Mountain Equipment Company Reviews 

They do not know honour their guarantees as their managers determine that everything was normal wear and tear vs low quality. Even for things used only once.

En super flot butik i Victoria. Kæmpe udvalg. Men….vi købte tøj for + 3500 kr. Da vi havde betalt, stod vi med alle varerne UDEN at kunne få en pose, eller tilkøbe en pose. Regnen silede ned udenfor. Vi stod med varerne i favnen og måtte gå med denne oplevelse - vi var målløse. Yderligere havde ekspedienten sjusket med alarmerne på tøjet…. Vi måtte tilbage til disken da detektoren hylede og få afmonteret alarm. Besøget i den fede butik blev til en ualmindelig dårlig oplevelse.

I ordered a bike light through their online store, to pick up at their Toronto Store. I didn't understand that they would be shipping it from their warehouse and not picking the order from the Toronto store,and as such the light was not in when I was visiting over the holidays. My bad.

Several months later I still had not been issued a refund, and visited the store asking if they maybe just had it in for me and I'd missed a notification.

They did not. They said sometimes refunds are slow to go through, especially if bought over Xmas. Not an issue.

I forgot all about it til June and when I remembered I reached out to their online store help desk. Martin, who I dealt with, said that I'd been issued a refund through PayPal. I had not. I informed them of this a week or two later. Heard nothing back. Went to ride my bike to work this am and was reminded that I am still out $100 and have no bike light for my handlebars, as it's now October and haven't heard anything in months.

This company used to be great. Until they were bought out. This is the type of place I expected it to become upon hearing of their overtaking. Will not purchase a goddam thing from this company anymore.

Like most people, I agree MEC was much better when it was a Co-op rather than a Company. I’m torn with my review, as I’ve had mostly positive MEC experiences but my most recent one was awful.

I bought a pair of Fjallraven trekking pants on sale, and MEC sent me the pair of pants I ordered in the right size and colour, but the wrong style. I only realized this mistake when I was able to compare the one I got and the one I ordered in person a month later (the differences are slight but important, mainly in reinforced knees). I went to the members help counter in store, and they told me best they could do was refund me the sale price I paid for the pants - EVEN THOUGH they were at fault by not sending me the proper pants. I left the store and called the help centre - I was on hold for 30 minutes - who offered to send me a new pair in a different colour as they were out of stock of my initial choice. This may be petty of me, but I didn’t want a pair of pants in the colour I didn’t choose. They said my only option was sales price refund or exchange in a different colour. Instead I went back into MEC in-person to talk to a new employee who ended up being much more helpful. I told them that I was happy to take my service to the local Fjallraven store who I knew had the right pair of pants in my chosen colour in stock, or to wait for MEC to order my exact original order that they messed up. A manager gave the okay to refund me the full pants price (rather than JUST the sales price, as everyone else had offered) as he agreed that my request was pretty reasonable. Resolved in my favour, but a waste of almost 3hrs of my life and proof that you can’t trust anything customer service says to you. MEC, come on, it shouldn’t be this hard!

dropped a rear tire coz the valve needs replacement and the tech told me it won't be done till at least 5 days. For a valve replacement! That's the last time I'll be going at this shop.
Update: as I was about to just pick up my tire and have it done elsewhere, the mechanic at that time ( not the one I talked on the phone), offered to fix it in less than 20 minutes. He said it's just an easy fix. Thanks Ethan.

At time of online order on August 4, the anticipated date of delivery shown was for August 12, 8 days after the order was placed. No updates were provided nor was the order processed until I sent MEC an enquiry e mail which promptly was followed by a “delay” notice, then a “shipment notice - interim manifest”,closed on the day following with a “final manifest provided to carrier” notice; goods were not transferred or picked up until 3 days after the notice of final manifest. Delivery is now scheduled for August 19, 15 days after the initial order. Unfortunately this is the third time (of three times) with experienced late / delayed orders and I will no longer use MEC’s online service.

I have always been a fan of MEC until now. Placed an order for products in stock on July 27th for a trip I was leaving on August 6th. 7 business days/10 days.

Getting ready to leave for my trip and only a couple products have arrive. The most important items won’t arrive for another 3-4 days.

12-13 days delivery is not a reasonable delivery time, I called and spoke with support and was told the best they will do is provide me a “free” return shipping label. $11.95 value.

For a company that doesn’t make products just buys from a supplier then resells this is horrible service. I will no longer shop with MEC or MEC online. Maybe Amazon next day delivery has ruined me. But as far as I am concerned 5 days would be a reasonable delivery time. Not 12-13.

