The saga continues . . . I have in hand a written promise of a rain check from the local store manager at Academy. Not that it means a bloody thing, because they have no intention of providing the product. Here's the text of a chat session I had with an Academy customer service rep:
Uduzei O: Hi, my name is Uduzei O. How may I help you?
Mike: Academy ran a sale ad on Sunday for .22 LR ammunition (limit 10 50-rd boxes). When I went to the store in Birmingham early on Sunday morning your own sales people did not know it was offered and had no stock. They told me to come back the next day in the hope that there would be stock on the truck. I asked if there were any stores in the Birmingham are that did have stock. They checked and found that in the Southeast region the closest stores to have any product were in New Orleans and Kentucky! I have been back every morning since then to no avail. No product is available in this area. Why do you advertise product that you apparently have no desire or ability to deliver? No. Forget that. I'll settle for an answer to this question: when will you provide product that can be purchased locally?
Uduzei O: I will be glad to check this ammunition for you Mike, please do you a SKU #?
Mike: The SKU is not referred to in the ad. It is described as American Eagle .22 Long Rifle Ammo, 50 ct. box. The price is listed as 2.29 per box, limit ten boxes.
Uduzei O: Thanks Mike . . Please Let me see what I can
find out, please give me a few moments, ok?
Mike: Sorry. That was 2.19 per box. . . It is on Page 21A of your sale ad stating "Prices good November 29-December 5, 2015."
Uduzei O: Thanks for holding Mike
Uduzei O: I have checked everywhere it does not seem we have it in stock right now
Mike: So what am I to conclude? That you're not going to honor the ad? When will you get stock? And will you get me a rain check guaranteeing the advertised price?
Uduzei O: Mike those sales ads are based on a sale price for a period or as long as stock last which ever comes first and unfortunately we ran out of stock before the end of the sale
Mike: YOU NEVER HAD THE STOCK! You didn't provide your stores with any. NOT ONE MEASLY BOX.
I'll tell you what. I'll just post a notice on my blog about this little misadventure and my readers can make their own conclusions about where to shop. It's not much of a blog, I just get about 8-9 thousand hits per day. But hey, every little bit helps, right?
Uduzei O: Mike I will channel your observations to management and they might get back in touch with you
Uduzei O: Thanks Mike, I will go ahead and put in my notes that you were informed from the various stores that the .22 LR was never stock
Uduzei O: Mike, Apart from relating you experience with lack of stock of a advertised item, is there any other thing you might need help with today?
Mike: No, I think that about covers it. I'm working on the post for tomorrow right now.
Uduzei O: Thanks for contacting Academy Sports + Outdoor. Be Safe. If you require additional assistance, please contact Customer Service (888)922-2336 7am-12midnight CST or chat & email (customerservice@academy.com) are available 24/7.
So, gentle readers, that-a is that-a, as they say.
10 comments:
Oooooo...look!
A phone number!
I can't even read the whole exchange. The first red flag is you are corresponding with someone name Udouzel. FFS. He
Or her it it is clearly ESL (English as a Sexond Language) and probably not even operating from within the USA and probably in some tech support center in India. So I say fuck Adademy Sports. Don't ever shop there again. I suspect anybody reading your post will no longer shop there either.
Mike, you can put me down as never setting foot in another Academy Store again. I've had some bad dealings with them before....this just cements it. Shop on-line, better deals anyway.
Academy in Texas has almost always had some .22 in stock, albeit rationed, usually 2 or 3 boxes at a time. Several times a month, they will have Remington value boxes of 525, and you could have two. Mostly CCI in 50 and 100 rd boxes, in various weights were available, with some of that Mexican stuff too. Sometimes even .22 short. Walmart here has been better at supplying it, if inconsistent. The "Buyers Club", which was a group of old guys who would buy all of it, then sell it at the same price to club members, so they wouldn't have to stalk Walmart, has disappeared, due to infighting and lack of interest in their club. It WAS pretty weird anyway. I have personally spread out about 10,000 rds to the "needy", either free or at below cost, since the madness began, just to help out a little, and show that a little cooperation and dignity can go a long way.
Brick and mortar retailers tend to treat their "human resources" like something they found on their shoe. Then the "human resources" pass that along to their customers. The big boys and girls in the front offices seem disconnected from anything resembling reality. They seem hell bent on committing corporate suicide, much like the mass media. Let them. You couldn't stop them if you tried anyway.
Time for you to join the 21st century. Become acquainted with "gunbot.net" and have all the ammo you want delivered to your door.
customerservice@academy.com
SUBJECT: Advertised Item
Initially offering a popular product to drive traffic through your door is a valuable marketing technique. Not having said advertised product to sell once you've gotten a potential customer through the door has the opposite effect, and fosters ill will.
My friend Mike tells me that you did exactly that, and although I shopped at Academy Sports for some Christmas items last year, I will not be darkening the door of your store this year! Furthermore, I will tell everyone that I know that business practices are questionable, and let them decide if they can do business with you.
Sincerely,
HinMO
Saw Walmart mentioned. OK this used to work.Don't know anymore though. I used to get
"stock not available" on all types of ammo.
A- locate your store " (Walmart)walmart.com make an account
B-go to sporting
goods dept
C- go to the top and type "ammunition" in the box,and if it say's store info not available-try this
1.click . should be up in the corner somewhere of screen.
2.go down to tools
3.go to the developer tools
4.Then a bunch of stuff comes up
5.click on magnifying glass on the tool bar
6.bring cursor up to store,bring cursor up to store info not available and
highlight only that part then click it
7.on lines below click on store msg style display
8.on the right a red display pops up
9.check and see if your ammo is in stock
10.this is still kinda fun.LOL.
Keep in mind that chewing out a cashier, service drone, or whatnot might be viscerally satisfying, but it's really an exercise in futility with a possible side dish of asshole.
The drone doesn't set policy, make orders, etc. If you want to bludgeon someone, make sure to escalate up the chain at least once.
Hmm. I know I typed go to top and / GOOGLE CHROME on step #1
I'm not even sure the "drone" is doing anything but copy-pasting from a prepared script. It was practically a chat-bot.
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