REI — Local services in Boulder

I had an unexpectedly bad experience at this REI location tonight. Unexpected because I love REI and have never had a bad experience here until now.

I called ahead at about 4:00 to see if I’d be able to rent snow shoes and was told they have plenty available but they close the rental counter at 6 so I’d need to be there before then. I live thirty minutes away so was happy to have that confirmed before I made the trek.

I arrived at 5:35 and waited a couple minutes in line before I was approached by a stressed (?) employee asking if I had a reservation. I did not. She told me (in a tone that I would not consider kind or customer service oriented) that they stop accepting walk-ins for the rental counter at 5:15. I said “okay” and started bumbling around the store wondering what to do next (but did not want to consider buying a brand new pair).

To my pleasant surprise there was a garage sale going on and lucky me- a pair of snowshoes that fit! The only problem was the price tag had fallen off and I couldn’t find it in the area. A very nice and helpful employee helped me search for the tag and even called on her radio to see if someone could help me get it priced. I waited around in the area for about ten minutes but nobody came. So I got in the checkout line hoping to find some assistance there. The super lovely cashier said he’d easily be able to get them priced for me! Yay! He goes to talk to the manager but comes back and says they can’t price them…..no reason given. Bummer.

So I left empty handed and weirded out by the multiple misleading interactions.

Hopefully just an off-night, I know everyone/everything is stressful and weird these days especially in Boulder county, but I still felt the need to express this experience, at the very least to encourage more training. I’ll probably be exploring some other outdoor store options in the future.

PS My friend was able to lend me her two snowshoe pairs and I still get to have my...

I have always loved rei, and shopped there for all my recreational needs. That ends today!!! A friend of mine gave me a carbon fiber Fuji sl 1.1 road frame that had a small crack in the seat stay. Obviously, it made more sense to get it repaired, as it's a $2000 frame and a repair was only $300. Broken Carbon did an amazing job fixing the carbon fiber!!! I brought the repaired frame into rei to order all the components and set up a build today. I had already been working with Brett on putting a parts order together and was ready to spend $2000+ today. That's when some ignorant chevy chase looking tool bag came up and arrogantly told me that they will not touch my bike because it was repaired and they don't want to be liable. I calmly told this less attractive chevy chase look a like that the business that repaired my frame has a almost perfect success rate and even warranties their repairs for 5 years, and that there would be no liability on their part for the structural integrity of the frame compromising when all they would be doing is attaching gears and brakes. After all, you logically couldn't hold a vehicular brake shop liable for your axle snapping in half if all they did was replace the brakes. Mr know it all was not happy with my response and condescendingly replies that it's impossible to fix carbon fiber and he's not touching my bike. Chevy chase obviously does not know how the customer-employee relationship works. I tell you what to do and give you money and you do it. End of story. Horrible experience, poor customer service, and patronizing employees. I have spent thousand of dollars at rei in the past and was going to spend thousands today. Now I will never give another dime to this overly expensive shot hole. All thanks to chevy chase's mentally incompetent brother in...

Bottom line: Similar to what you’d expect from other REI stores, although I did not have the best customer service experience.

My experience: When shopping, I came across a sign that said “50% off clearance clothing - *off original price, ask an associate for details.” The first associate didn’t really know the details, but told me the clearance item I had in hand was close to 50% off, and they thought the sign should have said up to. The item was really only marked down 30%, which look - is a decent discount, but the difference between 30% and 50% for item was $50. After doing the math, I asked them to call someone over who knows more details. Another associate, maybe a manager (not sure), came over and said it shouldn’t have been out and took the sign away. Both associates made me feel like I was the bad guy for asking about it in the first place and spoke to me in a condescending manner, which is subjective, but didn’t give me the 5 star feeling I usually get when I go to REIs, hence the 4 stars. For 5 star service, I would have expected them to honor the advertised discount for the item as an exception for helping them reduce customer confusion. The other odd thing - I did end up buying the item anyways, but once I got home, I found a return label in the pocket with another customers personal information. It didn’t have any credit card information, but did have their REI member number, full name, billing and shipping address.

That aside, I must note that this store did take a very high level of care as far as pandemic prevention goes - limiting number of people who entered the store, ground signs for traffic control and social distancing, shields for cashiers and probably the most disinfecting of register areas between customers that I have...