Very disappointed.

Magasin de Quebec.Absence de prix dans plusieurs départements. Le magasinage n'est pas une boîte aux surprises.

I was in the store in North York, Ontario, Canada. Picked out a shirt that was tagged $60.00. Got to the register and it rang up closer to $90.00. I asked why the difference and the cashier said the price on the item was in American dollars. Didn't I see the fine print on the tag?
Spoke to the manager at the time and he had absolutely no problem in tagging items in a Canadian store with American prices. Didn't see it as being at all misleading.
MEC used to be a great store with integrity and customer service. Under American ownership it's simply becoming another store, albeit with a bad attitude.

The "rock-solid guarantee" they're so proud of is not so rock solid anymore. Years ago I brought in an MEC brand tent for repairs. It was about 20 years old at the time and they fixed it for me, no questions asked. Ive also had a day pack fixed, again, no questionsasked. Today I brought in a pack, about 10 years old, and was told they didn't fix things any more, and anyway the pack was too old, even if they did.

If they're not going to stand behind their products, fine, but they need to stop saying they will. If you want a company that really stands behind its products, buy your gear somewhere else.

I ordered a backpack in February. Delivery was quick but it turns out the backpack had a manufacturing fault. It took several emails (never received a response) and several conversations through their online chat to receive a return label. Was finally able to return the backpack in early March. Was told the refund could take up to 12 weeks (!). Three months later, still no refund.

I am a long time customer at the branch of MEC in Toronto Sheppard street. I bought a number of bikes and a lot of travel related equipments from them. A tube I bought last year had to be changed and I had to wait one day to do it, complained to the manager and he basically told me not to complain. Last time I buy from MEC.

This is an essentially an American Big Box store now. Supply chain and inflation issues I understand, but the real issue is that maybe 10 years ago they let go of a lot of the actual outdoor enthusiasts on their Board in favour of business people, brought in a bunch of other higher price point lines of merchandise, scaled back their MEC product lines, built a bunch of expensive Big Box stores, and then, when they almost went under because of their poor business judgement, had to sell out to an American Equity Fund, thus alienating what was left of their original customer base. In doing this they really sold their soul.
Now they’re just another crappy Big Box store with significantly overpriced merchandise and poor service.
I went in to get a simple bike part (a rim that could take a quick release skewer) for a five year old bike that I bought there. Not only did they not have it, but they said they probably couldn’t get it anymore, that they didn’t stock it anymore. I asked if that was a supply chain issue or a MEC decision. No answer and no eye contact.
Good luck paying off the debt you incurred while your business Board was running the Coop into the ground, because you’re not getting a penny out of me anymore. What a disappointment you’ve become. You used to be a store Canadians were proud of. Not anymore.

Evan Thomas

Wrote a review and received confirmation that it was posted but when I checked it was not there. I followed up with customer service and I was assured it was just to soon and that it would be posted.
Still waiting!!! Now I don't trust the reviews they post!

A couple of years ago I ordered several backpacking meals, I guess they didn’t have one of them(I ordered 3 of this one kind) so they picked another one and sent 3 of them. I order based on food allergies and live very far from a store to buy in person or return. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone by phone and they never replied to my email. I thought I’d reach out to them and try to get a sense of what type of customer service I would get before I attempted to order anything again( I’m looking at things a lot bigger than meals right now). Their customer service is the same, so glad I checked in before ordering anything big

Have ordered multiple times off the MEC website and it has been effortless. Shipping was relatively fast (and free). Had to return one item (no fault of MEC, I just ordered an incorrect size) and it was painless with the supplied return shipping label.

No longer shopping here. I've been a member for over 30 years.
Customer service is so poor. The teams that work there now do not care about the outdoors, or helping customers.
Returns are not simple any more and their MEC products are all no longer quality.

Purchased a bunch of small items. Was not given a paper bag. Was not even asked if I need a bag. Carry all the items outside the store and dropped a few items in the snow. Poor customer service!!!!

Ottawa ON store. Excellent service re: Osprey backpack. Surprise 25% discount at checkout!

If i was allowed zero stars I would. I have no idea who buys for this store these days but the selection is the ugliest, ill fitting, overpriced בד רע i have come across in the longest while. I wouldn't trust their gear in a chilly Floridian night never mind on the top of a mountain. I used to love this store until some corporate shills got their claws into it. You aught to be ashamed. Ive got a $400.00 gift certificate that it looks like I'll only buy a thermos or two with.
for shame