I had quite possibly my worst retail experience here. You don't go to REI for the cheap bargains, you go for the quality merchandise and expertise, and I am sad to say, what was delivered was far below expectations.
My hubby took me to buy a new pair of hiking shoes as a gift and was willing to invest a decent amount to get me a quality shoe. But not only was there no information to help me compare products, but the whole fitting process was a rather uncomfortable experience.
It started with us looking around, and since there isn't a whole lot of selection in women's brands, it didn't take too long. We even had time to look at the clearance rack. Finally after waiting what seemed like ten minutes, I finally asked aloud, "Is anyone going to help us?"
Now I am not one of those people that likes to be greeted and immediately catered to like a celebrity the moment I enter a store. I like to browse on my own before interacting with questions. But even Big 5 has sales associates standing on hand when you're ready to try on a size. The employee must have heard me and only then came up behind us to offer help, but by then, we had already gotten off to a bad start.
No welcome, no greeting, no assessment of what I needed...fine, I wanted to try on a couple styles I liked based on appearance, and one that was on clearance since I had nothing else to go on. He was able to tell me the cost of one of them since it was marked on sale but had no price advertised. Everything is in the $100+ range except the discounted shoe which is still around $90.
For that amount of money I'd like to know what I'm getting and why instead of going to the competing chain offering a sale for $30. There was no information on any of the shoe boxes and the fit, although comfortable at first, was, according to my sales associate, not right if my toes slide down to the edge of the interior on an incline. Don't all shoes? He couldn't adequately answer.
Now, I will say being able to climb up a rock is a very nice store feature for trying on hiking shoes. But the salesman's solution was to go a half size up after only trying on one shoe. I've tried on enough athletic shoes in my life to know that every brand fits a little different. And since I hadn't tightened the shoelaces adequately for this type of rigorous test, I suggested we try that first.
Well, tightening the shoe laces required an inordinate amount of effort and hurt my fingers which made me want to throw them across the room in frustration, but I'd rather that and have the accuracy. It didn't resolve his test, so he measured my foot. I could see it was exactly at 6, yet he still insisted I should try 6.5. I asked him how the sizing works. If it's different than standard street shoes. He was incapable of answering my question, giving a stock answer "we fit to the foot," which only served to aggravate my frustration.
His other comment was that I have narrow feet. Well, no I have standard width, not wide. But I do have high arches. Now if he had said I had high arches, that would have instilled some confidence in his knowledge and capability in helping me assess and find the right shoe.
I put on the next shoe, which even before I tried the rock was a bad fit, not contouring my arch in the right spot. Even though I know they do not fit right I climb up on the rock to see how they compare. He runs me through the same test which of course fails. I didn't want his opinion at this point, but I play the game. But by this time I wanted to just run out of the store.
Only then does he try to assess what I want the hiking shoes for, to which I answer "everything". I have to spoon feed what I mean by that, since he doesn't know how to properly assess a customer's needs. I finally give him the head on the platter: "Anything from an hour hike to a 20 mile."
Now, I know that many people who like outdoor sports have varying degrees of social skills, but if you are working in sales, you need to know how to deal with different types of people. My salesperson was apparently insensitive to a woman's reaction when you tell her she needs a bigger shoe, you better have a good reason why.
So, as kindly as I could, I said I wanted to do some research online to get better informed on the brands and features (what I didn't say is because he had provided me with zero information on the latter). And to maybe come back.
He then proceeds to tell me what brands not to buy (assuming I went elsewhere), one of which is a brand I've worn over many many hikes and actually liked...but with no information on why that brand would be inferior to what they were offering.
If his sales skills were the equivalent of a commercial, I would have changed the channel in less than 30 seconds. Instead, I made as graceful an exit as I could, but almost felt like crying, leaving both my husband and I feeling pretty terrible. What was supposed to be a fun treat left an extremely unpleasant aftertaste I don't care to repeat. read more