Sporty's CS Rant

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Joelsweet

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 20, 2015
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Joel
:eek:

Thanks for the few of you not preaching from your high horse.

Mod please delete this thread and my account.
 
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Trade someone your amazon gift card for $50

I think her response was appropriate. Maybe she could've used more 'I'm sorry sir, but we just can't...' or a nicer tone of voice. She may have thought you were a prank caller. I would've been blown away by such a request.

Would you go to walmart and ask the clerk to list an item on Amazon for you?
 
Yeah... I usually don't go into McDonalds and ask them to sell me a Burger King Whopper.

Too much expectation from you for others to make your life a little easier.
 
I wasn't asking them to lose money for me. I wanted to pay more than the MSRP so they wouldn't lose any money... it would've taken ten minutes of their time to list the item and then put it in a box and ship it out. I guess going the extra 1/4 of a mile was too much for Sporty's. But like I mentioned in the post I am not so upset that they couldn't do it, I was upset at how I was treated as a result of my reasonable request.

I guess Sporty's is too big to waste time helping out a small fly like me. **Noted.
 
So, basically you didn't get your way, so they are wrong. Gotcha. Good luck in the future trying to tell a business how they should run it.
 
Yeah, the customer is always right, correct? Even to the point of demanding how and where the company sells its products. :rolleyes2:

Let me guess, you are somewhere in your late teens to early twenties. Ah, the age of entitlement.
 
Your expectation is unrealistic and not in line with their business model. You have nothing to rant about other than being unrealistic in your expectations.
 
No Josh, basically I was treated poorly - if she wasn't rude this post would have never came to be.... Reasonable requests(matter of opinion, don't argue) don't deserve rude treatment. End of story. Period.
 
Joelsweet said:
No Josh, basically I was treated poorly - if she wasn't rude this post would have never came to be.... Reasonable requests(matter of opinion, don't argue) don't deserve rude treatment. End of story. Period.
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Maybe she got rude because your request wasn't reasonable at all, and you refused to listen to that. She may have been rude, but like they say, there are 2 sides to every story. I hate rude CS myself, but everybody can have a bad day.
 
You seem to be someone who normally gets his way or stomps his feet and throws himself to the floor... Who exactly, at Sporty's, did you expect them to assign that little task to? the customer service rep? The guy in the mail-room... the janitor? :rolleyes:
 
SkyDog58 said:
Yeah, the customer is always right, correct? Even to the point of demanding how and where the company sells its products. :rolleyes2:

Let me guess, you are somewhere in your late teens to early twenties. Ah, the age of entitlement.
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Please refer to the definition of 'request' and compare it to 'demand'
 
FlySince9 said:
You seem to be someone who normally gets his way or stomps his feet and throws himself to the floor... Who exactly, at Sporty's, did you expect them to assign that little task to? the customer service rep? The guy in the mail-room... the janitor? :rolleyes:
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You can read me like a book. Hah!

To answer your question, anyone with 10 extra minutes and the wherewithal to understand they could win a customer for life in those 10 extra minutes.

You all seem to know much more about business than I do.... thanks for putting me in my place!
 
Joelsweet said:
You can read me like a book. Hah!

To answer your question, anyone with 10 extra minutes and the wherewithal to understand they could win a customer for life in those 10 extra minutes.

You all seem to know much more about business than I do.... thanks for putting me in my place!
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You're a broke student who may or may not earn a pilot certificate. So far your total purchase with them was a flight bag. If I had to hazard a guess it was the least expensive flight bag. They hedged their bets the lifelong monetary loss won't equate to much.
 
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Agreed. Large companies don't operate like individuals sellers do. It would become a logistical nightmare to try and maintain online stores with several different retain outlets for every product they sell. Why not just pay the usual price without the Amazon markup and spend the Amazon gift cards with Amazon? Your lack of cash flow due to your "flight investments" isn't really the burden of Sporty's or any other vendor.

Sure, it was fine to inquire about the possibility with them, but if they say 'no' (politely or otherwise), you can't really fault them for it.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Agreed. Large companies don't operate like individuals sellers do. It would become a logistical nightmare to try and maintain online stores with several different retain outlets for every product they sell. Why not just pay the usual price without the Amazon markup and spend the Amazon gift cards with Amazon? Your lack of cash flow due to your "flight investments" isn't really the burden of Sporty's or any other vendor.

Sure, it was fine to inquire about the possibility with them, but if they say 'no' (politely or otherwise), you can't really fault them for it.
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Right. The main point here is the fact that they were unreasonably rude in response to my reasonable (dependent upon who you ask) request. Period.
 
pilot_dude said:
You're a broke student who may or may not earn a pilot certificate. So far your total purchase with them was a flight bag. If I had to hazard a guess it was the least expensive flight bag. They hedged their bets the lifelong monetary loss won't equate to much.
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That's a good guess.... clearly I am not worth the time. Why be polite when you can be rude and end the call 30 seconds sooner that way?!

