Good help is hard to find, especially after the Pandemic. I have learned definitely to curtail my expectations now, when it comes to customer service, but these guys hit a new low.
Being a resident of the Tri-Valley area, I have shopped at this Dublin REI plenty of times before. I've gotten used to employees never saying hi or even acknowledging my existence- that was the case even before Covid hit. It's normal to have to try and flag someone down for help.
This time, I called the store inquiring about a product that REI carries. While shopping online, the system said that Dublin did not have any. I could order it and have it sent the store, but it would take 5 days. But I have a lengthy history of working retail, so I know that chances are very high that the on-hands inventory count is wrong. My phone call was directed to Action Sports. I was looking for a very specific Swix brand ski wax. The sales associate said he would check the floor for the product. He returned saying that they actually had a few of them. I told him that I would come right away. He told me that he would have one waiting for me behind the cashier counter.
I got in my car and drove my 11 miles in the rain till I got to the store. I decided to cruise the ski wax section to see if maybe there were other products I might be interested in. I found one ski wax product and although it was Swix, it was not the one that I had inquired about. I waited in line at the cashier counter until I was summoned. The cashier retrieved the product from the backroom area and it was the same item that I found hanging in the ski wax section moments before. Not good. I explained that I called to the store and someone told me that the store did indeed have what I was looking for, so I rushed down in the pouring rain to get it, and guess what? it's not what I had asked for! We walked over to the ski wax section to see if maybe the sales associate grabbed the wrong item. Of course what he had was the ONLY product. He went to the ski shop to see if maybe they had some in the back. The shop didn't even know that product existed. I was pretty pissed. I understand that the poor cashier was trying to help me, but simply put I just wasted a gallon of gas and an hour of my time to make a trip for nothing.
When I got home, I navigated my way to the REI website and left feedback of my bad experience at the Dublin store. The website asked if I would like a follow from the manager with 2 days and I answered yes. Two days came and went. No follow up. as expected.
As I stated before- the service at REI is what I have come to expect, but this time to actually waste my resources and not give two hoots about it? just a shrug of the shoulders? that's probably the WORST "customer service" that I have ever had. More disappointing is that Corporate didn't care and the store manager didn't care. With other online stores like Moosejaw and brick and mortar stores like Dick's abound, those customer dollars are getting more and more precious. To just thumb their nose at me doesn't bode well for REI as a whole. But that is the world in which now we live- where giant corporations (some hiding behind the guise of being a "co-op" for tax purposes) don't care about the customers, only his/her dollars. They can live with one pissed off customer. There are plenty of other customers out there. I'll soon be returning my REI membership. read more