Sports Direct-international 

Poor Product and inadequate response re Karrimor Walking Shoes
E-mail trail tells the story that will eventually lead to small claims process.
But please note that out of all the stuff I have bought from SD in the past I have considered to be reasonable value for money and this is the first time I have plained.
Hi G
As you seem to be ignoring me I will send all future correspondence by registered mail to the below person/address.
Thanks
H

Kimberley Evans
Sports Direct International plc
Unit A Brook Park East
Shirebrook
NG20 8RY

From: H
Sent: 07 July 2017 22:52
To: STORESSPORTSDIRECT.
Subject: RE: Karrimor Quality Issue - CAS-2896971-X8V6P5
Importance: High
Hi G
Can you please respond to the mail below, which was sent 3 days ago (which I suggest is an appropriate and reasonable time for you to pile the information I am requesting), and also provide me with an address for hard copy correspondence.
At the risk of repeating myself the information I need (and which you will be eventually obliged to provide) is:
Provide evidence of how you determine that it is not a manufacturing quality control issue.
How your pany determines that the problem is caused by forced heating.
Criteria you use to determine how the shoes have been incorrectly maintained.
Copy of documentation that stipulates the correct maintenance regime/methodology.
The design life of the shoes and the type of terrain for which the shoes are designed.
Additionally I would like copies of any advertising material for Karrimor D30 walking Shoes.
Might I also suggest that if court proceedings are above your remit that you elevate this issue to a more senior level or your legal department
Thanks
H
Please note that when I refer to ‘you’ it is Sports Direct not you personally.

From: H
Sent: 04 July 2017 10:59
To: 'Inbox - SportsDirect Stores Customer Services'
Subject: RE: Karrimor Quality Issue - CAS-2896971-X8V6P5

Thanks G
Very much appreciate the quick response.
Fully awCritare of the process but not sure where to get an independent inspection for walking shoes. Are there any bodies/associations that do this sort of work that you can re mend? I have done an internet search but have e up with nothing meaningful (maybe I am inputting the incorrect search parameters?).
When I have been thru the Small Claims (SC) process before it has concerned electronic or electrical goods and has been more straightforward.
Also can I ask you to provide evidence of how you determine that it is not a manufacturing quality control issue and how your pany determines that the problem is caused by forced heating. I would also like to know the criteria you use to determine the shoes have been incorrectly maintained.
I would also like a copy of the documentation that stipulates the correct maintenance regime/methodology as I did not receive anything from SD when I purchased the goods (I actually just kept them on my feet after trying them on and the shop assistant disposed of the packaging).
Furthermore I would like to know the design life of the shoes and the type of terrain for which the shoes are designed.
Please note that if I can find an independent expert I will be adding any costs when I take the case thru the SC process.
Also note I will be doing the usual thing and posting Sports Direct response to this request on Face Book and Trustpilot. This is not a threat or indeed is anything that may prejudice any court proceedings – it just seems to be the norm these days.
Thanks
H

From: Inbox - SportsDirect Stores Customer Services [mailto:Storessportsdirect. ]
Sent: 04 July 2017 10:32
To: H
Subject: RE: Karrimor Quality Issue - CAS-2896971-X8V6P5

Dear H
If within the first 6 months of purchase an item develops a suspected fault the onus is on the Retailer to show the item was fit for the purpose intended and free from any inherent faults at the point of sale - however if this occurs after the first 6 months the onus falls to the customer to prove this.
We would advise that you gain an independent inspection on this item by a third party to show there may have been an inherent fault at the point of sale.
Kind regards,
G
Customer Services

---------- Original Message ----------
From: H
Sent: 7/3/2017 12:12:32 PM
To: Storessportsdirect.
Subject: RE: Karrimor Quality Issue - CAS-2896971-X8V6P5
Hi G
The shoes have never been subject to force drying.
Can this decision be over turned or do I just need to follow the small claims procedure thro the courts.
Thanks
H
-------- Original message --------
From: Inbox - SportsDirect Stores Customer Services Storessportsdirect. >
Date: 03/07/2017 11:45 (GMT+00:00)
To: H
Subject: RE: Karrimor Quality Issue - CAS-2896971-X8V6P5
Dear H,
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear of your disappointment. On closer inspection of the photos we are of the opinion that the condition of the shoes do not appear to have not been maintained correctly and could be the result of the shoes cracking. Generally, this would happen when the shoes have been force dried by heat source. We would not consider this to be a manufacturing fault and therefore I regret we are unable to offer a refund or exchange.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
G
Customer Services

