Bass Pro Shops — Attraction in Atlantic City

I went to the Bass Pro Shop to look for a metal detector with my girlfriend. I went into this store during a downpour and it was mid-ŵeek in March so the store was nearly devoid of customers. After several minutes of standing in front of several very otherwise engaged (amongst themselves) ladies, I asked the collective 3 young female employees who were spending their downtime chatting at an information booth in the center of the store if they had any metal detectors. Not only did they not know, but they seemed perturbed that I (one of the few customers in the store at the time) interrupted their conversation. One of them begrudgingly pointed to a dark area in the back of the store and said to look in camping - but good luck because that section was suffering a loss of lighting at the time. Arriving in the camping department, another employee walked us down to the end of the isle in the darkest of the dark, and pointed to the entire selection of metal detectors and disappeared. Since that selection only contained 2 items, it wouldn't take long to compare. That is, as long as we had brought our own lighting with us and didn't have any questions about our planned purchase. After locating the posted prices and a quick look at competitors pricing....our mind was made up that we find a place that had even a modicum of customer service. Having moved past what it was we wanted, we decided to browse the 6 or 7 rows of shelves in that section. As we walked up and down the very heavily stocked and we'll organized isles, it seemed that the young lady from earlier hadnt abandoned us at all. She was literally shadowing us from the ends of the Isles. And I mean with the vengeance of a pack of hyenas on a gazelle carcass in the lean season on the Serengeti. Having grabbed a few small items in that department, we left the keeper of the dark to find something else to do. We made our way to the fishing section where I was bound to find a particular lure I used to have great success with as a teenager. The section was immense - and so we walked up and down these well stocked and we'll organized rows commenting on the sheer amount of inventory in front of us. No shortage of employees here either....it seems two had self appointed (or perhaps been directed) to aid our shopping experience. However, we weren't greeted by knowledgeable and friendly staff who made their presence known and offered their assistance but instead , from the ends of the Isles we were being watched. My girlfriend became increasingly annoyed and I began to feel very uncomfortable as we looked thru the stock on hand all the while being watched as if we were on the most wanted list. I had amassed an armful of items and in the last section of freshwater lures, which was inevitably the utmost furthest position from the register it could possibly be...i had come across the personally highly prized but elusive original Daredevil spoon. I snagged one of ever color in each out the 3 sizes available, and called my girlfriend over to me. She had been standing in front of yet another employee in a service booth waiting to inquire about obtaining new fishing licenses and answers to a few questions we had on a boat we had been interested in, but weren't very knowledgeable on. That employee was also unfortunately otherwise occupied and it seems would never be finished with the phone call he was on. Feeling as though we had perhaps been featured on a special episode America's Most Wanted the night before or had signs only we couldn't see hovering above us accusing us of terrible atrocities against the retail world....we made our way to the only open register like a couple of inmates making an attempt for the chance to bust out of this place. The very polite and personable cashier painstakingly rang up each of my purchases I had actually had been fortunate enough to know it was I wanted and why; with the speed of a sloth on a day off. About $125 and close to 2 hrs later, we exited feeling as though we had just touched down on earth after an otherworldly journey cash in...

Was 5 Stars! Well, that is until the Classism & Ageism started... I haven't been into a Bass Pro Shops since I was a wee thing and my wife never had at all, so boy was I impressed walking in the door to their AC location! What I remembered as a store for fishin' dudes & camping bros & huntin' guys is a cute and rustic family friendly wonderland of all sorts of outdoor and adventure products. Rarely do I open a store card, but at that point I thought to myself, yeah. It was the right decision. So my wife and I, both full of wonder like kids in a candy shop, started walking around, and I was hyped for a great customer experience. And at first, everyone seemed so friendly!

