REI

Transactional capabilities are borderline fraudulent.

Store pick-up items: delayed 20 min at the counter where I'm told my amex card has canceled half my order. I had to call AmEx on the spot to discover that some bizarre intermediary that REI uses had refunded half of it! And now, in the store, they wanted it back. The clerk told me this happens all the time 😜

Delivery items: 2 days later they email and cancel my other 2 delivery items due to " nventory changes"

I am an REI member, and have bought quite a few items from them. The store staff are usually friendly and helpful. They do have good quality gear, but it is very expensive, even with the member rebates and all.

The biggest complaint I have about REI is their online ordering. I ordered some bike parts. Shipping was already really slow, and then they delayed it several more days. It was almost two weeks before the shipment arrived at my house. I might but a few more things in their store, but won't be placing any online orders in the future.

#1
Came in for a brake adjustment talked me into paying $30 for a co-op membership because tire repairs would be free. I was at the top of the hill heading down when I realized my brakes were not working at all I had to slam myself into a cement wall several times to keep from going onto a major highway in traffic
#2
Brought my bike in because my tire was flat came to pick it up. Wheeled it about 2 inches towards the door and realized my tire was still flat.
#3
I brought my bike in for another flat poop. They informed me it would be $40 and no longer free to fix even with the co-op which was originally free.
Highway robbery

Rei has been getting from bad to years along the years I have been with them. Customer service seems to be staffed with people who hate the company and the customers. Many orders were cancelled for no reasons at all and items which arrived had a high proportion of damage and they refuse to accept take responsibility. Buy from them at your own peril

This place was once an outdoor persons paradise! Now it's just a corporate greed machine. This place went from allowing you to return everything and anything because they originally stood behind the products they sell. Now they offer a 1 year return policy which is still pretty decent but they don't stand behind the products they sell in store anymore. I purchased a pair of shoes from them for $130+ tax and they had already started to tear on the side on 1 shoe. The store seems to think it's normal wear and tear and refused to return the shoes. If that was normal wear and tear why isn't it torn on the other side as well? I did not hike, run or do anything crazy in these shoes so there should be no reason for the whole.

Have ordered more than a dozen items. Perfect every time. Fast shipping, great prices, and unbelievable return policy (anytime for any reason). Check out their daily and weekly deals--can't beat them.

I purchased a pair of REI brand pants for travel, wore them once, and the top button came off in the dryer. I exchanged them and it happened again within 2 weeks. When I tried to return them the sales people were rude and acted like they might not be able to accept the return, stating that their new policy doesn't cover normal wear... I don't know who expects their clothing to just fall apart if they wash them, but if you're going to sell me cheap pieces of crap I can certainly buy that somewhere else for much cheaper. It's also ridiculous to try to shame your customers. I travel frequently for field work, and have spent quite a bit in REI, but after this experience I would not trust them with any large purchases.

My wife bought a pair of Merrell hiking shoes 2 years ago, didn't wear much, but did this past week on a 4 day backpacking trip on the John Muir Trail in Yosemite. It was the first time she really wore them on a long hike. She got blisters pretty bad, even though they were two years old (and worn in). She returned them today to REI and they gave her a full refund. Wow. I have total confidence buying products from them... they really stand by their stuff.

REI and continued 'membership' shenanigans-now I get it. Was initially astounded that REI would not stand behind their flawed product, insisting with Gestapo like force that a receipt/membership number be provided in order to make right THEIR defective product. After reading about the recent history of this company, now I get it. Bottom line for me - will never purchase anything from them. What kind of company is more worried about membership number than the quality of their products? I sent them two brand new shirts with some sort of fabric defect (the wrinkles could not be removed). Were they concerned? Absolutely NOT. FAKE 100% satisfaction guarantee. Incredibly insensitive to think I would insult the giver of the gift (shirts) in order to find out where/when it was purchased.

Ordered three water bottles, only received two and the two I received were the wrong color. The horrible customer service came in play when I tried to contact them. Send an email first and no reply, so I called and was on hold a total of 25 min. Kind of disappointed because these guys have always been awesome, should have stayed with amazon :)

Seems REI,,, some in Minnesota,,, is no longer the good store it was... The best workers are leaving,,, not recognized for their expertise. Sad ---- no wonder many reviews have changed from very good to one --two star reviews...

Ordered one item at the sale price, REI sent a different product. Contacted customer service and they said it was their mistake but that If i wanted what i ordered i would have to pay additional. Not a good company to do business with.

Purchased an expensive pair of hiking boots from rei in atlanta. Only worn 5-6 times in roughly three-year period. The soles separated on both boots. Returned them for exchange. Told me i would get zero credit toward new boots purchase. They said the defect was due to ME not wearing the boots enough. I said GOODBYE to rei, after being a customer for 30 years.

I was told in one of the stores that if I purchased my own membership I would receive a 30 gift card. I signed up on line and no gift card. I called and was told I needed to purchase $50 more at that time to qualify for the gift card. I have spent hundreds of dollars since I signed up, but that doesn't count. Apparently their staff doesn't know all the small print and I certainly didn't see it.
There are certainly cheaper places to buy your equipment. Just be aware REI uses some weasel words.
We just bought close to $400 worth of Smart Wool and the clerk told my wife it would be 10% off. We got home and no discount was given. Again beware of what anyone at REI tells you, because chances are it's probably not true!

