Maggie Valley Skis & Tees — Attraction in Maggie Valley

BEWARE: First time skiers and completely amateur at the sport. After leaving this place yesterday, I had a concern that my boots were not fitting correctly, along with my children complaining as well. We were made aware that the boots weren't the most comfortable and they were made to be tight fitting so we went with it. After about 10 minutes of skiing, we were all in pain and miserable. After leaving the ski resort, I went back to see if someone could help me enjoy the experience a little more for the next day since we rented 2 day rentals. The 2 night shift guys were extremely helpful and got us the right fit. My daughter refused to ski again after a day of torture in the boots and the 2 guys helping us were considerate enough to offer a store credit for the rental we had paid for, along with a store credit for my husband who decided he wanted to snowboard instead of ski. So all in all, we left happy last night with boots that actually fit comfortably and thinking we had store credit for the inconvenience. BUT, today when the day shift arrived, they explained to me that they do not do store credit, the guys working last night were new, and they will not honor it even though it was written on paperwork and promised. But that's not even the reason that I'm writing this review. During my visit, I was lied to by the front desk about the pricing for the rentals at the ski resort (money scam). Convinced I was getting great service by the guy in the back, ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE! I couldn't even strap the top strap of my boot on my right foot and he never once offered to try to fit me. He handed me my size and literally told me they're not supposed to be comfortable. Word of advice to any first time skier, Don't go here. It's not worth the headache of hauling the equipment to the slopes when it's literally cheaper to rent from the ski resort. If any of the equipment breaks, you can not get it fixed on site, you will have to haul it all back to this specific store to get it fixed. Huge waste of time. It's honestly just not worth it. If the customer service was better and they were a little more caring about someone's experience with them I wouldn't have even written this review but since they could care less about my experience with their company, I'll leave this review here to maybe save the next person the headache,...

Needed wax, 15 minutes of politely explaining to the shop attendant that "no I don't want some gimmicky product that you roll on and let dry I want real wax". I was shown the only wax in the store which was some brand I've never heard of, the box had no temperature range labeled anywhere so I asked if I could talk to someone who might know. The attendant asked the technician from the back to come assure me that this was what I wanted to buy I asked "do you know the temperature range of this wax? I will be traveling and want to know if this will work in the climate I will be skiing in?" The visibly annoyed technician: "this is all weather wax it's for all temperature ranges" me: "so this will work from 0F to around 50F?"(knowing that it is chemically impossible for such a ski wax to exist with such a broad temperature range) technician lying directly to my face now "absolutely it's for all temperature ranges". So I buy the wax out of necessity apply it go skiing in 32F weather and within 1 run I have no more wax on my skis. Not only was it apparant that this is by far the worst ski wax on the planet from its longevity and the way it skied but also when applying the wax it behaved in such a way that it was apparent on my work bench. For example I thought 4 bars of wax would last the rest of the season, but the way this wax applied to the skis it took the entire 4 bars to get ample coverage on my skis and barely had enough. Why they don't stock Swix, the industry standard, is beyond me. I very much got the vibe that the people running that shop don't believe important or legitimate skiing happens beyond the little mountain town where the shop is located and therefore they know what's best for all of skiing and that's whatever gimmick they're trying to sell at the moment and if you don't want to buy it you're wrong and don't deserve quality products. This was an extremely annoying experience, you want quality products, service, and equipment...

I absolutely try to avoid leaving negative reviews on locals businesses however sometimes it's a necessity! The store is a typical tourist paradise! Souvenirs, cheap t-shirts for high prices, toys and some Chinese knives! I had heard about it because they apparently had a great selection of stickers! When I opened the door the lady at the counter immediately snapped at me for having a sweet tea in a to-go cup! I'm sure that accidents happen in retail and there have been some issues with drinks however it goes without saying that adults more times than not can handle 12-16 ounces of a drink in a cup! And even though I think that's a ridiculous rule it's the attitude that got me! It's their right to not allow drinks so that there is no risk of their cheap Chinese products being damaged but it's the attitude they had! So even after her snippy remark I still went inside and I saw they had Oakley sunglasses! I had been in the market for a pair of Okaleys for a couple months so I figured I could maybe get a pair and support a local business in my community! When the lady told me the price I had to ask her again because I was certain I had heard her wrong!!! Again I understand that small businesses can't compete with the large retailers and I don't mind paying a little extra just to help a local business but their prices were absolutely through the roof! More than what you can but them directly from Oakely for! Over all it was an experience that definitely made me decide to never darken...