Exactly. It's a retail manager's job to put up some kind of obstacle before handing out a free club. You think your post here got attention, imagine if it was a post about how nie Golfsmith managers are and how easy it was to get a new Driver. There would be 20 people there the next day with scratched drivers blaming Golfsmith.

 

Golfmsith is not stupid, they know negative situations occur, they get blown out of proportion and hot-heads run to the Internet with their "I'll show you" attitude and tell the world what a lousy company Golfsmith is. They can't help that situation, all they can do is suck it up and deal with each situation the best they can.

 

It sure looks like in your case the manager did the best he could and you got more than you deserved. The Golf Galaxy comment was way out of line and an unnecessary insult. I don't see how you can return to the store and pick up your new $500 driver without offering an apology.

 

Your post should have been about how a very unfortunate situation was made good by a firm, but more than reasonable manager. Instead, you keep defending your position and clearly have learned nothing. If there was any immediate karma in this world, your new driver will be setup all wrong, produce OB shots, and get next to nothing on EBay when you resell it. At the very least this thread and your stubbornness will be a nice swing thought every time you pull that driver out of your bag.

 

It's not too late, do the right thing and take a higher road. You and those around you will feel better about it.

[tpariff]

Of course the guy is going to think you caused the problem - you took the club away and didn't notice the problem until the NEXT DAY! Think how many people he could have coming back in and saying "you broke my club". When you pick up the club you should agree that you are happy with the condition of it, not checking it out the next day to see.

 

Maybe he could have dealt with the situation better to start with but after you telling him what you want and him then agreeing to meet your request (which was very surprising as he certainly went way beyond what I think he should have) you then might as well have punched him in the face by telling him that even though he did what you wanted to make you happy you were still going to go elsewhere.

 

Great point on the NEXT DAY comment! I totally missed that the first time I read the original post. How can someone come back the next day complaining their club is damaged and expect something in return? The manager ended up giving this guy a brand new $500 driver when he shouldn't have. The scratch could have been a result of something else over the day that elapsed.

[nlacross]

WOW WOW WOW

 

I guess the only thing I have to say about this is:

1. Your lucky you got a new club.

2. Every business has the right to refuse a customer since it is private property, etc. Your lucky the manager didn't tell you "your club will be ordered, now don't show your face one these premises again."

 

Good customer service is very important but when someone doesn't show appreciation in what they got due to good customer service, I don't see why the manager didn't tell you to have fun shopping at Golf Galaxy from now on. You have to remember that Golf Smith could have easily pulled out the "we're not responsible for any damages" route and you could have been screwed.