REI Tempe has lousy service

[azbackpackr]

I've been a member of REI since 1971. However, I have always ordered by mail. At first it was via the catalog, and now I use the internet.

I have only been to an REI store twice. Both times it was the Tempe store. The first time was about 2 years ago. The second time was this past Saturday, at about 1 p.m.

Both times I had really bad service in the shoe dept. I have narrow feet, so I usually start by asking the salesman if there are any shoes (I was looking at trailrunners) that run narrow. On both visits the so-called "salesman" did not really seem to understand my question. On this last visit I was brought a pair of shoes, but then the salesman disappeared. He never returned to see if the shoes fit, or if I needed another size. He never mentioned the fact that the store sells Superfeet which might be used to take up the volume in otherwise wide shoes. He never offered to try this option, seeing as he never did actually return.

Honestly, I don't know how that store stays in business. We also went to to Sportsman's Warehouse. They have mostly inferior quality shoes and backpacking gear, compared to REI. But their salesmen do try to help you and they do try to sell what's in the store! Sportsman's Wearhouse employees mostly seemed to be over 30, whereas REI's seemed to be much younger. Like, about 14.

Another thing you get if you, like me, are a middle-aged woman, is a salesman who assumes you know nothing about backpacking or the outdoors. This is just amusing. They can't help their prejudices, I suppose. I get that wherever I go, especially when talking to males.

[te_wa]

I had to hole up for the night or for bad weather. I called it crack sleeping, wedging myself under a shallow narrow overhang

and the worst part of it all was you wearing that mexican wrestler outfit in your avatar
yesterday I made a 7x4x9 feet long tarp out of Spinnaker (sail fabric, .9oz/yard) and it came out at 6.3 ounces, for 252 sq. feet of coverage. ;)

[jdsteele]

I always have great service at the REI in Tempe and I'm a fat 40'ish pale bald guy -- maybe they think i'm a perfect mark actually. But i've always been given complete attention. I spent several days researching, trying on, buying, returning, buying another backpack. The sales people were patient and knowledgeable.

Just this spring I was shopping for new boots. I have wide feet and it's hard to find shoes in general, boots even more so. The salesperson stuck with me for a good hour while I tried on several different pairs, walked around the store, got up on the fake rock, etc. While I was there, he was helping another woman at the same time... she was returning a pair that she had already used for a month and on some long trips for a different model and size. Yes, returning a (well)used pair of boots with no questions asked, no markdowns or chargeback fees. I didn't think any stores offered that kind of service. BTW: Good luck buying boots at Bass Pro Shops or Sport Chalet, what a complete waste of time.

I bought my GPS at REI, the salesperson actually talked me out of the more expensive model because based on how I described my needs she didn't think I would need the pricier one (she was right, i'm very happy with my GPS).

I comparison shop quite a bit and i've come to the conclusion that all the sporting goods/camping stores have similar prices. Everybody is more expensive on the items that nobody else carries. On the items they all have in common, the prices are virtually identical. I've determined that the co-op rebate is about the equivalent of them paying my sales tax.

Just my .02.

[Jeffshadows]

One great thing about big box stores like REI and Cabelas is they exist so I can go in and check things out first-hand before going online and buying the item at a significant discount.

Example: I once asked a Summit Hut employee if they do any price matching and he quipped "ha, no!" almost as if he was both proud of such a stupid policy and simultaneously annoyed that I had the audacity to ask. I turned around and walked back to the rack, tried the coat on to make sure it fit, made a point of advertising what I was doing (making note of model, size, color, etc) and then walked right past his smug back-end right out the door. I saved almost $75 ordering the same coat from Mgear and only waited two days to have it in my hot little hands.

I feel bad that I can't support a local store, etc, but what you reap is what you sow. Make your staff members behave.

...Did I mention that I miss Bob's Bargain Barn?!