Working in customer service should be about how to help a customer. At times, I felt I was wasting the agents time. I asked reasonable questions, which could have been responded to with kindness and respect. I think the cardinal sin was her saying I have many customers waiting. Do you have a question? If a customer asks a specific question which needs supervision, then the customer should be informed they are looking into the issue and will provide information. Information as basic as reach out to my manager on Linkedin or here's a great way connecting with our Support supervisors. I think agents need to not deflect and actually provide truthful answer on what options are available. In conclusion, I've never felt so insulted as an agent saying theres customers waiting and to please ask a question deemed worth for a response. Either the agent should have concerted their opinion or not blamed the customer for being an interested party. Please respond only with a support manager.

This is a deceptive online outdoor gear store, like 123 mountain. They sell you a membership with the promise of great savings, but there is never any item the membership discount applies to. They list items for sale that they don't have in stock and don't tell you that until after you've purchased the item. According to them, they have 30 days to fill your order and you can't cancel. Worse company I've ever done business with and I never will again.

Went into a store, asked an employee where to find something and was immediately hit with a sales pitch on the membership program. Get to the counter and am told the membership is $30, the cashier asks for the sales rep who told me about it ( no doubt they have a rewards system), made the purchase with the cost of the membership. Went to buy something online two weeks later and lo and behold my membership was never setup in the system. Went online to the chat and they said I have to produce the receipt in order to verify I purchased the membership. Don't have it anymore so now I'm out $30. For the money I spent there and was trying to spend on the website this purchase you'd think they would have just created the membership but I guess not. Too bad the co-op is some scam sh**

Satisfaction is definitely not the priority. I placed an online order for a gift and was given a delivery estimate of a week later. No notification and no product delivered. I contacted the store and was made to feel like a burden for even asking. I contacted customer service where I was again made to feel like I was wasting the agent's time only to find out that it would be an additional twenty days of wait time before the item "might" be delivered. This would have been an easy communication from REI regarding order status but clearly not their priority. Unacceptable service and communication. Customer lost with first online transaction.

Don't waste your money here - they have finally priced themselves 'over the moon high' and think they are the only store where you can get good quality outdoor clothes and items - wrong! Much better deals at Cabelas, $#*!s or Sportsman. And just look at these one star reviews over to the right! Add poor customer service to that also - I wish they'd go out of business, truthfully.

Highly recommend another retailer plenty of them out there. They don't really care about you or your health and exposing you and everyone you come in contact with covid. I ordered a jacket online the week of thanksgiving it came and didn't fit right so like most companies called to exchange for the correct size. It would have been easy if I didn't use a gift card but since I used a gift card really didn't have any choices except go to the store and do an exchange to get it before Christmas and not just lose the money on the gift card. You can tell the companies that care about customer this is not one. (No price matching. Spent hours on the phone trying to get the right size, had to call back to get a return label) Never use a gift card unless you want a hassle better off giving your business to retailer that cares and understands we are in a world wide pandemic maybe REI doesn't believe this is real.

I'm going to keep this short. REI does not stand behind their products 100% like they claim.
I have a four + year old REI dry bag that has failed at the welded seam. They will not warranty it because I do not have a receipt. I told them that it was a gift from my grandmother. I was told by the REI sales person that my grandmother should've kept the receipt. I said, are you kidding me! This is a REI product with REI stamped all over it. My grandmother has passed away. What does REI want me to do? Dig her up and ask her what she did with the receipt. I will never buy a REI product again! Patagonia has the best warranty going and stands behind there products. REI should take a lesson on how to treat there customers from Patagonia.

This store has a good selection of camping and hiking gear, but is highly over priced. The membership is a gimmick to charge higher prices and to fool customers into believing they are getting a discount. Don't be fooled. Go to browse and buy it cheaper online. They used to have good customer service, but they changed their return policy. When we tried to return our unworn brand new purchases, the manager refused even to give us store credit because too much time had expired. This is despite the fact that we have been members for a number of years. The manager's attitude was smug and arrogant. This was at the East Hanover, NJ store. We used to buy from there occasionally because the service was good, but after this experience, we will never spend a penny there again. If a business charges a premium price, the manager and sales people need to treat the customers with respect.

I purchased over $500 worth of goods at the REI on Brentwood in St. Louis, MO today. I was informed (after I made the purchase) that not only did they not have gift boxes for the items, they did not have bags at all, as part of their zero carbon footprint policy. I would have to carry all my purchases out to my car in the pouring rain with no protection for any of it. I understand the NCF policy but this is taking it a little too far. And I'm sure REI saved a good deal of money with this policy and I certainly didn't notice any effect on their already high prices. It may not have bothered me as much if I hadn't noticed while shopping that the young staff asked all the younger shoppers if they needed help but not one of them asked me if i needed help or even made eye contact. I am in my late 60's. Not a great experience overall.