Sports Odyssey — Attraction in Dover

I’m not one to write bad reviews but in this case it is deserved... we have been to this store several times over the past few years for various ski equipment and have had a decent experience. We recently went to rent skis for our children on a Friday and were helped by a friendly staff who recommended we rent for 1 day since the weather was iffy for our second day of skiing and that we should keep an eye on the weather and return their skis by 8:00 PM the following day if we decided to only ski the one day. Saturday night my husband went to the store to return the skis at 7:20 PM and found that it was completely dark and closed. I checked the website (which said it was open until 8:00) and tried calling to see if anyone was still there... no answer. The next morning my husband went back to the store first thing at 7:30 AM to return the skis and was told that we would be charged for 2 day’s because the rental was due back by 6:00 PM. He explained that we were told to have them back by 8:00 PM and their worker said their policy was 6:00 PM so there was nothing they could do. My husband asked to speak to a manager and they called the owner. When my husband explained the situation to the owner, he said that their policy was clearly stated on the paperwork but when he told him that his workers told us 8:00 PM his comment was that he knew this because he was there when they said it!!! He also said that even though they closed early at 7:00, it would have given us an hour grace period to return the skis. My husband explained to him that we have shopped at this store many times in the past but with this experience he would not be seeing his face again. The owner’s reply was “We don’t want to see your face again”.

We are beyond shocked by the way an owner would treat his customers. Clearly he could care less about customer service and is only looking to collect your money. Do yourself a favor and keep driving. There are several other ski shops in the area that are more deserving of...

Be advised that this shop has an unheard-of "no return," "no exchange" policy. Specifically, I was interested in a pair of Union Snowboard Bindings but was unsure if a medium-sized binding would fit my snowboard boot (which was back at the house). I explained that I would take the medium, go home to check if my boot fit, and, if not, return to exchange it for a large. I was told that once I walked out the door, I could not return or exchange the item.

Similarly, if you bought someone a jacket, took it home, and discovered you needed a larger size, you would not be able to exchange it—even if you returned to the store 20 minutes later with all the tags intact. In fact, if you walked out to your car with a new jacket and decided you wanted a different size, you couldn’t walk back into the store and say, "I changed my mind; I'll take the larger one." In short, if you buy it, it’s yours. This policy is clearly stated on the front door.

On a separate note, they have had a sign for years proclaiming that they were voted Vermont's number one ski/snowboard shop, but there is no attribution or explanation of who gave them that title.

On a positive note, the staff is very nice—excluding the owner, who has the personality of a prison guard.

Their "you are stuck with it, even if you just want to exchange it for a different size 5 minutes after purchase" policy speaks volumes about how they feel about their customers.

Thankfully, Invasion Snowboards, just down the road, employs the exact opposite approach when dealing with customers. They also have snowboard product knowledge, unlike the staff at this shop, who appear to know nothing...

This place has never heard of customer service. I brought my 3 daughters in to buy hundreds of dollars worth of ski apparel, including a jacket. They followed us around looking as if they thought we would steal something. My 9 year old had to go to the restroom badly and I asked if they had a bathroom she could use. They said they don’t have one open to the public but I can go downstairs and ask the owner. I accepted that with a “thank you” and decided to try to wait it out. But 20 minutes later, as we were still shopping, my daughter couldn’t hold it anymore so I followed their suggestion to go downstairs to ask the owner. I was intercepted by a very rude woman who said there is no reason for us to go downstairs if we weren’t renting skis. I said I am going to ask the owner if my daughter can use the bathroom as it had become urgent. She said no, he’ll just say no and they simply won’t let her use the bathroom. There was no apology, no suggestion on where she could go to use a restroom as an alternative. The bottom line is that I put the apparel back and said i no longer wish to spend my money there. I don’t understand why they would chose to rudely fail to make an exception for allowing a child in need to use the restroom and alienate a person who was about to spend $600 there. Interesting business model. I went across the street to the Colorado Ski Shop and they couldn’t have been nicer and more helpful. The contrast between the two in the way they treated us as customers could not have been more stark. I was happy to spend the $600...