Snowboard Shop Customer Service Tips

by The Editors on April 28, 2011

Function4SportsadvertscanDavid Throne, the creator of the 27b/6 site and author of the book The Internet is a Playground has made a career out of often caustic, always hilarious email exchanges with friends, business associates, and random people he encounters. His most infamous post involved Thorne being asked to design a logo with pie charts for free.

Luckily, for all of us, Thorne has recently taken up snowboarding and made the unfortunate purchase of a pair of 180s Gloves from Harrisonburg, Virginia’s Function 4 Sports. Here’s how he described it to a shop employee via email:

Assuming the gloves would be waterproof for use in the snow (possibly due to being told “these are waterproof gloves for use in the snow”) I was surprised to find they became soaked within seconds and bled black ink down my sleeves and all over the front of my jacket. . . Returning to the store immediately, brandishing both the result and receipt, I politely stated that I was not seeking compensation for the ruined jacket, just simply wished to exchange the gloves for a pair not designed to destroy everything they come into contact with. . . I was told, “Fuck off. You’ve worn them.”

In response to Function 4 Sport’s stunning customer service it appears that someone created an ad for Function 4 Sports offering a “Free Burton Snowboard With Ride Boot And Bindings. . . only 4,800 Packages available, no purchase necessary” The ad resulted in over “5,000 calls” to the store according to a quoted mail. From there things only got worse. Click the link for a little reminder that you never know what a customer is capable of especially after telling them to “fuck off.”

[Link: 27b/6]

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

JC April 28, 2011 at 12:31 pm

Classic!

Surf Expo April 28, 2011 at 12:39 pm

Haven’t laughed that hard in weeks.

juan April 28, 2011 at 1:52 pm

Seems about right for 90% of snow, skate surf shops in the US.

Joe April 28, 2011 at 3:21 pm

That is amazing!
“I assumed Ollie is short for Oliver just as Anton is short for a normal sized human”
HAHAHA

itsallovernow April 28, 2011 at 6:02 pm

sounds like a lot of attitude from dudes who work at a place that sells patio furniture in the summer

Phil April 28, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Good riddance, I graduated from JMU (the college right nearby), and I can attest to the staff’s lazy, holier-than-thou attitude, and I never really understood how they stayed in business.

Shay April 28, 2011 at 10:49 pm

Good payback for sure! I felt for the owner at first until I read his comment in the email, “I doubt my staff acted in that way but if they did then it is probably because we get hundreds of weekend warriors in here during ski season and we like to know if they are serious or just window shopping before we waste hours helping them. I’m sick of noobs like you who dont know what they want or shit about snowboarding coming in wasting our time.”

Maybe it’s time he gets out of the ski and snowboard business if he hates weekend warriors and noobs trying to get into it. Jeez wonder how many people are turned off from loving the fun outdoors because of him and his attitude towards customers. What a joke.

ouch! April 29, 2011 at 1:34 am

beyond old. thanks for catching up from a good four months ago.

Randy Bob from VA April 29, 2011 at 8:23 am

Old, yes…did I call for my free gear hoping to have Fuzzy answer, I did. Sadly, some nice lady was on the other end. How ”core” can this store be with the absolute lamest site that pushes patio furniture and yoga?!!!

The do, however, have an uhh-mazing snowboard site, though:

http://function4sports.com/snowboard/

And the term ”nub”… just how far behind is the South?

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