Eastern Mountain Sports

Reviews 7

VI

Vince Curatolo

I purchased a pair of Vasque Breeze 2.0 GTX Hiking boots for myself & a set of Leki hiking poles for my wife 3 weeks ago from the Carl Place store for a trip to Hawaii where we were planning on doing some hiking. The boots felt great however one of the lace holders on the upper part of the left boot came off the second time I put the boots on and my daughter and nephew who are both experienced hikers & climbers both had issues with the poles where they collapsed during a hike. Consequently, My plan upon our return from the trip was to exchange the boots for a new pair of the same and exchange the poles for a different set that my daughter & nephew recommended that was a little bit of a different design (Black Diamond) that was less prone to slippage when extended. While the exchange of the boots presented no problem, they would not exchange the poles since they were used (Two hikes)! The manager refused to budge on this position and the best he would do was to offer me a 20% credit on a new pair of poles with no refund on the original purchase. Since I was unsatisfied with this alternative, he suggested that I call their customer service dept. and speak with them since he had no authority to do anything further. I called customer service from the store, and spoke with a rep who I explained the situation to as well as the design concerns on the tension adjustments. She agreed with my reasoning as well as with my concerns for the tension adjustments on the Leki poles. She advised that she needed to make a few calls and get back to me and asked me to hold. I ultimately spoke to a customer service supervisor who still refused to exchange the poles, however would take them back for a credit of 80 % of the original purchase price. This whole process wasted about 40 minutes of both Their & my time and ultimately resulted in a very unsatisfied & very frustrated customer. I took the $20.00 hit on the poles, returned the boots for a full credit instead of the exchange because of the defect in the boot and drove 2 blocks to REI. When I spoke with the REI rep about the poles, she immediately recognized the issue with the poles and articulated it to me and She explained that their 1 year return policy was designed for issues such as this . I purchased the exact same boots and the new poles from REI. Boots cost me $6.00 more & the cost of the poles were the same. EMS needs to revisit the policies. They lost the profit they had on the boots because instead of exchanging them, I returned them, they took a hit on the poles, and they lost a customer who has previously spent thousands in their store. The most frustrating part was simply that they did not get it. Customer Services policies should be designed to minimize or eliminate the concerns / issues of unsatisfied customers. As far as I am concerned, a 4 or 5 star rating is basically useless unless it was posted by a customer who has had problems which were resolved fairly! Thats when an existing customer will return and spread the good word!

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FL

Flanker 07

Asked for assistance getting roof racks that would fit my car. Asked 4 seperate times throughout my visit if the package would fit my car. Sure technically it did, but the $200 feet didnt match the cross bars they sold me. No refund, no exchange. Glad you sc*mbags are going out of business.

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CE

Cee Dee

While they do have some good gear, and often have some decent sales-there are times when you visit that you have to hunt down a staff member for help.

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GE

Gema Denning

Very helpful staff, great prices and deals, everything you would need! Thinking about becoming a member.

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NI

Nick Italiano

Great outdoor store with very friendly, helpful, and knowledge staff. Highly recommended!

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PA

Pat Lapp

The staff here is awesome and they have everything I need for an outdoor excursion.

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LP

lp kp

Great staff. Helped fit me with great climbing shoes

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