Disappointed

To Whom It May Concern,

I am extremely disappointed with the way my experience with Sportsmans Warehouse has been handled.

I visited the Canal Walk Sportsmans Warehouse to purchase a new smar****ch. Unfortunately, they did not have the demo size I originally wanted, so I decided to go for the larger model instead. Although the Canal Walk flagship store did not have stock available, the salesperson advised me that they could order it for me and that I would be able to collect it the following day (Sunday) from the West Coast Village branch, where stock was available. I even mentioned that I would first check with Totalsports to see whether they had stock available. Totalsports did have the watch, but it was approximately R1,000 more expensive.

After going for dinner, I followed the advice given by the salesperson at Sportsman's Warehouse, who suggested that purchasing online would be the best option and what they would have recommended as well. I completed the online purchase and selected a collection from the West Coast Village store, specifically because they had stock available and because my wife works in the same complex, making collection convenient. Looking forward to collecting my watch on Sunday, I called the store to confirm the collection and this is where the problem started. I was informed that although the store physically has stock available, they are unable to hand over one of those units to me and instead have to wait for Head Office to send the specific unit linked to my online order. Had this process been explained upfront, I would never have completed the online purchase and would rather have purchased the watch immediately elsewhere.

To make matters worse, I was advised that a refund would not be immediate and could potentially take longer than simply waiting for delivery. This is incredibly frustrating, especially considering that the store already has stock on hand.

A practical customer focused solution would have been to allocate one of the available units to my order and replenish the stock once the replacement arrives from Head Office.

At no point was this process clearly explained on the website or by the salesperson. I have now paid for a watch that is physically sitting in the store, yet I am still expected to wait 3 to 5 working days to receive it. This level of service and lack of flexibility is extremely disappointing.

I will escalate this matter to Vitality Customer Care and Complaints and will continue pursuing the issue should it not be resolved satisfactorily.