I get to the break late, with GF in tow, thrilled to see uncrowded leftover swell. The fin screw & plate are missing from the single fin. 'No biggie,'I thought. 'I'll run to the surf shop and pick one up.' I roll $20 into my suit sleeve and run to the shop. I get to the shop, and after waiting 15 minutes, the guy tells me that they only have the screws - no plates. I'm persistent, and he says 'I'll bring you to the back and we can take a look.' I wait around another ten minutes while he talks to his coworker about something totally unrelated. Finally he rummages through some garbage-looking boxes and says 'yeah we don't have it.' There's at least 5/6 rental boards sitting in the rack that have the same fin hardware. So I ask the guy if I can borrow one of the plates; I tell him I'll pay for it and bring it back, I tell him I'll leave the $20 as deposit and bring it back, I practically beg him- and he says "That's not gonna happen." Then he tries to rent me a board!! Should I be bothered? Because I was very f*cking angry.
how often do you go to that shop? was it the owner or just a lazy kid? in my surf bag i have every same surf related item i could ever use. spare fins, keys, screws, plates, etc. by having them i never need to use them.
yea, you should be bothered by how you screwed up (no pun intended). i prob. would've just given you the plate & screw out of one of the rentals, but i don't think it makes the shop the bad guy that they didn't. they didn't have one to sell you & they didn't want to loose the potential revenue of a rental (aprox. $20-$50, depending on the length on the rental, vs. $0.50-$1.25 for the price of a screw+plate) to take care of some kook who didn't check his equipment before heading to the beach/keep his equipment in working order. you shouldn't be angry at the shop, you should be angry w/ yourself.
The shop could of helped him out in a pinch.. is it entirely Slashdogs fault? no... You could of rented the board if it was cheap enough... pull of the parts you needed and surfed your board then reassemble and return when you were done. Or ride finless... the shop should have just hooked you up though... sign of the times I guess
That's really lame. Surf shops are supposed to hook you up on no brainer issues like that. That's how they win your loyalty when it comes time to buy a new board or wetsuit. Last time I had an equipment issue, my local shop hooked it up with a free rental for the day. That's how it should be.
How the f do they not have the complete screw/plate kit being a surf shop is beyond me. I am going to go ahead and assume that they did have it but just didn't want to be there to save the day for you. Even some of the gas stations at the beach here are halfway to a surf shop, selling wax, leash, ding repair, etc.
I agree that you're probably uptight cuz you're late to the water, got the gf and didn;t have the right equipment. But its the free market - don;t patronize the shop if they don;t meet your needs. There's a shop near me that charges $3 for a bar of wax, Its my choice to not spend any money there and steer my friends away. Its all good.
I'd be pretty upset. In my mind there are 2 kinds of shops. There's the sort of shop that is stoked on surfing and helping out a fellow surfer, then there's the sort that are only there to make money and are filled with employees who only try to sell you something. Obviously both are a business and need to make money but there's a huge difference. For example Iv never paid for a bar of wax. Ever. The shop wasn't going to lose out on any money they had a few rental boards I'm sure they could of spared the hardware he was willing to pay for and still rented a board if someone came in. In fact they would probably gained a customer and maybe a few more by word of mouth.
It wasn't the owner... but it wasn't a kid either. I don't go there often, mostly for small stuff; wax, leashes, etc... but I don't think you should have to drop a grand at a surf shop to get better than Walmart treatment. You make it seem like I need to prepare as if I was backpacking the JMT to the top of Mt. Whitney, BASE jumping from the peak, and para-sailing over 23+ Mavs before bomb dropping into the face. It's the GF's board and I hadn't taken it out in a while, and we were surfing small EC beachbreak. Plus... that screw is probably rolling around somewhere in the 3-Series. Hahaha LOLZ!!! Exactly. I understand they don't want to miss a rental, I felt that he just didn't give much of a sh*t. It felt cold man... it felt cold. The owner has hooked me up with some freebie Q-cell before, and he seems like a good dude... hence me not going nuclear/naming the shop. It just rubbed me the wrong way. And yes, of course I rode it finless.... damn that was harder than I expected. I kept sliding out of the face, it felt like being on a snowboard without bindings. Awesome day and awesome weekend anyway.
why? b/c you're doing them a favor by walking through the door? the shop is a BUSINESS first & foremost. you're not entitled to a hook up/bro deal just by hauling your carcass into the shop. you earn it by being a loyal customer over time & not being a kook/douchebag in the water. sign of the times? yea, that entitlement "hook me up, bro" mentality sure is... the op isn't mad b/c the shop didn't/couldn't/wouldn't help him out, he's upset b/c he looked like a goon in front of his chick.
if a shop isn't going to hook me up, Id just assume get cheaper goods online, when a shop hooks it up (cheap or cheaper goods, polite, 'non-aloof' employees), Id just assume give them my money (even pay a little more) as opposed to getting goods online So, yea, me hauling my carcass in the door, they owe me. I worked in shops for 7-8 years, if you aren't hooking it up, you should just stop selling boards and become an apparel shop like pacsun If you make the customer feel bad then you are wrong as the customer is always right
That does suck but most of the shops I have been to here in NC do not even have the screw/plate for sale since they come with the fin. Maybe it's just around here. I did loose the screw from a longboard fin once and the shop in WB (South End Surf Shop) did have a spare they hooked me up with (for free) but the plate might be harder to come by. Good learning experience though, always check the board before you go, especially if it is someone else's board you are using.
Next time that happens try this old MacGyver trick. Pull the fin up and wrap the base with a business card (not a plastic one) or a magazine subscription card or even some junk mail paper and work the fin back in box. Sometimes the paper shears off but try to get it around the fin base while in the box using as much paper as it takes to make it tight. Then slice it off at the base with a knife or razor blade. The water makes the paper swell up and holds the fin in surprisingly well even without a screw. Used to use matchbooks because the folds at the top matched the fin base width perfectly but I haven't seen one of them in a while. Also works good for old fins and boxes to tighten them up in the box even when they slop around with a tightened down screw and plate. But I'm feelin' your frustration, especially when your burnin' daylight and you just want to get out there.
Bless you poor angry child. You should get out of Beaufort county more often. That brown water down there has made you a bit touchy. You only need to experience the pleasure of one good hummer from a jersey girl to ease your hatred of Jerkys. They are not to hard to get but you can't get one with that attitude.
Njsurfer42 ... where to begin? I'm not worried about impressing my chick. I've got that taken care of. And if I didn't ... as I said, I drive a BMW. Did you even read my last post? I don't have a 'hook me up, bro' mentality. As you said, the shop is a "BUSINESS first and foremost". So they should cater to customers who clearly have money to spend there, no? I was thinking about getting my gf a SUP for Hannukah, and now I might just go to Dlcks Sporting Goods. I don't know how it works in NJ but every 'BUSINESS' should be optimized for the best customers.
you definitely DO...& you want everyone to know how cool you are. why else would you mention your car TWICE? am i supposed to be impressed that you drive a BMW & ride a longboard?
Agree with MIS that is probably the funniest thing I have read on here in months! Everyone knows the Bmer's get the girlies wet and ready right!
