Juan B.
Yelp
Well, this was a toss up for me to review, I've been an REI member/fan for at least 12 years. Since my initial encounter as a customer, it had always made a favorable impression on me, till lately. It started a few months ago when I ordered a mountain bike, a Salsa Rangefinder, from their warehouse in another State. That whole ordering and processing issue was a nightmare, it was charged through Affirm, long story short they didn't know how to process the virtual card, they canceled the funds, I had to reapply, then the story gets worse, spoke to at least 5 people, both from the Tucson store and corporate, awful. After getting it finally done they still didn't do the total canceling of the card, and it showed up as being in the process mode for over three weeks till I advised them on what they needed to do....wheeeooo
Now, in one of those people in the conversation was one of the young ladies at the Tucson store, that was very rude, no customer service skills. Today I believe I dealt with two of those gals, since they are the ones in the bike department, but I'm not 100 percent, but they also had no customer service skills. I had ordered a pair of new tires for my Trek, schwalbe marathon plus, since they are known to hardly ever get flats, anyway....
They arrived after being 4 days late, they sent me a notice, I responded by telling them I would bring my bike in, today Friday, May 13, and I made sure I was the first one at the door 15 minutes before opening. I had asked them if I needed an appointment, whoever responded by phone told me no, just come in when the tires arrive and we will install, free of charge if your a member, which I am. I came in, first one through the door and first to the bike service area. I told her about my order, she showed me the box, then we decided to also install new tubes with the white liquid that is supposed to reseal itself. I also bought a new saddle, and had them fix the handlebar tape, part was slipping from place, a ten minute job. She said I will text you when we are done, she said it would be two hrs, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. Ok, I spent over two hrs in the store, finally went over by the bike area, the young lady was busy running around here and there, but never acknowledged me being there, meanwhile a young man saw me standing there, asked if I was there to pick up a bike , I said yes, then the sam young lady came out with my bike, I noticed the new tires where not installed, I said where are my tires, she responded, oh did you want your old tires also????
Well, the old tires are still on the bike, and you didn't install my new ones, after almost 2.5 hrs. She looked bewildered, took the bike, didn't apologize, the fact that I had been there over two hrs. She had the other young lady put my new tires on, and since I had not been text, or they hadn't installed my new tires, the reason for being there, I inquired as to why I had been there , now from 10 till 12:30, she got a little snippy and told me that retapping takes a while, and the bike seat, blah, blah.., the tapping was partial, the saddle takes ten minutes, I've replaced many, and they put new tubes on the old tires, maybe 30 minutes , such a simple job took almost three hrs, and not once did any of them apologize, this is not the REI I remember... From now on I will take my bike elsewhere, I still had to pay for the saddle installed and the partial retapping and install of the new tubes, $128.00, plus I just bought a pair of Ortlieb paniers for $200. If they don't need my business, I will take it somewhere else.