Niseko Resort Service — Local services in Kutchan

Insanely dishonest, dangerously incompetent.

Before even starting, I like how after bad reviews, some sudden empty comment 5 star reviews magically pop up. It takes only second to google the name of the reviewer to be rewarded by a picture of a staff member. Even for such a simple thing which would represent their reputation, they could not care less putting any effort. So i’ll let you guess how they could not care less about customer service or setting your gear right…

First to start easy, none of the staff never learned to say hello.

One of the snowboard boot is ripped over 4cm and when you asked if we should replace it, you just get a laconic “maybe”…

Eventually we get the gear and once on the slopes we realize that one of the ski binder has at least half a centimeter gap with the boot. You can clearly see it by looking at your feet standing up. Did they even bother setting ski?

When you tell them, they accuse you of having done some changes to the gear as if I was Vin Diesel trying to tune my gear for a night illegal street race…

The foreign staff, who’s probably here for just the season, is trying to intimidate you with some random lecture about Japan rules thinking we don’t live here while the Japanese staff is trash talking us thinking we don’t speak Japanese. Unfortunately for them none of their assumptions are correct.

none of the staff is trying to settle the situation: one is giggling, one stays at the very opposite side of the room, one is just coming with some random hypothesis of how this could happen because it must come from us rather than them making a mistake.

In any shop, the situation would have been settled in a second but not here. They just would not admit that they did a mistake which is not a big deal by the way and just keep on trying to make the situation worse.

Usually I don’t really mind bad service as long as I get what I need but it’s the worse experience I ever had. Period. And it’s pretty mind blowing that this would happen in Japan where I never had a single issue in more than a decade. Not that I had many bad experiences in general...

Was initially quite pleased by the lower prices compared to Rhythm and the staff were quite helpful and spent time regarding fitting but that’s where the good parts end. Was given poor bindings which snapped while I was in Strawberry Fields! Had to walk out for half an hour and flag a ski patrol who kindly gave me a ride back to the lift to go back down. When I presented them with the dangerously faulty binding all I got was ….hmmm, never happened before. No, sorry for the inconvenience or some kind of service recovery..I mean I could have been stuck between a rock and a hard place having to walk down or slide down the steep slopes of Hanazono. Better still, when I returned the snowboard, they said there were some scratches on the bottom of the board charged me a half-tune amounting to JPY15,000! This negated any discount you would have saved with Rhythm who are not as nit-picky about returns. Make sure if you rent from Yoshi, you return it in absolutely pristine condition or you’ll be hit with a hefty charge at the end. Would I come back to rent, unlikely…too much risk to be hit with these potential...

Average rental shop attached to a lodge. Everything about renting skis was no frills, and no complaints. It was an expensive rental, although I didn't shop around. Although the service was a bit frustrating. When I returned my skis, I asked for some help finding the best way back to Kutchan station. They were less than helpful. The shop clerk said the next charter bus was hours away (from a company brochure) When we decided the best way was to go by taxi, I asked if they could call me a taxi, and they were ambivalent, and said to go to a convenience store parking lot where I was assured there were taxis. I stood there for 15 minutes in an iced over parking like an idiot leering at traffic surrounded by loud, boozy Australians on beer runs. Then, a public bus for Kutchan station went past me and I had to run after it. Thankfully I caught the bus. I'm not a princess. I don't need to be pampered. But when a customer asks for a taxi to catch a train, you find the number and call a taxi. I can maybe, -maybe- understand not knowing how to check the bus route....