Company Store

Callum McLachlan

a month ago

The store itself is fantastic and the range of stock is excellent. I was super excited to visit. Unfortunately, the staff and customer service were a huge let-down. Throughout the Thursday night pre-sale event, the staff came across as dismissive and had quite an attitude, particularly when it came to smaller purchases. At the same time, there was a lot of pressure to buy additional products and more than we actually wanted. Rather than feeling like helpful recommendations, it felt like a very forced sales approach. The biggest issue was a bundle that was clearly advertised for $69.90 on a fully displayed A4 price sign. I purchased it, only to realise afterwards that I had actually been charged $115. When I went back and questioned the price, I was told the $69.90 sign was an old ticket and that someone had messed up. I asked whether they could fix it and was immediately met with a very blunt and dismissive "No, we can't." I later realised the person I was speaking to was the manager. I questioned it again, at which point the conversation became awkward and I was told they couldn't roll it back to the old price and couldn't honour the displayed price. Australian Consumer Law has requirements around displayed pricing and misleading price representations. I understand that an expired promotion may be treated differently from two simultaneously valid displayed prices, so my issue isn't simply that a mistake was made. My issue is that the $69.90 price was still prominently displayed to customers, I made my purchasing decision based on that displayed price, and I was then charged $115. Had the $69.90 ticket not been displayed, I would not have purchased the bundle in the first place. When I raised the discrepancy and asked whether they could fix it, there was also no offer to refund the items or otherwise undo the purchase so I could reconsider what I wanted to buy, as on further review, there was another bundle with the item for a similar price. Its obvious they just wanted the higher sale. Regardless of whether the $69.90 promotion had technically expired, leaving that price prominently displayed influenced my decision to make a purchase I otherwise would not have made. I found that misleading, and the dismissive way the situation was handled only made the experience worse. I completely understand that pricing mistakes happen; however, this store had only been open for the pre-sale event for a few hours at this point. Had someone apologised, explained the mistake and handled it professionally, I wouldn't have been particularly bothered. Instead, it was the dismissive attitude and immediate "No, we can't" from the manager that really soured the experience. It's genuinely a shame because the Warragul store itself is fantastic and I was very impressed with the range. I had big plans to continue fitting out my trailer with parts from this store. Unfortunately, the uncomfortable pushy sales approach, staff attitude and handling of the pricing issue really let it down. Please use this to train your team. Going forward, I'll make the drive to Dandenong instead, as it is a much better experience.