 I decided to take a trip to the GO Outdoors store in Southampton today, having never been there before and having noticed it whilst driving home from IKEA a while back  Anyway, I picked up a Montane Featherlite smock advertised as being £25 with a £5 discount card. I spent a good half an hour picking up a few other 'retail therapy' items . When I (eventually ) got to the till they tried charging me £45 for the Montane ( having taken my details for the 'discount card' ) They reckon the deal had ended and that there would have been 'small print' on the sign. What every happened to the idea that 'the customer is always right' ? It's not like it's a particularly cheap place to buy stuff, what's the point of going to a 'real' shop if they treat customers this way ? I certainly did not want to spend the £5 on a 'discount/ loyalty card' if that's the way they treat customers. I handed back the card and walked out . The really annoying thing is that they are actually still advertising it at £25 on their web site ! PS the store itself has getting on for as much 'low end tat' as the likes of Sports Direct etc.. all 'HiTec' walking boots and stuff... pretty dissapointing really, it's a huge place as well.
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| Edited: 19/09/11 19:13 |
 Um... order it from the website? They do have a lot of offers that are time-limited, though you're right - this one does seem to be running still! I've found the Go Outdoors staff generally helpful, and they've looked stuff up on the computer in store when necessary - perhaps that would have beena way to sort things out in the shop?
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It is definitely a mixed bag with service at the Sheffield store. It all depends who you get on the day. Some are really not up to the job but others are really helpful and go out of their way to assist and are very informative. If I want accurate info I usually can find someone. If I am not happy with the service I am getting I seek out a manager. You have to watch their prices though. They are not as competitive on price as they used to be. I suppose one could say this about many stores
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I'm quite glad I didn't get the new Montain, I won a used Pertex top on Ebay for less than a tenner.. And it's got a hood and drawstring too , just needs a bit of Seamgripping and it'll be good to go
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Just do what I did and get your shopping list and walk in with a smart phone. They give you 10% off the cheapest price you can find on the net, so I generally get about 15-30% off the gooutdoors standard price. For example this weekend I bought Scarpa Mantas for £170, Grivel G12 Newmatics for £90 and a Munro iceaxe for £37, all new. Thats basically £100 off That will make you a lot happier shopping there!
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 > What every happened to the idea that 'the customer is always right' ? I think the more pertinent question is 'whatever happened to the Trades Descriptions Act?' Shops have to be very careful with misleading signage; it's an offence to display one price and then charge another. Did someone go and remove the misleading price ticket as soon as the 'mistake' was pointed out to them? Tesco take this so seriously that they will (or would) refund you with twice what you'd been charged, as well as giving you the item, and will immediately remove the offending price tag.
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This is partly what annoyed me enough to walk out with out buying any thing.
The till girl radioed the big boss and he smugly pronounced that there is a date range printed on the sign.
The thing is the sign was right at the top of the wall and I would have had difficulty reading the small print even if I had of noticed it !
New gear is just too expensive now and wandering around a shop the size of a couple of football pitches I could't really find any thing I actually /needed/ for my next trip !
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 tesco remember when they got their baked bean price at the till worng. that half pence difference cost them a £10,000 fine. the advantage of the ubiquitous mobile phone is to offer it up asking them if they would like to phone trading standards to check.
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 I had problems with this store as well. Per their website there were some shoes I wanted at a discounted price in stock - in store only. So along I go and find the website is lying. The staff basically told me I was better off trying their Basingstoke store as Southampton is a new store and hasn't got the bargains yet. Have yet to buy anything - if I want something at a discount I find Field and Trek have much more selection.
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 Go Are my last resort if I need something,would rather pay more and do to get great service from peeps who know what they are selling. it often makes me laugh when I hear the staff at these type of shops trying to explain/sell/push items they dont have a clue about to customers who likewise dont have a clue 
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| Edited: 23/09/11 05:10 |
> The till girl radioed the big boss and he smugly pronounced that there is a date range printed on the sign. Again, Tesco is a good example; their discount labels also have a date qualifier on them (in fairly small, but still legible print). They don't try to use this as an excuse (IME, anyway), and will honour their 'compensation' scheme; the customer service manager went with me to the relevant cabinet to confirm the incorrect labelling, and removed the offending label there and then. His argument (which I thought quite fair) was that they have a lot of labels, and some of them are missed when they should be removed (human error). They consider their compensation scheme to be a cheap way of checking that errors are found, encouraging and rewarding customers to do the checking for them... If Go's labelling is so small as to be illegible, I think Trading Standards might have a few words of 'advice'... I've bought stuff from Go Outdoors/CCC over the years, and been happy with their service.
