I am a lifeguard/wsi at the YMCA and all of our equipment comes from the Lifeguard Store, but my…read moreexperience with them was really disappointing. I gave them two stars instead of one only because as far as selection goes, they are the best you're going to find, and the equipment (fanny packs, tubes, etc) are really good. But that's pretty much their only redeeming quality.
At my YMCA, the guards buy their own suits, and at least twenty of us got ours from the lifeguard store. Again, great selection, but quality is so-so. The suits will not last more than one season and stretch out within weeks, and I, along with most of the female guards, went through two/sometimes three suits in a single season.
So if you're looking for lifeguard gear, and you are 110% POSITIVE you know what you want, then by all means, but God forbid you ever need to return something or deal with customer service. I bought two swimsuits in early May. One didn't fit, so I filled out the return slip exactly as directed and mailed it back. But by late June, I heard nothing and saw nothing credited to my account, so I called customer service to confirm that my package was received. She asked for a tracking number, and for once I didn't have one (really was kicking myself for not doing that since they literally would not answer the question of whether or not it was in the building, won't make that mistake again), and that's when the woman from customer service informed me that in order to make a return, you actually have to call ahead and essentially make an appointment and receive a authorization number. There was literally no indication of this on their return policy, and it was the first time I had heard of such a thing. "call for authorization" was printed on the bottom of the return slip, but that was literally the only indicator they had this policy and to me it was not at all made clear.
So customer service lady says, ok, it's probably delayed because you didn't get an authorization number, just wait it out for a week, two at most, and you should see your refund, guaranteed. FOUR WEEKS go by, no response, no refund. Keep in mind it's late July now and has been more than TWO MONTHS since they would have received the package. At this point I started thinking that it might have been lost or stolen, and I sent an email saying that they needed to confirm that they had received it, because if they didn't, I was going to report it lost to USPS. The customer service woman I emailed was about as helpful as a potato. Obviously did not give a damn about my problems with them. She responded to my complaint two paragraph complaint with literally one sentence:
"what's the tracking number?"
"I don't have one. I wanted someone to confirm that it was received and is being processed."
"I don't see anything that says a refund was sent to you. If you don't have a tracking number I don't know if it's here."
Is it really that hard to WALK TO THE MAILROOM AND CHECK IF MY NAME'S ON ANYTHING??
Then, FINALLY, after roughly TEN WEEKS after they would have received the package, I see the refund credited to my account. I sent the return to them in MAY and it took them THE ENTIRE LIFEGUARD SEASON to get my refund in early August. Also this refund came through only about a week and a half after I sent the email to customer service and she said that no refund was sent out to me, so it wasn't like my bank was taking forever. It means that these guys were literally letting my return sit on a shelf and collect dust for more than TWO MONTHS. And after this whole ordeal I talked to the other guards and apparently The Lifeguard Store is notoriously awful with returns even if you DO get an authorization number. So please, if you ABSOLUTELY MUST buy something from them, just take it and go. But honestly, there are much better stores out there for equipment and guard suits. I highly recommend Swim Outlet, I have never been disappointed by them.
