"They cancelled my order on a black Friday special saying that the price was too low. Reviews on this company are accurate. Terrible CS and service after the sale."
"This is the worst shopping experience ever. Purchased four pairs of shorts, $ 124.00 down the drain. The lousiest customer service ever of any online shopping. I run an Amazon store and an E bay store from a retail location so I have an idea of customers giving bad reviews, and have had plenty of experience in shipping foul ups and bending over backward to keep a customer satisfied. These are something EMS has NO concept of, more than two months I have tracked my package across 28 states to within 50 miles of my home and tracked it all the way back to the East coast. I am telling everyone that will listen, not to buy anything from EMS. The customer service reps that I have been able to get on the phone tell me what I want to hear , but NEVER seem get anything done about it. Twice I have been able to catch their service reps in an outright lie while they are on the phone with me and and been able to show the reps that they are not telling me the truth, then the back pedal and give some lame **** excuse as to why they are not telling me the truth. I cant even seem to get refund on an order that has been returned to EMS, package has been back at their distribution hub for over a week. These people have taken my money and have no intent on delivering a product or issuing a refund, I am going to go out of my way to tell all my friends and customers to NEVER shop at EMS. This business would never be able to run an Amazon or E bay store. They just flat out ****!"
"I bought a new kayak at a going out of business sale for 20% off. I took the kayak out and almost drowned because the boat filled with water. I found a hole where a metal insert should be moulded to the hull and asked the store to replace or swap the boat. They denied me a return because the store was going out of business. Customer service wont do anything either saying the boat is sold as is. Perceptions saying ems is the dealer who has to honor the warranty so here I'm out $500, I have a brand new broken kayak I can't use, and EMS isn't doing anything to rectify or resolve my issue. So basically, if you buy anything at ems it is likely garbage. Dont shop here, let them go out of business. Take your shopping to a retailer who actually cares like REI or westmarine."
"I bought a Marmot waterproof jacket from EMS, Pittsford, New York. The first time wearing it in the rain, I was soaked. I took it the following day back to EMS to exchange for another waterproof jacket, and was informed that I had to contact the manufacturer because the item was defective. When I told the store manager, Rob, I had lost faith in the manufacturer and wanted to replace it with a different brand, I was informed the jacket was used and could not be returned. How would you know the jacket was defective until it was worn in the rain? When I contacted Marmot, I was informed it would take 6 weeks to replace the item. EMS does not stand behind the products it sells and provides terrible customer service. I have been an EMS customer for years, but unfortunately for them they have lost my business. "
"I ordered the product four days ago and the item still hasn't been shipped for unknown reason. When I contacted EMS, they put me on hold for 35 minutes and then told me that the product would probably be shipped from the manufacturer tomorrow and then would take an additional 7 business days to get to me with no option of expedited shipping or explanation of slow response time. "
"Don't waste your time dealing with this online store! Placed order for 3 items. Waited over a month for it to arrive. Next thing you know I recieve an email indicating a refund was applied to my credit card for an item. No explanation whatsoever. I write to customer service and am told they didnt have the item on sale anymore so they applied a refund. No offer to substitute item. Two weeks later I get another email this time its an order cancellation. I call the toll free number on the email notice - doesnt work! So I look up the non toll free number. Customer service person says that I refused delivery! What? I click on the tracking link in my email and it shows they shipped it to Connecticut and I am in Canada. Yet I entered the billing/shipping info the same and they charged my credit card, so how it ended up in CT I will never understand. The customer service person says she is going to get to the bottom of this and call me back. No return call. A week later I get an email offering me a 10% discount on a future order. Are they out of their mind?? Save yourself the headache and shop elsewhere! "
"I purchased $2390.95 in gear and was expecting my $130 dividend to last a year, but they expired in 2 months!! My REI dividends have lasted nearly 2 years. I wish I had purchased everything there. After calling EMS told me I was out of luck even though it had only been a few months since my original purchase!"
"I made an error in ordering some socks the socks were $12.00 i had no idea that they were going to charge me 12.95 in shipping charges until they emailed me. When I received the order email an hour later, I emailed the company and called the company and asked that they stop the order being it was just placed and that their was an error. The lady i spoke with on the phone was rude and didn't want to discuss it. so I emailed them this is their response
Hello Ricky!
