So I've literally NEVER written a bad review ever on Yelp before, or any other review site for that matter. But my recent experience with this Sports Treasures location, and really their corporate office as well, was so ridiculous I just felt like sharing.
I've spent thousands of dollars at Sports Treasures stores in my life, with almost every member of my family and many of my friends being fanatics of some team. And sports treasures has stuff for everybody. Recently this summer, I purchased new Dolphins and Angels jerseys for my dad and uncle for their bdays. Over a $200 purchase. My uncle told me he was a Large, but turns out when he tried it on, it was way too big. Of course I forgot to give him the gift receipt (He lives near Brea mall, I live in Newport beach).... but about a week after I gave it to him, he went over to try to exchange sizes, tags on and everything, not worn yet. He said they were very rude, and told him they couldn't exchange it without a receipt. Ok, fine. Understandable. That is the case with many stores. (but they definitely did not need to be rude about it) Unfortunately, since I didn't live right down the street from Brea, I wasn't able to make it over there to pick up the jersey and try to exchange it myself for about 2 weeks. By this time I totally misplaced the receipt, but I pulled up the transaction on my bank statement and showed it to the cashier and he said that was sufficient to exchange. Great! But then he runs the transaction number..... Ohhhhhh, so sorry, can't exchange this anymore, its been more than 21 days (it had been about 23 days since the purchase)..... Um.... seriously? The tags are still on, we've tried twice now to exchange this, first time was within the 21 days. And we're not asking for a refund, or even a different item... same item, just a different size so he can enjoy his brand new Angels jersey I spent over $100 on. But no, of course it was just a kid at the register and it was not his fault. He's just doing what he's told. Ok, so manager comes in Monday and he DEFINITELY will be able to help me, right? He'd be able to override the policy for this extenuating circumstance, a policy that is created by the store, not written in the Declaration of Independence. Call on Monday.... Manager very rudely says the same. Sorry, you can't exchange, it's not within the 21 days. Are you freaking kidding me? You're the manager! You decide who gets to exchange, even if your little disclaimer on the receipt says 21 days, pretty positive you're allowed to override. This is insane. I don't feel like we were being outrageously difficult or asking for too much. He just wants to be able to wear the jersey I purchased from this place, and we TRIED to return it as soon as we could and by their policies (ie with a receipt/proof of purchase). Apparently this manager did not care if he lost my entire family's business (no one I know will ever purchase another item from this store), and that's fine. Why should he care? He doesn't own the store he just works there. So again another first, I decided to write Sports Treasures corporate store (something I have never done in my life), because surely they would care and be able to make things right? All we need is a different fricken size jersey! But no.... never got a response from them. I've worked in customer service most of my life, and I understand there are policies in place so ridiculous people don't take advantage or just do whatever they want. But I also know it's never worth pissing anyone off this much, and consequently losing money from them and anyone they know that finds out about their bad experience (ie everyone reading this now) over a very simple fix. read more
