I went on-line to see if they had any in my size. Here's where things went wrong. The catalog lists the price as $34.99 but on-line the price is $49.99. Pricing mistakes such as this happen for a number of legitimate reasons - it's not a case of the shop trying to screw the consumer as some ranting lunatics always seem to insist (BTW, if you're one of those people let me be the first to congratulate you on being so damn perfect that YOU apparently never make a mistake!) I sent the following e-mail to their customer service addy:
"I received the flyer that lists the Forte Kingston shoe for $34.99 but the price on-line is $49.99. Is the flyer a typo?"
Less than 24 hours later I got my response:
"Dear Mr. Kingston,
What is on the cover of the flyer?
Regards,
Amber
Customer Service"
Not quite sure what to make of this response. For starters they confused my name with the name of the shoe. OK, we all have our moments. But the rest of the response is baffling. Am I supposed to be seeing some fine print? A secret code? Waldo? Am I missing something?
I decided to try their instant chat feature hoping for a less puzzling customer experience. Here's the transcript:
Josh Tech: On the website it is $49.99
Chris Lowe: But in the print flyer it's $34.99
Josh Tech: For the catalog price call the order in
Josh Tech: 800-727-2453
Chris Lowe: OK but the flyer says "Web & Phone orders only"
Josh Tech: Yup, the price was $29.99 on the web when that flyer was printed 2 months ago
Josh Tech: so to get the lower price on the flyer, call the order in
Josh Tech: err, $34.99 when it was printed
Chris Lowe: Uh-huh. Just kind of odd since I got the flyer last night. Professionally speaking, things like this create a negative customer experience. Someone higher up the food chain there should probably know.
Josh Tech: Yup. If it was up to use here in Technical Support, the catalogs would not have prices on them
First, kudos to Josh for his candor and honesty. Having worked for REI I understand all too well how decisions made in cubicles can often make life difficult for the people down at the pointy end of the spear who actually have to deal with the customers. Hopefully Josh will run this up the flagpole so Performance can get their various sales channels all on the same pricing plan.
Overall, the issue got resolved but the question is how many customers wouldn't make the effort? I bet most customers would simply walk away after seeing the pricing error. Worse yet, some of them would call customer service and berate some poor CS rep for an error they had nothing to do with it. Either way, it's likely to be a bad outcome for Performance.
Not quite sure what to make of this response. For starters they confused my name with the name of the shoe. OK, we all have our moments. But the rest of the response is baffling. Am I supposed to be seeing some fine print? A secret code? Waldo? Am I missing something?
I decided to try their instant chat feature hoping for a less puzzling customer experience. Here's the transcript:
Josh Tech: On the website it is $49.99
Chris Lowe: But in the print flyer it's $34.99
Josh Tech: For the catalog price call the order in
Josh Tech: 800-727-2453
Chris Lowe: OK but the flyer says "Web & Phone orders only"
Josh Tech: Yup, the price was $29.99 on the web when that flyer was printed 2 months ago
Josh Tech: so to get the lower price on the flyer, call the order in
Josh Tech: err, $34.99 when it was printed
Chris Lowe: Uh-huh. Just kind of odd since I got the flyer last night. Professionally speaking, things like this create a negative customer experience. Someone higher up the food chain there should probably know.
Josh Tech: Yup. If it was up to use here in Technical Support, the catalogs would not have prices on them
First, kudos to Josh for his candor and honesty. Having worked for REI I understand all too well how decisions made in cubicles can often make life difficult for the people down at the pointy end of the spear who actually have to deal with the customers. Hopefully Josh will run this up the flagpole so Performance can get their various sales channels all on the same pricing plan.
Overall, the issue got resolved but the question is how many customers wouldn't make the effort? I bet most customers would simply walk away after seeing the pricing error. Worse yet, some of them would call customer service and berate some poor CS rep for an error they had nothing to do with it. Either way, it's likely to be a bad outcome for Performance.
1 comment:
Ouch...sorry you had THAT experience.
I, too, was intrigues by the Performance Kingston shoes, an ordered a pair a little less than two months ago (along with a pair of their house-brand Forte road tires, discounted to about $6 a pop). There were no pricing errors on the Kingstons (thankfully), and I'll be writing a review of them on the ol' iBOB list. I like the shoes a good deal, with a few minor caveats. I might actually order a second pair, since my usual experience with cycling shoes is that once I find a pair that are better than half-assed, they're discontinued ust as I'm set to go for seconds (and I'm strictly a clips-and-straps guy...go ahead and sue me, but I've had a hard time with clipless setups). The Kingstons are the best shoes I've stepped in since the long-gone Sidi Touring shoes Riv was selling for a while (I still have mine, but they've gone quite limp).
- Barrett
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