Cas Tigers' shop - customer service!?!

[pomfretian]

I was lucky enough to get a few days in the sun last week and after wearing a Xblades training top for the first time, that I had been given as a present at Christmas, the stitching around the neck has come apart. I called in to the Tigers' shop in Xscape this afternoon to explain this and how I would like to swap the defective shirt for a new one. The shirt has just recently been released by the club and so was clearly brand new. I was asked if had a receipt, to which I said 'no', as it was a gift and I was refused a replacement. I remonstrated for a few minutes: it was a gift, it was clearly a newly released Xblades Cas shirt (and so could not have been bought from Nike, for example), I was not demanding a refund (although the quality of the merchandise is questionable after wearing it just once) and only wanted a replacement so Cas could send the old one back to the manufacturer and get a credit for themselves. All of this was to no avail and I was read the small print on a till receipt about '14 day returns' and 'you need a receipt, sir'. Totally dissatisfied, I mentioned 'what about customer service' and how this was 'not the way to treat fans' (I have been one for 30+ years and have been taking my family to home and away games and buying merchandise all that time.
I asked for the shirt back and left the shop totally disgruntled!

What an extremely bad example of customer service and, whilst I am not asking for Cas to implement an M&S 'no quibble' type set of refund conditions, I am so disappointed that I will not be buying any more merchandise for me, friends or family from now on!

[Darnsarf]

I would Tweet this if as was you as you are much more likely to get a response from the club. Failing that, an email to the CEO wouldn't go amiss.

[pomfretian]

Thanks for the tip. I am very much a 'you get one chance with me' type person and the guy in the shop has had that. I had previously read on the t'internet some similar experiences to mine but this is the first I have experienced it myself and felt compelled to share this with fans on here, because, if taking the much bigger picture into account, we will never progress as a club whilst we are so small minded.

[TT Tiger]

I was lucky enough to get a few days in the sun last week and after wearing a Xblades training top for the first time, that I had been given as a present at Christmas, the stitching around the neck has come apart. I called in to the Tigers' shop in Xscape this afternoon to explain this and how I would like to swap the defective shirt for a new one. The shirt has just recently been released by the club and so was clearly brand new. I was asked if had a receipt, to which I said 'no', as it was a gift and I was refused a replacement. I remonstrated for a few minutes: it was a gift, it was clearly a newly released Xblades Cas shirt (and so could not have been bought from Nike, for example), I was not demanding a refund (although the quality of the merchandise is questionable after wearing it just once) and only wanted a replacement so Cas could send the old one back to the manufacturer and get a credit for themselves. All of this was to no avail and I was read the small print on a till receipt about '14 day returns' and 'you need a receipt, sir'. Totally dissatisfied, I mentioned 'what about customer service' and how this was 'not the way to treat fans' (I have been one for 30+ years and have been taking my family to home and away games and buying merchandise all that time.
I asked for the shirt back and left the shop totally disgruntled!

What an extremely bad example of customer service and, whilst I am not asking for Cas to implement an M&S 'no quibble' type set of refund conditions, I am so disappointed that I will not be buying any more merchandise for me, friends or family from now on!

This is nothing to do with customer service. It’s the returns policy which in your eyes is at fault. If it’s 14 days and you need a receipt yet you turn up after about 80 days and no receipt what do you expect the staff to do break the rules and risk disaplinary action?

[HuddsTigers]

While I sympathise with you on the fact you have only worn it once, it is now 73 days since Christmas Day, which makes this difficult for the club.

Obviously you aren’t entitled to a full refund (which I see you weren’t asking for anyway) due to the fact it’s not within 30 days but equally the club can’t just accept it’s a fault. Could quite easily be wear and tear or damage by a customer even accidentally and these aren’t covered by consumer protection. If the club was to accept this they would be swapping everything every week that is damaged in some way. It wasn’t a fault at the time of purchase as you accepted it was fine when you got it.

That being said I think the club needs to work with you on finding a solution, even if it was just asking you to see if you can contact the purchaser and get them to go in with you with any evidence eg a bank statement and they will look to do something. I’m not sure if the club keeps sales receipts backdated or records of online purchases but surely they must be able to track it somehow? Either that or offering you a discount on a new one so neither party is losing out really.

[pomfretian]

I think the Sale of Goods Act would apply here. The shirt cannot be older than said period since Christmas when it was released and has not lasted a reasonable time (even though it was worn just the once). It could not have been bought from another retailer. It was a gift.
My point is all about customer service and using a manager's discretion. This was not done and I have been left disappointed.

