Ares Sportswear — Local services in Norwich Township

I'd like to preface this by stating that I have never written a review for anything in my life. After my horrific experience with Ares, I feel the need to share my story.

I have used Ares Sportswear for the past few years, and I've had a decent experience with them. However, this past year, I have had nothing but problem after problem. I created two separate stores- one for my cheer team and one for the teaching staff in my building. First, I worked with Marykate. Marykate was unresponsive, did not follow instructions, and continuously made mistakes that delayed the opening of the store by several weeks. When the store was finally opened, there were issues that occurred (some items would only allow for 6 to be ordered at a time, the shipping was messed up, etc). Finally, the store managaed to be open, collect orders, and close. It took double the amount of time for the items to get delivered, and upon delivery, there were several orders that were flat out wrong.

After multiple attempts of reaching out to Marykate, it was brought to my attention that Marykate left the company. This was not communicated with me whatsoever, and I was not told to whom I should direct my questions. Eventually, I was passed along to the "lead," Tonia, who seemed to be hepful at the time. She was responsive and clearly wanted to help rectify these issues. I sent Tonia the list of items that needed to be fixed, and she told me she'd get them delivered ASAP. She asked me what date I needed the items by, and I asked her to get them to me before Memorial Day if possible (this was about to weeks before). At this point, there were coach's gear that was missing and their season was coming to a close.

After reaching out to Tonia several times for an update, I had not heard anything. No emails, no calls back. Finally, weeks later, I called AGAIN to speak with a manager. I believe her name was Olivia, however, my main concern is that this woman is put into a leadership position with 0 skills for it. She might have been the least helpful employee, and that includes Marykate who doesn't even work for them anymore. "Olivia" claimed that Tonia had shared my order with her, but she "didn't get around to it" until now (a full month after I spoke with Tonia). She claimed that the missing orders weren't appearing on her end, and it's not that she "doesn't believe" me, but she cannot fix the orders without proof. I explained to her that it''s been well over a month, and she can't expect all my colleagues to have kept their receipts. Additionally, "Olivia" claimed that items would be canceled if they were out of stock. I asked her if they typically communicate that with the customer, as nobody had any idea this could occur, and she had no answer for me.

She continued to inform me that she cannot speak to me about the orders, and that she needs to speak with the individual people whose orders were wrong. After calling my colleagues, I was told that "Olivia" was telling them that the order appeared differently, even after they offered to send her the receipt. After Olivia told them that their orders would not come for several weeks, she also told them that the shipping address cannot change. As a result, the items would get delivered to an empty school in the middle of summer. "Olivia" all but encouraged my colleagues to cancel their orders, which many of them did due to the massive inconvenience and terrible customer service.

I am beyond disappointed with deplorable customer service and overall lack of communication. Needless to say, I will never work with Ares...

2/3/2025 I am updating my rating based on the prompt response from Dan Girard. He contacted me regarding my issues and was able to assist with my concerns. We mutually agreed to keep in contact and look to do business for the next season. Would be willing to increase stars more based on that experience.

Original Message I am a new coach who was recommended to this company by the previous coach. I looked forward to working with this company as the season approached. I have been very disappointed. I started this process in November to obtain new sports gear for the upcoming track season. Was told it would take about a week to do my team's mock-ups. Here we are in January and nothing. I have followed up on multiple occasions with my rep Shawna and it has been a terrible experience. Lack of follow-up, not returning emails or text messages. I called and talked to a person by the name of Rockel who was eager to assist and was assured she would help and get things going to then find out, that did not happen. Was asked if a person named Christian contacted me, nope. My season starts in less than two weeks and I have no gear to show the team at our upcoming parent meeting. It should not have taken over two months to get this done. There was a reason I started this in November so this could be completed before the new year. Now, I may have to find a new company since this company has been a total failure. Talked with Shawna yesterday and was promised she would call me by EOB. That did not happen. I wish I could give zero stars for...

I don’t know how they have such a high rating. I wish our district would find a different provider for our athletes uniforms. 3 years in a row I’ve had to place an order with this company and 3 years in a row they’ve not had the uniforms delivered until more than halfway through the season. The sizing charts are not accurate with the actual merchandise. The don’t provide samples for parent to visually look at or for students to try on to have an idea of what a good size would be. the quality of the material is at best 5/10 compared to going into an actual sporting good store. You’re literally ordering blindly. Because it comes with a school logo you’re stuck with the item and can’t return or exchange for a better size. The photos and descriptions are misleading- I purchased a pullover which was shown with a pair of joggers under it. One would assume that the pullover and the joggers are a set? NO!!! The pullover is see thru, and that’s even while holding it up front and back touching on a purple top. I sincerely hope Reynoldsburg finds someone else because the price, service and quality don’t match up. You’re better off purchasing items from Kroger and sewing your schools logo on than using...