cptjeff

More likely the equipment guys just had some old stock piled up in the back room that they gave him. Kinda like the rangers had 20+ year old shoulders lying around that they gave to Shanny.

Might that high road include defending another customer who's trying to be helpful against a different customer who's being an ass and insulting that other customer? It sounds like they had already tried the 'stating the point in a gentle way' thing, as he had already had two employees fit him and recommended a certain size and skate. Presumably it got explained politely somewhere in that process. Sometimes there are people who just have to be right, and they don't tend to listen to rationed polite debate. Think of politics these days- for every one person who wants to talk about policy, there are 5 screaming their heads off about how Obama's a communist and a nazi, somehow at the same time. Not everyone's going to listen to a calm rationale. Also remember that starsfan was a customer as well, and the guy flat out insulted him for venturing (correct) advice. The shop employee was taking the side of the guy who had been insulted for giving correct advice. In assuming the employee was in the wrong, you have to assume tone, you have the comment could reasonably have been expected to create offense, and I don't think that you can show the second, and you can't make a judgment either way on the first based on text. I can't tell if it was a great thing to say or not, but I find it really difficult to find it completely indefensible, I can't envision much bad press coming out of it. And bad mouthing this guy does will be met with "Well, did you need a smaller size?", and it sounds like they made or kept a loyal customer in starsfan, who will now give them good reviews, if he didn't already. And if it's starsfan giving the good reviews rather then Mr. asshole, the customers they gain are a lot more pleasant to deal with, as the guys who listen to Mr. Asshole probably have similar personalities as well. You're always going to offend somebody, it's unavoidable. The trick is to avoid offending the people you value.

But the good word of mouth from guys who get fitted properly and get competent service will balance that out. If they had let him buy the 9s, he would have walked out, discovered they didn't fit, brought 'em back, make the shop eat the cost, buy the 7.5 vapors like he should have in the first place, and he would still be bad mouthing their service. Idiots like that are a lose lose. If you get them in the right skates, even if it takes being a little rude to do so and risk a walkout, they'll be much more likely to appreciate it later when they realize how helpful the staff really had been. Which would be what? Letting him buy the skates that didn't fit that he would wind up complaining about, and complaining about the people who fit him within a week? The "high road" in most aspects of life is a sure way to get yourself ignored and lose any hope you may have had of getting things done right.

Tell that to speedskaters. They sharpen them flat, and the corners are sharp enough to grab the ice. It's when those corners get rounded off that you have problems.

I went ahead and followed you for that. I hardly ever go on twitter except for when a post of yours is linked in this thread, but it's a really nice thing you're doing.

Looks like they have some nice stuff. Can't wait to hear about your impressions JR.

They waste money buying him sticks? Here you go: http://patterndb.org/main.php?g2_itemId=5232

Quick story. A buddy of mine bought some skis from shop A. He brought them to shop B to have the bindings adjusted and the edges done (shop B close to home and trusted we their techs). The owner of shop B wouldn't do it and told him to bring the stuff back to shop A. Neither me or my buddy purchased anything from shop B again. Shop B lost thousands of dollars in business over $50 in tech work. So it's not that I don't understand it, it's I don't think it makes very much business sense. I didn't buy the skates there, so what. I'm in your shop now looking to do business. If you're gonna turn me away or charge me triple, I'll probably never shop there again. So not only did you lose out on the skate purchase, you're gonna lose out on the stick purchase, the glove purchase, monthly sharpens, ect.. ect.. Imagine if auto dealers did this with repairs and service, you'd be looking at a $100 oil change. Hey if you bought the car from them it would have been free. When it comes to baking I understand the charge. It's time consuming and it's part of the fitting process. So the shop should donate services to you, somebody who bought elsewhere due to marginally lower prices already even if they knew any service they got would be crappy, just in the hope that you MIGHT return and spend money at their shop in the future. Which you wouldn't. You demonstrated that when you bought elsewhere for a buck or two less on a thousand dollar piece of equipment. Why in hell would they cater to you? I dont see it as them wanting the shop to cater for them. Its more the fact that the shop owner wouldnt even do the work. It could have been a brand that shop didnt carry and couldnt get, it could be a variety of reasons why he went to another shop to get his product. In the end I cant blame the guy for not going back and spending money at shop B for the simple fact they refused to do the work, even though it seems this guy had no problem paying for it. To me thats the equivalent of me going into my LHS and them refusing to sharpen my skates because I didnt buy them there. If he was willing to pay for it, then the manager of shop B probably has a problem. But I really, really doubt that he walked in and was willing to actually pay full price for the service. I'm also not sure he realizes that a lot of dealerships do do that with oil changes- you pay $30 for any change, but if you buy the car at a specific dealership they may give you free changes for however many years.