You folks really know what goes into successful business, where did you get your MBAs?... In all seriousness, businesses need to win one customer at a time - Sporty's just lost one, but they are too big to care. I understand now, thanks.
 
Welcome to POA Joel, you can learn a lot on here and get some good feedback, you just gotta take the bad with the good. Some posts just need to be ignored. You might need to thicken up your skin a bit. Don't get too defensive.

Good luck with your training.
 
Joelsweet said:
That's a good guess.... clearly I am not worth the time. Why be polite when you can be rude and end the call 30 seconds sooner that way?!

You folks really know what goes into successful business, where did you get your MBAs?... In all seriousness, businesses need to win one customer at a time - Sporty's just lost one, but they are too big to care. I understand now, thanks.
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Some customers, not implying you, aren't worth retaining as the outflow, whether monetary or time, exceeds the inflow. That was from Bus 101.
 
Joelsweet said:
You folks really know what goes into successful business, where did you get your MBAs?... In all seriousness, businesses need to win one customer at a time - Sporty's just lost one, but they are too big to care. I understand now, thanks.
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One of the best lessons I learned at The Biz School is it is sometimes necessary to fire a customer.

Cheers
 
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The OP has posted things on Amazon and knows it to be a relatively painless process. The folks at Sporty's might not be so cognizant, indeed I doubt they even have an Amazon account. For them to do so would not necessarily be the painless process the OP sees. Unfamiliarity can become a barrier to action.

I do think the CS person should have been nicer about the denial, though. Perhaps very sweetly telling the OP no way, I dunno. They were clearly within their rights not to use a secondary vendor to sell the stuff they sell themselves.

I really don't wish to be mean or off-putting, but I don't see how someone who can't afford a kneeboard can afford flight training. I don't recall what mine cost, but I do recall that it was a pittance compared to the other stuff.

Apologies to the OP that he didn't get the commiseration he sought. Welcome anyway to POA. Hope you stick around.
 
X3 Skier said:
One of the best lessons I learned at The Biz School is it sometimes necessary to fire a customer.

Cheers
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Yup. The OP's requests probably would have cost Sportys more money in labor costs than they would have made in profit on the sale. In addition, a new customer with these kind of demands will probably be a hard to please customer in the future as well.

OP sounds like a whiner who is easily insulted. "Oh no! Bad Lady was really mean to me! She hurt my feelings!"
 
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She was rude.

Guy in the liquor store last night was rude, too. Usually the help is very... helpful. I walk in, he's watching tv. I ask, "Hey, do you guys have this one?" (hold up my phone with pic). He doesn't even look, says "No." keeps watching tv.

Now, I've spent $200 a shot at this place before (I like barrel aged stouts way more than I should), and it really ****ed me off. To the point I'll probably not go back. There are other stores in town with similar selections.

The customer rep sounds like she needs training on how to refuse requests. There's one ginormous difference between "No." and "No, but that's an interesting suggestion. I'll bring that up at our next CSR meeting."
 
Joelsweet said:
You folks really know what goes into successful business, where did you get your MBAs?... In all seriousness, businesses need to win one customer at a time - Sporty's just lost one, but they are too big to care. I understand now, thanks.
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Don't worry. There are plenty of other folks lining up to buy metal landing calculators that they can afford to lose you.
 
Joelsweet said:
I wasn't asking them to lose money for me. I wanted to pay more than the MSRP so they wouldn't lose any money... it would've taken ten minutes of their time to list the item and then put it in a box and ship it out. I guess going the extra 1/4 of a mile was too much for Sporty's. But like I mentioned in the post I am not so upset that they couldn't do it, I was upset at how I was treated as a result of my reasonable request.

I guess Sporty's is too big to waste time helping out a small fly like me. **Noted.
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You are right, a company that has been in business for many years should have changed the way they do things for you. And as far as losing a potential customer, do you think they are upset they lost a customer that doesn't have $50 for a knee board?

Just out of curiosity, after the first time she declined your suggestion. How many times did you re suggest what you wanted. Any customer service has a limit of being polite.
 
Joelsweet said:
You can read me like a book. Hah!

To answer your question, anyone with 10 extra minutes and the wherewithal to understand they could win a customer for life in those 10 extra minutes.

You all seem to know much more about business than I do.... thanks for putting me in my place!
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It really has nothing to do with how simple it is...It is not part of their business model, so they don't have the resources to accommodate you regardless of how simple the process... I think the suggestion to simply sell your AMAZON gift card is the real solution to your dilemma (if you still want to deal with Sporty's) By the way, if 50 bucks is a challenge... you haven't begun to understand the commitment you are about to make...
 
Look, I know it looks like I'm busting your balls. I am, but not for the reason you may think.

We all started off as students. Some of us were dead broke while others were lighting cigars with a Benjamin. Most are somewhere between the extremes.

