So I called up Dick's Sporting Goods looking for a particular rifle. I called the Dedham store, and they did in fact not only have the rifle (pretty high-end model), but the price was amazing, far below what I expected. I told them to please hold it for me and I would be over to pick it up. I get to store, and they have the rifle, it is exactly what I want, and like I said, price is awesome. But, the salesman tells me that their fingerprint scanner is broken and I'll need my pin. He apologizes profusely for not telling me this when I called. I don't know my pin, but no problem, I'm not upset in any way and the guy is far more apologetic than necessary. I figure I can always go home and get pin, and pick up rifle during the week. On a whim, I ask the guy if he can check another store to see if they have it, because maybe I can just get it there if their scanner is fine. Turns out they have 2 in North Attleboro, which is near where I live anyway, so I'm pleased. So I head over to that store. So far everything is good, impressed by Dick's.
I get to North Attleboro store (super nice Lodge there), and they have the rifle, price is same, and the Lodge salesman is pretty nice and knowledgeable guy. I go through the purchase, no problem, very relaxing straightforward experience. They even have the somewhat strange ammo for it, so I get some of that. The salesman walks me up front, we stand in line. Get up to the cash register, they ring it up, no problems. I pull out credit card to pay, and the cashier asks "would you like to sign up to our rewards card (Dick's Scorecard)?" I say "No thank you." This is where it gets strange.
At this point cashier says I *have* to sign up for it. But I don't want to, so I say no thank you. Manager is there, and says that since I'm purchasing a firearm, I have to sign up to it. I respond that no, I don't have to, that makes no sense. So we go back and forth for a few minutes, and I get more annoyed. I look like a younger kid, but I'm in my 30s so I'm a little too old to get brow-beaten into something, especially when it is another scheme to get my name, address, telephone, email... Especially if I don't want it. Sure, it may be a great idea and save me tons of money, but I should still have right to say no. If I were forced to say yes to every card in every store it would be insanity. So the back and forth gets decently heated because I don't take kindly to being told what I *have* to do, especially when I'm the customer spending money in the store.
So I decide to fight this out to end, and I refuse to budge. Manager tells me that I can sign up and throw it away in parking lot if I want, it doesn't matter. To which I respond "why would I sign up for something I intend to throw away?!". Manager then tries to tell me that I won't get any junk mail or anything at all. But I don't care, I don't want to do it for whatever reason. So he at some point says "but I'm just asking you to sign up for this" to which I say flat out "you are demanding. I have no choice, you aren't taking 'no' as an answer. I'm saying no. You are demanding and requiring, not asking. Admit it." At this point, I am raising my voice somewhat, so other customers at the registers can hear.
Since I pretty much called him as clearly as possible on the fact that he was giving me no damn choice and was forcing me into it, and other customers were most likely now looking over to see what was happening, the manager finally gave in and suddenly they didn't need me to sign up for it and the sale continued without it. The manager was a nice guy, shook my hand, but it was still pretty strange.
I bring this up not to say that Dick's sucks or the people in the store were bad. On the contrary, I was actually having an excellent shopping experience and the prices were beating pretty much any other place I could think of. The salespeople were very helpful and friendly, and even were overly apologetic to small issues over which they had no control.
I just want people to keep an eye on store policies like this, and to push back on them, so that they don't grow and end up cropping up all over the place. There is no reason why I should have to give a store my information just to purchase an item from them. If they want to make a reward card available, great, but it should be an opt in, not an argue-for-fifteen-minutes-just-to-opt-out. This was definitely a case where I felt that there was an attempt to strong arm me into something I didn't want, and in such cases I push back 10x more. Keep an eye on this sort of thing guys.
I get to North Attleboro store (super nice Lodge there), and they have the rifle, price is same, and the Lodge salesman is pretty nice and knowledgeable guy. I go through the purchase, no problem, very relaxing straightforward experience. They even have the somewhat strange ammo for it, so I get some of that. The salesman walks me up front, we stand in line. Get up to the cash register, they ring it up, no problems. I pull out credit card to pay, and the cashier asks "would you like to sign up to our rewards card (Dick's Scorecard)?" I say "No thank you." This is where it gets strange.
At this point cashier says I *have* to sign up for it. But I don't want to, so I say no thank you. Manager is there, and says that since I'm purchasing a firearm, I have to sign up to it. I respond that no, I don't have to, that makes no sense. So we go back and forth for a few minutes, and I get more annoyed. I look like a younger kid, but I'm in my 30s so I'm a little too old to get brow-beaten into something, especially when it is another scheme to get my name, address, telephone, email... Especially if I don't want it. Sure, it may be a great idea and save me tons of money, but I should still have right to say no. If I were forced to say yes to every card in every store it would be insanity. So the back and forth gets decently heated because I don't take kindly to being told what I *have* to do, especially when I'm the customer spending money in the store.
So I decide to fight this out to end, and I refuse to budge. Manager tells me that I can sign up and throw it away in parking lot if I want, it doesn't matter. To which I respond "why would I sign up for something I intend to throw away?!". Manager then tries to tell me that I won't get any junk mail or anything at all. But I don't care, I don't want to do it for whatever reason. So he at some point says "but I'm just asking you to sign up for this" to which I say flat out "you are demanding. I have no choice, you aren't taking 'no' as an answer. I'm saying no. You are demanding and requiring, not asking. Admit it." At this point, I am raising my voice somewhat, so other customers at the registers can hear.
Since I pretty much called him as clearly as possible on the fact that he was giving me no damn choice and was forcing me into it, and other customers were most likely now looking over to see what was happening, the manager finally gave in and suddenly they didn't need me to sign up for it and the sale continued without it. The manager was a nice guy, shook my hand, but it was still pretty strange.
I bring this up not to say that Dick's sucks or the people in the store were bad. On the contrary, I was actually having an excellent shopping experience and the prices were beating pretty much any other place I could think of. The salespeople were very helpful and friendly, and even were overly apologetic to small issues over which they had no control.
I just want people to keep an eye on store policies like this, and to push back on them, so that they don't grow and end up cropping up all over the place. There is no reason why I should have to give a store my information just to purchase an item from them. If they want to make a reward card available, great, but it should be an opt in, not an argue-for-fifteen-minutes-just-to-opt-out. This was definitely a case where I felt that there was an attempt to strong arm me into something I didn't want, and in such cases I push back 10x more. Keep an eye on this sort of thing guys.
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