---------- Original Message ----------
From: H
Sent: 6/27/2017 4:50:18 PM
To: cssportsdirect.
Subject: Karrimor Quality Issue
Good Day,
I bought a pair of Kerrimor D30 walking Shoes from Sports Direct Newcastle in November 2017. I have lost the receipt but have attached a copy of my credit card statement that says I spent £44.99 on November the 22nd 2016.I was pleased with the shoes as they were very fortable and were perfect for my daily walks (6 x 3 miles per day) when I am at home. The daily walk consists of 1.5 miles of paved roads, 0.5 of countryside and a mile of parkland. However, when it got to late March I noticed cracking and by mid-April the cracks in the uppers made them unwearable and unfit for purpose. The cracks in the uppers are almost identical in both shoes – see attached photographs. I am late in getting in touch with you as I have been working in Scotland since the end of April and have had no available time. What I would like is a replacement pair (assuming this is a one off quality issue) or a voucher for £44.99 towards a better pair of walking shoes.
Regards
H

I am outraged at the postage I paid for next day delivery (£6.99) then 3 days later the item has gone back to warehouse.
I followed the "Tracking" and emailed Sports Direct.
The item was for a school trip so has caused panic to find an alternative item in time.
Terrible service and expensive P&P
Won't use again

I needed to send back some shoes which had a 1 year warranty and Sportsdirect just washed their hands of it and just said contact the Manufacturer. I contacted the Retail Ombudsman and they said Sportsdirect won't communicate with them so basically are giving them the fingers up.

AVOID this mearchant

Cancel some item and don't leave the possibility to cancel the order: what I can do with bike accessories without a bike !!!!! More over the reason for cancelling the item was the shipping address, why did they took my order in the first place !!

emailed to say there was a item missing from my order.
no email back.
you may need to do more customer training

thanks a lot. no wonder your ratings are poor.

Sports direct recently had some bad press for their zero hour contracts and paying heir employees minimum wage. I can tell you as an ex employee that this only scratches the surface.

The company blatantly wields a bully policy to its managers.
Managers are on minimum wage 40 hour contracts and end up working 100+ hours for the same pay!
This causes their stress and bad temperament which the company has used to make it easier to bully the zero hour staff into braking their backs for their tiny paychecks.

Splitting an 8hour shift into 2 4hour shifts to save paying them a statutory lunch hour is one thing but hiring youths to save on a lower minimum wage and emotionally bullying them to work before start time and after finishing time is just slave labour.

If you want to UKs closest thing to a sweatshop them please buy the cheap crap from sports direct.

I seriously feel that working for this company gave me work place anxiety that I am still struggling with today.

No problems at all worked well. Will be more happy if no limit is placed on a number of items that can be purchased.

I've brought from sports direct a few times normally ordering more than one item.

On a couple of orders I've ended up ordering out of stock items with no notification before I've completed my order and paid for it. Most other websites don't let you order if your item is out of stock.

The first time it was only when I realised I was missing an item and queried it I was told it was out of stock and had been canceled. The latest time I did receive and email to let me know the item had been canceled.

What I find frustrating as after this notification I was given no chance to amend my order and select a replacement. Meaning that if I want to order a replacement I have to pay the £3.99 postage again, which isn't cost effective for me on a £10 item. As it's sports direct that have made a mistake by letting me buy an out of stock item and so they should have given me a chance to either choose a replacement or give me free P+P on the replacement as I've already paid the postage and packaging on the original order.

This is a story of major incompetence and indifference on the part of Sports Direct a major retail and online sports merchant which uses a delivery service called Yodel who actually surpass Sports Direct for their incompetence and indifference. I suppose that in an endeavour to cut costs when you pay peanuts you get monkeys!

In my particular case I ordered a pair of Nike Nubuck trainers on Monday evening last week online before the Next Day Delivery cut-off time – for this privilege I paid £5.99.

The online Yodel tracking takes a very long time to update but eventually by late Tuesday evening, having waited in all day, I realised I was not going to get my delivery. This seemed to be confirmed later on by the Yodel online tracking which was the start of a merry-go round for the parcel over the next 3 days.

As online reviews about both companies reveal appalling levels of service and competence, I filed a PayPal claim late on Tuesday evening.

I waited in over the next 3 days receiving conflicting advices from Sports Direct which at one point suggested that the goods were being returned to the warehouse on Thursday and a refund would be issued. Then surprisingly the online tracking suggested that the item was actually out with a courier 3 days late!

When the parcel arrived on Friday morning, I could hear a clinking noise inside the enormous plastic bag. The 2 boxes of trainers had the lids loose and the shoes rolling around inside and there was a further box which it transpired contained a “ complementary “ broken Sports Direct mug.

As a separate issue, it should be pointed out that Sports Direct is still contravening the Distance Selling Regulations by adding such a mug to orders automatically and charging for the privilege. This is known as inertia selling and has been banned by the government . However Sports Direct seems to be a very cavalier outfit and indeed my email to the Chief Executive was – not unexpectedly therefore – ignored.

