It sounds like sports-equipment company REI actually enjoys providing good customer service—their official Return policy seems pretty lenient, and it turns out they stand by that,at least for Tom’s family:
Last week, my dad was headed off to the dump with his old (4-5 years) cross country skies. They had become delaminated as a result of plain wear and tear (and storing them in the hot attic probably didn’t help). My brother had to pick up a jacket for summer camp, so my dad figured he’s see if REI would take them back to dispose of (saving him 20 bucks that the dump would have cost). Not only did REI take them back, but they gave him a full refund. Kudos to REI for honoring an abnormally long warranty that we didn’t even know existed.
Tom’s story isn’t unique. We found others online that mention a similar no-questions-asked (other than, “Is this used?”) return/exchange policy. This forum thread on the backpackinglight website suggests you should try going into a store or calling rather than using the contact form on the website—here’s a typical entry: “I never had any luck thru email with a pack I had, but when I called them, they jumped on it. Let me use the defective pack until the new one came in, and sent me a return label.”
(Photo: Getty)
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I hate to spoil the party but REI has let me down a couple of times.
1. I brought a Petzl headlamp in that the headband had stretched out and they didn’t have the replacement. I was given the part number and told to go and order it on the 800 number. I thought that was kind of weird because I had the cash in hand and would have preferred that they ordered it and sent it to me. I never did order it and still have that old Zoom in a box somewhere.
2. I bought a Thermarest from them and upon getting it home (120 miles from the nearest REI) I discovered that it had a cut in it. I guess whomever opened the box used a razor blade and cut it. I sent it back in explaining what happened and the patched it and sent in back rather than replacing it. It never did work properly and I finally ditched it because I bought another one.
I’ve bought a lot of gear over the years so to only have a problem two times is pretty good.
Only company I’ve never had a problem with is Patagonia. Love their stuff and if it didn’t last so long I’d probably buy more.
I work for Eastern Mountain Sports. I have worked there for approximately 5 years and have been at management level, I am currently not because I have another full time job. We would do the same thing if the customer asked for a refund. Normally this is no issue at all. Our #1 focus is outstanding customer service. We won’t settle for anything less.
To the guy who said he worked for EMS and the policy was “really hurting the companies bottom line” I don’t necessarily thing that’s a true statement. Additionally, it is not policy to make a copy of a customer’s drivers license, so if anyone ever asks any of you guys to make a copy of it you can say it’s not EMS policy to do that. We do ask for your DL if you don’t have a receipt or if you are writing a check, so we can take down certain info.
The one item where our store manager, and many EMS store managers, have a stumbling point is footwear. It’s about the only thing we don’t like taking back if it’s severely worn. That said I have returned a pair of boots that were clearly more than 7 years old because the customer said “they didn’t hold up well.”
Footwear returns are the worst. I usually looked at the flaw the customer was basing the return on (say a blown seam) and compared it to the overall wear on the boots. If they had walked the soles off and wrecked the uppers, then the response would be some variation of the “conscience” line mentioned above.
For outdoor electronics, the return policy at REI is worth its weight in gold. It makes it a lot easier to lay out 400 bucks on a Garmin knowing that if it craps out on you you can walk into the store and walk out with a new one.
@Chi:
Can you prove my theory that good climbing ropes actually only cost $20-30 but they are so expensive simply because nobody would trust their life to a $20 rope?
The only time I’ve been given a hard time for returning something at REI was when there was this old guy working the counter named Boots. He’s a great old character, and suggested things I could do to fix a stuck water filter for about ten minutes before he’d let me return it. I didn’t mind the advice, and actually went back looking for him a few times when I needed advice.
Boots: You need THIS backpack
Me: I don’t know, that’s awfully expensive…
Boots: I’m a search and rescue volunteer and I use one of these as my 24 hr bag
Me: I’ll take it.
Wow, some people who have a problem with this policy clearly can’t see the forest through the trees.
As eveidenced simply by the “comments”, people tend to love REI and are happy to do business with them. In todays day and age, that speaks volumes as it’s rare to have a company and clientele have such a relationship. Clearly whatever ‘costs’ REI absorbs in there liberal return policy likely more than pays for itself with customer loyalty and word of mouth.
Additionally if there came a point in time in which this policy was abused and not worthwhile, they would change it. Costco/Sams have a similiar policy but amended it to 6 months with computers and electronics when it seemed a number of poeple where either renting the equipment or constantly upgrading.
Lands End also has similiar policy although they are primarily mail-order only ( Sears). When companies show they value customers, it’s amazing how it can pay for itslef.
I always wondered why REI was so expensive, this has got to be at least one of the reasons why.
I bought a 1 man backpacking tent from Campmor, it was about $75 less than REI had it for. The more research I did, the more I started to notice that about everything REI sells.
This doesn’t surprise me. I bought a backpack from REI a few years ago. After a year of heavy use, a strap on the backpack ripped. With no receipt or any other record of purchase, and owning the backpack for more than a year, I headed back to REI expecting the worst. However, they found the purchase on my REI account and gladly refunded my money.
I will say that a lot of their returned stuff does end up in the store. I was at REI recently to buy a climbing helmet and many of the models were out of the boxes with no boxes to be found.