Play It Again Sports- Waltham, MA — Local services in Waltham

I want to like this store--it has a local owner and it helps keep sporting goods out of landfills. I've had lots of interactions with this store, it has been my first stop when needing new gear from baseball, to soccer, ski and golf. I've had 2 experiences that really turned me off, and both involve the owner directly. First, 2 years ago I purchased a set of ski boots--likely the best condition set on the floor--and the owner recommended these more expensive ones justifying the cost that he "would buy these back every time." Well, come the next season, I return with the same boots, with just a few runs on them, and he refused to repurchase them saying they were too worn. I've now read other posts here on google reviews that show this owner and staff are inconsistent--and I completely agree. (I should have learned my lesson!)

My second experience happened just recently. I came in to look at junior golf clubs. The youth clubs were haphazardly arranged and spread out among a bunch of different used golf bags. I spent about 20 minutes organizing the clubs into groups of similar length, condition, make etc (you know, something the staff could have done). To my surprise, I actually found a group of random clubs that were meant to be a set. I put them together in one bag and told the owner that these might work for my son and I'd be back later or the next day to purchase them. His reply was simply that "kids golf clubs are going fast" trying to scare me into buying them now because they'd be gone the next day. Well, we came back the next day, right at open, and the clubs were still there but with a new price tag! The owner had the gal to take advantage of the organization I did to generate value (a complete set is better than a random individual clubs) and marked up the set. Priced the first time the gear would have been $90, after his mark up they were $130. I was just in disbelief. The owner was not working that morning (a weekend) and the 2 staff on duty said it really wouldn't be worth my effort to call the owner to ask for the old price--these two staff members basically said that this sort of behavior was typical of the owner and not to get my hopes up. I went straight to ebay, found a similar set (FOR LESS $$) ordered it and will never do business with this shop again. For those who do choose to shop there, get the ebay & amazon app and search everything you see, the prices for new stuff are way out of line with other retailers and the used prices are complete guesses.

I would also add, to the owner, please read your reviews and take the feedback here to heart. This community wants to support you, but it doesn't seem like you are receptive or change your business...

This store has a decent and wide variety of different sports gear but severely lacks customer service and knowledge. If you enjoy a store that has teenage employees that lack customer service and equipment knowledge and pricing and are too busy with their faces in their phones this is the store for you. We tried to purchase a golf club bag and apparently not all the bags are for sale in there, they said that's not for sale it's.just displaying the clubs ..that doesn't make any sense to me considering there are clubs for sale that have no bag with them, kind of just assumed every thing was for sale in there that was sports related. Very disappointing experience and we will not return to...

If you're buying something, better make pretty darn sure you want it or that it's sized properly.

From what I saw, most of the stuff is a little junky, but good for kids or if you wanna try out a sport (golf or skiing perhaps).

I bought a pair of ski boots for a friend, didn't fit him all that well (my fault I guess). Brought it back four days later and the rep (owner?) wouldn't take it, quoting a 2 day return policy. After I told him how insane that was, he offered me 30% cash back (！！！) or 50% store credit. I was halfway out the door with boots in tow and he said he'd make it right and offer 100% back in store credit only. Anyone want this store credit? I sure don't. Better than...