The bag that my items were in could have contained a dozen boxes of shoes quite easily so it is no wonder that the loosely packed contents were insecure and – in the case of the mug – broken.

Eventually, after waiting for the PayPal procedures to take their course I today, a week after the goods should have arrived, finally received the delivery charge refund of £5.99.

But what a saga!

I don’t suppose that the Chief Executive Dave Forsey bothers to read online reviews about his company, but such an attitude brings to mind the likes of Ryanair who have eventually realised that poor treatment of customers eventually will cost the company dear regardless of whether or not it is the cheapest.

On the one positive note, the trainers I bought were – being from a respected brand – just what I expected , and at a keen price – shame that Sports Direct seems to be unaware of the concept of brand image and loyalty!

Listed below are some of the online confirmations of the detail of this matter and it’s resolution.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Parcel delivered Lincoln home delivery 10th Oct 2014 14:53
Parcel received by local delivery courier Lincoln home delivery 10th Oct 2014 11:28
Parcel out for delivery Lincoln home delivery 10th Oct 2014 07:08
Parcel received at service centre Lincoln service centre 10th Oct 2014 02:17
Parcel received at service centre Wednesbury hub 9th Oct 2014 11:12
Parcel received at service centre Wednesbury hub 9th Oct 2014 10:53
Despatched from service centre Loughborough service centre 9th Oct 2014 06:49
In transit, parcel delayed by 24 hours Loughborough service centre 9th Oct 2014 03:49
Despatched from service centre Wednesbury hub 8th Oct 2014 11:43
Parcel received at service centre Wednesbury hub 8th Oct 2014 11:41
Parcel received at service centre Wednesbury hub 8th Oct 2014 11:09
Despatched from service centre Loughborough service centre 8th Oct 2014 07:05
In transit, parcel delayed by 24 hours Loughborough service centre 7th Oct 2014 23:28
Parcel delivered Loughborough service centre 7th Oct 2014 10:00
Parcel received at service centre Loughborough service centre 7th Oct 2014 05:16
Parcel out for delivery Loughborough service centre 7th Oct 2014 05:00
Despatched from service centre Wednesbury hub 7th Oct 2014 01:47Parcel received at service centre Wednesbury hub 7th Oct 2014 01:46

14/10/2014 02:41 PDT - Buyer: Please read the previous remarks.
• 13/10/2014 12:34 PDT - PayPal: Buyer escalated this dispute to a claim.
• 13/10/2014 12:34 PDT - Buyer: Please see PayPal online correspondence file relating to the delivery of goods purchased online which was supposed to be Next Day ( and for which I paid a premium charge ) but only arrived on the 4th day.
• 13/10/2014 12:31 PDT - Buyer: No response received from Supplier therefore, having emailed them separately during the day, I must now regrettably escalate this Dispute to a Claim in order to obtain reimbursement of the delivery charge. For the record I paid £5.99 on Monday 6th October for next day delivery. This failed to materialize and I did not receive the goods on Friday 10th October. This caused me considerable inconvenience and worry and I had to stay in all day for 4 days waiting for a delivery.
• 10/10/2014 08:07 PDT - Buyer: This item has now been delivered, despite your last message. The mug inside the package was not very well wrapped and after 5 days shuttling around the Yodel system has - not surprisingly - broken.I shall now be grateful if you will refund the delivery charge following which I shall be pleased to close the dispute. I understand from PayPal's guidelines that once a dispute is closed it cannot be re-opened so understandably I would like the delivery charge refunding first as otherwise there is no guarantee that you would refund it.....I can then proceed to respond to your request for feedback.
CASE HISTORY
• 14 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 14 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to buyer
• 14 Oct 2014 - Buyer: Item Not Received case switched to Significantly Not As Described case
• 14 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 14 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to buyer
• 13 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 13 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to buyer
• 13 Oct 2014 - Buyer: Dispute escalated to claim
• 13 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 10 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 9 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to buyer
• 8 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 13 Oct 2014 - Buyer: Dispute opened
• 7 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to seller
• 7 Oct 2014 - PayPal: Email sent to buyer
• 7 Oct 2014 - Buyer: Dispute opened

I placed an online order at the beginning of May. My order came missing an item I had ordered and paid for. I contacted Sports Direct and they advised that my missing item would be sent out. Then I received a automatic email to say the item was no longer in stock. I then had to contact the company to request a refund. I had a reply finally on the 29th May stating my refund would be back in my bank account within 5 days. To date (16th June 14) I have still not received my refund. I have tried emailing but had no response. I fear I have no other choice but to contact Trading Standards. This company are really nothing but thieves.

I have ordered from sportsdirect.com several times, and never experienced any problems.
Easy, quick and nice clothes at respectable prices.

