Well, We are going for a week trip starting on the 25th and I thought I would get my son his own board. I figured at this point it would last the rest of this season and next. First I tried a new local shop here in Fredericksburg, but they didn't have any small boards. So I called Ski Chalet up in Chantilly and they said they had lots of boards in the 130 to 140 range. So we packed up and drove the 1 hour to hour and a half to get there. We went in and after being ignored asked for help and the guy working said he was busy but he would call someone. A kid came to help and was rushing us the entire time. 1st they only had one type of 140 board. a generic Wolverine graphic board. My son wasn't trilled with the graphic, but when I said we could put it off and go elsewhere he figured it would be ok. Then the guy did a quick measurement of my kid's feet and he immediately brought out boots too small. I didn't think much of it because nobody ever measure my kids feet right; I don't think he stands on those measuring devices correctly. After I saw them fighting to get this boot on, I told the guy that he needed a larger size and I think he thought we were being unreasonable and just didn't understand the concept of a tight boot. He went and got the next size and my son still had a tough time getting them on, but I think at this point we were all feeling frazzled and rushed. Then the guy went and grabbed a set of bindings and when he pulled them around the top strap didn't go around, but he said it would adjust out. The guy never asked any questions, just kept throwing stuff at us. We asked if they would mount them and he said sure and started writing up a ticket. He then asks when we wanted to pick them up. It will be at least Tuesday. I told the guy it was a long drive for us and would like it done today if possible. But it's too late in the day (around 6) and not possible, so I decided to set it up myself. I didn't want to go out to Chantilly. Well I get home and we are starting to get excited. The board looks better out of the wrapper and a check of the bootie and the boot looks like it fits perfectly. After a few trials and errors, I get the binding set up. I adjust the top strap as far as it will go and discovers that it will only fit the boot if I push real hard and catch a ridge. Even with the boot empty it will only ratchet about two clicks. No way my son is going to get this hooked up on the mountain, and probably not safe. I'm going back up tomorrow to see if I can get a new binding setup. I'm wondering if they are going to try and get me to buy longer straps, but I'm not sure if the safety of the binding is compromised if you go larger. Anyway, the whole experience turned out to be terrible. First I wish when they said they had a lot of boards, that they had clarified of 1 type; Second, I wish they had slow down a bit and engaged us in some conversation, to help us feel better about what we were getting ; Third I wish they had taken more time to make sure everything they gave us worked together.

since your going back, check out extreme all sport (about a mile away). Pete will talk your ear off and help you get some good gear at a reasonable price. I have bought ski gear and know people who have bought snowboarding gear.
http://www.extremeallsport.com/

Sorry the hear you had such a problem. Unfortunately, thats the exact reason I stopped going the Ski Chalet over 6 years ago. That and it seemed like every time I went into the store, they had new people. I could never get any consistancy of what I considered experienced salespeople.

I now use Alpine in Sterling almost exclusively (especially for inline skate stuff) even though its farther away. I will also use Pro Fit in Leesburg if I am up that way.

Cheers,

jBill

Unless you're buying clothes or know exactly what you want, don't go to Ski Chalet. You're just setting yourself up to be pissed off.

Well this is just a fantastic post. You know, for every complaint based rant like this there are 10 times as many positive experiences that no one will ever write about. I'm not saying there is no reason for the complaint and the experience at Chantilly sounds like a cluster-eff from word go but please think about more than yourself when you write a character assassination on a multi store ski shop.

I can't excuse the way your son got boot fitted because this needs to be done properly and with patience. It sounds to me like the store was extremely busy and they were just trying to get anyone back there to help you. It's unfortunate that they would get somebody unqualified to do that. I was surprised to read that you went on what is likely to be the last extremely busy weekend of the season (it's Presidents Day weekend, remember), showed up late in the day and expected the board to be mounted same day. Please. The workings of a ski shop that serves an entire region on one of the busiest weekends of the season just can't do that.

You were right to expect to have all three points you made met by the Chantilly Ski Chalet. It's disappointing that they weren't. Now we have a post that describes this experience and more people come out of the woodwork to pile on. Well folks, if you didn't know it, five shops have been culled down to three and in our area, the Tysons store was closed down last May. Where do you think all the customers who used that shop go now? Arlington and Chantilly. Like everything else in life, most people wait until the last minute to get sh!t done and expect things to be done NOW. This is always exacerbated around the holidays and if you don't think there are dedicated employees at these stores trying their best to meet your needs then that's just crazy. Just for once it would be great to hear someone write about something good that happened in one of the stores because it happens every day. I've had customers come back thanking me for getting them in a boot that has changed their skiing for the better or who come back from a ski trip raving about the ski I recommended for them. We have customers who have been coming to us for over 25 years. They know they have other options and it's not like the same person has been their personal ski guru for all that time because yes, you're going to see plenty of new faces each year. That's how it is.

My suggestion is you talk about your issues experienced yesterday with a manager and then see what they do to make it right, because they will try to make it right. You have to travel an hour? Don't put that on Ski Chalet - the location isn't going to change. You want it done today? Call ahead and ask when such a request could be best suited.

