Alpine Pro Ski and Boot Services Whistler — Local services in Whistler Resort Municipality

Tl;dr: dishonest managers and unprofessional workers - their tune destroyed my favorite skis and the management didn't own their mistake and instead lied and deceived. I'd appreciate it if you took your business elsewhere out of respect to your fellow skier. This shop needs new honest owners/managers.

Here's the story. Last spring I took my perfectly tuned Volkl Mantra ski to Alpine Pro Ski and Boot Services in Whistler to fix a core shot near the edge and also hot wax the skis. When I got the skis in the morning they didn't ski right. Swapped skis with my buddy and he confirmed that the tune is un-skiable. When I looked at the bases more carefully, the core shot was fixed very poorly and there was some bubbling on the base in an area not close to the repair. Strange. I detuned tips and tails and was able to ski in spring snow. I left Whistler and only was able to stop by Alpine Pro in June when I came back to Whistler for a summer mogul camp. The shop was closed. I came back in November for the opening weekend and skied the skis on firm snow and found that the edges started separating.  On both skis - on the one that was repaired and on the one that only was supposed to be waxed. I found that this resulted in an edge crack on one ski. When I took the skis to Alpine Pro they said a tune could not have possibly caused that. That edges are fixed to the base with screws and that if they separate these were bad skis, both of them. They explained the bubbling on the base that the skis were not new and the base was getting thin from a few tunes. They could not find any record of the repair until I showed them my credit card transaction.

Here's what I found talking to experts. From the manager of the busiest tune shop in a major metropolitan area: this was the worst tune he had ever seen - there was no usable base angle so the pattern went into the edges; he didn't wonder I could not ski the skis. From a Volkl tech representative at an industry demo event (a real tech, not a sales guy): while inside the skis the edges are indeed screwed to the base with little screws, the screws are set in glue so if improper tuning machine operation or a mistake during IR waxing overheated the skis it could have caused the edges separate, and would explain the bubbling on the base.

Alpine Pro owes me a new pair of skis and they know that. And yet they chose to not own...

My first negative post. Looked them up and was impressed with the 5 -star rating and sounded like my kinda place. Went in, met Bill the owner and talked with him about boots. He measured, made a recommendation and said $1,000 and I said, Lets go! In my size they needed to be ordered, 10-days from Quebec. NP, I'm local call me when they're in. We'll call you when they're in. 12 days later, I call and get Ben, he checks, not in, but any day now; We'll call you when they're in. NP. On day 29 I call again, get Alex and he checks, not in; we'll call you when they're in. I say, hang on... this is day 29, I was told 10-days, can you check on this, maybe a tracking # or something? Sure, hang on, I'll check with Bill. Checks with Bill, comes back and says, they are never coming in, we can't get the boot we recommended any more. We'll that would have been useful to know, I've basically lost a month waiting for this boot. Sorry, can I get you something else? Well, maybe, what have you got? Tell you what, you know my size and you know the boot you recommended, how about you check with something similar in spec & perf and what you have or can get, call me back and I will come down. Sure, will do.... You guessed it, that was two weeks ago, no contact. I do realize this sort of thing can happen, small shop, busy time of year. I'm a bit bummed; this is the exact kinda place I like to shop, local owned, bit of a hole in the wall, obviously talented by the reviews and history and yet, I'm not sure what more I could have done to make this a happy transaction for all. This is on...

Would leave zero stars if possible… spent over $300 to have my ski boots fit worse and worse after each appointment. No consistency of care whatsoever, each appointment I was seen by a different person. Had a total of 3 appointments before realizing I was wasting my time and money here. The 2 women who served me were at least polite. The last appointment I was helped by a dark haired Brit who proceeded to remove all the work previously done on my ski boot liners, tell me that I’m using the chair lift wrong and that’s why my feet are going numb, he did not believe me that the chair lift at Blackcomb less than 2 minutes away from the shop location does not have a T-bar to rest skis on, and then charged me more than the previous 2 appointments combined to have mansplained about chairlifts (while being wrong), and remove all previous work done. This was 2023-2024 season, I was advised by locals to get an appointment with Bill (the only guy working there that isn’t a young backpacker type), but was unable to do so. If you’re looking for a boot fitter do your research and find a place that offers a guarantee so that you don’t waste your...