Why do the staff at the rink need to be so incompetant?? I placed an order & paid my deposit for my new skates 7 weeks ago!! I've been hassling them EVERY SINGLE DAY I am there (5 days per week) and they haven't been able to tell me anything except "You'll have to speak to the manager"....

So today I 'speak' to the manager who tells me it can't have been 7 weeks, more like 3! I swear if I find out that he only placed the order for my skates 3 weeks ago (4 weeks after I paid my deposit) then I will chop his damned fingers off with the blades when I get the skates!!

I can't wait any longer!! My feet are squeezed like little sardines into a tin can and they can't handle it!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT MY NEW SKATES AND I WANT THEM NOW!!!!!!!

OK rant over sorry guys I had to get that off my chest!

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

Yeah i feel ya. I just got new skates from harlick and was super lucky that for one, i fit into a stock boot, and two that they had that boot in stock ( it was split sizing too). I only had to wait a week ( for some alterations) and that seemed like it took forever. I can only imagine waiting 7. However, with my last pair of skates that i got from the rink pro shop, they didn't have my size and had to order it. A month later we get the call that they are in. We get down there and its the same freaking size i had tried on when i was in the first time, they had ordered the same skate they already had, which was too small. So i had to wait another month. Its difficult because in any other sport you could just find some other shoes to use, but with ice skates everything has to be so exact

Ah! Somebody who speaks my language

As one who works in engineering & construction, I would like to tell you some stories about incompetance and stoopidity but I retire in 3 years and that's not enough time.

The best motivator for stoopid people is THREATS!

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Dianne, so you think that if I go with the threat of cutting of their hands they might do something ??

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

i can feel you too i ordered boots over 6 weeks ago and it has felt like an eternity i want them now as well. I have been calling every other day the shop i ordered them from is 250 miles from me so i cant go talk to them in person. They finally called the manufacturer today and found out that the person who would be building the skates had a death in the family and hasnt been working very much. I was like great now i have to suffer becuase they dont have anyone else to do this persons job. They say they should be in by the end of the week but we will see, i will only believe it when i see it. And my boots arent custom boots they are just stock boots that the shop didnt have in stock. Why cant these people get things done faster. ugh

Perhaps not...... but the threat of taking your money elsewhere certainly would!

Same thing happened to me. Thought I'd be nice and place the order through the rink of my home club. They strung me along for 3 months! Finally, I blew like Mt. Visuvious (sp?), went directly to the distributor who sent me the boots from Switzerland in two weeks. I feel your pain...and the pain hasn't even begun...wait until you put your feet in the new boots!

The best threat in business is to take your money elsewhere and let everyone know why.

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

You know what the thing that really annoys me is that I had the opportunity to buy these skates through a lady interstate who was very nice and helpful BUT by the time I went to order them I found the rink had taken a $100 deposit from my credit card. Long story but I had given them it last year when I started looking for skates and they said they needed a deposit.

I thought that I was doing the right thing by giving the business to the rink - but obviously not!! I am stuck because if I cancel I have to start the wait all over AND lose $100 deposit which makes my skates so much dearer...

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

Sorry to hear about your poor feet and long wait, plus the fibs from the rink shop. In my experience, unless you buy off the shelf, 2 to 3 months wait is quite standard. For my last two pairs of skates (standard models with a couple of small spec changes), I've ordered them several months ahead of needing them ... and even then they took longer than expected!

Don't forget that your credit card company has the power to reverse that $100 charge if the dealer isn't living up to their promiss. Most card companies have some kind of "purchase guarentee" to ensure their merchants aren't using the card to fleece people.

There's probably not much you can do about the lost time.

If these boots are an item your rink doesn't stock, they should be able to tell you WHEN to expect them. If they're custom boots, it's probably best just to suffer through and wait.

(I paid a $250 deposit on custom boots about 4 weeks ago and expect them anytime between now and July! )

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

We have been waiting since November for custom boots for my daughter....still waiting.....elves could have grown up, had kids and taught them how to make boots by now....yup, still waiting!!!

We should have gone to new york for customs....because we are still waiting....

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Are you kidding me? What brand are they??? Have they given you any reasons?? I will stop whinging about 7 weeks (rapidly approaching 8 weeks) now that I've heard this. It's disgraceful!

