Back-to-school shopping used to be a big deal in our household. As my kids get older, they’re losing interest.Down to the wire, today we shopped for school supplies and skateboard shoes. No, neither of my guys are skateboarders, just suckers for the footwear.
My eldest son needed new shoes and he wanted to go to SportChek. After coming to the realization that his feet and Vans don’t get along, he found a perfect pair of Adidas. Despite a BOGO promo, he only needed one pair and I’ll be damned if I was going to buy him another pair he didn’t need just because the store needed to clear out some inventory.
My little one decided he wanted a new pair too. I knew it was either buy them now or in a month, so I agreed knowing at half price, besides it really was a good deal. So while he went cavorting around the shoe department making sure his new Nike boarder shoes were comfortable and wouldn’t be hogging space in his closet, the sales guy told Mr. B. BOGO wouldn’t apply.
What?! The sales guy told me the computer couldn’t handle two pairs of shoes from different sub-departments (one pair from men’s, one pair junior/youth.) Watching other parents in the store with kids trying junior sizes, I told him they were discriminating against parents whose kids needed shoes from different departments and I’d ask to speak to a manager at the cash. He thought it was a good idea but asked me not to tell anyone he said so.
Other than annoying customers, I’m not sure why SportChek doesn’t allow customers to take advantage of the promo if they want to mix and match shoes for kids, men and women.
The cashier told me the BOGO didn’t apply because I was buying one adult pair and one junior pair of shoes. I asked to speak to the manager. When he arrived, the cashier looked at him and pointed her finger at me. (Rude or what? Hello, I’m a customer.)
I was expecting some drama. Didn’t get it. Common sense prevailed. The manager was a pretty reasonable guy. Despite a strange company policy, he was empowered enough to make me happy and close the sale. He agreed the promo guidelines were confusing and said SportChek should have stated the complete BOGO policy on their BOGO signs. In the blink of an eye, he told the cashier to sell me Little Spo’s shoes at half price. I thanked him and asked him to speak to her about pointing fingers at customers. ;)
Had a similar experience lately? What did you do? Would you have asked to get the promo too? Leave a comment.
photo credit: heraldpost on Flickr