[te_wa]

gotta love it Jeff. i do the same thing. some of the nicer gear you just cant 'touch and feel' unfortunatley. Nobody has Gossamer Gear backpacks. Nobody has TarpTents. Nobody has most of the "cottage industry" gear, unless you go to Brian Frankle's house in Logan UT you arent going to get personal service so that being said I have tried a lot of stuff on and even liked most of it, but had to pass it on or pay return shipping. STILL, I have overall saved thousands off retail. (or so STP tells me)

Some of the things that Summit Hut carries just wont ever go on sale. The Western Mountaineering sleeping bag for instance- nobody offers sales on those thats just the way it is. I waited 2 years of watching websites and finally scored a WM Highlite for $168 brand new. I doubt others have that kind of tenacity (or should you say foolishness)
But hey, at least Summit Hut carries those bags. If not the best in the world, they are a close second.

to be fair Liz, I think it would be hard to find a 10.5 in AA-AAA anywhere. I think NB might be the only company that would even make such a thing without special order. I flew in from Chicago and sat next to a guy that was 7'1" and wore a size 18 NB, of course since who else would make a shoe like that!? (unless you play NBA)

here's a quick comparison since Im still feeling ornery (been a long week)
if you were to ask an REI employee just for the fun of it:
did you know that GoLite is now owned by Timberland?
'uhh... ok. I didnt know that nor do i car much.'

same question to Bill at the Hiking Shack:
'yes, thats unfortunately the case since october of last year'
in fact, Eureka was bought out by Johnson Wax and the North Face has been
owned by Vanity Fair (not the mag.) for a decade'
also, many of the founding and ground breaking companies sell out to the large
corporate big-shots who dont care anything about outdoor gear, only want a slice
of the pie. I would rather buy an american made product to help a neighbor pay his rent. Just my 0.02

that explains why Bud and Mt. Dew sponsor skateboarding and bicycle contests. Yea! get drunk on cheap beer and go skateboarding! makes no sense.

[Grasshopper]

...Did I mention that I miss Bob's Bargain Barn?!

Jeff, I just have to ask: Why is Bob's BB no longer? ;)

[azbackpackr]

I heard that Bob's closed when Popular was building three stores in Tucson, and they didn't think they could compete with Popular, plus having other stores coming in a little at a time over the years such as Big 5, etc. that also sell fishing gear, etc.

I miss Bob's, too. I don't even live in Tucson any more!

As for narrow boots, I used to be able to go into almost any good specialty backpacking store and buy narrow size Vasque or other boots off the rack. Vasque still makes them but nowadays stores don't stock them. Furthermore, Vasque's narrow sizes are wider than they used to be, so that they don't even feel very narrow any more, and I have to use orthotics. The best fit I can find is Asics running shoes, which come in exactly my size, but they don't seem to make a trailrunner in my size. And New Balance narrow shoes are often not narrow at all. (I believe they have lost control by having everything made in Asia. And New Balance shoes are often unbelievably shoddy nowadays. Sad--they used to be one of the best.) That being said, I recently found a nice pair of New Balance light hiking boots on Zappos.

[te_wa]

I thought all new balance are still made in usa?

well, good news is that I gambled and purchased 2 pair from STP, 1 was some Montrail and the other Scarpa and they both fit great! especially concerning was the european sizing on the italian scarpa's.

[azbackpackr]

My New Balance hiking boots say "China" and the NB trailrunners I ordered and sent back (they said narrow, but weren't narrow at all) were also made in China.

Isn't Scarpa that brand that runs narrow? I heard about one brand that generally runs really narrow, even with a med. width label. I need to go to Tucson and try some on.

[te_wa]

the scarpa's look like vasque quality wise. Ive always heard about their boot quality, not a Danner by all means but quality enough. the trail runner is nice and narrow in the heel but roomy to let my toes spread naturally. I have a small foot at mens 8 width c to d.
the best part is I was looking for those shoes and they were $90- STP had them for an extra 20% on top of their price, so I paid $40
I think the model is 'galactic' and they feel true to size.

