Forerunners — Local services in Vancouver

BEWARE: NO REFUNDS! Bought shoes here because it's one of the only stores open to try on shoes during the pandemic which I appreciated. The person helping me try on shoes was also nice and helpful. But when I got home I looked up the shoe I just purchased and found out they had sold me the older 2018 model for full price, I wasn't informed of this in store. So I decided to get a pair of the newer 2019 model from another store since they weren't available here, and return the ones that I didn't want. I ended up liking the new model more so I went to go return the other pair I got at Forerunners. Only when I checked the receipt did I see that it mentioned NO REFUNDS, exchanges and store credit only, I guess the staff forgot to mention that bit to me unfortunately. So I call the store back asking to get a refund because they sold me a older model shoe for full price of the same newer model and they didn't mention once about their return policy. I ended up talking to a older guy on the phone, not the person who sold me the shoes and he was less than helpful with trying to give me a refund. He tried explaining that the time I spent in store (30-40 mins, tried maybe 5 pairs of shoes) was the reason for the policy and the time they spend with you is payment for having a no refund policy. But I guess unfortunately for all of us, the customer service you get during social distancing is that the person helping you gets shoes from the back for you to try on. No assessments, no measuring or tests. Just get them from the back, try them on. Which pretty much any other shoe store will do for you without having a NO REFUND policy. After explaining to him that they unknowing sold me the older shoe and never mentioned the return policy, he still tried to get me to exchange them but I wasn't planning on waiting days or weeks for a shoe, and the model I wanted wasn't even listed on their online store. Finally after a some talking I was able to get my refund but not after the older guy made me seem like I was just some jerk trying to abuse their great customer service that I mentioned above. The whole experience left a bad impression on me and I felt like I should give a review warning others of the return policy just in case they forget to mention...

I bought new runners today, and as I was on the fence about them I was assured I could try them at home and bring them back if they weren't a perfect fit. At no point did the sales associate mention that the store has a NO REFUNDS policy. I later found out I can return them for store credit or exchange only.

If I had known about the policy, I would have come back another day to pick them up. This was my first purchase from the store and these shoes are seriously stretching my budget. I splurged because I've experienced numerous foot injuries in the past and these seemed like the best option available and were the last pair in my size, but I had been planning to shop around and do more research online before committing. I don't want to exchange them as nothing else in stock was meeting my needs, and I certainly don't want store credit as I need shoes now and I don't think I'll shop here again after being mislead. Hopefully my shoes work out because it seems I'm stuck with them, but I'm already having my doubts.

I'm feeling super choked that no one mentioned the no return policy when I was voicing my uncertainty, and I only learned of it by reading my receipt details after I got home. It seems that the only way to be aware of the policy is by completing a purchase and reading the receipt. This seems very unethical and I'm very disappointed by my experience.

Update: forerunners attempted to reach out to me, but after I responded and tried to arrange a time to discuss the situation in person or by phone they never followed through. I stand behind my one star rating and have warned friends not to bother with this store's inflated prices and poor...

The selection of shoes at Forerunners is quite good and the staff is generally fairly knowledgable. I have had mostly good experiences but also a few times where the customer service was poor. What has tipped the scales for me is the way my partner was treated when joining a drop in group run. She is an experienced runner and arrived 5 minutes before the start of the run. Since she was running with the group for the first time she didn't know anyone. As she was paying the drop in fee, the group left for the run without her. When she asked the staff member who took her payment what the route was that day, he had no idea. She left and did her own run and felt pretty sour. A week later she went in to buy some socks and relayed her experience to the staff member there at the time. He was sympathetic and called the floor manager over. However, the floor manager was not as sympathetic. Instead of hearing her concerns, he said that her experience was unusual and suggested that maybe she should try the learn to run program without any knowledge of her running background. My partner has run several 25k trail races and half marathons and found this very insulting. The lack of decorum and decency in these instances will definitely have me thinking twice before returning, regardless of the good...