Rack Attack Vancouver used to be good. It was local, convenient, and a place I was happy to support. Based on my latest experience, that is clearly no longer the case.
I needed one specific part. I already knew exactly what I wanted, and before wasting a trip I checked Rack Attack's own website. The Vancouver store showed the part in stock.
I arrived at the store and there was nobody at the counter.
I could hear people talking in the back, so I started calling out to see if anyone was actually working the front. Nothing. I waited. I called out again. I knocked on the employee door. I repeatedly yelled, "Hey, is anyone here?"
This went on for roughly 20 minutes.
Twenty minutes standing in a retail store trying to convince an employee to come out and acknowledge that a customer exists.
Eventually, someone finally appeared and asked how he could help me.
I gave him the exact name of the part I wanted.
His immediate answer was: "We don't have a part like that."
No checking. No looking it up. Just an instant answer.
I told him that was strange considering I had checked Rack Attack's own website before coming down and it showed the part in stock.
He then asked me what the part was again.
So apparently he either hadn't listened the first time or had somehow decided they didn't carry it before even understanding what I was asking for.
He finally looked it up on the website and then announced that he had "found this part that will work."
It was the exact part I had asked for in the first place.
I told him to read the product name. It was literally the same part I had just told him was listed on their website and in stock.
His response was basically, "Yes, I'm showing you we have it."
Exactly.
So why did you just tell me you didn't?
When I asked him that, his response amounted to: yes, he had told me they didn't have it, but now he was showing me that they did.
That was enough for me. I walked out without buying anything.
This wasn't a complicated request. I didn't need advice, a custom installation, or someone to troubleshoot an obscure problem. I knew the exact part number/name, Rack Attack's own website said it was in stock, and all they had to do was sell it to me.
Instead, I spent roughly 20 minutes trying to get someone to come to the counter, was confidently given incorrect information without anyone bothering to check, had to direct the employee to his own company's website, and then watched him "discover" the exact part I had asked for.
That is an impressive amount of bad customer service for what should have been a two-minute transaction.
Rack Attack Vancouver used to be a business I would recommend. Now I wouldn't even bother making the trip.
I'll buy my rack equipment somewhere else. read more