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Another poor service story 14-Jul-2004 At 7:53:40 PM AlanD

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Years ago when I started caving, someone really wise said "listen to what everyone says, believe less than 50% of it and react to less than 10% of it.

Paddy's, like Mountain Design, Mountain Equipment, Snow Gum etc are outdoor equipment suppliers, they carry a wide range of equipment for a variety of outdoor activities and they don't specialise in a specific outdoor activity. Their staff are employed for their general background in outdoor activities and not their specific knowledge in one niche area. The shops also stock brands, which their staff will be given some background knowledge and the staff members are obviously going to push brands that they stock. Very few sales staff will tell you to go next door, because they'll have the product that would suit you ideally.

If you go into a generalist shop, you're going to regularly find that you have more background knowledge in your speciality, than the majority of the staff. If you get enough experience, you'll possibly get to a situation where you have more knowledge than the specialist shops. So as you gain your knowledge, it's up to you to apply your knowledge and sort the sales' chaff out from the gems, in addition you'll work out which stores are more likely to sell the type of product range you want, for example I'd never go to Kathmandu to purchase a snow tent, not because they don't sell tents capable of being used in the snow, but I'd rather purchase a high quality item which was designed and has been tested for a specific purpose.