[HuddsTigers]

The Sale of Goods Act doesn’t exist any more. It was replaced in 2015 by the Consumer Rights Act.

However, this is why I said the club should work with you. It’s a non-obvious fault (eg one that you wouldn’t have recognised without wearing it). Standard wear and tear isn’t covered though, which is probably why the club requested a receipt to be able to keep it for their records.

However, as it’s within 6 months the club has to abide by the above law which states if it develops a fault within 6 months you are entitled to a replacement, which is why I said they need to work with you. If they require proof of when it was purchased then I’d get any evidence you can from the purchaser.

Failing that, I’d go to the shop in Carlton Lanes instead if you can as more likely to be someone senior there I’d imagine. Or they could call the club and get someone to pop up to see you.

[pomfretian]

Thanks for the info. I am a bit rusty on consumer law as I find you do not have to quote it to retailers any more as they value customer service and, most importantly, customer retention.

[Mucky1978]

Ya get better customer service in McDonald’s then you do in Cas shop.

[TheSheriff]

Think it depends which one of the useless bunch you talk to, I've had presents swapped without a receipt in the past (granted it was the lanes store not Xscape). So you might have just run into a jobsworth.

[derkster]

Best thing to do is go and buy the same shirt obviously one that isn't faulty then take the faulty one back with the receipt and get your money back. having worked in retail i know people do this all of the time.

[Darnsarf]

I was lucky enough to get a few days in the sun last week and after wearing a Xblades training top for the first time, that I had been given as a present at Christmas, the stitching around the neck has come apart. I called in to the Tigers' shop in Xscape this afternoon to explain this and how I would like to swap the defective shirt for a new one. The shirt has just recently been released by the club and so was clearly brand new. I was asked if had a receipt, to which I said 'no', as it was a gift and I was refused a replacement. I remonstrated for a few minutes: it was a gift, it was clearly a newly released Xblades Cas shirt (and so could not have been bought from Nike, for example), I was not demanding a refund (although the quality of the merchandise is questionable after wearing it just once) and only wanted a replacement so Cas could send the old one back to the manufacturer and get a credit for themselves. All of this was to no avail and I was read the small print on a till receipt about '14 day returns' and 'you need a receipt, sir'. Totally dissatisfied, I mentioned 'what about customer service' and how this was 'not the way to treat fans' (I have been one for 30+ years and have been taking my family to home and away games and buying merchandise all that time.
I asked for the shirt back and left the shop totally disgruntled!

What an extremely bad example of customer service and, whilst I am not asking for Cas to implement an M&S 'no quibble' type set of refund conditions, I am so disappointed that I will not be buying any more merchandise for me, friends or family from now on!

This is nothing to do with customer service. It’s the returns policy which in your eyes is at fault. If it’s 14 days and you need a receipt yet you turn up after about 80 days and no receipt what do you expect the staff to do break the rules and risk disaplinary action?

Actually I think it is to do with customer service (and reputation management). Does the club want to be viewed as one which sticks to the letter of the law regardless of the individual circumstances or does it want to be one which recognises that a little flexibility will go a long way in building a reputation as a customer friendly organisation and will build sales on the back of consumer confidence? You never know, empowering their staff to use their discretion may actually pay dividends in the long run

[nottinghamtiger]

I’m no fan of the marketing and merchandising team at the club, but it’s a bit optimistic to expect any company to exchange something that was bought months ago even with a receipt, never mind without one. You could have been wearing it every day and they club would be inundated with people bringing in “old for new”.
Maybe it could have been handled better, but from a commercial point of view the club can’t be replacing stuff months after it was bought.

[SuffolkTiger]

Although it's frustrating, a like for like situation to yours would be treated in a similar way by most retailers - mainly due to timescales and no receipt.

You are now into the territory of writing to the manager or requesting to see her/him and explaining the situation and how dissatisfied you are.

The guy in the shop isn't authorised to give you a refund/exchange in your situation and I'm sure the manager isn't on site during every trading hour.

Best of luck!

[HuddsTigers]

I was lucky enough to get a few days in the sun last week and after wearing a Xblades training top for the first time, that I had been given as a present at Christmas, the stitching around the neck has come apart. I called in to the Tigers' shop in Xscape this afternoon to explain this and how I would like to swap the defective shirt for a new one. The shirt has just recently been released by the club and so was clearly brand new. I was asked if had a receipt, to which I said 'no', as it was a gift and I was refused a replacement. I remonstrated for a few minutes: it was a gift, it was clearly a newly released Xblades Cas shirt (and so could not have been bought from Nike, for example), I was not demanding a refund (although the quality of the merchandise is questionable after wearing it just once) and only wanted a replacement so Cas could send the old one back to the manufacturer and get a credit for themselves. All of this was to no avail and I was read the small print on a till receipt about '14 day returns' and 'you need a receipt, sir'. Totally dissatisfied, I mentioned 'what about customer service' and how this was 'not the way to treat fans' (I have been one for 30+ years and have been taking my family to home and away games and buying merchandise all that time.
I asked for the shirt back and left the shop totally disgruntled!