Bri here with EMS customer service. Thank you for reaching out to us! I have looked into this for you, and unfortunately we can not stop your package from going out as orders can not be cancelled or modified once they have been placed. For more information on this, click HERE. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause!
If you would like to return your order once you receive it, please follow the instructions found HERE.
If i return the 2 pair of socks I will have more in shipping charges than the product is worth. It isn't the cost as much as it is the principle of how this company handles their customers. Don't you think $12.95 is a lot for shipping two pair of light weight ankle socks. "
"I Purchased a mountaineering boot with a promo code/discount code and later found out the code I used excluded boots etc. I called customer service and they still honored my order without a doubt. I have to thank EMS because they could've Gave me some lame excuse and cancelled my order but they didn't. The shipping does take a bit... It took a full week before my item actually shipped. All in all I'm satisfied and will definitely be back to check out the ems seasonal sales. "
"I have two camping crash pads that have literally come apart at the seams. They are old, yet carry a 100% satisfaction claim. Customer Service says "too old to cover." I ask about the 100% satisfaction and they claim they have changed their policy. After a long discussion they did offer 20% off a replacement. The problems with that are (1) the replacement is more expensive that competitors, and (2) they don't have a 100% satisfaction guarantee......going to the company based in Freeport, Maine....always satisfied with L. L. Bean standing behind their products."
"Do not buy online from EMS.com - my 300$ jacket was defective, I paid 19.99 for 2 day shipping- waste of time. They did refund me the 19.99 but why offer if you know you can’t ship during that time frame (bc customer service is awful and most people would not wait for someone to answer- also a tip- press 1 instead of 2 due 1 option is “help with ordering a product.”) Now my option is to wait for them to send me a return label have it shipped back to headquarters in Connecticut then process return, then receive $ back for jacket. Which according to website could take up to several days to get credit back to bank account. I was desperate (freezing) so I took a gamble- bad choice. They don’t care, look at other reviews. "
"Will never buy from them again. They dont allow to modify an order even though they have not even shipped it yet. Try calling their customer service line. I stayed for 45 minutes waiting for a person to answer. Continuous music, and the "thank you for your patience" message repeated for the whole time until I decided to hang up.
So far... placed an order 5 days ago, have not received a shipping notification notice, am not able to modify the order, and they wont answer the phone.
With so many other vendors, WHY in the world did I buy from them???? Please do not make the same mistake.
"
"Item price was ok, item quality was somewhat lacking, but what really did it was being told this would ship UPS Ground and arrive in 3 to 7 business days, then it was shipped UPS SurePost and says it will be a whopping 10 business/12 actual days to arrive. In the era of modern shopping that is a ridiculous amount of time to receive something, especially with it going outside even their extended estimate of arrival."
"I ordered a pair of Chaco sandals through them and they weren’t what I was looking for. When I went to return them, they didn’t pay for the return shipping, and I was told it would cost $15 to send them back and they said there was nothing they could/would do about it."
"I am very disappointed with EMS. I wanted to return a bike, that i haven't even picked up from the store yet, and I was repetitively told by numerous people that I had to come back to the store to do so. Typically not a big deal, but I live a 100 miles away, so i was not going to travel 200 miles round trip for them to process this. I spoke 4-5 people from both the store and corporate, and everyone said "Sorry, you have to come in, there's no other way. There is no way for us to process it remotely as our system does not work that way, we'd love to, but its impossible".
Fast forward a few days, store manager calls me asking me if i no longer want the bike, because someone else wants to buy it. I said, no, i no longer want it but it is mine until my money is returned. Law & behold, this manager process my return over the phone in LESS THAN A MINUTE.
All in all, EMS has wasted hours of my time on the phone (and almost 5 hours of driving) to process a simple return. I don't know if they were hoping to lure me back to the store and sell me something else but that's bad business EMS. You lost yourself, what could've been, a good customer.
And feel free to win me back, but just a heads up, an apology email wont cut it. "