Dick's has become the place that I dread going to, but is the only sports store within a comfortable radius, and with its online promisings of inventory, I often naively think that they might just have what they've tantalizingly offered as being "IN STOCK"! and it being labor day, and not wanting to wait for shipping etc., the gf and I went to Dick's to get a bicycle tube and possible bicycle tire.
We start by calling to make sure they are open (it's labor day, covid-era), and ask if there is a specialist in the bike department. We call, are put on hold, get transferred, the call cuts out, get back to the original person, are again placed on hold, and we decide, eff it, let's just go, holding a bicycle wheel, tire, and partially-inflated inner tube.
It's not Dick's fault that it is located on a large intersection with an exterior door but no exterior parking, and it's not their fault that one has to park through a labyrinth of parking structure mazes that don't connect in any way to its entrance, which can be frustrating.
Where the fault lies is with the customer service. We make it inside, exultant that we've made it this far, and immediately find the small bike section. An employee seems friendly, and we explain our predicament: a seemingly ill-fitting inner tube and tire for a wheel, all of which we've brought in. He indicates that the inner tube numbers should match the tire, which we agree with. We clarify the tires don't seem to match the actual wheel. We ask for the inner tube that we had seen on the Glendale Dick's website, that indicated that there were 2 currently IN STOCK not ten minutes ago, and ask for that particular size. He looks, says no, and when we ask if there's some in the back, he says no, and that they don't update their inventory numbers that often so it's probably wrong and they don't have it. but hey, if you guys find it he'll install it for free! he then disappears, and though we settle on an in-between size that Is in stock, he is no longer to be found.
So far, this has been a typically disappointing Dick's experience. But this is where it gets really bad.
We split up so I can get some small panfish hooks and a container of nightcrawlers and am immediately disappointed to find the LIVE BAIT refrigerator completely empty. On a whim, I open the "FROZEN BAIT" freezer and to my shock, find 11 containers of frozen solid nightcrawlers, ice-burned, rotting, and smelling putrid. Shocked, I open every container, and each one is full of frozen and rotting nightcrawlers.
Quick sidenote: I like to fish. I have been fishing for some 30 years; I have a fishing youtube channel; I have a worm bin in which I grow red wigglers (a smaller composting worm). I know a bit more than the average person about nightcrawlers, which is the tried-and-true beginner's bait, good to have on hand if all else fails, and the trick with nightcrawlers is, that they are ALIVE. Every fishing store sells plenty of plastic and life-like worms in varying types of scents, but almost nothing beats live bait: a nice, live, wriggling nightcrawler.
Live nightcrawlers like cooler temperatures, and go into a sort of cryogenic hibernation when cooled, but cannot live at freezing temperatures. They freeze and die. The containers in which they were stored clearly stated that they were to be stored between 38 and 50 degrees. These, however, were stored at below 32 degrees, died a horrifying death, and likely faced varying temperatures post-mortem, because they stunk like death as well.
Once over the initial shock, I thought it only appropriate to notify staff that the live baits were being improperly stored. As we were checking out, I said something like, Oh, by the way, the nightcrawlers are in the freezer, when they should be in the live bait refrigerator, and was immediately dismissed with, "NOPE, THAT'S HOW WE SELL THEM, isn't that right?" (to the gentleman behind her). "Yup, we don't sell them live," he chimed in, tag-team style, and our merchandise was thrust toward us and it was clear our transaction had completed.
We left, wide-eyed, shocked to silence, at the ignorance, dismissiveness, and plain meanness of Diana (the cashier), and her sales associate. Again, I have come to expect a certain level of apathy and disregard from Dick's employees, but this was next level, and was not only poor customer service, but destruction of inventory and an unwillingness to address it.
Afterward, I was able to share my experience, with one of the manager's, a Wanda, who was appropriately sympathetic and said she'd look into it, but my disappointment with Dick's has now risen to actual shock. read more