Training for the 2009 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon has begun. This year I have joined a training group that is hosted by Run Gear Run (RGR). I had been debating whether to join the RGR training group or the Fleet Feet training group, but after my negative experience on Facebook with Fleet Feet I am boycotting their store and will make referrals only to RGR.
My negative experience with Fleet Feet has to do with posting on their facebook page and having the posts deleted. Earlier this month REI.com had an awesome deal on the Garmin 405 HR monitor. With tax and shipping it was $291 and with a $50 rebate being offered by Garmin the price was $241. This is over $100 less that the normal price of $350, which is not including tax (add another $28) I was very excited about this and posted on all of the running related sites I could. Fleet Feet took the delete approach, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Not that I can blame them for not wanting competitor advertising on their site, but they should have handled this in a much different way. The first choice would have been to contact me and ask me to remove it siting the above reason. I probably would have complied as this is a reasonable request, but I would have challenged them to meet this price or leave the post up on their Facebook page as it should be a site for runners. They should want what is best for runners, and if the runner chooses to buy from the cheaper online store then they would have at least built the goodwill for the store. I contend that most that are making the purchase, because it was $241 would not purchase this in their store as the $350 price point it too high. So what have they really lost by leaving the post on their page???
By deleting my posts they have ticked me off and have missed out at least on my membership in their training group and I will definitely point people away from Fleet Feet in the future.
I will make it a point to begin making regular posts again as I progress through training.
May the Force Be with You!
Chad
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3 comments:
Give me a break. Fleet Feet employs people in San Antonio, donates to local charities, sponsors races in the city. Does REI? Not in this city, anyway, they don't even have a store.
No ones stopping you from buying it at REI. Your action is like attending a party at a neighbor's house only to tell the guests that the guy down the street has colder beer.
The definition of a cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Read more Oscar Wilde and less George Lucas.
Wow, cool post. Very feisty. Anyways, I'm not sure which page you were talking about but I can see why you wouldn't want to post a link to it. I agree and disagree with Patrick, but love to see you getting some real conversation on your blog.
To me it would depend on the goal of the page you posted on. If it is to help runners, as you say it is, then I agree with you that they shouldn't have deleted it. However, if it is a Fleet Feet fan page, price comparisons might not be what it is for. Furthermore, several community based online spaces like forums, or walls and the like simply enact strict policies to fight spam like "no selling."
You have to remember that things can get pretty dicey when you are online. For example, none of us can tell if this guy above me is actually telling us what he thinks, or if he is a paid agent of that dastardly Fleet Feet. Who knows?
I don't think he is, but who knows, he could be, and in general communities would like to weed out these paid conspirators, and one of the great ways to do that is a no selling policy.
Maybe instead of flaming them on your blog (which is your right and privilege), you might want to send them a private message on facebook telling them that you were disappointed in their action and was wondering their reasoning. Who knows maybe they will put it back up. Then you would both be happy.
I don't think Patrick's analogy is very good. It sounded more like you showed up at a star wars convention, because you like that one, and told everyone about another great one that you like. Nothing wrong with that, sounds like you are just trying to benefit the community.
Duuude, I have some awesome drama which is a lot like this going on at work. I'll tell you about it in a coming blog, but let's just put it this way as a tease. Forthcoming, $1 million + litigation is involved :)
Good luck on your prep for San Antonio! I won't be there this year, but it was great meeting up with you last year!
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