NEWS: If you visited Adidas.com on Saturday morning then you were able to take part in one of the biggest sales in the German shoe company’s history. More than 500 items were drastically reduced by 80 percent with clothing from Stella McCartney, Jeremy Scott, Adizero Crazy Light, and velour track suits all reduced to $30. However, the sale quickly turned for the worst at 12:00 p.m. ET when the site was experiencing problems and prices quickly jumped to reflect a 25 percent discount.
The Jeremy Scott Superstar 80s Ripple shoes for men that were available at $30 before noon were quickly raised to $140.00, while the Women’s Jeremy Scott Wings Wedge shoe went from $30 to $196 in a matter of minutes. The Men’s Basketball Adizero Crazy Light 2.0 shoes that were available in red, black, green, and white were increased from $30 to $98. The Stella McCartney Run Printed Parka went from $30 to $280.
THE TRUTH: The customer service department at Adidas claims that anyone who purchased items during the earlier sale will have those sale prices honored. However, anyone attempting to revise a previous order or place a new order on the same day of the discrepancy would have to pay the new, higher pricing.
“There was a glitch in the system,” said Eric, a customer service manager at Adidas.com. “The system was showing incorrect prices. The glitch has been fixed. You will never see those prices again.”
After the changes were made, buyers saw the prices of items in their shopping cart change right in front of their eyes. The customer services department was flooded with phone calls throughout the weekend from angry consumers trying to get an explanation on why their orders were being altered. Some of them were told that they would be able to get 15 percent off their next order. Others were told that there was nothing that could be done to rectify the issue.
Some customer service agents attempted to help buyers by charging them the higher price but claiming that a credit would be issued at a later date to reflect the earlier sale. But some of the reps were reprimanded for being so generous and not getting a supervisor’s approval first.
“An agent isn’t qualified to make those decisions,” added Eric. “If any consumer was guaranteed the original sale price, I will personally have to do an investigation and listen to the audio from those phone calls. That determination should come from a manager only and I will look into the matter and follow up with those buyers by phone or email.”
If you speak to a sales agent from Adidas attempting to give you a discount based upon this weekend’s gaffe, be sure to get their name and ask them to document the details of the conversation. Also consider recording the phone call as proof that the interaction took place.