BD hammer $80

Dave Kos wrote:

Shameless.

They are my local Mtn Shop and they do provide great service.  But I honestly don't know how the one in my town stays in business.  There's not much of an outdoor/climbing community here.  We have four climbers in our home and I only go to the local Nomad about once every two years. Every time I go I'm the only one in there.  It's just too easy to sit and click - no need to get in the car, or to figure out where Nomad has moved to this time...

FWIW I've had great customer service from Backcountry - they have gone out of their way to ensure gear arrives in time for a trip.

REI, meh.

Haven't worked there since 2014 but the crew is always great. Which town? the Josh location has lots of  business, idyllwild has the PCT season which carries the store the other dead 10 months. Nice folks, good gear, nice way to actually handle gear and talk to actual humans.

I support a few local stores that mean a lot to me, because they were there for a guy like me who needed somewhere to go and learn. The hobby shop, the local climbing gym, the awesome coffee shop on Grand... I  hope these things stick around, they probably won't because people only buy on line or at starbucks but would be neat to have them for a bit longer.

Customer service has to be awesome online because that is all they have. No soul, no flavor, just numbers, which is good too I guess.

Lena chita wrote:

I had nothing but great experience with Backcountry.

Once, I had ordered a package (a rope and a new down jacket-- e.i. expensive!) and had it shipped, by mistake, to the address where I had not lived in over 3 years. Didn't even realize that I shipped it to the wrong place or that the address was still saved. Anyway, when things didn't show up at the expected time, I went through the tracking number and realized that it was shipped to the wrong address, adn was, in fact, already delivered there two days earlier... SHIT! it was totally my fault, for not checking the correct address, but I called backcountry, explained the situation, and told them that I'm going to contact the new resident at my old address ( since it is in the same city) and hopefully get my items, but if they were lost, was there anything they could do?

They said sure, if you don't get your things from this address ,we will replace them. For free. They created a case number, everyone was polite and helpful and efficient... But fortunately the person living at my old address responded to my note left on their door, and I got my things, and then called backcountry to say thanks, don't need replacement.

I had a similar experience with Backcountry right before leaving on a trip... I ordered a new hardshell but forgot to change the shipping preferences when placing the order, and it shipped to my old address. This was 100% my fault but I couldn't track the package down. I called backcountry and mentioned I was leaving on a trip in the next few days, so they offered to get another jacket in the mail right away so that I'd have something for my trip and to figure out the missing jacket once I returned. The only issue was that they didn't have the jacket I'd ordered in stock anymore. The Backcountry CSR rep sent me an email with a selection of all the best jackets they had and told me to choose whichever one I wanted and that they would not charge me regardless. I ended up borrowing an Arc'teryx that cost 2x the jacket i'd originally ordered, and I returned it when I got back from my trip (this was the CS reps idea!!). By the time I was back, they hadn't found my original order, but had restocked on the jacket I'd ordered and they sent me another. Seems to me that Backcountry was willing to lose a few hundred dollars due to a mistake that was 100% not their fault just to keep a customer. If that's not excellent customer service, I don't know what is.

All of that said, we should still support small outdoor businesses (whether online or brick & mortar)! Until 2007, when Backcountry was acquired by Liberty Media, I would have said it qualifies as a small business. It's now owned by a huge PE firm... Spending our money at small businesses is a powerful antidote to the serious issue of wealth inequality