Sports Chalet does not price match with Scuba.com

[hoopa]

The irony is-- its no longer a lds vs online.. If you want to have a competitive lds-- you need to have a online presence... I look at that manager at Sports Chalet and think she is 100% wrong.. Right now she lost a sale,lost a potential future customer, lost good will with a current customer, and is currently being discussed by the dive community as a whole(in a negative light)... Instead of all that negativity-- she could have offered to price match and smiled and told the op to tell his friends to visit sports chalet... Sports chalet would have lost zero dollars-- had a sale--sold more units of said fins and kept a sport chalet dive customer there... Right now they have no sale-- no customer and ill will in the community.. If i was her supervise. i would have sat her down and had a gooood long chat... She won the battle but lost the war..

As for lds vs online.. You need both.. a lds cant sell enough to reallllly make it... If they introduce online-- they sell way more stuff.. Allowing them to get price breaks on future orders do to much larger lots placed--- and allowing them to afford keeping the place stocked cause the gear turns over vs just sitting there.. and why not sell online.. You go from a universe of the couple of thousand people living around you-- to literally the entire world as potential customers.. scuba.com and those online stores arnt losing money-- they are doing quite well.. So the lds that says "there isnt enough margin there"---- they are just missing the opportunity of being both brick and morter and capturing that walk in customer, along with all the customers the web brings with it.. When someone buys a widget via online-- you have no idea what else they may need down the line(dry suit-- rebreather-- refresh of gear etc).. Would you rather make 40% of those larger purchases-- or make a 100% of none of those purchases cause you didnt sell online... Times have changed and the lds that can keep up-- will win..

 

[scubasteve8]

I literally just got back from Sport Chalet in Irvine and it seems like they got some issues with the price matching policy. While this wasn't for scuba gear I think it's a perfect example of some customer service issues. So here's how the story goes..

I called Sport Chalet and asked them if they would price match a fishing rod from Cabela's and the employee said yes as long as they have it in stock at one of their stores. A few minutes later I get to the store, grab the fishing rod and thought it was all gravy from here on until the manager came to the register. First she expressed her feelings about Cabela's, how bad their customer service is and how they're supposedly going out of business. Then she spent about 10 minutes on the phone trying to contact a Cabela's store(it took me less than 2 minutes on my phone) and when she did get a hold of them she simply asked for the price of the fishing rod and said ok and hung up. She then tells me that they're out of stock and that the deal is only an online deal. Before I went to Sport Chalet I called Cablea's to make sure they had it in stock and that it wasn't just an online deal. I tell her that and she doesn't believe me and repetitively tells me "Sorry, we cannot price match the fishing rod since the sale is an online sale and not valid in their stores". I try to explain to her that I called them myself and confirmed that they do have that price in store and that it is in stock but she was in disbelief. Eventually I even offered to call them myself and put it on speakerphone but she refused and continually repeated herself about their price matching policy. I got fed up and just left.

I've mostly had good experiences with Sport Chalet but I think this just kills it for me.

 

[Scubamike16]

Hi Scubasteve8,

I feel the pain you went through at Sports Chalet. Now you know how I felt when I called the shop and asked if they price matched then drove to the store to get the fins only to be told by a Manager that they don't price match SCUBA.com, but they will any other dive shop. I find it sad that Sports Chalet bashes other shops like SCUBA.com and Cabela's and claims how bad their service is bad and SC's is much much better. I think its bad when stores bash one another, but this type of behavior seems to be expected at SC. I find it child like and why not all play nicely. I have vowed to not buy any large purchases of scuba equipment from them and stick to my other LDS that are more apt to give much better customer service and price on large scuba items I wish to purchase. SC may get small amounts of money from me for Mask Defogger, or a mask bag, but as for a new Regulator or Dive Computer i'll sitck other places, plus I seem to be finding that the persons working the Scuba area are not an instructor, but have maybe and AOW Card. As for their Classes, well thats another topic for a new thread.

Thank you all again for your insights and opinions on this.

 

[webjr]

I wouldn't buy anything from Sports Chalet anyway. I tried getting a couple of tanks filled there and the dimwit working the fill station did not know how to read a hydro stamp. That's not just stupid, it's unsafe.
Shop elsewhere.

Edit
That was the La Jolla Village location last summer

 

[blue steal]

I have purchased a few small items at SC, defog, weight belt, weights, and a set of fins on close out. Used to rent from them as their rental gear was in pretty good condition and you could pick up the gear anytime and drop off anytime before closing. I had my tanks filled there a few times because it was close, but there was always a problem, short fills, compressor konked out, can't fill HP unless you leave it overnight, and the tank was always so darn hot when I did get back you could cook an egg on it.