mountain climbing and stair climbing. not getting there yet.
So, following the accessibility fail of wednesday at Tiso
wednesday: Tweet a direct question to @tisoonline. Get no response.
Thursday: tweet a follow up question. Get no response. Start to gnash teeth. Write shockingly polite email to the address given on their website.
Friday: get no response, to tweets or emails. Go to Mountain Warehouse, spend money. They don't have most of the stuff I want. They suggest Tiso. I sigh. They say, "yes, they are very expensive". I sigh more deeply, because, no, it's not that and I would go there if I could. Come back and check their site. Oh, there's a shop in Central Edinburgh. Maybe I can go there on Saturday.
Friday afternoon: get sick of waiting for a response to tweets and email. Phone them up instead. No, what, huh? email? Gosh, sorry no one has got back to you, what was your mail about. I paraphrase the issue: five floors of lovely outdoor kit, four of those floors are completely inaccessible. and then it goes roughly like this:
What do you mean by inaccessible?
Stairs. No lift. You know, no access to people who can't climb up stairs.
Oh, well. Some buildings are very old.
Your store is big and modern inside and has a modern staircase. (Am tempted to start quoting from http://www.essentialliftservices.co.uk/dda.shtml at this point, which is a very useful summary of what is required.)
Oh, well, I really don't know.
Why?
I'll look into it.
Oh. Wait. Your Rose street shop...is that accessible?
It depends what you mean by accessible.
Does. it. have. a. lift?
[Checks]. No, that doesn't have a lift either.
Riiiiiight...so.
Our other Glasgow store has a lift! And it's very accessible...by car! You can access it by car!
[*headdesk*]
He's promised me an answer though "early next week" about why these shops are lacking lifts.
Edited to add...and here's the response already:
"We have as a matter of course reviewed all of our stores in terms of accessibility to ensure that we are compliant with and in line with current legislation where feasibly possible. This being said; a number of our older properties cannot be significantly altered due to their very nature and layout. This is unfortunately very much the case with regard to our Buchanan Street Store as the stairwell is not wide enough to accommodate a Stannah chairlift, nor can we install a lift as the premises we occupy are actually split over two separate buildings which do not overlap sufficiently to allow a lift shaft to be a viable option.
Whilst I can appreciate your frustration at the lack of access within the Buchanan Street Store, please be assured that as part of our new store roll out over the past 10 years we have ensured that all new openings offer proper access to all areas of the store. Stores such as [list of some of their other shops] all benefit from customer lifts or ramped access to ensure that they are accessible to all.
In those stores that cannot be altered due to either structural issues or prohibitive financial costs we have ensured that all staff are trained in the importance of ensuring that if a customer cannot get to a particular floor or area, the onus is on them to bring the stock to the customer whilst offering the same level of service and advice."
So. Might want to have a word with the staff then on that "same level of service and advice" part...
wednesday: Tweet a direct question to @tisoonline. Get no response.
Thursday: tweet a follow up question. Get no response. Start to gnash teeth. Write shockingly polite email to the address given on their website.
Friday: get no response, to tweets or emails. Go to Mountain Warehouse, spend money. They don't have most of the stuff I want. They suggest Tiso. I sigh. They say, "yes, they are very expensive". I sigh more deeply, because, no, it's not that and I would go there if I could. Come back and check their site. Oh, there's a shop in Central Edinburgh. Maybe I can go there on Saturday.
Friday afternoon: get sick of waiting for a response to tweets and email. Phone them up instead. No, what, huh? email? Gosh, sorry no one has got back to you, what was your mail about. I paraphrase the issue: five floors of lovely outdoor kit, four of those floors are completely inaccessible. and then it goes roughly like this:
What do you mean by inaccessible?
Stairs. No lift. You know, no access to people who can't climb up stairs.
Oh, well. Some buildings are very old.
Your store is big and modern inside and has a modern staircase. (Am tempted to start quoting from http://www.essentialliftservices.co.uk/dda.shtml at this point, which is a very useful summary of what is required.)
Oh, well, I really don't know.
Why?
I'll look into it.
Oh. Wait. Your Rose street shop...is that accessible?
It depends what you mean by accessible.
Does. it. have. a. lift?
[Checks]. No, that doesn't have a lift either.
Riiiiiight...so.
Our other Glasgow store has a lift! And it's very accessible...by car! You can access it by car!
[*headdesk*]
He's promised me an answer though "early next week" about why these shops are lacking lifts.
Edited to add...and here's the response already:
"We have as a matter of course reviewed all of our stores in terms of accessibility to ensure that we are compliant with and in line with current legislation where feasibly possible. This being said; a number of our older properties cannot be significantly altered due to their very nature and layout. This is unfortunately very much the case with regard to our Buchanan Street Store as the stairwell is not wide enough to accommodate a Stannah chairlift, nor can we install a lift as the premises we occupy are actually split over two separate buildings which do not overlap sufficiently to allow a lift shaft to be a viable option.
Whilst I can appreciate your frustration at the lack of access within the Buchanan Street Store, please be assured that as part of our new store roll out over the past 10 years we have ensured that all new openings offer proper access to all areas of the store. Stores such as [list of some of their other shops] all benefit from customer lifts or ramped access to ensure that they are accessible to all.
In those stores that cannot be altered due to either structural issues or prohibitive financial costs we have ensured that all staff are trained in the importance of ensuring that if a customer cannot get to a particular floor or area, the onus is on them to bring the stock to the customer whilst offering the same level of service and advice."
So. Might want to have a word with the staff then on that "same level of service and advice" part...