Sports Authority

YIKES! Sports Authority is pulling out of San Luis Obispo. Went into the store yesterday and was surprised at how empty things were looking. Employee told me they are packing up the tent and leaving town. Closest Sports Authority will be in Goleta.

I drove 30 miles to sports authority for my kids Christmas gift. I was speaking to the store manager, Pat and he was very helpful over the phone and he worked out a way for me to get the best price .
I did appreciate all his help.
Thank you Pat for making my kids a joyful Christmas!

I have always liked this store for its great selection of running clothes and gear, but today they made me a customer for life.
My son was leaving for science camp in 15 minutes and we realized we left his sleeping bag at home – 20 minutes away. I drove at a very unsafe speed to Sports Authority, burst in the door shouting, «sleeping bags?!» and was shown quickly to them. While I was making the world’s fastest quality comparison, the manager made sure there was a cashier waiting for me as soon as I dashed up to the register. She keyed in her password, and, more drama, the server was down. While I was having visions of my son freezing to death in Yosemite, the manager decided I could take the bag. No payment required. I yanked off the tag, left it with the cashier with promises to return within the hour, and ran out the door. My son is now Yosemite-​bound with a North Face bag and I have since settled my tab and repeated profound thanks to the staff. They kept their cool while a crazy lady was running through the store in a blind panic and totally saved the day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

the store is nice and clean and the service is always good with plenty of sales staff compared to shoppers… but they don’t carry ANY tennis equipment, none. Is tennis suddenly not a sport? So don’t bother if that’s what you’re looking for.

We went to big 5 and were ignored by 2 people that worked there. We then went to Sports Authority and were greeted by a friendly cashier who helped us right away. 2 other team members helped us find the compression socks we needed.

My daughter plays high school soccer and we came in for new cleats. They did not have any that fit her small but slightly wide feet. We bought some socks but they would not honor their Unilocal check in coupon. With so many places to buy sports equipment why would I go back here?

I swear this shouldn’t be so difficult!
I went in the store and bought an elliptical and included delivery and assembly. Their promise is that someone will contact you within 48 hours to set up a delivery time. I bought it on Saturday and the following Friday I still don’t have a delivery date. Sports Authority outsources their delivery service to a company on the east coast. The elliptical I bought is there in the warehouse in SLO (this was confirmed before I left the store Saturday) but the person in New York has to call people here in SLO to ask what their schedules are (they do not have access to nor share calendars), write a note, call me back, I ask questions, they write a note, call the driver back, call me back… you get the idea. If they finally show up with my elliptical two weeks after my purchase and I have issues with them assembling it I’ll be trying to update this to negative stars somehow.
If you buy something at Sports Authority stick to buying things you can carry to your car yourself.

Don’t do it…
If I wrote down the entire story of their ineptitude: 1) It would be way too long, and 2) It would be removed from Unilocal due to the sheer unbelievability of it all.
I went online and compared the different home gyms that each offered and liked one listed on the SA website. I called the local store and asked about home assembly. They encouraged me to come in and pick one out on the computer and they would order it thereand once the equipment was shipped to me, they would send someone out to assemble it for a nominal price. The home assembly was paramount to me above all else. I was VERY sure to ask about this. I once attempted to assemble a treadmill on my own, and the anger management therapy costs far exceeded any assembly charges that I could imagine I would incur by asking for this service.
This is where the story is hard to write because SO much went on in a very small time frame. I arrived at the store, and I was eventually assisted to a computer by a staff member. I, AGAIN, asked about the home assembly (this was VERY important to me/​so I am sure you know where this is going!) He reiterated what the person on the phone had stated: Home assembly/​no problem. I asked the costs of it. He looked up something on the computer and compared it to the product I was ordering and quoted me $ 159. I made a mental note and added that cost onto the gym I picked online. It was higher than I’d wanted, but ok. I asked the process of coordinating with them once the equipment was delivered to my home and I was even told that I had to physically return to the store and set this up versus making a phone call so I could pay for it in advance.
He stepped aside as I was entering my personal information on their computer for delivery/​sale, and at this point another patron came up with another salesperson and were waiting to use the computer, too. I finished up my order using a couple of gift cards due to the public nature of the computer. Collected my receipts and left. Deal done? Umm, notsomuch!
When I got home, I checked my email to make sure everything went through and I noticed there were TWO emails right after the other with different order numbers from Sports Authority. I clicked on the first. Home gym. Everything looked fine: billing and shipping address were good. I clicked on the second email and saw that a pair of strange shoes I’d never seen before were being sent to me-​but billed to someone other than myself, who I surmised was probably the person waiting for the computer after me. I immediately called the store and spoke with the manager. I explained the situation of someones product that they paid for being shipped to me and how it was all fine and good on my end, but the poor lady who had her credit card info online was not going to be happy that her shoes were coming to me.
After that conversation in which I was assured all was good: I received two more emails. One of which now said that my home gym (that I paid for with gift cards) was now being shipped to the Shoe Lady’s house-​and it was being charged to HER credit card!!! Another series of phone calls ensued! I felt worse for the other patron. She would get the shock of her life. I called the local store manager again and reported this latest mishap.
It went on the next day. I called the main Customer Service line and had to explain everything all to them again to double check all was well. I then checked my email every day to make sure that the product was still coming. Ten days past and the status report on my item still said the product was located in their warehouse and waiting for shipment. Ten days and all it said was that they’d LOCATED THE ITEM!!!
When the item finally arrived, I went in to SA to schedule assembly and was told that they didn’t offer that service for online ordering!!! They gave me a number to call and said that I would have to set that up on my own. I explained that went against everything I was told during the purchase!!! And that I would have NEVER purchased the item at this location if this was the case. They gave me the number and encouraged me to call it… I went to my car and called it, and of course: THE MAIN OFFICE OF THIS ASSEMBLY SERVICE WAS LOCATED IN NEW YORK CITY AND DUE TO SUPERSTORM SANDY they were experiencing many delays. They then quoted me a $ 250 assembly fee!!! $ 100 more than was quoted to me by SA!
Seriously: don’t go there. To me, if you have obviously dropped the ball so many times (the manager was there during the whole assembly debacle and REMEMBERED me because of the chaos surrounding the initial order!) and still didn’t offer any follow-​up with the assembly mess; theres a huge problem with Customer Service. Shoe Lady, if you’re out there: they really put you through the ringer, too! On behalf of both of us: I submit this review.