NIKE SHOES –BEWARE
I purchased a pair of NIKE shoes for Rs. 2950/- on 28th March ‘10 from their so called “Factory Outlet”(which is actually owned by a company called SSIPL Retail Ltd.) in ‘Sigma Arcade’, Marathahalli main Road, Bangalore. The shop assistant recommended a pair called ‘Air loom’ saying it was possibly the best shoes in this brand. Within seven days the sole of the shoe peeled off and I approached the shop for replacement. After making me go back and forth a few times, they said that they did not have the same model or similar shoes in that range and that I should buy a different pair called ‘Air Alaris’ which was priced at Rs 4995/- on 22nd April.
As I had no other choice, I had to pay the difference amount of Rs. 2045/- for the new pair and just as I came out of the shop, I saw a better store selling exclusively NIKE shoes just a few yards away in the same building. I was shocked to see them selling the same NIKE ‘Air Alaris’ shoes for Rs. 3497/- . Besides they had much better choice than the first shop.
When I confronted the first store asking them how could they fleece & short change trusting customers by calling themselves as ‘FACTORY STORE’ and sell shoes for 30% higher price than their neighborhood shops. The store assistant or his Area Sales Manager Kanish Gautam could not offer any convincing reasons and it was obvious that they were out to cheat gullible customers by misrepresenting and mis-selling under the reputation of NIKE brand. Nor did they show any care for any customer satisfaction.
I hope my experience serves as a warning to customers who buy such expensive shoes or similar items blindly trusting the misleading words like ‘Factory Store’. There are many such stores in the Marathahalli signal area and people should be vigilant before spending their hard earned money at such outlets. I wonder why consumer laws are not strong enough in this country to take care of such fraudulent misrepresentation.
Raghavan Krishnan
Bangalore
22 April
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