Has anyone on this board ever had a great experience at Ski Chalet? I know many of you have so write about it. It's not like these people are working on tips. They thrive on positive feed back, which is regularly given in our stores but unfortunately not on this fickle online community of skiers. I'm not going to keep coming back in defense for every negative post about Ski Chalet from here on out because I'm sadly leaving them in a few weeks and I don't feel every negative story warrants a response. I leave Ski Chalet with TONS of great memories and many of those due to smiling faces of the customers I helped. Rant over. Pray for snow and may you all have great turns.

Sorry to say Scott that I live in Richmond and the two experiences I had with the old Ski Chalet were unpleasant. Bought some ski's and binding off of a friend for my wife and asked how much to get them adjusted to her boots. $75! I know I didn't buy them there, but darn that much for a pair binding that mount to rails? Took them to the Ski Center in Midlothian, $25 and since it was still early season he threw in a wax and sharpen at no cost.

The other issue was about 10 days before leaving for Whistler. Wanted a new pair of pants, but they didn't have my size in the pants I wanted. They called the Tysons Corner Store and they had them. Said they would send them down. After 9 days of waiting, phone calls and still no pants, I drove from Richmond to Tysons Corner to pick them up, only to tell me they had no record of me wanting them. Was leaving the store, and looked behind the counter, and you guessed it, my pants on a hander with a note attached, "Hold for Anderson, send to Richmond store. I asked the guy why he hadn't sent them since I was leaving the next moring. He said he had just been too busy.

Sorry Scott, no sympathy from me.............

My main impression of Ski Chalet in Richmond is that they were overpriced and out of touch with the needs of experienced/educated enthusiast skiers. I like shops where I can have a good one-on-one dialog with another enthusiast who knows as much or more about equipment than me, and maybe even cut a deal. At Ski Chalet, I never encountered very many enthusiasts, and their idea of cutting a deal was looking at a "retail" price list in a notebook. So my impression is that they were a good shop if you want to walk in off the street and pay full retail with no questions asked.

While skiing at Wintergreen earlier this year, I did meet a nice young lady who works at the Richmond Store (now Peter Glen) and she was clearly an enthusiast who chatted with me about skis quite a bit. So there are some good people there, I just never encountered any when shopping at the actual store.

I have good relationships with ski shops in Washington State (Village Bike & Ski), California (Sierra Ski & Snowboard), and Maine (Ski Depot and Al's ski barn). These are all brick and mortar shops who take phone and/or internet orders. They are staffed by hardcore enthusiasts, they are eager to talk with customers, and they have great deals -- typically 20-40% off list (or more) every day. They also stand behind their products. I will gladly give my business to these shops -- I can wait 2-5 days for UPS to bring my gear....

Well, I, for one, have almost always had a better than good experience with shopping and equipment repair at Ski Chalet, at least when Wilbur was the owner, and Freed his right hand man. I have shopped Ski Chalet for over 35 years without any real bad experiences, and lots of great ones.
I have held my judgement of the new ownership, but I must say, at least for my experiences at Chantilly, I am not real impressed. I went to pick up my skis in December as promised and had to wait while the work was done and the fellow doing the work (good work, by the way) complained that all the guys had gone to Snowshoe for demo days and left him with a mess of unfinished work. I an less than thrilled with the physical changes in the shop and the fact that very knowledgable folks re specific areas of inventory are now not available to help customers, but rather have to man the cash register. AND MOST IMPORTAMTLY...the Ski Chalet needs to bring back Freed and his expertise at running a first class operation, and thus get themselves right with old and new customers alike.
I made a major purchase of boots this year and drove the extra miles to Pro Fit in Leesburg because I was not made to feel like a "customer" at Ski Chalet in Chantilly.
Scott, I have not been to the Arlington store for a couple of years, so I can not speak for the operation there...which always in the past was better than first class.
The Colonel.

skier219 I know all you have close is the Ski World in NN, but have you ever been to the Ski Center here in Richmond? If not you should try it out next time you are up this way. Steve Stallard (the owner), Patrick, Mark and all the others really know their stuff and their prices can't be beat!!!

Wojo,
Thanks! We stopped by on the way up and met and talked with Pete. He originally told us what we could do to make the setup we had work. Get a longer stap, get a pro disk to offset the bindings so the toe wouldn't drag over the edge... We asked and he showed us his boards and we decided to go with a santa cruz board and bindings(i Belive its a last year model) and some Head boots with BOA tighten system, which my son loves because he always fought getting the strings good and tight. It ended up being about $100 cheaper. and he took the 3 minutes it took to mount and make sure the mounting and boot fit well on the board.I think I ended up with a better board, slightly less in the bindings and about the same quality boot. I will say when I returned the items to ski chalet, he asked why and I explained that it didn't fit and I decided to go another way and they accepted the return with no issues.

ScotS244,
Hey sorry if you feel my rant was unjustified. Not my intent to character assassinate. Your right that people do tend to rant more then rave when things are going bad versus good. But I have noticed that people also tend to come to the defense of said object when they feel differently. However, I doubt that my rant has any bearing on the success or failure of these stores. I was sharing my latest experience as I do many in this forum. Some good some bad.