Clare sent a message to Herbert Hainer – Chief Executive Officer of Adidas AG email address that said:
Dear Mr Hainer
I wanted to highlight some appalling customer service which I received from a branch of JD Sports stocking Adidas products.
I purchased the Adidas X16 AstroTurf football boots two weeks ago for my son, ahead of his longed (and saved for) football camp which starts tomorrow. He wore them twice, to our dismay the fabric near to the arch of the foot split almost immediately. Confident that I could get the situation resolved, I headed into JD Sports in Reading this morning, with original box, receipt and item. I was unprepared for the argument which occurred between myself and the manager. She looked at them and then got another member of staff to come and have a look and told me that all she could do was send them off for investigation. I told her that I didn't want a refund, just an exchange as the course starts tomorrow, she told me that it wasn't her problem that they where needed tomorrow to which I interjected that I had purchased them two weeks ago ahead of my sons course. At the till point there where no T's and C's, explaining that they do not give refunds and only send items of for 'investigation' - to which she replied that the till with the T's and C's on was upstairs if I wanted to follow her up, not much use when I purchased them at the downstairs tillpoint.
My son plays for Reading FC academy and as such we take his football attire incredibly seriously and have always relied upon your brand. I am at a loss as to what to do next as I did not leave the boots with JD as I was so upset and intimidated by the public argument that all I could do was head for the door and get some fresh air! I certainly will never, ever step foot in a JD store again, and will take no hesitation to post my comments on social media as I find the situation unacceptable. I understand that my so called contract is with JD and not with yourselves, however I would urge you to help and intervene, with JD offering no till point advice is amounts to misleading advise for the customer as I am sure that the majority of people would not purchase if they knew the hoops they had to jump through to get situations resolved, unlike far more established and repeatable organisations like John Lewis and indeed Adidas and Nike directly etc... where you know that the customer is always treated with respect and dignity.
If you are able to help me resolve the above, I would be extremely grateful.
Kind regards
Clare
