REI — Attraction in San Diego

The store advertised that they had seasonal ski rentals (ad is actually still up) for adults at 280$. This is not the case and the company is guilty of falsely advertising. I even called to verify beforehand, the night before. I couldn't have gotten there faster/earlier than I did.

This is the closest shop near me that actually does seasonal ski rentals, from what I could understand and find. The literal only reason I opted for trying REI over daily at Big Bear is because the REI shop in Boulder has taken good care of me in the past and LA's REI shop does not have a seasonal ski rental program. LA is a great store though.

Drove four hours, in heavy rain and Los Angeles traffic, to come to this store only to find out that they had exhausted their rental supply (who only supplies fifty pairs of skis for a rental fleet?). Tried to talk to a manager who only could offer insipid and useless responses and refused to see things from my point of view. She was defensive, accusatory and unhelpful, and I even think she lied to me about her name because when I looked at her name tag, she covered it up with her hand and insisted her name was "Dawn" and then she tried to tell me her last name.

REI, you really failed me on this one. As I said to the manager, I'll say it to whoever reads this here. Whoever thought undersupplying your ski rental fleet in San Diego, while simultaneously disregarding your larger, nicer, more frequented Los Angeles location which is literally 3-4 hours closer to the resorts... That person has very questionable deployment choices and I'd almost just rather you not have ski rentals at the San Diego location at all and service Los Angeles out of San Jose.

Like, why? Why locate your ski rentals literally more than a hundred miles from the closest resort? Why lie to me on the phone about your stock? Why did you even bother with the San Diego location in the first place?

This store is a literal trashcan in a closet off of the side of the highway and you couldn't pay me to shop here for literally anything again. Thank god that the LA store isn't terrible, like this. I only wish they did seasonal...

I would give this place a zero if I could. I rented a full suspension mountain bike for a week. Picked up the bike. Everything seemed to be ok. The bike was rented for my 16 year old son who weighs 150 lbs. We took the bike to some intermediate style trails in Capistrano. As soon as we got the bike on the trail he noticed the rear brake cable was rubbing the rear wheel. When we closely inspected we could see that the tire had been rubbing the frame . Obviously the bike had been wrecked and fixed previously., because all of the paint was rubbed off the frame near where the wheel is closest to the frame. . But the front and rear wheel were true with no broken or bent spikes.We used the bike for 6 days and bring it back. Upon returning the bike I made the staff aware of the brake cable rubbing and the paint that was worn off the frame from previous damage. He inspected the bike and sent me on my way. 24 hours later I get a call from the guy that repairs the bikes. He is telling me the frame is bent on the bike! I was baffled. The bike was never even crashed by my son. There were no bent handle bars or brake levers. Both wheels are true. There was no damage to the bike levers. The only damage is a bent frame? How does a frame bend with no other damage to the bike? It’s not possible. I think someone in the store either used the bike and wrecked it or somehow are trying to pawn a defective bike off on me. I have rode bikes for years. I have never bent a frame. I have never seen a bent frame., without a wheel or handlebar bent. Not even a brake lever was bent on the bike. Not a spoke. Both wheels are completely true. The front fork was also perfectly straight. Tell me how a frame gets bent and a wheel and handlebar and front fork stays true? It’s not possible. Buyer beware of this place. Bike rental department are on the take. Take you’re business somewhere else. These guys are crooked as they come. Sad how everyone is nickeling and dining there customers during this time. I get the business is hurting because of coved but come on. Don’t take it out on what customers you do have....

This place is THE tots bourgeoisie outdoor equipment store. Such nice gear, incredible options, high-end outdoor brands. It’s like the Louis Vuitton and Prada of camping, but with much better engineered and designed products (with, or without, tacky color schemes).

It is my favorite store to browse through.

But I can’t buy much because I just cannot justify paying the MSRP for everything.

Sometimes sales bring the prices down to a more breathable oxygenation level of our atmosphere. But usually the same items have been picked through and it’s just the crumbs that have fallen off the masters’ table that are left. Also, some sale items are literally just broken and unusable- still they charge you for the privilege of removing the broken garbage from the premises- one man’s garbage will still cost a sizable ransom at REI. I do not understand why they still try to sell broken returns, it’s not like they are dealing with tight margins at this store.

Despite my own struggles with paying highest possible dollar for gear designed by yuppies in Seattle and produced in the world’s sweatshops and clothed in labels riddled with virtue signaling phrases such as ‘sustainable’ , ‘organic’ , and ‘earth friendly’ —- it seriously is the best possible location to peruse such freakishly awesome gear the world has ever seen (‘cause that’s all I can afford to do at REI— I certainly can’t afford to purchase anything — browsing this store is like a rush of serotonin, like dreaming of winning the lottery without ever buying a ticket because the prices are fantastically high).

You’d literally need to make somewhere between $300k and $500k per year to afford to outfit a family of four at this place. If you’re single and make above $100k —-this place is for...