Rusty Blades/Dianne, unfortunately I worked for some time for the credit card company where I have my card. They cannot put a chargeback on the company for a deposit paid because a) it's a transaction I have authorised by virtue of giving them my credit card and b) any issues with service are not covered so I would have to go to the Office of Fair Trading which is slow and unreliable....

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

Well there are 3 words I want to use here... SLIMY LITTLE WEASEL!

That is how I would describe the manager of the rink where I skate. He couldn't lie straight in bed. Today I confronted him about my skates after having had enough of this nonsensical wait. He would not look me in the eye and kept looking away. Then he blamed the distributor for the skates saying she was overseas when he ordered them, and she ordered them when she got back.

Now don't think I'm an unreasonable person as I'm not (well maybe but anyhoo!) HAD he told me in the first place that there was a delay I probably wouldn't be quite as P***ed off as I am now! BUT I know for a fact that the distributor never went away and she has been here the whole time! So he's just out & out lying!!

Today he tells me that there is still about a 2-3 week delay on them and that I'm not the only person waiting for skates. I said to his face in a real loud voice "I don't care about anyone elses freakin skates, I only care about MINE which I was told would be here in 4-6 weeks, then it was changed to 6-8 weeks, and now at 9 weeks I'm told 11 weeks!! That isn't good enough!"

My guess - he's crapped himself when he realised (4 weeks after I paid the deposit and roughly when I first started hassling him each time I went to the rink) that he had forgotten to place the order and put it in.

He wouldn't give me an answer on when I can expect the skates, only that the "distributor told me last week it would still be maybe another 2 weeks"

So help me if these skates don't turn up by the end of this month there will be hell to pay!

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

Start thinking compensation. When they finally arrive, the manager should give you a discount, or free hard&soft guards, something to make up for the delay.

__________________

Hmmm.... good thinking Isk8NYC - I hadn't thought of that but I will definitely hammer it home when they arrive ! At this stage I'm just hoping they arrive!

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

I wouldn't let them sharpen the skates.

__________________

I would seriously think about the Aussie equivalent of the better business bureau. If these fit, you won't have to deal with him again, you can go straight to the distributor! Get his/her number and contact information

Well even though I'm at the rink every other day, I finally got a reply to an email I sent two weeks ago about the skates saying

So I did just that. I phoned the number he gave me - and then realised the moron had given me her fax number As I still had her phone number I phoned but unfortunately she wasn't there so I have emailed her to ask her exactly what the problem IS with these skates since it has been 9 weeks and 1 day today and I'm NOT HAPPY JAN!!!!

It will be interesting to see what she says the issue is.......

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

AW1, do you attend Acacia Ridge or Boondall rink

AW1 don't bother to reply I have worked out from your other posts that you attend Acacia Ridge rink. I must tell you that some of very good skaters have come from that rink.

You are only very new to the sport but that rink has been the home rink for quite a few Olympians and Australian Representatives both in Figure and Short Track Speed Skating.

I have some advice for you. Don't listen to gossip in the coffee shop, choose your coach well, read the notice boards for latest technical and competition information and if you have any questions ask the ice rink management or Jenny Houlahan, Administrator for Ice Skating Queensland. You will receive the right information.

Ask Marice Schloss who is the vice president of the figure skating club at Acacia Ridge. Marice has been in the sport for some 15 years or more now.

I don't like seeing parents receiving wrong and inaccurate information from other parents who really have no clue, let alone understand any sporting regulations.

Getting back on topic ...

What's the deal with the skates, AW1? Any luck yet?

__________________

Wow that really came out of left field especially given that this post was about me waiting for skates.... seems like the kind of thing I'd be putting into a PM but that's just me...

Isk8NYC, The only update I had was that the distributor says they think they've left Canada this week so they should be in Australia end of next week.... I can live in hope

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

I hate waiting, I am probably the most impatient person in the world. And when I've waited for a long time, and then someone tells me it wasn't "that" long, i feel like ive wasted weeks. Ahhh... Anyways, Hope you get them soon. Small skates are no fun.

__________________
~Best of luck in Skating~
Lauren