This past year, I was looking to purchase brand new waders for the outdoor activities I enjoy doing. So, I was on the way to a hunting trip in Southern Virginia, and there are multiple well-known outfitters that are on the way there to where the hunting trip was. My dad wanted to surprise me and said we were going to stop at the Bass Pro Shops, right outside of the Richmond area and try on some of the waders that they said they had in stock at this store. Typically, with these specific types of waders, they are hard to find, so we called the store to double check to make sure they had to right set of waders in stock. Bass Pro picked up the phone quickly after going through the teleprompter, and said they had the waders in stock. So, we made it into the store, went back to the wader’s section, and found an employee who was overseeing the waders’ section. We pull up the picture of the waders that I wanted, that was said they were in stock online and when we called before we decided to make a pit stop. The employee went back into the warehouse to see if they have any in stock. So, next thing you know the employee comes out and says, “sorry they are not in stock in our warehouse currently. If you drive to the other store about 30-45 minutes away, they will most likely have them there.” This was very upsetting to hear because the other store down the road said that this was the only store with the waders in stock. Overall, we were about 3.5 hours away from home and was looking forward to being able to see the pair of waders in person. But ultimately, we had to order them online, right off of the website of the company who produces the waders, Sitka. Fortunately, Sitka has very great customer service. So, after having the hurdle that Bass Pro gave my dad and I, ordering the pair I wanted to my house was no problem at all. The main reason of why I wanted to see the product in person too is so I can make sure that I was ordering the correct size for my body type. From this example, this reminds me how Professor Sweet talks about being transparent with your buyer. Transparency goes a long way and can help build that trust between the seller and buyer.
By Luke Jenkins
taylorjt23 
Bondre24 
wheelerne24 3 thoughts on “Bad Sales Experience”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I really like how you compared the situation that you and your dad were in, to the transparency that Prof sweet talked about. It is so much more important than most people think and it is often overlooked. In the long run Bass pro could have lost business from you for a long time because they fed you false narrative.
I would say that in addition to not being transparent, the Bass Pro Shop was straight dishonest with you and your Dad. I’ve had similar experiences where a company will say one thing very directly and it turns out not to be true at all. I get that employee error can happen, but I personally feel that in the case of something as simple as a stocking question it really shouldn’t be an issue.
Luke, this is a very interesting story, and I can say that I have had similar problems with other stores in having items in stock. The situation you and your dad were in was not a good sales experience. I wish Bass Pro had been more transparent, as you said at the end of your post, but more so, I wish they had just been straight up honest with you. That is a lot of hours put into a drive to just be let down. I am glad Sitka had great customer service, and you got them ordered online. Always make sure you get an honest salesperson who actually wants to be transparent. Good job on this post.