First, let's flashback a sec: I done some googling from our hotel room this morning and I'd seen a couple things I needed available for pickup there, which is what brought me to Bass pro shops in the first place. and they have a $0 annual fee club card, so I figured why not open one - I suppose this choice was the catalyst for the souring of our experience, as I was berated by the staff when I asked about the free hat for new card holders for not coming into the store and opening the card in person. I spent many years in high school and undergrad working retail and I respect that they probably received some kind of bonus or incentive for every credit card they open, but frankly as a salesman myself, I find this kind of discouragement and frustration at a new customer inappropriate. But it was the end of a holiday weekend, and I didn't think too much of it :-) everybody has bad days. I saw some other items I wanted in the store, so I asked to look at my card. Unfortunately my wallet had been stolen at the casino the day before, so I had no ID only photos of my driver's license passport and passport card and my auto registration. Unfortunately this was not enough for them to be able to look up my card, so the same team member who'd displayed an emotional reaction to my thoughtlessly opening a credit card for their store without personally coming to her to do it advised me, just place the order on our website, select pickup in store, and then you can pay with your card online. How careless and terribly disrespectful of me.

So I went back to the register I'd been checking out ay where the associate was kindly holding my four items, and I explain to her ecxactly what her colleague at the club-concierge-card-whatever kiosk had told me to do. She started to white as a sheet, clearly thinking I'm trying to pull some kind of a fast one on her, and mistaking my haste (as a 15 minute stop had now become over an hour,) and the matter-of-fact consise speach as frustratiom or anger (oh gosh what abuse is she seeing regularly there - is Bass Pro Shops like the upper class version of waffle House or something? So I slowed down and tried to explain again. She said this was not possible. Confused I asked why and she started to panic and called the manager. For a minute or two in a panic stumbling over her words, she tries to relay a message she hasn't even finished letting me say; eventually I sense the briefest second of pause, and I saw an opportunity to slip a word in slowly and calmly explained the situation. The employee jumped in to tell me this was impossible because they can't immediately prepare the items. Confused I asked if "If I'm bringing you all the items folded and ready to go, why wouldn't they be able to be sold?" the manager starts to explain why they can't to that and again, I can't really get a word in edgewise, so finally I have to interrupt and say. Stop. I'm not saying I need it instantly, okay? Please relax. We can come back later. Now can I please have those two T-shirts back to start scanning. Both of them looking a bit embarrassed, the manager obliged. They pointed to a bench near the entrance for me to sit at while I scanned and paid for each item on my phone, but I didn't want to take the space from not as able-bodied person who could...

I shared a review last week on how bass pro shops is horrible to buy a boat at. Well now that I had to register it yesterday that statement turned more into a nightmare on buying this boat. Went to the dmv, with “all the paperwork” I needed to get the boat and trailer registered and titled. WELL… I was told by bass pro shops that all the paperwork I needed was in the folder and that it would be smooth process…..NOT. I didn’t have the titles g paper for the trailer in my folder and had to fill out documentation that I PAID bass pro shops for on the doc fee they charge you… so instead of a smooth sailing in and out, had to stay longer than I had to because they didn’t hand me all my documentation. If you wanna buy a tracker go to franzwa in Millville they take care of everything for you and extremely nice and deserve your support unlike bass pro shops. Trust me you will not be disappointed with them bass pro shop is unfilled promises and a bunch of hacks. I will copy and paste my last review with them since I couldn’t make 2 reviews. Bought a boat at the bass pro in Atlantic City. Dealt with Michele brown for all the paperwork. She was absolutely a pleasure to work with, very professional and kind. Well once it was ready to pick the boat up at the tracker warehouse in pleasantville, i get told by the employees at tracker that she wasn’t there yet for me to sign papers which was not the issue… the issue I had was the boat had some small cosmetics and discoloration to the boat. Instead of picking up the phone and letting me know before hand, the tracker warehouse Bombarded me with all this news once I got there and was ready to sign the papers. They told me it was covered under the warranty which is fine. They then proceeded to tell me once it comes in that I would have to bring the boat back and have it worked on. When I asked when would that be they couldn’t tell me. So the lack of communication was horrible. If you’re looking to buy a boat try not to go through bass pro unless you really have to like I did because you will regret it. You’re just another...