[azbackpackr]

So what's STP?

[fairweather8588]

Sierra Trading Post

[azbackpackr]

Oh, duh!

[te_wa]

which actually is nowhere near the Sierra- not the Sierra Nevada at least. Located in SLC.

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, I've ordered from it before, it was using the intials that threw me.

Someone up the thread was chiding me for going to REI because everyone knows it's just college kids who aren't trained, etc. Well, hello, I started this thread. And I started it by saying that, while I've been an REI co-op member for 37 years, I have only been to the store twice.

The first time I went to REI, a couple years ago, there was one good saleswoman who helped us try on several ultralight packs. It was the shoe dept. person that was pathetic, both times.

And someone else wanted to know if I remember the old catalog from the early 70's. Oh, yes, I sure do. A real backpacking and climbing and mtneering catalog. Then I moved to Hawaii, which is sort of like living in a time warp or foreign country, stayed for 8 years without even one visit to the Mainland. When I next saw an REI catalog it was by then the early 90's. I was sort of bummed out at what I saw, all this yuppie clothing, and not much gear. I remember calling them up and asking them, "Where is the gear? What happened to all the nifty gadgets?" It used to be really inexpensive back in the 70's, too--that's why we liked it so much. There were some local backpacking outfitters in San Diego, my home town, but REI's prices were about half as much, as I recall. Also, I sewed a lot of Frostline kits back then, but sometimes it was a lot cheaper to just order from REI.

[te_wa]

Frostline? wow you are going back a ways... I havent even seen one of those except in pictures. (havent hiked that long, maybe 8 years?) so you pro'lly remember Holubar and Gerry too?
I remember seeing a site that catalogued a bunch of old companies and had highlites on how and when they got the big start and met their demise etc... really cool info there.

[Jeffshadows]

Way back when I was in Scouts I had a Gerry sleeping bag

[tonyp]

Up-thread a bit, you guys were talking about where to buy weird size boots. I go to the Shoebox in downtown Prescott. I the boot don't fit - they can make it fit. And tey carry te older Merrills, before they got all bendy and wimpy.

Tony

[azbackpackr]

Yeah I go back aways. A guy up in the Northwest has been writing this history of gear book. Or actually, a series of self-published books. I have sent him a lot of photos of Frostline gear I still have, plus Adventure 16 gear. A-16, as it is often called, is still in business in San Diego, but they no longer manufacture any gear, they are just a retailer. Nice store in Oceanside, too.

I don't remember having Holubar or Gerry gear too much, but of course I do remember those brands. That is because I bought so much A-16 gear. Tent, sleeping bag and packframe were A-16 back then, but my pack bag was (and still is) a Frostline kit. I have a newer internal frame pack but it feels like a strait jacket, so I never use it. I still use that old frame pack all the time. I keep the internal frame for if I am going to go canyoneering or scrambling. I still own a Frostline down vest I use, and a down jacket I don't use. Frostline is definitely out of business, although in the 90's you could still order stuff. The company was sold, then it was bought back again by the original owner, then sold again. I heard that at the end, people were sending money, their checks were cashed, but no product arrived in the mail, and the phone was disconnected. So, whoever owned the place ripped people off at the very end.

I try to resist fashion trends. I mostly use what's at hand, and I keep things forever. I have bought some newer stuff over the past several years, though. I even got myself a Go-lite goretex jacket, so I use that instead of the old nylon poncho some of the time. The poncho kept me cooler, though. Jacket is too hot sometimes, even with all its vents unzipped. On the other hand, in cooler weather I wear cami pants I got for free because my son's a Marine.

Free gear is good! I have a lot of REI gear I got for free because I'm an adult volunteer for a youth group that REI donated a whole bunch of gear to. I have a sleeping bag, tent, jackets, cross country skis, etc. I got for free.