Academy Sports + Outdoors — Local services in Longview

5 Stars, On May 3 2020 I go to Academy Store to purchase a Crickett Youth .22 LR . for 119.00. Well they did not have one in the store. I asked if I could order it. Sales man said "You can go on line, order and pay for it. It will be delivered here in a couple of days. You'll get an email, you come in fill out the paper work and if you pass the security checks it's yours." That would be ok. So I go home had my wife order it for our grand daughter. Being I'll be at work when someone has to go get it. 2 days later I check the email. Found just a receipt, where it was purchase. Checked the bank. Yep, there is a draft for the right amount to Academy. Ok now any day I'll get an email saying the gun is in. No worries I've got 2 more weeks. A couple more days pass Still no email. I call the Store None answers. Next day Still no email. Call the store again, No answer. Go to my email and look at the receipt. There is a button says check your order status. Click on it and I see an invoice and at the top I see order has been canceled. Why was my order canceled and why was I not informed??? I check the web site for someone to email, chat with, call. Finally find a number to call. I waited on hold for 45 minutes. Finally someone answers, And it is out sourced to a different country at 3:00 in the afternoon. So being as polite as I could I warn the Gentleman that I'm a little upset and I need to talk to someone who can help me. Explain what had happen, gave him the order number and was placed on hold. About 3 to five minutes go by and the gentleman comes back. The product was canceled due to it being damaged. (strike 1). So why was I not informed, We send out an email and we are sorry if you did not get it. (Strike 2) Well what about my money? When we canceled the order the amount pending was canceled also. That is not what my bank statement is showing! And the balance shows where you got paid. Well you will have to take that up with your bank. (Strike 3)!!! I have now contested the charge that Academy is trying to say they did not take. But they did. And Academy is now OUT OF HERE!!! Salesman at the store wanted to pawn me off on the online purchase Academy is advertising right now. Poor Communication with customers when there is a problem with an order. Can't get anyone one on the phone at the store. Out sourcing jobs at midday, midweek. And a We have your money now you have to make us give it back. I only spend about 3 to 4 hundred a year at academy. A drop in the ocean so to speak. But I will drive 80 miles to a Bass Pro to spend my money rather than 20 miles to...

This is a smaller location compared to many, which can be seen as a positive. They have quite a bit of merchandise in stock, and most of the primary bases are covered, so to speak. The imperfect rating comes from the customer service aspect. I found that, upon calling, it seems as though employees may tell you “what you want to hear,” or perhaps “what absolves them of responsibility” simply to end the call or pass you along to someone else. This was also my general impression with face-to-face interactions as well. Upon ordering an item for in-store pickup, I confirmed everything (i.e., the phone call). I then proceeded to drive 104 miles to this location. Upon following their process exactly as stated (it’s not difficult- a text message provides a link, which you then click, which verifies arrival) I was left to observe various interactions for half an hour— then told “I don’t see your order anywhere.” So, the lady who confirmed the item was “in her hand, being labeled now,” (BEFORE committing to a 208 mile round-trip drive) was being less-than truthful? I don’t know. What I do know is that after 45min and the requirement of being VERY persistent in speaking to a manager (in person, while at the store) I was able to leave WITH my order in under 3min. That is to say, the manager was able to rectify the issue of a supposedly non-existent item within 180 seconds while various employees found excuses for 45 minutes.

We’re in odd times at the moment, so I want to be fair. I did leave with my ordered item. However, for the time that I sat wondering if I’d wasted an entire day, I wasn’t pleased. If this store has what I need in the future, I may return again. However, I will keep the first experience in mind.

Also— if unfamiliar with the location, simply use AppleMaps or GMaps to get there. It’s a bit “hidden” on a one-way street. This ultimately ends up being a positive, as there’s no traffic or other shopping-center nonsense...

The store was clean, we were welcomed as soon as we came through the door and the overall atmosphere was great. Unfortunately things were "great" for about 3 minutes, then it seemed to become a wasted trip. We live an hour away so I called the store and looked online before making the trip. We needed olive colored polo style shirts for my husband's work uniform. Online it showed they had some in stock and when I called they verified that they had 3 different brands of olive colored polo shirts we could choose from. So we immediately left the house. Some how during our hour long trip they sold out of all of their olive green polo shirts! The lady who was helping us was very unprofessional, talking badly about the store, how she hated working there, and how they never have clothes in stock. She leaned on a clothing rack and pointed us in different directions while texting on her phone, when we asked about khaki slacks. Beyond the young lady, the store itself was a nightmare for those in a wheelchair. The space between the clothing racks is so narrow, many times I had to find an alternate route to get to the items we were looking at. After wasting an hour and 45 minutes and not purchasing anything we decided to leave. Unfortunately they only let you exit one door and since we didn't purchase anything we were not at the correct door. So they asked me to wait for the next customers to come in and the door will open so we could exit. Absolutely not a handicapped accessible store. We came with the intentions of buying 5 pair of slacks and 7 shirts but left with nothing. We will not come back. The "welcome" was nice, the store was clean but beyond that, don't...