ReTails Thrift Store — Attraction in Vancouver

Pricing at this thrift store is pretty bad. Many items are priced much higher than Amazon, which is already one of the most expensive places to buy online. Pricing is also never consistent. I’m not sure if whoever does pricing is incompetent, or if they are just hoping to rip unsuspecting people off. Either way, it’s not good.

They are constantly rearranging the store for no reason, but it never looks any better. The entire store is very dirty and rundown. The toy aisle is a mess with stuff everywhere, and I understand that this can happen sometimes when you have kids in the store, but it is like that every single time I go in. I rarely see things that bad at any local Goodwill.

They used to have animals that were up for adoption, since this is a store that is supposed to benefit the Humane Society. They used to have them in small cages by the front door, and it was always fun to come in and pet the cats, but they eventually got rid of them. We were told they were going to build a large area in the back of the store to have even more animals, but it seems like that never happened either. They chose to fill that area with a bunch of overpriced stuff instead. Seeing the animals was always a highlight of coming here, and it seems like they care more about the money than the animals. We were expecting there to be a large area in the back, where you could see animals who are looking for forever homes, and at the very least could get some attention from customers, but instead they are kept in cages at the Humane Society. That is truly sad and unfortunate.

They have a bunch of stuff around the store that is locked up in glass cases, but don’t even bother asking to try to see anything. You will either have to remind them three or four times before someone comes to help, or nobody will ever come at all. The lines are also extremely long and they never have more than one or two cashiers working.

I can’t say that their customer service is all that bad, despite what most other negative reviews are saying, but maybe I have just gotten lucky. Aside from having to ask multiple times to see something in a...

UPDATE* I escalated this information to their social media team, Sam, who was wildly polite and helpful in getting me to the proper person to make them aware of what happened. Stephanie then reached out via e-mail with a resolution and an apology. Sam was 100/100 customer service though, he deserves all the praise!

ORIGINAL: Extremely shady business practices- AVOID.

I have shopped here numerous times and it's always been an "ok" experience. However, this past weekend really rubbed me wrong.

My husband and I stopped by to shop the big Christmas display. We saw a ceramic tree, behind the counter in the center of the Christmas area. Pricetag said "18.99" I asked the woman there if I could buy it, she took it out the case and started talking about how lovely it was and then very subtly said "by the way ignore the price, it's wrong" and removed the sticker. I asked what she meant and she said "well, I usually sell these for $40.. I'll do $29.99 today" I was really confused and asked why the change, she said it was "missing parts" but she found them. Major bummer, I told her no thanks. I stewed on it for a few minutes and returned and asked POLITELY if there was a manager who could discuss price negotiation with me. She said "no, I am the manager sweetie" I told her it was very shady and sad she switched the price last minute and her response was "well, my name is Claudia, you can tell anyone I did it." ??

My husband and I talked it over and he decided he wanted it anyway. He went to talk to her while I waited in the long line. When he came back over to me, he said:

1. She mentioned to him a "very mean lady" was interested but changed her mind (lol)
2. SHE CHARGED HIM $39.99- EVEN MORE THAN SHE QUOTED ME!!

Just gross. If you mistakenly price something, honor it. I've never been somewhere, EVER that wouldn't honor a price THEY mistakenly made. Whether it's a big corporate store or a thrift store.

Greedy. I was already turned off by them charging $20 just to shop their "christmas preview night" but this was the cherry on top. Humble...

So disappointed. Won an auction for a stereo amplifier from Retails eBay site and after the win I contacted the seller to ask that they take care in packaging the item. Instead of acknowledging the request and assuring me that they would package the item sufficiently. their inexperienced eBay shipping clerk canceled my order. I contacted eBay to dispute the cancel but got no help from them other than to advise me to leave negative feedback. I called Retails in Vancouver to try and address the matter and a receptionist there initially took a message but when I called back to follow up, would not put me through to a supervisor and then actually hung up on me. After I complained on their Facebook page I was contacted by P.MacKay, VP Director of Retail Operations, who acknowledged that there was a misunderstanding regarding the shipping inquiry but would not honor my winning bid and chose instead to remove the item from their online store. I attempted to further entreat Mr MacKay to correct the mistake made by their shipping clerk and honor their obligation to my winning bid but this resulted in his blocking my emails as spam. Unbelievably bad experience. I have purchased many, many similar items through "Shop Goodwill" and other eBay sellers online. I have always been treated professionally and courteously. Retails, in my experience, was unprofessional, had inexperienced rude staff, incompetent customer service and even more incompetent management. They failed to correct a simple misunderstanding, failed to honor a legitimate eBay bid, which I certainly would have been obligated to pay for after I committed to the bid, and failed to handle the situation in an amicable and professional way. They have no qualifications to be auctioning off expensive, delicate and valuable electronics equipment on line. It's a shame because this seems to be for a good cause but do yourself a favor, stay away from this online seller. What a...