Abom Ski and Board — Local services in Calgary

As the old saying goes “Never burn a bridge”. Well, here’s the story of an Abominable Snowman figuratively burning a bridge to the ground. Like my horrible service with Abominable, this will take a while, so TLDR at bottom for those with no time.

I am an avid skier. I recently moved to Alberta I love skiing so much. Prior to moving out here, I ordered a set of Faction Prodigy Skis with Elan Adrenaline touring bindings. I wanted to buy my skis from an independent manufacturer, because I like the idea of paying some dude that clearly is so enthusiastic about skiing that they combined work and play into an enviable state called “living the dream”. Is this expensive? Yes. Is it weird? Well sure, but it’s my hobby goshdarnit. The only retailer I could find that sold Factions in Canada was Powder Hounds in Rossland. Hounds pulled everything together, and sent them out East. By the way, the setup is fantastic (I even ended up getting the 7th pair of Adrenaline’s ever made!). In short, buy Factions, and go to Powder Hounds and give them your money, they deserve it.

Whilst ski touring early this Feb, one of the bindings broke. I phoned Hounds to find out what to do. They called back said that the warrantee would be covered by any Elan Dealer. The first place that I went to was the Ski Cellar, (they did a great base repair two weeks earlier). They said that even though they don’t sell Elan (they sell Tyrolia Adrenalins, which are the same) they would be happy to see what they could do. They got back to me within one week, and said that due to some marketing thing, they can’t service them, it has to go through Elan Dealers. They said that the only store selling Elan in Calgary was Abominable. Go to The Ski Cellar, and give them your money, they are nice and deserve it.

So, first week of March, I go to Abominable. The staff at the counter (who were always nice) said that the owner didn’t like doing warrantee claims (!?), but they would put in a good word for me. Eventually after returning hat in hand 3 times (by now it was Early May), I met the owner. He admitted that because I wasn’t a customer, he hadn’t looked at the skis. As well, (I am paraphrasing here, but the jisst is true) that he didn’t like dealing with people who aren’t customers and he doesn’t make money off, like all those people that buy from Sport Chek. Eventually, he said that he would fix them, because they were an independent ski type, when he got around to it… July!?

What kind of mind can’t recognize a potential client, while actually holding the clients skis!? Skis wear out!

Fast forward to AUGUST after stopping by 5 times, I just went into the store and wondered what the status of the binding repair was. Nothing. Nothing done since March.

It’s cool though, the last time I walked by the Ski Cellar, and they said that they would phone Elan directly and try to help me. I am dropping the skis off tomorrow.

So here’s the TLDR: Abominable Sports didn’t fix my bindings even after 6 months! Not days, or weeks, but 6 months! If I didn’t have a pair of spare skis, I would have had to buy a completely new pair (which I would have considered if I was treated better). Abominable doesn’t want to warrantee the Elan line that they carry. They don’t call with updates (since April). On top of that, apparently anyone that shops at Sport Chek doesn’t deserve assistance, nor does anyone who shops at independent stores in different provinces, like me.

I think that people should give their money and time to businesses that are decent enough to respect their customers, potential...

DO NOT RECOMMEND. Bought skis here last year as I was getting back into skiing after boarding for +20 years. Thought I’d support a small business. What a mistake. I specifically told the salesman my one concern was the plastic caps on the Elan skis. I had rented a few times and for some reason the caps were catching when I crossed the skis. I was even willing to buy a more expensive ski at the time to avoid the caps but the salesperson, Adam sounds right, assured me at that time they could be easily removed and filled if it was an issue. It happened and, yup, a 2 grade tear to my left MCL. 5 days couch bound and months of physio, more expensive skis would have been cheaper in the end, I went back today to get the caps pulled off as promised and the OWNER, omg, was condescending, rude and argumentative. I was shocked, asked him at one point if he was arguing with me where he proceeded to tell me that there was no way that was happening and i didn’t know what i was taking about. My 7 year old couldn’t understand why he was being mean, her words. You do not treat customers this way. And they probably lost 1000.00 in business, My spouse needs a new set of skis and boots, I was looking at a new jacket plus we want a Thule carrier...

First time ever walking into this store. We were looking for skis for our daughter and Sport Check did not have her size. Cody was knowledgable and answered all my questions when picking out skis for my daughter. He helped size my daughter up with brand new skis and boots. Took the time to measure her feet to get a proper sized boot for her. While we were there also measure up my youngest daughter for Skis and boots as well. We took full advantage of the sale and also got a full set for my wife also. Cody took the time to ask questions about our skiing experience and style to fit her with skis that would suit her needs. Also he made her try on several pair of boots to make sure she got the boot that was comfortable for her.

We wanted to go to COP that afternoon so Cody had all 3 pair of skis mounted, waxed and ready to go based on the girls weight and experience. He even took my skis in for a wax as well in less that 30 min. I was really happy with the purchase and with the service we got from Cody. Really helpful to have someone experienced and not a pushy at all for selling. He gave recommendations for equipment even if the price was cheaper than equipment we picked that was more expensive. I would highly recommend going...