In my search for the perfect rolling backpack for an international trip I ordered two backpacks online and had them delivered to the store. At the encouragement of my husband I also paid for a membership. The backpacks were estimated to arrive a couple weeks after I placed the order.
About a week into the wait I thought, "Hm. That's weird. I never received a welcome email for my membership or any notification that my order was received." I called the corporate number and they told me that I had entered my email incorrectly when I signed up. Okay, cool. I take responsibility for that. When they changed my email to the correct one I still did not receive a welcome email or any notifications in my regular inbox or junk folder about my order.
The day the store was supposed to receive the backpacks came and went. No phone call. No email notification. I called the store. After lots of confusion on the sales associate's part (including comments like, "I'm not sure why it says they haven't shipped" and "Oh, it says this order was partially filled"), they located the bags and told me I could pick them up. Oh, great, I thought. I will stop by next week when the craziness of school and work has settled down.
A little more than a week later I stop by the store and again there is massive confusion about where my backpacks are. The sales associate who finally looked up the order said, "Your order has been canceled." Turns out, the one email I got from PayPal (not REI) said that I didn't actually pay for them and that REI would collect payment when I came in to pick them up. Again, my fault for assuming that I had paid in full for the backpacks and they were just waiting for me to go get them.
Another sales associate (who at various times is also casually eating an energy bar or something while trying to help the first one) comes up to see if they are somewhere on the floor and finds just one of the backpacks I originally ordered plus the same bag in a different color. Resignedly I say that I will take the other color and when the sales associate rings it up, it is almost 190.00 MORE than the first bag, which is on clearance.
From beginning to end the whole ordeal has been a disaster of miscommunication and on top of it they are asking me to pay 190.00 more than what I had intended to pay for a situation that is not my fault. I ask if they can honor the price of my original order and the associate radios Brad the "manager" (and I use this word loosely) to explain the situation and ask for the price adjustment.
Brad simply says, "Nope." Or maybe he didn't say that. Maybe he said, "F off" or "Oh, hell naw" or "Pssshaaah!" I can only guess because Brad, in his role as "manager," never came to me to apologize for the mix up or try to make it right. In fact, as I was surrounded by three sales associates (the one who helped me, the masticating one who found the backpacks, and another who had to figure out how to refund the cost of my membership), Brad walked by, saw that I was unhappy by the look on my face (which, by the way, I am proud to say I did NOT take out on anyone in the store - although I totally understand why there is yelling, fit-throwing and general rage from other people in situations like this), LOOKED ME UP AND DOWN, gave me the side eye, then passed the whole situation by.
This made me instantly realize that I was not being treated as your typical REI shopper. Maybe I should have thrown a fit. Maybe I needed to look like I just rappelled off a mountain to get stellar service. Maybe I should have insisted. But it's not my job as a consumer who was failed by a company to make it right. The sales associates were nice enough but Brad didn't stick around long enough to have that conversation. As I was waiting for the associates to figure out how to refund my membership payment, I told them, "This whole thing could have been avoided if I received a phone call or an email from the store to let me know 1. That my backpacks had come in, 2. That my order had been canceled and/or 3. That my backpacks were being put back on the shelf." The only response I received was, "Yyyeeeeeaaaaahhhh..... Sometimes we call people and sometimes we don't, so..... Sorry."
At no point while I was in the store did anyone try to convince me to keep my membership or offer a solution about how to make it right. I called the Corporate office to complain about Brad and the entire debacle and even they could not honor the price I originally paid for the backpack that went missing. At best, they said they would communicate with Boise about my treatment in the store and offer a 30% discount on any full price backpack I did buy - which doesn't even begin to the touch the cost I would have originally paid for the backpacks I found online.
This is the worst retail experience I have ever had. And I have been to Walmart in Florida! I will never shop at REI again and I will actively encourage my friends and family to never shop there. read more