Quick story. A buddy of mine bought some skis from shop A. He brought them to shop B to have the bindings adjusted and the edges done (shop B close to home and trusted we their techs). The owner of shop B wouldn't do it and told him to bring the stuff back to shop A. Neither me or my buddy purchased anything from shop B again. Shop B lost thousands of dollars in business over $50 in tech work. So it's not that I don't understand it, it's I don't think it makes very much business sense. I didn't buy the skates there, so what. I'm in your shop now looking to do business. If you're gonna turn me away or charge me triple, I'll probably never shop there again. So not only did you lose out on the skate purchase, you're gonna lose out on the stick purchase, the glove purchase, monthly sharpens, ect.. ect.. Imagine if auto dealers did this with repairs and service, you'd be looking at a $100 oil change. Hey if you bought the car from them it would have been free. When it comes to baking I understand the charge. It's time consuming and it's part of the fitting process. So the shop should donate services to you, somebody who bought elsewhere due to marginally lower prices already even if they knew any service they got would be crappy, just in the hope that you MIGHT return and spend money at their shop in the future. Which you wouldn't. You demonstrated that when you bought elsewhere for a buck or two less on a thousand dollar piece of equipment. Why in hell would they cater to you?

So if I buy skates at another shop and don't have them sharpened (maybe the wait was too long or the guy who does it was out or just plain sucks) your shop will charge me $15? Incentive...sounds more like a requirement if you ask me. What if I already know what I need and I don't have them baked or sharpened, do I $45 bucks off? If you buy them at the same store, baking and sharpening are free. If you don't, expect to pay money for those services. How is that hard to grasp?

Agreed. But I can see why some might not like a different feel from what they're used to, and I really did always think it was odd to have two lines of skates that were so similar. Any word on if the EQ5 fit will be a different fit or not? Somebody who had the chance to check it out at the MSH skate know?

That's what it's often intended as. Besides, if they call and somebody picks up the phone, letting the caller know they're indeed open, it would be rude and annoying to just hang up without asking anything.

So because a first time customer might become a repeat customer, they should be given a discount anytime you walk in? How the hell do you sell anything at regular price? If they buy there because it's cheap the first time, and you charge them regualr price the next time, they're going to the competing shop that will offer them the discount. It's stupid. You set a competitive price and stick to it, and compete on service and knowledge. Random schlubs who walk through the door don't get discounts. Sorry. As for affording that first set of equipment, buy cheaper gear. You don't need the top end stuff when you're learning. If it's pricey then over in the US due to shipping, the shop can't help that. They have to charge higher prices to make money. Discounts and refunds are rewards for being a loyal customer, not something used to entice somebody to become a loyal customer. Because the latter won't work.

What do you mean by this? Everything in the catalogue looks good. Really like the look of the EQ5 glove. Glass fiber composite instead of carbon fiber. Same stuff that's on the SE10 and the 800c before that.

Few thoughts as I browse through: Tapered wood blade should be nice, comes in their typical SE16 blade patterns. Always nice to have more options for wood blades. S13 helmet seems aimed at the 5500 market. Belt system on the S19 pant looks promising. Graphics package on the shins is much better. The white kneecaps and colored fronts of recent shin lines were rather ugly, not that it matters. Love my ST16s anyway.