Michelle was amazing. Best retail customer service I've experienced in a very, very long time. I went in on a whim, came out with TWO great-fitting swimsuits that I felt great in. On my own I would have given up after trying on just one swimsuit, but Michelle's helpfulness was encouraging and made me want to persevere, and I'm glad I did. First time I've shopped for a swimsuit in years, and Michelle made it really painless. Now I have a flattering swimsuit that I look forward to wearing. Grateful for the positive experience. read more

I love Athleta, having recently rediscovered it after its opening at the new Broadway Plaza and I'm always amazed that while the other shops I pass seem like ghost towns, I enter Athleta, and, as I told a friend, it's "a beehive" of women shopping, exploring new arrivals, trying things on. I've never not had the salespeople greet me, take my things to a room, check on me while I'm dressing, etc. I have always had a great experience there, so much so that I had to wean myself away, I felt like I was in there every day. Amazing and flattering clothes, inviting space, helpful salespeople. I have no special fondness for promoting The Gap, who owns Athleta, but simply feel like sharing my exprience in the face of all these negative reviews. read more

I USED TO LOVE ATHLETA - HERE IS WHY I THINK WE NEED TO BREAK UP: CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON-EXISTENT: Shop here if you like being ignored by the sales people, don't care to get in to a fitting room, don't care to find sizes or product you need or anyone well versed enough in their own product to tell you why this shirt/short/swim suit is worth laying out the $$ for. It is exhausting and depressing to comb through racks of disorganized clothing that no one wants only to realize you have driven there to find nothing you saw in their magazine available to try on and honestly, no one who works there gives one hoot about trying to help you find what you need. EX: I found a white swim suit top that I liked - it had someone else's make-up smeared on it - they took it in back, rinsed it out and handed it to me - now wet and still orange - to try on.........uh, what?! THEY NEVER HAVE ANYTHING IN STOCK!!! Honestly, you see something in their mag, go to try it on and they don't have it in stock. It's like the store is full of the one size no one buys and sale items that no one wants. A total waste of Athleta's money to rent that space. LONG WAIT TO CHECK OUT AT KIOSK - Make sure you have time to wait to buy something if you are lucky enough to find anything interesting in your size and a sales person willing to sell it to you. I always have to end up ordering something from them to be shipped to me - which makes me wonder why I don't just order online in the first place........ They should just have the whole place self serve from start to finish. You comb through the racks, find something you like and pay via a self service device and be done with it. I really just want this experience to be a treat from start to finish. I want to come in to a well stocked store, with friendly/knowledgeable sales people who help me when I ask and are available when I need to buy something. I don't need a personal assistant but something other than an empty store would be great. Good-luck everyone! I hope you find your experience to be more pleasant! read more

I went into the store with a lot of questions about their sports bras. The girl took me to the back of the store showed me where they were and said there you go and didn't answer one question. I asked her what small, medium, and large translated to with respect To cup size. She responded try them on and see, and walked away to stand in the middle of the store and chat with the other employees. I walked out and went to LUlu and got a ton of help and purchased four sports bras and two tanks. Never will return read more

Good clothes but the store doesn't have a check out station, you just have to wander and stand behind other people waiting too. Very confusing, not enough help, long wait to check out. read more

I love Athleta and the quality of their clothing. This location is very tiny compared to their other locations. I had to deduct a star for POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. It's unacceptable to have customers waiting outside on a cold day, 5 mins past opening! I could clearly see workers walking around and talking! When the lady with the short/spikey hair answered the door, I asked her, "Do you open at 11?" Her response was "Yes", no apology offered for keeping customers waiting. Arrogant employees can be a huge downfall for business. read more

I love shopping online since I have a very busy schedule. Some of the stuff that I buy online wouldn't fit the way I want and I have to take them back to the store and return them. I had a couple of bad experiences with Walnut Creek associates before, but that store is close to me and I just rather go there and return or exchange my stuff. However, today was the worst that I could imagine. I bought a Lolo dress online and I had the online receipt, my Athleta credit card, and the item. It took them 30 minutes to try and tell me that they can't find the item even with my receipt which is ridiculous. I insisted that I need to return the item and I was not going to return online. All the associates were gathering around the table in the middle of the store and looking at me like I was committing a crime returning the dress, giving me dirty looks. The manager was very RUDE, Racist, Unwelcoming, Unhelpful, Disrespectful and dishonest. She told me straight in my face that I should return to online claiming that the item on the receipt was not the one I was trying to return. I was shocked and I went to the online website, pulled up the picture of the dress and showed it to her, but instead, she kept insisting that it wasn't the same item. I was speechless and frustrated. She kept responding to me that I have to send it back to online if I want to return. I didn't quit there, I called their online customer service and complained, they assured me that nothing was wrong with my order and I should be able to return to the store. I asked them to talk to the manager and ask her why she refuses my return. They called her and I don't know what lie she told them, that they called me saying that the item was not showing on my credit card and the receipt that I have was not good I guess. Oh man, I was not happy and I decided to go to another Athleta store and try to return it there. GUESS WHAT????? They returned it with no question asked!!!!! I mean What the Heck?!!! I waisted a good 1 hour there which I hope I didn't. I just needed to see if what she was falsely claiming was right and IT WAS NOT. SHE WAS LYING!!! She just didn't want to help me. Now that I read all these comments from other folks, I see that it didn't just happen to me, but to many other ladies. With an ignorant manager like that, we should NOT expect more from the associates. I will never go back there. read more