HOW DARE THEY ADD ON A MUG AND MAGAZINE WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE WHEN I PLACE AN ORDER? THIS IS ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS AND SURELY ILLEGAL? DESPITE EMAILING THEM I HAVE NOT HAD A RESPONSE. I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN. THE ONLY REASON I ORDERED ONLINE IS THAT THEIR SHOP STAFF ARE SO COMPLETELY THICK THAT I COULDN'T CONVERSE WITH THEM.

I have bought a few items in the past and they have always been delivered promptly, serious problems occured though when I sent back an item. I ordered a pair of running shoes and they were a bit tight so I sent them back and ordered the next size up on the same day. I expected to receive a refund within one week but after 3 weeks I noticed I still hadn't received anything. I called customer services to find I was number 7 in the queue and then waited for another 20 minutes so I can only assume they have only one or two people answering the phone. When I enquired as to where my refund was I was told that someone tried to refund me 3 weeks prior but that for some reason the refund didn't work and they noted it on the system. They then completely neglected to tell me this and would have no doubt kept the £65 if I hadn't noticed. I find this totally unacceptable particularly because after calling they agreed to send a cheque (which took another 2 weeks) which they should have done in the first place. I wonder how much they make from refunds that "haven't gone through"? My advice would be if you do return something call them the next day to check they have got your item and then ask them to refund it whilst you are on the phone. They get an extra star becasue when I haven't had to return things I have been please with the speed that the items have been despatched, wouldn't use them again though.

I was visiting the Kilburn store to buy a pairs of trainers. I was in the basement in the ladies section seen a pair i liked and could not find a member of floor staff so i went to the cash desk and the guy behind called for a staff member, i went back to the shoe area to wait for him....when he arrived he did not even come down to me he was about 15 feet away and shouted over to me what i needed, they initial trainer i wanted was not available in my size so i chose another style still with him several feet away from me, when he arrived with my trainers he gave me one shoe whilst talking to a colleague, not acknowledging me at all and then walked off leaving me with just one shoe , i waited a few minutes before heading down to the cash desk yet again to find out where her had gone. There was absolutely no customer service what so ever, it was only this one staff member, i understand he may only be on minimum wage, but as are most service staff (i work in a pub where my bar staff are on minimum wage but have a very high level of customer service) .
I was just very shocked with how i was dealt with, there was no need for it , the store was not even busy !

Read the reviews after i placed the order, so i was a little worried. Quick delivery (Brentwood), good quality, nothing mixed up. I will order again.

Placed an order with SD on the Easter Sunday, not expecting to receive the item until around Thursday/Friday the following week due to the bank holiday weekend.

Received my order at Tuesday lunch time. Items were perfect, no faults, no problems.

Husband claimed my free mug though...

All in all, I would definitely order from again, especially if there is another sale on.

I ordered 4 items
2 tracksuits where faulty one was the wrong size and an other was missing the pants.
After 7 e-mails i finnaly got a reply.
30% discount for the pants missing and i could send back the wrong size and they wouldd refund my shipping costs. I had to make a photo of the shipping bill whitch i did.
I ONLY RECEIVED A REFUND FOR THE PRICE OF THE TRACKSUIT THEY SEND WRONG.
Send over 10 e-mail to them but no reply.
Luckely i paid with VISA so i can still open a claim with them.
Over more than 10 years i ordered over the internet but i never experianced this.
I live in Belgium and if annybody knows how i can file a complaint in UK please contact me.

Ordered a pair of trainers online which eventually arrived within a week but which unfortunately came up small. No problem I thought and returned the trainers having filled in the returns slip specifying a replacement not a refund.

Needless to say the replacement shoes were never sent out and emails to SD customer service went unanswered. I eventually got my money back but what a painful and unnecessary experience.

Oh and be warned thay use Yodel delivery service which in itself is a very good reason to shop elsewhere!

I placed an order for some 2012 men's olympic speedos as a momento from the recent Olympics and this was the only retailer I could find that actually had a fair and reasonable price. I placed the order and it arrived quickly and well packed. No problems here for me. The service in the stores can leave something to be desired though, they often don't have stuff they've advertised in-stock, and their returns policy isn't as good as their competitors (eg they don't offer refunds).

Received two 16" black cabin cases today, cannot fault the delivery time. However one of the cases looks as though it has already travelled around the world at least once! It is absolutely filthy. I know I only paid £7.99 plus half the delivery cost (as two were ordered) making a total of approx £10.00, but It wasn't advertised as second hand/nearly new. I tried 'phoning customer services to log a complaint but needless to say after listening to a load of waffle the pre recorded message finally told me what it could have told me at the begining and that was that they were CLOSED. Altough the goods are faulty, I will have to return at my own cost. BE AWARE YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RESLOVE ANY ISSUE WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THIS COMPANY WILL EXPECT YOU TO RETURN GOODS AT YOUR OWN COST EVEN IF FAULTY.