Just wanted to have another vent. I will get back to the weight loss journey over this weekend but I had such an unnecessary battle yesterday I cant help but to post about it. Two weeks ago I bought Celeb a much desired surf shop (rip curl) watch. I went to great pains to discuss with the assistant the best watch for an 11year old and chose the most expensive ($110.00) watch as it was water proof and had warranty etc. Caleb is a really unusual kid in the respect that he is very meticulous about certain things and I even knew that being waterproof wouldn't matter to him because he would always take it off - just n case. That's just the sort of boy he is. So he is given this flash new watch last Friday 12th for his birthday. The night before last Caleb says to me, 'hey mum sometimes the surf board doesn't go around'. This was the seconds hand. I take it off him and set the time to my watch and sure enough an hour later Caleb's watch is 10 mins behind mine. This is no good I think but not in the least bit concerned after all I have the receipt and it is only two weeks old. The next day (yesterday) I go into CITIBEACH SURF SHOP and put my story to the young girl and then I add that I don't want money back a replacement would be great as Caleb loves the watch. She goes off and returns to tell me that the manager says all they can do is send the watch to their head office then it will be sent over east to Rip Curl and they will determine that its a fault with the watch not Caleb doing something to it then it will be either fixed or replaced. No. I aren't happy with that at all I tell her as this has only been worn for 5 days and is in pristine condition. I want either money back or a replacement. Dont get me wrong if Caleb had of had it for 6 months I would understand but not when he has worn it for only 5 days! I ask to speak to her supervisor. Over bustles the supervisor. I explain my situation and I tell her that i am sorry but it isn't ok with me to do what they are asking given the short period of time we have had the watch. She says she cant do anything about it but will go and ask the general manager. After she finally locates him she comes back with the same policy and that's the best she can offer. Can I speak to the general manager then please, I ask. 5 min later Jamie comes over and I go through the whole story again. He says there is nothing he can do as that's the store policy. Policy Shmolicy my arse! I tell him this isn't good enough. When will the watch be back I ask. Don't know he says. I had already asked that of the supervisor and she didn't know either. I said the same thing to him which was, so, it could be 6 months, 3 weeks who knows??? He said, that's right. He kept saying 'why are you being so aggressive'? This was incensing me because even though I was frustrated and getting upset I was by no means aggressive and had only said one swear word which was your policy is bullshit. He said there was nothing he could do. I asked him if I could send the watch in to Rip Curl or was it just retailers. He said no it wasn't just retailers and he would recommend I do it as they have a 48hour turn around time for the public but no timeliness standards for retailers! By then i was worked up enough to be in tears and I couldn't speak without the prospect of my nose dribbling so I waved my hand at him gathered up the watch and receipt and walked out. Back in my office I wash my face feeling so peeved that I had cried ( a sure sign of weakness in my eyes) but I was so angry I could barely think straight. I started to devise my next plan which was to make a huge sign and stand outside CITIBEACH SURF SHOP chanting 'they are rip offs, they are rip offs' . Firstly I thought I should ring Consumers affairs and ask them what the go is under the law. Consumers affairs were excellent. They advised me that unless CITIBEACH SURF SHOP could give me an acceptable repair and return time frame they had to abide by one of three other options. A, Refund, B, Replace or C, Credit note. So with a deep breath I rang Jamie and told him what the law said and that I chose either a, b or c but sending watch away was no longer an option as they could not give me a reasonable return time. I think he was pissed off at this new news as he banged on about the watch having to be returned and that was store policy. As I work under legislation everyday I had no qualms about quoting him the sections of the act he was breaking. Finally he said he would get me a time frame as being honest and telling me he didn't know obviously wasn't good enough for me. No way, I replied. You don't have that option now buddy as both you and your other supervisor couldn't tell me how long the process would take! He said that even if I took CITIBEACH to court he would still declare this was store policy. I told him the way he was going that's exactly the next forum we would end up in. I gave him my work number after he said he would ring Rip Curl for a 'time to review watch' and I told him I looked forward to hearing back from him. 20 minutes later I take a phone call from Jamie to say he had spoken to the general manager (I thought that's what Jamie was) and they had decided that they would replace the watch. Well. wasn't that big of them (note sarcasm in keys) as long as he can see by the watch there is no damage. I go down to the shop 2 hours later and get an exchanged watch.
Last night Caleb showed us his new pair of sports shoes (bought from CITIBEACH SURF SHOP only 10 days ago and the sole is peeling off one of them AHHHHH. I cant find the receipt but if I paid for them by eftpos it will show on my statement and I will be back for a refund mmmmmm or maybe they need to send them to Globe to make sure the boy hasn't been jumping too hard in them! Moral of the story is Don't give up the fight and Don't shop at stores that don't treat customers with a bit more worth than Citibeach treated me. YEAH, that's one for the little man!!!!!!!!
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