Went in to shop, but the music in the store was so loud that I had to leave. It was not relaxing in the least bit and my daughter and I could barely hear each other. I shop at the Emeryville Athleta frequently and don't experience this there. read more

Bad online customer service. Order suspended, they email that they need to verify something no the cc, the same cc which works perfectly fine with everything else. Phone numbers they give put one in a never ending wait. Remains to see if they cancel the order, as they threaten, unless one spends hour attempting to reach them in person - if they will not find other way of verification, I will never order with them again read more

Have been meaning to come in for a while to upgrade my tired work out wear. Had a great experience with a helpful and bubbly staff member named Laurie H. who helped me find just what I needed (and maybe a bit more!). Thanks for the great service, Laurie & the great products, Athleta! read more

I love the clothes Athleta offers, but the customer service in their Walnut Creek location is horrible. They rarely great me when I enter the store, and never ask if there is anything they can help me with. Then I have to go around the store looking for someone to ring up my purchase. I work in retail and know how important customer service is. The customer service at this store is awful. read more

This store is a joke. I teach fitness and spend hundreds of dollars on fitness apparel each year. The styles are cute but the clothes are waaaaay overpriced. Naturally, one tries to use all discounts possible but the store makes it nearly impossible. First, they promise rewards for loyalty shopping but make them very difficult to use. Let me just say that I can not recommend anyone shop here ever. read more

Great, friendly, positive, helpful staff!. Had a gift certificate and when the cashier tried to ring me up, the system was down. He was patient and persistent and with a reboot I was out of there with some really nice workout stuff. read more

I came here one day looking around for the first time because I heard they accept returns no matter how old they are. Even though their return policy is good, the customer service here is so horrible that I rather just stick to Lululemon as long as I am in Walnut Creek. No greeting and no help at all from the girls. I found something to buy and asked the girl for help and she pointed at another girl all the way on the other side of the store that made it so confusing because I don't understand why she wouldn't do it. I turned around and saw nobody and she went to go do something else when I was about to ask her which girl. The girl finally popped up and directed me to the cashier. She had blonde hair and was a extremely rude girl and seemed like a robot to me. Didn't bother answering my questions and gave me one word answers. She looked like she hated her job and it just makes me feel so bad for them. Never coming back here and taking my business to Lululemon only. read more

Seems like they've hired new employees and got rid of the nice ones. We went in on the weekend and the employees completely ignored us and chatted amongst each other in the middle of store. There were about five employees, and not one could even glance our way and smile or offer help. Apparently chatting about their latest perfume purchase is more important than good customer service. read more

WORST customer service I have ever experienced. I will NEVER go back. I figured I would give them a try instead of Lulu but in the 30 minutes I was there and stacking clothing to try on I was not even asked if they could start a fitting room for me. Then, I go to exchange a gift and the girl working the counter returned the gift to the original card it was paid for on (not mine) and proceeded to tell me it was out of her hands and there was nothing she could do about it. Also, the manager was absolutely no help. For future reference I will tell you how to do your job, ASK the customer how they would like the money. These girls were all too occupied gossiping about coworkers the whole time I was there while I was the only customer in the store. I was never approached in the fitting room either, just heard them all chatting it up in the front. Exactly why I don't shop here, rude people who don't offer any help and probably shouldn't be in customer service. I will never go back, and will continue to bring my money Lulu. read more

I don't live in Walnut Creek, but the online store was sold out of the swim shorts I wanted. The only store nearish to me was this one, but I didn't have time to make it. I called and they offered to ship the shorts to me for free. The whole conversation took less than 5 min, and I will have the shorts in a few days. Perfect. :) read more

Love the clothes and love the store. Everyone that works there was so helpful. I washed a shirt with my towels and it was destroyed. I called them and told them what happened and was told to bring it back. I did and it was exchanged for a new one. No issues and the quality of clothing is phenomenal. The only draw back is shipping can sometimes take longer than expected read more