The Ski Renter of Mountain View — Attraction in Mountain View

The mark of a good business is not only how you behave when things are going very well, but whether your discipline holds up when you face challenges. I had an absolutely terrible experience there when they were busy preparing for the weekend (which is really when things are good - business is plentiful!) For those of you who will not read on, the summary is: I faced brusque, surly, downright disrespectful treatment from the moment I walked through the door, did not get my pre-reserved equipment, and asked "what my problem was". The bottom line, if you don't read on, is that no service or price is worth being treated the way these guys condescended to me and my 12-year old brother.

I was brought here by a good buddy of mine (whose glowing review is also on Yelp - I will definitely be sharing my report with all my friends who've come here).

After patiently waiting for service for a very long time, their employee Wesley started serving 10+ people who arrived after me, some of who were new customers and needed fitting; I am a returning customer who had called ahead to reserve skis. I made this VERY clear while I was waiting to Wesley, who decided on no information other than seeing us that we were not worth his time. After having waited for an hour huddling by the door, telling Wesley multiple times that I had reserved equipment (over the phone), he takes one look at his computer and tells me my skis are not available (they had rented it to another customer). I clarified that I had made reservations. The response from Wesley: "Equipment is first come first served." Escalating the issue to owner David, I was asked "what my problem was"; there was no discussion of my reserved equipment, but accusations that I did not communicate to Wesley. The owner said, in no uncertain terms, that because he "is good with faces" and did not recognize me, so I had to wait; apparently you have to be their buddy to get served, for your reservation to mean anything, and not be relegated to waiting by the cold door all night. There was no attitude of reconciliation or contrition at ANY point in the conversation. To be fair, I got a very sarcastic apology from Wesley before he walked away (rather than actually help smooth things over and resolve my issue). Needless to say, I was not placated, and I left without any equipment.

I am not without sympathy for the challenge of providing services; I work in professional services myself - but when I make mistakes, it becomes a non-negotiable TOP-priority to do right by the customer even at cost or inconvenience. I did everything I could to make it easy for them (and me of course), but I guess I have to find another place to go before I take my little brother up to Tahoe. Classy way to treat a returning customer.

You may very well have a passable experience here (as I have also had in the past). But do you want to endorse and patronize a shop that may, perhaps when business is good and you represent less value to them, turn their back on a customer? It could...

This place is really special.

I had a pair of skis that needed fixing and I called the Ski Renter out of desperation. REI turned down my repairs because the damage was too small, but these Stocklis are the most valuable thing I own and I would pay any amount of money to see even small delaminations fixed. Darryl picked up the phone and told me to bring the skis in.

Darryl took one look at the skis and said he agreed with REI - the damage was small and generally not worth fixing. But given how much I love these Stocklis he said he'd fix it.

The crazy thing is he said he'd do it for free. I told him I insisted on paying for them but he said not to worry about it. I looked around the shop for things I could buy, but he again said not to worry about it because they're a simple rental shop and have nothing to sell.

I was pretty shocked. I imagine business must be tough during COVID and here he is offering his time and resources for free. That's something.

Even crazier, when I picked up the skis I found out he waxed them, and, went out of his way to paint the epoxy so it'd match my skis. Wicked!

Anyway, any business that operates with this kind of kindness, especially these days during COVID, well, it's a special business. And it's the kind of business I'd pay more money to out of loyalty. But I hear that's not necessary anyway because their rental prices are the best in the area.

Side note - they have a lot of great skis for rental. Earlier this season I rented my skis elsewhere and I could really only choose between a handful of skis, none of which would show up in any top 10 lists. But this place has every flavor of Nordica Enforcer (the #1 hottest skis for the past few seasons) and even the Soul Riders I had my eyes on. They've got a bunch of other brands as well.

Anyway, this place is a gem in the Bay Area. I spend thousands of dollars each season at Sports Basement and REI, and I love those places too, but if I'm looking for a rental or a repair...

Best rental shop in the Bay Area (and it just got better - see photos)!!!!!

Prices are extremely reasonable (almost tooooo reasonable).

Owner and staff are very helpful and friendly (they want you to have the best experience while you're on the mountain...fantastic boot fitting tips and overall advice).

Retail-level performance equipment (Nordica Enforcer 93 & 100's, Volkl Mantra & Kendos, Salomon QST 99's, etc...rumor is they're adding to this collection for the 19/20 season, especially women's performance skis).

Best/fastest wax available in the Bay Area (they have a Wax Future (machine ranks 9/10 on the USSSA wax rating scale...your typical hot wax/buff rates