We were extremely disappointed in the quality of the product and service at Kitt. We had driven 3 hours with 4 kids ranging from 3-16 to enjoy an afternoon of flying kites.
Upon arrival, we browsed the kite selection and bought what we were told was the very best kite available at $170. The sales associate was very nice but was not knowledgeable about the kites. She showed us how to assemble the kite but it was not assembled correctly. (E.g. Controlling strings on both sides of kite were threaded differently and at different tensions and lengths.).
She then tried help us launch the kite. This kite never got off the ground (not even once). Mind you, these kites are designed for very easy takeoff and flight. Then with her standing next to us, one of the control strings literally frayed and broke. ($170 kite).
She then spent 15-20mins trying to repair the frayed string by trying to knot it together despite me trying to explain to her that the string clearly had frayed and broke. She wouldn't listen and tried to call her manager and then her owner, and continued to try to fix what couldn't and shouldn't have been fixed in the way she was trying to.
Finally, she suggested a replacement. Since they didn't have any more stock of the $170 kite, she suggested replacing it with a $150 kite. Given no choice, I agreed. But then she handed me a $20 bill for the difference instead of $20+ taxes. I decided to let it go.
We assembled the new $150 kite and were able to successfully get two flights out of it before one of the rods collapsed and broke in half. Surely, a $150 kite should have the quality to survive 3 non-violent landings.
The sales associate then tried to fix the rod by replacing it with different sized (length and circumference)rods...all the time trying assure me that it would work and that the kite would be stronger and fly better than before.
After more than 30 mins of this, I asked the sales associate to do one of 2 things: 1) give me a replacement, or 2) give me a refund. She proceeded to call her owner, Ron. After speaking to her owner, she handed me the phone.
I explained to Ron what happened, and he said that they do not provide refunds and insisted that there were no quality issues. He said that they were not responsible for "pilot error" and insisted that even his 7-yr old could pilot a kite without a kite breaking.
This type of attitude was extremely unprofessional. When I asked him to at least repair it and send it to my home after repairs, he told me that I needed to call the manufacturer myself and order the part.
I have spent an entire career in high-end service businesses and was simply appalled at the quality of service during this entire experience.
There were many ways the owner could have tried to resolve the situation even if he wanted refuse replacing or refunding including any of the following:
- offer a highly discounted replacement
- offer to repair the product
- personally come to the store to discuss (the sales associate repeatedly asked the owner to come and assist but he refused)
Overall, the combination of a sales associate who repeatedly tried to oversell her knowledge (when she clearly didn't know what she was doing), a product that was clearly of poor quality, and an owner who did not witness any of the events yet tried to blame the issues on user error made for an experience that has caused me to feel the need to warn others of ever purchasing from this vendor again.
I would certainly not buy any of the overpriced items that hey represent to "be the best".
I am now left to ask my credit card company to fight on my behalf. Very disappointing for a situation that could so easily have been resolved.
CONCLUSION: AVOID KITT KITES AT ALL COSTS. BRING...
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