Sunrift Adventures — Attraction in Travelers Rest

Update: I see the owner just responded over 4 years after the fact. How is that for customer engagement and follow-up. I see you have not learned anything about customer service and doing the right thing to correct a dumb mistake and treating this customer poorly. Still have not purchased anything from your store.

Also, would love to see that math how treating your customer the way you did increased your profit.

Update: Just visited Half-Moon outfitters on Stone Ave. They have a 90 day return policy and 30 days on sale items. They won’t blackmail you in to buying something when exchanging something for a lower price. Great store and selection....they will be getting all our business in the future.

Purchased some Birkenstock sandals for my wife for Christmas. I knew at the time they were probably the wrong size but the guy that waited on me gave me assurance that if we returned within 30 days doing an exchange would be no problem. Well, we returned two days later and they didn’t have the same sandal in the size she needed so we opted for a different style that was $35 less. The cashier actually tried to charge us the difference initially. She eventually realized her mistake but refused to refund the difference in the cost of the sandals. She said we would need to purchase something else to make up the difference which we eventually did.

It was a bit ironic as between the two of us we probably had over $400 in coats and socks that we had purchased at Sunrift on at the time of our visit today. We did a quick count at home of products we had purchased there and came up with 17, which included expensive coats, 2 pairs of hiking boots, socks, gloves etc. Easily over 3k in products that we still use. This doesn’t count the merchandise we have purchased over the years that we have handed on to Goodwill.

Congratulations, you just lost two very loyal customers that support small stores like yours. You will not see us again in your business.

Just remembered, I was the same guy who also purchased four $100 gift certificates the last several years for Xmas gifts for my family. Alway paid cash as added help to your bottom line too.

You get the Scrooge...

I have never had anything but positive experiences at Sunrift. Over the years, I have purchased 4 kayaks and 2 paddle boards from there. Most recently, my paddle board fell off my trailer on I-26 and got a large gash on it's side. I dropped it off and John (boat man extraordinaire) called me with a very reasonable quote to fix it a day later.

Within a week, he called me to say the board was ready. I could not believe it when I saw it. The board truly looked brand new. The only way I could tell where the gash was is that the area looked slightly more shiny than the rest of this board that has never been used.

From my first call there to when I picked it up, the staff could not have been any more friendly. They even stayed open past closing time when I was running late to drop it off due to weather related traffic.

I have had numerous interactions with Matt over the years and he truly makes you feel like you are among family there. This is my first interaction with John but what a craftsman he is. I thought my board was a goner with the damage exposing the core foam but he repaired to its original state.

I would say Travelers Rest is lucky to have these two men and this store but it is truly the upstate of SC and western NC that benefits from their knowledge and expertise.

I have read some of the other reviews about pricing but like anything in life, you get what you pay for. If you are looking for the lowest price around, you might not find it there. What you will find is a knowledgeable and friendly staff that will help guide you in your buying process.

Thanks again Matt and John for all of your help! I look forward to using your store...

The great thing about this store...You can touch things.

Short anecdote:

I was looking for a knife. Every store I went to has knives (5ish stores). But they are all in plastic packages. I cannot feel the knife, I cannot test the sharpness, I cannot observe it properly. And selection is often poor due to low quality. In fact, most stores have them in clam-shells and locked to the wall so you can't even view the product details on the back of the package. And good luck getting someone to get it off the wall.

You walk into Sunrift... not only can you play with the knife, someone is more than happy to tell you about it, and not completely ignore the fact that you exist because they hate their dead end job. They are more than happy to help out, and are pretty damn good at it. Yes... there is a RETAIL environment where the help does not consist of neanderthals!

More places should be like this. I have spent more money here than I care to count, and If I will gladly pay more (even though it's often not more but less) just so I don't have to get pissed off at how stupid most retail environments are. I have never been angry while in this store... but I am constantly irritated and disappointed every time I walk into a big box store.

You can look at reviews on items all day, but when it comes down to it, if you can't feel it, touch it, and experience it... you don't ever know that you're getting what you really want until it's too late. And you won't be able to do that if you showroom.

PS: They...