What an extremely bad example of customer service and, whilst I am not asking for Cas to implement an M&S 'no quibble' type set of refund conditions, I am so disappointed that I will not be buying any more merchandise for me, friends or family from now on!

This is nothing to do with customer service. It’s the returns policy which in your eyes is at fault. If it’s 14 days and you need a receipt yet you turn up after about 80 days and no receipt what do you expect the staff to do break the rules and risk disaplinary action?

Actually I think it is to do with customer service (and reputation management). Does the club want to be viewed as one which sticks to the letter of the law regardless of the individual circumstances or does it want to be one which recognises that a little flexibility will go a long way in building a reputation as a customer friendly organisation and will build sales on the back of consumer confidence? You never know, empowering their staff to use their discretion may actually pay dividends in the long run

The other way of viewing this is that do we want to pander to fans who want everything, lose money and end up having to cover costs on giving refunds and damaged stock bought months ago or do we want that to go to on the field to keep us at the top end of a table.

Cas is a business, not a charity.

[Darnsarf]

Actually I think it is to do with customer service (and reputation management). Does the club want to be viewed as one which sticks to the letter of the law regardless of the individual circumstances or does it want to be one which recognises that a little flexibility will go a long way in building a reputation as a customer friendly organisation and will build sales on the back of consumer confidence? You never know, empowering their staff to use their discretion may actually pay dividends in the long run

The other way of viewing this is that do we want to pander to fans who want everything, lose money and end up having to cover costs on giving refunds and damaged stock bought months ago or do we want that to go to on the field to keep us at the top end of a table.

Cas is a business, not a charity.

Exactly my point!
Refuse to exchange - don't have the cost of the replacement but lose any future revenue from sales to that customer
Agree to exchange - have the cost of the replacement item but probably ensure future revenues from a satisfied customer.
It's a risk, yes, but business is all about risks and in my view the long term business benefits from a satisfied customer outweigh the risk that the disgruntled customer would carry on buying in the future even without getting a replacement. In this case a £10 cost against possibly hundreds of £ of lost future revenue. After all, they didn't as for a refund!

[nottinghamtiger]

Actually I think it is to do with customer service (and reputation management). Does the club want to be viewed as one which sticks to the letter of the law regardless of the individual circumstances or does it want to be one which recognises that a little flexibility will go a long way in building a reputation as a customer friendly organisation and will build sales on the back of consumer confidence? You never know, empowering their staff to use their discretion may actually pay dividends in the long run

The other way of viewing this is that do we want to pander to fans who want everything, lose money and end up having to cover costs on giving refunds and damaged stock bought months ago or do we want that to go to on the field to keep us at the top end of a table.

Cas is a business, not a charity.

Exactly my point!
Refuse to exchange - don't have the cost of the replacement but lose any future revenue from sales to that customer
Agree to exchange - have the cost of the replacement item but probably ensure future revenues from a satisfied customer.
It's a risk, yes, but business is all about risks and in my view the long term business benefits from a satisfied customer outweigh the risk that the disgruntled customer would carry on buying in the future even without getting a replacement. In this case a £10 cost against possibly hundreds of £ of lost future revenue. After all, they didn't as for a refund!

But not if said customer continues to return old items for new ones because he/she can. And then everyone else starts to do the same.

[lurcher]

the receipt rule was brought in due to stop shoplifters nicking stuff then bringing it back and asking for a refund.

[pomfretian]

As the original poster I see both points of view and I am not an individual who wears things for months and then returns them. I post on here very infrequently but have been a member for many years, that is the same approach / persona I would like to think I have shown in taking back an, as brand new, shirt that the stitching has come away from after I wore it once on a pool type holiday. I would not wear this type of shirt at any other time (I am of a 'mature' age...) and I believe the facts were there and plain to see.

I consider my genuine case has been tainted and 'lumped in' with every other miscreants' attempt to get something for 'nowt' and I am somewhat a victim of an inflexible returns policy, whereas some common sense and a manager's discretion would have resolved this and I would continue as I have done over the preceding 30+ years buying merchandise, which I won't do from now on.

For the record, the chap was the regular store manager.

[Mysterio]

Disgusting.