Vance Outdoors — Attraction in Union Township

I went in because of a flyer which showed a rifle I wanted. I called and asked if they took trade-ins and was told yes and asked what I had. I was trading a brand new High Point TS4595 .45 caliber carbine rifle. I had shot one magazine in it and it still had the stickers on it. At the gun counter, the man was so slow in getting me a trade in value, getting the gun I wanted for examination, paperwork, and running a record check. I was at the gun counter almost two hours. It was written that I was to get a $175 trade in for my carbine. At the check out, the girl rang me up then said, Oh I forgot to give you your trade in value. I said that was ok, just do a cash payout. She went to a manager who said that could not be done and they would have to give me a store gift card. I live a long way from Vance's and I said I am almost never down their way. She finally went to who identified himself as the store manager. He said he could cancel the sale, go through the entire process again with gun papers, record check etc. or give me a store gift card, or give me a cash pay out. I said that is what I asked for. He then told me he could only give me $145 and rattled on about how their process was messed up but the best he could do was $145. I agreed, and he took the trade in paper, crossed out $175, and changed it to $145, then told the girl to cash out $145. This seems like some kind of scam to me. I paid full price for my gun, then they forgot the trade in, then was pushing a gift card. I have no desire to shop at Vance's again and this was my first experience. Charles Patterson, Fallsburg Ohio.

I got a call from Bruce, the REAL Assistant Store Manager who spoke with me about the issue. The man I originally spoke with in the store was NOT the Store Manger. Bruce said he would look into the time frame to purchase a firearm, and reimbursed my credit card for the difference in money and sent me a Vance package containing a shirt and hat. Thank you Bruce. I think I can go at...

Look elsewhere when wanting to special order a bow!

My husbands recent experience: On July 14, 2021 I placed a special order at Vance Outdoors Hebron for a customized Bowtech bow. Ken from the archery department provided excellent service in placing the order. When the order was placed, the manufacturer gave a lead time of three weeks. Those weeks go by and at the end of the fourth week I decide to check on the order status of my bow. With hunting season rapidly approaching, I wasn’t surprised by the fact that they hadn’t received it yet. After much patience, a few follow up calls, and another four weeks of waiting I called to try and figure out what the issue truly was. When I voiced my frustration with being told “well we haven’t seen it yet” or “we don’t have access to a tracking number”, it magically showed up in their back stock! When I showed to pick up my bow that afternoon, I quickly realized that it had not been in their back stock and I had been lied to! It wasn’t in its box, it had a price tag and label hanging on it, along with black rubber marks on the inside of the limbs from hanging on the sales floor rack for god knows how long! Alex from the archery department was the only one to apologize for the situation and he is the only reason I didn’t refuse my order. Save yourself from quite the headache because of this store’s lack of communication, ability to decipher what is special order, and lies after a mistake has been made. Shop elsewhere because honesty plays a key role in...

I've been making a concerted effort to NOT order from Amazon and other big sites, when I can support a small company instead. In this case, I ordered a jacket online for my son from Vance. He had this particular brand of jacket in the past, so we thought it was a safe bet in terms of sizing. It was NINE DAYS before my order even shipped. When it eventually arrived, it was too big. There's no way to initiate a return online with Vance, you have to call them. I was on hold waiting for MORE THAN 20 MINUTES (with a message that kept repeating, "you are number one in line"). Finally someone answered and said she would email a return label to me within an hour. You can guess what happened next... I never received the return label. I called again the next day, and this time I was on hold waiting for HALF AN HOUR!! (Again, being told the entire time that I'm "number one in line.") When someone finally answered (same person as yesterday), she said she's been having a problem with her email and would have someone else send the return label to me. I have wasted an hour of my life trying to return this jacket, when it should have taken five minutes online. I don't know if Vance doesn't have the right staff, or doesn't have enough staff... either way, I will not be ordering from this company again. Very disappointing.

UPDATE: I appreciate that a customer service manager reached out to me today by phone and email to rectify the situation. That gives me hope that this company will do the right thing for...