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I went on GoOutdoors site this morning to look at the Featherlite Smock. £25 various sizes in Blue only. I rang the Sheffield store to check sizes available. I questioned the price and they told me the store matches their website prices. Off I went. In the store I found the smock with a large freestanding price board stating £25. I picked one up and went to pay and told the assistant that the price is £25 and she completely blanked me and said the price is coming up at £45. I asked for the supervisor who immediately sanctioned the sale. The assistant never gave me any eye contact. I pointed to the chalk board at the checkout and there it said Featherlite Smock Our Price £25. Unbelievable Great garment by the way, really pleased with it especially at £25
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 I bought a pair of Berghaus GTX boots from Go outdoors last April, and have now found out that the stiching is coming away leading to a hole/gap in the uppers. The problem is I cant find my receipt, so, does your Go outdoors voucher card stand as proof of purchase? I am assuming you'r purchasing details are recorded. AnyhooI have generally found the staff to be pretty efficient, and a nice bit of competition for the local Tiso.
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 From my experience, everything you buy at GoOutdoors is logged via your discount card. I've returned stuff before without the receipt.
While some of the staff might not be the most knowledgeable, I never expect them to be any way, you can still pick up a bargain or two.
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 I've had several issues with GO on their advertising. A while ago they advertised Paramo Velez Smocks at £50 odd quid. It turned out they actually had one or two in blue, in small, at one store. Same story on numerous items ive seen. As for staff - as someone else said, some really good, some less so. In fairness though, I've never had an issue with my local store particularly. And, if you do as suggested and play their game with the 10% thing you can get some reallly good bargains - Garmin GPSMap 62s with UK1:50,000 for £320 just the other week! If I'm making a serious purchase though I will tend to nip up to Ambleside or the like and shop there instead. The extra few quid is worth the expert advice.
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I popped down yesterday with my boots and explained to the staff about not having a receipt. Fenswick was right, they checked my card and noted the date, they then took the boots so they could be sent to Berghaus, then wrote me a receipt for them. The staff were no problem at all, very polite and all that. The guy I dealt with reckons that because they are only 4 months old, Berghaus will probably send me a new pair, he reckoned if they were nearer 12 months old, they would try and repair them.
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> I asked for the supervisor who immediately sanctioned the sale. The assistant never gave me any eye contact. My reading of the psychology is that the assistant knew that the till price was wrong, and that they ought to be charging the advertised price, but, for whatever reason, was sticking to the 'computer says no' line. If that reason is that they had been instructed to charge the till price, and ignore the advertised price, then it's certainly an issue for Trading Standards. IMO, the supervisor should have immediately done one of two things, after you had pointed out the error: i) removed the offending sign, or ii) corrected the price being charged by the till.
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I have never had a problem with the staff at any of the shops on a personal level but I di find that they are often, especially the lower level one, part of the normal large operation system. They can't change the till or don't have authority to do so, they are often told to think for them selves (ie don't come running to me every 5 minutes etc and generally are on the same wavelength as supermarket checkout staff. That is nice to talk to but not there to think. Fair enough. My other moan is that they don't tend to be the rabid outdoor enthusiast that you tend to get in the smaller shops in the hiily areas. That goes for management to . Why worry, its the nature of modern shops.
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 It's interesting to find the same comments on this thread as we get from customers coming into our independent shop - namely that they were enticed over to Go Outdoors by the promise of e.g. a Berghaus Waterproof for £25, then when they checked it out there was only one Small Shocking Pink available. Like anyone, I love a bargain, but I wouldn't expect staff there to have the same knowledge as an independent, nor to really care if the customer is getting the right product in many cases. I'd like to think there is enough room on the high street for both the "pile it high" warehouse and the quality independent - but to be honest, only customers will decide if that is the case.
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