Thanks for confirming it is UFA that owns Wholesale, I thought I was going crazy

2003/04
Over the summer and fall spend so much at gfishin that wife thinks Old Dog Ent. has something over me.
Total is over $1200.
Not a terribly unusual year for gear since whole family fishes and 3 of us hunt.

Strike 1
I bought & paid for a Scotty DR bolt at gfishin, asked clerk to leave it at the till so I could check out some flashers that my kid wanted to show me.
Couple of minutes later went to the checkout to pick up the bolt and the owner told me that it hadn't been left near the till.
Simple misunderstanding at this point, right?
I pointed to it, now having been moved to other side of the till.
He said that it was not mine, and would I like to pay for it?
When shown the invoice he told me that they weren't the same items and I must have dropped the bought one somewhere in the store.
So now I get a bit hot, but can't vent since the kids are with me, and end up with the part after a bit of an argument.

Strike 2
We discover the beauty of 'pigtails' for ease of attaching and removing flashers as per the recommendations of the store in CR.
We run outof 'pigtails' one day so head into gfishin for more.
Can't find them on the wall so ask staff for help.
Get smirked at and told that no such thing exists!
Wife remarks at poor attitude of staff, both of them.

Strike 3
Receive a gorgeous little knife for Christmas from mom, and open it right away.
The hinge is defective, knife has never been used.
Week after Christmas take knife and package and receipt into gfishin for them to replace.
Staff tell me that I have to send it back to the US for the manufacturer to replace.
I question this since I know that this will entail calling the US for a Return Authorization number, then mailing it, and then waiting.
All of this costing me time trouble and money!
Staff say that is the way it is, and return to chatting with buddy.

Now, I owned a retail operation for years and know that it is easy to make mistakes or just simply have a bad day.
I also know how to approach staff in stores to minimize the chances of grief, and maximize the chances of getting what I want.
A pattern of poor service is a whole other issue.

If the new store serves no other purpose than to make gfishin smarten up then it is a good thing.

The bottom line is you have to be an informed and paitient consumer in order to get the best deals.

Smiley.

Howdy re the knife-don't they just take it back from you-give you a new one and send the defective one back to the wholesalers that they got it from like all the other stores?
I am sure they don't buy direct from the manufacturer??
On another note they may be getting a little wiser as I called today for price on 9mm and 45 auto and it is a very reasonable price. Later

Imagine buying "NEW" Bare waders from them and the first time you go fishing they leak. Back to the store and instead of getting a new pair handed to you they say they will have to send them away. After waiting a month for them you finally get a call telling you they are there but there was not leak in them and you owe $14 for shipping. No matter how much you argue they wont give you a new pair. After all this sh$t you decided to fix them yourself and find there are 2 seperate patches in your waders and the crotch still leaks.

My initial enthusiasm for the new store has waned considerably. Huge gaps in their inventory, lots of garbage product in the fishing section and the place doesn't look like is has opened a box of merchandise since it opened in August.

They had better smarten up soon or they will not be around long.

Yeah, I dropped by a couple weeks ago as I was rolling through Nanaimo and I was not that impressed. I asked the salesman where the beadchain swivels were, and he replied "oh, we don't have any yet". Doh.

I have found staff at Wholesale Sports to have a relatively low knowledge of fishing products, with the exception of Barry, especially with fly stuff. Nanaimo's Gone Fishin' has a similar problem, at least recently; they used to have some very experienced anglers behind the counter.

Wholesale Sports' prices are okay. They recently had a great special on Bare Cutthroat waterproof-breathable wading jackets, but had none in the size I wanted, and they didn't offer to try to get that size for me. One staff member asked if I wanted it for Christmas. I guess he wasn't from here on the wet coast, where fall and winter river fishing are the seasons we use these wading jackets.

I left and went to Gone Fishin' to find they also had that jacket on sale, but not as cheap as Wholesale Sports. They also didn't have the size I wanted. However, they immediately fired off an email to their distributor, and this was late Sunday near closing time. My jacket arrived in two days. It was the the latest, more expensive, version of the Cutthroat, the Cutthroat II, which they gave me for the same price as the older versions. I'm really happy with that service! Just goes to show how smaller, local, stores often respond better and faster than big national-international chains.

I just dropped by a friends house today and he showed me a new baitcaster he just bought. It is a Shimano Calcutta 400. He went to this new Wholesale store that everyone is talking about (Nanaimo) and the price for this reel was over $500, that's insane. He then went to a local shop which showed the price as $369, however they had a sale on and he bought it for $269. Wow I'm I glad the big boy came to town with their great prices (snide remark!!!)

Why is this a big surprise to anyone? Did people honestly believe that WS would be the be-all-and-end-all of stores on the Island? WS, in my opinion, has brought some gear to the Island that was simply not here before (a good thing), introduced some competition (a good thing) and put 'local' stores on notice that some of their pricing was not competitive (a good thing). Do they have a great selection of everything, not even close and that is why I continue to buy most of my gear at more 'local' shops.

At the end of the day, it pays to shop around. I've seen both price decreases and selection increase at a number of stores on the Island who are in direct competition with WS. As a consumer, if you want to go to one place, pay more and get everything at one place then perhaps WS is for you but I know that I can get better, as an example, saltwater tackle for cheaper prices at a number of other locations in the area (I am not talking about CT and WM) and I am going to continue to do that. Plus, MOST of the time, I get to talk to someone who actually fishes and doesn't try to tell me that the line I am putting on my reel is "too strong" (guess the fact I've been fishing for 20+ years on the coast doesn't count).

Will I shop at WS...yes. Is it my 'savior'? ... not even close.

Cheers All,

X2 : ratherbefishing: I could not have said it better!