My point is this; flying is expensive any way you slice it. As was stated above, a knee board is a pittance in the overall cost of earning a certificate. Use the money you would have spent on the knee board for part of another lesson. Make a knee board out of an old clip board and a piece of rope if necessary. Or, reach out here to see if someone can send you an old one no longer being used. Hell, I'll send you my old one.

Could Sporty's have reacted differently? Of course but that cuts both ways.

Welcome to POA.
 
Welcome to POA. Dare I ask why you need a kneeboard anyway? They're hardly a necessity.

I'm hardly the biggest fan of Sportys, but you seem pretty high maintenance for a customer. Expecting someone to research the specifications of a $3 mic muff? Listing an item just for you on Amazon, really?

Under whose Amazon account was the CSR supposed to list the item? Her own account? Create one for her employer and figure out how to work out billing?

I'm assuming you never worked as a CSR. Calls are waiting in queue, and you are trying to keep your average call time down to meet performance goals, and then some dork is asking you to list a kneeboard on Amazon for him because he's too broke to buy it with a credit card.

Might I suggest sending your complaint to consumerist.com? They seem to enjoy running one sided tales of evil businesses screwing over entitled customers.

Joelsweet said:
Am I the only one who has lost faith in Sporty's due to poor treatment like this?...
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In this case, I think you are the only one.
 
pilot_dude said:
Some customers, not implying you, aren't worth retaining as the outflow, whether monetary or time, exceeds the inflow. That was from Bus 101.
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Especially customers who don't have cash, and request you to jump thru extra hoops to trade them for beads, trinkets, and Amazon gift cards.


I have found the worst customers to be those who have crappy credit, very little money, and high expectations of their own worth.

Contrast that to the best customers who are typically affluent, have millions in the bank, and just want simple transactions so they can go about whatever it is they do in life that makes them millions. (That doesn't make them the best people, or excuse them as being SOB's, but they typically are good customers.)
 
Joelsweet said:
That's a good guess.... clearly I am not worth the time. Why be polite when you can be rude and end the call 30 seconds sooner that way?!

You folks really know what goes into successful business, where did you get your MBAs?... In all seriousness, businesses need to win one customer at a time - Sporty's just lost one, but they are too big to care. I understand now, thanks.
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You do realize that you're talking to a demographic that is largely highly successful? So generally yeah, most folks around here know what goes in to running a successful business.
 
I've been less than impressed with Sporty's in the past, to the extent that I don't use them now (and steer people away from them if asked). However, I can see their point here. It would never occur to me to call up a business and ask them to list their product on another platform for my convenience.
 
I'm curious to know how much extra the OP was willing to pay for the product. Something like this would not be a "10 minute" job for a business like sportys but would probably require several different people to be involved, accounts set up, part numbers generated and routings set up, probably much cost in time than the sell price of the product.

So how much more would you have paid?
 
FlySince9 said:
You seem to be someone who normally gets his way or stomps his feet and throws himself to the floor... Who exactly, at Sporty's, did you expect them to assign that little task to? the customer service rep? The guy in the mail-room... the janitor? :rolleyes:
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Exactly. He may know how to "list an item" but many of us still don't. Further, how is the flow of revenue handled? Who's the customer - this guy? Amazon? What does the order taker put down for payment when he puts the order in the system for delivery? Something in the future will come from Amazon?

OP, places like Sporty's don't operate on credit, which is what you were asking them to do. I have had issues with Sporty's, but your request was way out of line.

You might do better with the small pilot supply shops where you can talk to the owner. But you're not getting a Sporty's kneeboard from them.
 
Eh sometimes what seems reasonable and easy to a customer is a nightmare to actually accomplish.
Working for a big beverage company customers ask me to special order in product for stores that don't carry it. Seems easy I order store gets it, but its actually. Product is not in stores inventory system have to get authorization and get it inputted into their system, its also not in the planogram so have to get a work around for that. Theres also no pricing for said product so have to work with pricing coordinator make sure thats right, have to make sure it rings at the registers rather than "item not on file". All to make 1% on a 12 pk of soda pop.

So what the customer thinks is easy and i'm being rude by shutting down the idea would cost me the account manager, the inventory guy, the pricing coordinator at least an hour apiece trying to work this assuming we all make 15-30 bucks an hour one request cost us 100$ or more just to make 8 cents on the case of soda you'll buy a week.

If i was this csr I'd have said no and if pressed I'd probably end up being rude too.
CSR has to bump it up the line, maybe warehouse mgr or some inventory control person, someone in a management role has to create the account spend time w/ shipping details and money details. By the time it gets done you have cost them a few man hours that they could have spent making actual money.

Seems rude but if its anything like my business you have to start talking $1000s before we'll be like okay we'll try to do it.

I'll never be rude to a customer but its honestly almost never worth it to "keep" someone by going above and beyond.
 
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Joelsweet said:
Right. The main point here is the fact that they were unreasonably rude in response to my reasonable (dependent upon who you ask) request. Period.
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I think it is pretty unanimous here that only you find your request reasonable.
 
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