Kent A Bathurst
10-22-2011, 1:22 PM
So........a number of months ago, I went to Highland on one of their 20% Off Saturday [One Item Only] sales. Place is a madhouse those days. I went to get a BS blade. The problem was that there were myriad restrictions/exclusions on the 20% off deal. Had to be in inventory at that time. Any items with other sale prices posted were excluded. Nothing Festool, and other brands excluded.
The only BS blade [out of dozens] that was out of stock was the exact one I needed. Was told "nope - no rain checks, no way, tough kitties, indifferent shrug." Also - I always walk around the Auriou display and drool. The Auriou rasps had a 10% off sign posted [which I had never seen before], so they were excluded. There was something else I was looking at, and the same deal - another discount was already posted. Plus, because of the madhouse that day, the guy I talked with [did not recognize him, and I am in there often enough to recognize most of them] was having a bad day......his attitude toward me was that I was some casual, amateur, know-nothing, WW hick from the Georgia wilderness, and was wasting his time - entirely out of character for Highland people. I walked out, unhappy, and with my wallet still in my pocket. Sent in an unhappy customer email, got into a correspondence with the owner, who was dismayed by what had happened - even offered to send me the BS blade for free - I declined that offer, because I was not complaining to gain yardage - I was complaining because I was disappointed, and to accept the blade would just make me mercenary- which was not my point.
Last - I had him pull me from all of their electronic lists, because I had no use for any future notifications of their sale events - Place is a madhouse, the guy's attitude, and seemed to me that if the stuff I want was going to have a preemptive exclusion, why bother with the trip?
Sooo......This morning, I had to get a different diameter bearing for a slot cutter router bit - all of ten bucks. Went to Highland. Walked into another 20% Off Saturday. Madhouse. Found an employee, told him what I needed, he took me directly to the display, pulled the bearing off the hook, friendly guy.
My trip to the cash register took me by the Auriou display.........20% off - they were included!!!!! Well, there are 3 specific rasps that are excluded....I checked only one of those, and it is the most popular of the product line, IMO, but not the one I wanted.
So, recap:
> Some months ago: Disappointed, take me off the mailing list - I never again want to walk in on a sale day, place is crazy, poor customer service attitude, anything I want - the good stuff - had exclusions to take them off the board.
> Today: Off the mailing list, so no knowledge of the sale [in which case I would not have gone today], 5 minutes with a friendly guy to get what I wanted, and the Auriou were included in the sale.
Karma got together with Irony, and they are laughing their butts off at me. Gotta send another email to the owner, of course - that's only fair.
In the meantime..........I gotta get a hunk of scrap and take my new 20% Off Auriou for a test drive. Karma, Irony, and I are all happy. :D
The only BS blade [out of dozens] that was out of stock was the exact one I needed. Was told "nope - no rain checks, no way, tough kitties, indifferent shrug." Also - I always walk around the Auriou display and drool. The Auriou rasps had a 10% off sign posted [which I had never seen before], so they were excluded. There was something else I was looking at, and the same deal - another discount was already posted. Plus, because of the madhouse that day, the guy I talked with [did not recognize him, and I am in there often enough to recognize most of them] was having a bad day......his attitude toward me was that I was some casual, amateur, know-nothing, WW hick from the Georgia wilderness, and was wasting his time - entirely out of character for Highland people. I walked out, unhappy, and with my wallet still in my pocket. Sent in an unhappy customer email, got into a correspondence with the owner, who was dismayed by what had happened - even offered to send me the BS blade for free - I declined that offer, because I was not complaining to gain yardage - I was complaining because I was disappointed, and to accept the blade would just make me mercenary- which was not my point.
Last - I had him pull me from all of their electronic lists, because I had no use for any future notifications of their sale events - Place is a madhouse, the guy's attitude, and seemed to me that if the stuff I want was going to have a preemptive exclusion, why bother with the trip?
Sooo......This morning, I had to get a different diameter bearing for a slot cutter router bit - all of ten bucks. Went to Highland. Walked into another 20% Off Saturday. Madhouse. Found an employee, told him what I needed, he took me directly to the display, pulled the bearing off the hook, friendly guy.
My trip to the cash register took me by the Auriou display.........20% off - they were included!!!!! Well, there are 3 specific rasps that are excluded....I checked only one of those, and it is the most popular of the product line, IMO, but not the one I wanted.
So, recap:
> Some months ago: Disappointed, take me off the mailing list - I never again want to walk in on a sale day, place is crazy, poor customer service attitude, anything I want - the good stuff - had exclusions to take them off the board.
> Today: Off the mailing list, so no knowledge of the sale [in which case I would not have gone today], 5 minutes with a friendly guy to get what I wanted, and the Auriou were included in the sale.
Karma got together with Irony, and they are laughing their butts off at me. Gotta send another email to the owner, of course - that's only fair.
In the meantime..........I gotta get a hunk of scrap and take my new 20% Off Auriou for a test drive. Karma, Irony, and I are all happy. :D