Grant sent a message to Edward W. Stack Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dickâs Sporting Goods Email Address that said:
Mr. Stack,
This is an e-mail to recognize an outstanding store manager at your Muncie, IN location.
A little background...
For Christmas my wife purchased a Garmin Forerunner 15 for my 18 year old daughter for Christmas, and a FitBit HR for me at this location.
The FitBit has performed well, while the Garmin has been nothing but problems.
We have contacted Garmin 3x to get the situation fixed and they tried rebooting and reformatting with no success - not really validating or hearing us about the problems that their product was having.
They told us that they could not give us a refund because we had purchased it at Dicks, and not through them directly.
So, this past Saturday (1/23) we went to the Muncie, IN, location where we purchased the Garmin and were initially rebuffed by an employee doing his job and telling us that Dicks policy is, "No refunds on opened electronics."
We asked for the manager and David came up.
He heard us out and how we were "stuck" between Garmins policy and Dicks policy...supporting his employee and the policy, while allowing us to have our say - which was, at times, strongly worded with our frustration over trying to get a fitness tracker that worked.
Here's where he and Dick's won...
He offered us a refund or a store credit...totally defusing the situation.
We, in turn, wanted to honor that, and ended up spending an additional $70 right then and there on another FitBit HR (with my wife now considering one herself) to replace the Garmin.
We realized that there is a loss of some sort, as Dick's will take a small loss on the Garmin not being able to be returned - but the gain of that sale of the FitBit, plus the goodwill will pay off in the long run.
We shop at Dick's for our sporting goods (son plays soccer collegiately, daughter plays soccer and runs track, wife and I both exercise regularly) and will continue to...
David knew his stuff!! He had been trained, I assume, in how to listen and problem solve and make sure that customers feel well taken care of.
I'm not sure where David is headed within the corporation, but I saw a man who takes his job and the brand very seriously. He cared about the brand's reputation and won over my wife and I, my daughter, and potentially those around us that were observing the interaction - as well as those that we will influence going forward.
Kudos to you and your "team" for this happening. I do not believe it was by chance, rather David is a product of some good management training.
Sincerely,
Grant
