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Independent vs online
shaun_from_Africa
Posts: 12,858 Forumite
Being in the market for a new television, I thought that I would have a look in a family run Audio/visual store not too far from where I live.
Before going there last Saturday, I checked on their website for their opening hours and these were shown as 9am to 6pm.
I got there about 2pm to find the place closed.
I was passing again this afternoon so I popped in and discovered that the reason they were closed was because the staff members who were meant to be working last Saturday wanted to go to the pub to watch the England/Ireland rugby and with the agreement of the store owner, this is exactly what they did resulting in me having made a wasted journey.
I could understand them closing on what is probably their busiest trading day of the week if it was an emergency but to do so for a rugby match and without putting anything on their website to inform potential customers about this? and people wonder why internet shopping is taking more and more sales from "real" shops.
Before going there last Saturday, I checked on their website for their opening hours and these were shown as 9am to 6pm.
I got there about 2pm to find the place closed.
I was passing again this afternoon so I popped in and discovered that the reason they were closed was because the staff members who were meant to be working last Saturday wanted to go to the pub to watch the England/Ireland rugby and with the agreement of the store owner, this is exactly what they did resulting in me having made a wasted journey.
I could understand them closing on what is probably their busiest trading day of the week if it was an emergency but to do so for a rugby match and without putting anything on their website to inform potential customers about this? and people wonder why internet shopping is taking more and more sales from "real" shops.
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Comments
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I've got a family member who runs an independent electronics store and they have on occasion done the exact same thing. Mainly for big events, such as England playing in the football. They tend to leave their mobile phone on the door so potential customers can call and they can be back within 5 mins.
Certainly not great from your perspective, and watching a sports game is not *really* an excuse, but I suspect that the manager gave the green light because they anticipated a low amount of business on that particular day (probably mor the reason why internet outperforms independents). And updating the website is a huge hassle for an independent company.
I think they should have left their mobile on the door and gone to a venue close to the shop, that would have been tolerable. But yea, your case is unreasonable. To be fair, though, but they are absolute tools for admitting WHY they hadn't been there! They should have lied and said that they were "ill".0 -
Infuriating that they didn't plan the day off better an update their website... and for something as inconsequential as a sports game.
But I like buying from companies where I know the staff are respected and well-treated...0 -
It's an audio/visual store, could they not have just watched it on their own TVs? That's what we did when I worked at Comet and we had a big game on.0
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Although annoying a small independent retailer is unlikely to update their website everytime they randomly decide to unexpectedly close up for a couple of hours. This is what Twitter is for!0
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It's an audio/visual store, could they not have just watched it on their own TVs?
The only reason that I can think of for not doing this is that like a lot of people, they may have preferred the atmosphere generated by a large group of people watching the match in a pub. (and they probably couldn't have a drink if they watched it in store).0 -
shaun_from_Africa wrote: »The only reason that I can think of for not doing this is that like a lot of people, they may have preferred the atmosphere generated by a large group of people watching the match in a pub. (and they probably couldn't have a drink if they watched it in store).
Spot on! :beer:0 -
Assuming this shop was in England they may have wished they hadn't bothered (unless the staff were Irish)!0
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shaun_from_Africa wrote: »The only reason that I can think of for not doing this is that like a lot of people, they may have preferred the atmosphere generated by a large group of people watching the match in a pub. (and they probably couldn't have a drink if they watched it in store).
Fair enough.
The irony is if this shop were to go out of business they'd probably be the first to complain about the internet and bigger companies causing this. However, it appears like most businesses that have gone under the problems are much closer to home.0 -
Outsider_83 wrote: »I still can't believe I wasted the afternoon going to the store for this TV only to find out there guys were watching the rugby, I am thinking of having a word with the Manager.
We know you're not the OP.
We know you're trying to distract from the fact you posted under your AE on another thread.
This is getting quite ridiculous.0
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