This branch of Dick's never ceases to disappoint me. This is especially true of the Golf department.
For example, in June, I brought my 6-iron in to be both regripped, and reshafted from steel to fiberglass. I wanted to assess the job they did on this one club in anticipation of reshafting/regripping my full iron set. Well, I was told that they had NO grips in stock. Hmmm. So, I asked if they could complete the job if I obtained the shafts and grips from another source. The man told me what the cost would be (a good price, actually), so I ordered a shaft and grip from the net, got them a week later, and brought them in to Dick's for the job.
So, I bring my 6-iron into Dick's with the new shaft and grip. The staff member at the golf desk was a well-meaning young man who, it appears, was almost totally new to the store and the golf department. But I trusted Dick's. The young man accepted my club but asked bizarre questions such as "what length do you want us to cut this shaft to?" When I asked him how he was going to perform the job, he said, "Well, I've never done one of these, but I'll make sure our other guy walks me through it." I told him "Please no. Please let him handle it, ok? This is important." He nodded and said "Of course."
When I came back to get the club a few days later, a very competent guy named Council brought out the club to me, and immediately apologized. "For some reason, whoever re-shafted this club used the wrong glue to put the head on with." Indeed, it was black, and smeared over the shaft and head. Council was a gentleman, and said that he was going to reimburse me for the labor.
I have respect for Council, but when I ordered a full set of shafts and grips on the net, I brought them in to Roger Dunn to do the job.
I would have let this all pass, as I do not write many negative reviews at all. So, it takes really bad goods or services to prompt it. Today was the last straw.
My wife needed new swim goggles, so we went to Dick's. While she was there, I went over to the golf department. As I'm looking to replace my hybrids, I saw one I wanted to test out. I brought it to the associate (yet another revolving staff member) and I asked which one of the test mats I could use to test the hybrid. The young man then tells me "we'll have to charge you a $19 fitting fee to test it."
What the . . . ???
Apparently, now they charge a fee for taking a few swings to test a club that you're considering buying.
I told the young man thatthks spring I bought a golf bag there, three dozen golf balls, four gloves, etc., but now I'd have to pay Dick's for the privilege of testing a full-price golf club that until very recently I'd be able to simply step in and test swing for a few minutes????
I told the young man "Thanks anyway."
I anticipate that I may get a response to this that "people were abusing the club testing privilege, so we had to put some restrictions on it." I. Don't. Care. Find another way. It's an amazing insult to charge a paying customer with a history there $19 to test swing a hybrid. The kicker? If I were testing a wedge, it would only cost me nine dollars. But if I were testing a driver, it would cost $29.
It's obvious this branch of Dick's doesn't value it's golf customers. So, I'll spend my golf dollars elsewhere. read more