The House Outdoor Store — Local services in Little Canada

I was fortunate enough to shop online, in store and deal with customer service. Normally there is no way I would ever say I was fortunate if I had to talk to that many people to fulfill an order, but in this case my dealing with The House was nothing short of perfect.

I found an awesome Lib Tech board on their new years sale and ordered it paying with PayPal. I was excited for it to arrive and my girlfriend placed an order for a board, bindings, gloves and a jacket the next day. However her order shipped before mine, and I was getting concerned due to time constraints on my vacation time from work. After calling customer service I was informed that I ordered the last board and they had to search their 3 different storage facilities for it. After not receiving a confirmation number the next day I became stressed that maybe their inventory was off and maybe they were out of stock.

I went home to MSP to visit my family and called the house and asked if it would be acceptable if I came and picked the board up in store. They were fine with that, they went and grabbed the board for me and set it aside. I arrived at the house and during our conversation over the payment and processing I was informed that since it was done through Paypal it could only be fulfilled online and they would have to cancel that order and resell it to me as a debit transaction. No problem I thought, so I proceeded to get boots and bindings.

The sales staff (Marlin) was very helpful and knowledgeable. They took the time to help me find the best binding and boot combo for me, that was not only comfortable and supportive, but was a great deal as well. He went back a few times looking for a set of bindings for me that were the last in stock but worked perfectly for my set up. I also tried on multiple boots both at the outlet and main store, and finding the perfect fit wasn't a nuisance to them, as they were patient with me as I tried a few sizes in multiple brands to find that perfect fit. I left the store with the intention of returning to the store the next day after Paypal refunded my order to complete the transaction for my board.

After calling my bank and Paypal I learned that it would take Paypal up to a week to refund my transaction and that would not work for me, as I would already be back in Washington at that time. I called the customer service line again (Jesse, I think was his name) and to no surprise they were very helpful. I told them the situation and they told me they would two day ship it the next day to make sure everything worked out fine, and at no extra charge.

Great customer service and a knowledgeable, helpful staff feels like a dying art in this age. Shopping with The House was a throwback to a better retail era, and I felt like i was the focus of every single person I spoke with. I cannot recommend The House highly enough, and would encourage any and everyone to send their business to The House.

I will be a...

Good prices, some difficulties with customer service

Note: I have updated this review due to the lengths the house went to complete my order after posting my story here.

I've been ordering outdoor gear from this site since 2017. Their show room is also nice and close for those who live in the twin cities metro like myself. Though I have never had to deal with their customer service but you will regret it if you have to.

I ordered a bike that was backordered and was estimated to ship 1 week after I placed the order. 2 weeks have gone by past that date and I didn't hear anything. Their site on back ordered items says the following:

"Backorder ship dates are estimates only. As soon as we have your gear we'll ship it to you and email you the tracking information. If the estimated ship date changes, we'll notify you via email."

I was worried I didn't get an email so I reached out via the contact us form which I did not get a response. I also used the support chat 3 more times before getting the answer that the bike was 4 more weeks out.

UPDATED: Since posting this review the house has gone above and beyond to address my complaints. I was emailed directly explaining that they have had supply chain issues like every other company along with some influx of orders and growth pains.

That really shouldn't be an excuse for overselling or overpromising an order and that is why this remains at 4 stars but they admitted the mistake and were able to turn around and get me something they had in stock that was an upgrade in under a couple days to make things right. The mechanic Andy talked to me directly as well and was extremely nice and knowledgable.

I do think this company has some issues to work on with communication on orders but they do seem aware of them and willing to put in the work to keep their customer base.

After this fiasco I would still recommend the house but I would caution backordered items until they work out a solution long term with supply chain and how their email system works on updated ship dates.

If you order a backordered item and the estimated ship dates comes and goes I would highly suggest you get in front of it and go to the support chat over the support tickets at it is a much quicker way to get an answer. It sucks that the customer may have to put in some work to get your purchases but it is hard to beat...

My family spent thousands at The House in 2022 and last 2 months Nov/Dec has been disaster when it comes to filling orders. Have photos of what I received, shows you they do not care. One order received massive box that was only for 2 small parts (pedals and supposed to be bike crankset) but no crank, just a random bike cassette in million pieces. Did get credit back for this order but very frustrated sent the wrong part because it messed up and delayed a bike build.

Another order, expensive bike cassette shipped in a box with zero protection, some damage but shows The House does not care.

My third order from December 16th showed all parts in stock but as of today December 30th, have not received shipping notice. UPDATE 1/2/22 - The House replied to my review, then canceled my order. Thanks for nothing.

My family has 1 more open order with The House and I have zero faith they will ship the correct product and package it right.

My biggest fear is the bike I just purchased will not be taken with care. I feel bad because I used my influence to sell dozens of bikes that day for The House and make me look bad because I pushed them to a company that does not seem to care. Since then, ive stopped promoting The House until they fix their house.

UPDATE 1/2/22 - recap, placed 6 orders in December from The House. 2 shipped perfect, 1 order received wrong part, 1 order shipped with zero packaging to protect from damage, 1 canceled even though they showed stock and had to escalate to get response. 1 more order left (the Bike) thats due to ship 1/15.

UPDATE 1/15/22 - My biggest fear came true. Received the bike, box was destroyed and held together by TWO pieces of tape. The bike I ordered was supposed to come with DT Swiss 350 Hub as listed in their description and confirmed from another buyer. But instead got a lesser quality Pub house-branded hub. The House did not offer to fix the problem, said it was an error and offered a small credit back as a take it or leave it offer.

UPDATE 2/17/23 - Have quality issue with bike just purchased, emailed The House for resolution. No response. Did write a very nice review about the bike and The House did not post it. Wrote another review of item purchase there, The House did not post it. I feel this business has banned me from...