REI

Reviews 6

PE

Peter B

Bicycle service/shop issue. I want to start of by saying that I really really like REI. I have been a Member for 7 years now. Typically the service men and women on the floor are incredibly nice and are full of great information. It seems to be this way if you are in Philadelphia, Phoenix, or the DC metro area. Im writing this review here because I couldnt find a way via the REI website to voice my concern. I bought a road bike from the Paradise Valley location during their amazing garage sale. I road the bike around and loved it. I left it with the guys in the shop so it could go through a full check up, full tune, and have new pedals installed. After the bike was ready to go they gave me a call to come pick it up. When I got there they told me they just realized it had a flat and that I needed to buy a tube and have it replaced. No problems here. I didnt mind having to drive back to the store or paying to have the bike in peak working condition. The next day I picked up the bike and was give a brown back with the flat tube and the box with the old pedals. I road the bike that day and everything worked perfectly and Im very happy with the bike. I wanted it to be known that REI does great work and their workmanship is not the issue here. Today, which is a few weeks later, I grabbed that brown back to have the old pedals placed on another bike I own. Well the box with the pedals are empty. The shop said they were in the bag. I should have checked. So I thought to myself I hope they didnt b.s. me. Let me check the "flat" tube. I pumped it up installed it and rode it for two hours. I feel sad that I cant trust a place that I have grown to enjoy. I will continue to shop at REI, but I will 100% have my bikes serviced at a specialty bike shop from here on out. If you want to use REI for your bike needs I wouldnt tell you to go elsewhere. If you do decide to use them I would advise you to double check work done and items that are to be given back to you. Hope this was helpful. Cheers.

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YI

Yishi Garrard

Ive always had very good experiences at REIs, including Tucson, LA, and Boise. However, since moving up here, Ive been going to this location. This place by far is the most hit or miss when it comes to service. Ive had some really good experiences, but also some really bad ones. Specifically, the service desk employees seem to always want to make you feel guilty for returning anything. Ive come here to return things on two occasions, and had some very gently used and some brand new items. Its clear that Im not trying to return something that Ive used and worn out a lot. Both times, the employees would be scrutinizing each item, and question me very passively aggressively about why I was returning it. Even if I give a basic and general reason (didnt fit, or didnt like it), theyd make an awkward silence as if they didnt believe me, or wanted me to explain myself even more. Also, the second time, the employee was muttering "so I cant sell this" each time I responded that an item was used. I dont appreciate being made to feel like a criminal or nuisance just because Im returning a used item. I have no problem giving details about a return for their own data purposes, but this feels like its the employees on a power trip trying to exercise some sort of authority over customers. Also, Ive been a member for several years and have referred many friends in the past. REIs return policy is one of the main competitive advantages over other retailers, but Im certainly considering switching to other companies given this kind of attitude. I had emailed Reis customer service about this after my first experience, but never got a response. Maybe the store manager will see this, because its very clear that this location needs to figure out how to provide consistently good customer service.

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CA

Carolyn Christianer

I placed a special order through REI Paradise Valley for an Arc Teryx coat that my husband had been wanting and I decided to surprise him with this for his birthday. Since we live in Flagstaff I was told that we needed to drive to Paradise Valley REI location to pick it up in person since they could not ship a special order to our home. After driving 2 hours down to Paradise Valley and planning this trip specifically to pick up the coat (and keeping this a surprise from my husband the entire time), he opened the box out in our car to find that the coat had a pink hood!!!! They had ordered a womens coat by mistake!! When we walked the coat back into the store to return it, they credited my card but I found that they had charged me for shipping. I went back to the register and spoke to the manager telling him that I was not going to pay shipping for something that we did not receive. He did credit me the shipping but stated, "Thats what happens with specials orders.." We drove the 2 hr. drive back to Flagstaff with no coat and no birthday present!!! I did not appreciate the managers response that basically special orders always get messed up! Good to know for future when I DONT DO A SPECIAL ORDER FROM REI PARADISE VALLEY!

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K

K Almeida

I was curious about the recent negative reviews especially about prices at this store location being different from the REI website. I decided to look into it and found this to be untrue. The "luggable loo" price discrepancy mentioned in a recent review describes completely different products created by Reliance: the "Luggable Loo Seat and Cover" for $13.99, "Luggable Loo Portable Toilet (seat, cover, bucket) for $19.99, and the "Hassock Portable Toilet" for $36.95. The $13.99 and $36.95 items were in stock when I visited the store last night. This seems to be what lead to the incorrect review about internet/store price discrepancies. I poked around the rest of the store and found that store prices were the same as on REIs website. Just did this for my own knowledge but figured I would share.

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A

A Private User

I was in the PV store recently and everything went great until it was time to pay for the item I traveled 20 miles one-way for. I understand it’s the employee’s job to offer the membership but they need to learn to take no for an answer, especially after the third time. The Co-Op membership should be a soft sell not a checkout grind. If it had been presented in a respectful manner I might have seriously considered it. I normally don’t write these but here it is a day later and I still don’t feel good about my purchase. Bottom line, I got what I went for and I’ll probably never go back. I feel the buying experience at the store should be as good as the products they offer and it just wasn’t in my case.

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ER

Erin Smith

Dont shop here. Of the hundreds of instances I could list, heres two that bothered me. The Seattle Sports solar shower bag is advertised for $16 + tax online, but in this location it is priced at $29.95. The "Luggable Loo" is advertised online at $19.95 and is marked up at this location for $35.95. Lets be real, a bucket with a toilet seat for $36? You have to be out of your mind to shop here with the insane mark-ups. There is no excuse for every item being jacked up more than 75%. I will never buy anything here, let alone return.

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