Problems with Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's

[dirtclod Az.]

Guess I am missing the point or humor of this comment, if there is any. The OP asked about experience with Cabela‘s, specifically mail order. I responded with a similar experience. Is your point that only sedentary people use mail order? Or that bad mail order customer service is really a problem with those of us too lazy to “get out of our chairs.” Seems not to add much of value to the discussion.

Sportsmans is at the end of my street, no malice intended.

 

[Elkdog]

Has anyone else recently experienced problems when ordering items from Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's? In the past month, I have made 2 orders on Cabela's and one order on Bass Pro Shops and every time, I have had part of my order canceled. Twice they have canceled an order for ammunition, once for a pair of shoes and once for a trail camera. Each time, the website reflects that the item is in stock and available to ship and about 12-24hr later, I receive an email saying my order is canceled. They don't delay the order in an effort to restock the item or source it form a 3rd party vendor, they just cancel on you. If you contact customer service via phone they just say, "sorry, we ran out." If you email, you get no response.

I'm done with them at this point. The internet gives me too many options of vendors who can perform basic retail functions like accurately reflecting inventory available for purchase. This may sound stupid but it kind of breaks my heart. As a kid, I use to get so excited for the Cabela's catalog to come and now I feel like the store is just trash. I feel like both stores have declined significantly since merging. I have a local Cabela's store in Gainesville, VA, and the customer service there is terrible. I spoke to a salesman once about a rifle and he was nothing short of a total jerk who acted like he was too busy to answer my questions about a rifle. Anybody else experiencing similar issues?

I had the exact same thing happen twice last month. I was trying to order cots they were out of in Reno. Cancelled the order for both and when they finally answered my email they said they were out of stock. Yet the cots were still on their website.

Then this Saturday I was in the store and saw a camp chair I liked. None of them were priced and I had a heck of a time finding anyone who wasn’t too busy to help. Then the checkout lady simply walked away, with 6 people behind me, saying “I have to go help someone”. She left us standing there for almost 10 minutes before she wandered back and then offered no apology. If I hadn’t been buying a birthday present for my daughter I would have walked out.

I doubt I’ll be shopping Cabela‘s anytime soon. Which is a shame, it used to be a great store and we always looked forward to going.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Move on to Scheels and Sportsman's! Life is better through them!

 

[badkarma6]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. Someone mentioned that Amazon has created expectations for all other online retailers and that is true, at least it is with me. That's the level of service and logistics that I expect. If you say you have an item in stock and that the item will arrive by X date, I'm expecting that retailer to execute. I understand that delays happen, especially in today's environment, but I expect communication when that happens. BPS and Cabela's appear incapable of doing any of those things and I'm done with them. It's clear that they failed to invest in online infrastructure and logistics and it is hurting them now. The thing that bothers me though is that there has been no communication from them. I would think that an executive would send a message to Club members that says, "we apologize if you've recently had an order canceled or not received your order in a timely manner. We are working to upgrade our systems and resolve these problems. We strive for excellent customer service." But no. Nothing. To me, it comes across that they just don't care.

 

[Sodakrep]

They are the Walmart’s of the outdoor space. The merger was a serious bummer as I really liked the old cabelas

Unfortunately, this is true.

 

[seeth07]

I'll give one positive story about cabelas since its all been negative. This winter I was at an ice fishing contest where I just spent the whole day in the beer/raffle tent. For my efforts I not only got really drunk but won a vexilar to boot.

Well I already use my Helix for ice fishing so no need for a vexilar. Looked it up and say it was about 550 bucks online with various outlets having its priced knocked down. Of course cabelas was a bit more expensive and it wasn't on sale so it was listed at 640. I decided to go in and see if I could return it to cabelas without a recept. The lady there said that without the recipt, she could only refund me with an in store gc and for the lowest price the item was in the last 90 days. I was totally fine with that and when she handed me the GC I had to hold my smile back because it was 625! Thank you very much.

 

[Bullshot]

I used to be an enthusiastic Cabelas customer, since I was a kid and like many the catalogs were highly anticipated. The Cabelas “brand”, especially hunting clothing and often boots, was always some of my favorites, and their warranties and customer service were great. When they built the Hamburg store it was unbelievable to me to be able to drive out and I looked forward to loading up the cart. Over time, the store, at least the front 2/3 has become a massive rack of trendy but generic feeling outdoor yuppie clothing, with hunting gear often de-emphasized and pushed to the back or the fringes. They worried obviously about first impressions of non-sportsperson, and were not concerned about their core supporters. At the same time, their prices on gear have often skyrocketed, its like shopping for souvenirs or food at Disney - they seem to have felt that their customers were a captive audience and that there is no competition. Their equipment and supplies SKUs are often chaotic and heavily reliant on Chinese made items ( a la Walmart) and they have retired the bargain caves and sales it seems.

The staff I have dealt with at Cabelas, whether in PA, NE or elsewhere I have found to always be helpful and friendly, in person or on the phone. I just think that their bosses focused their brick
and mortar on a fickle non-sportsmen crowd, ignored our feedback, took their eye off the competition and technology, and lost control (or desire to control) their prices and quality. Many retail chains have suffered the same disease over the years and are either dead and gone, much reduced, or exist in name only relative to their past. I fear Cabelas/BP is simply too big to be nimble now, and they are headed the way of Dicks with their corporate focus being more and more distracted away from sportsmen.

 

[badkarma6]

So I went on LinkedIn and looked up the guy at BPS/Cabela's who I thought might be in charge/care about these problems. I determined that was probably a guy named Sean Streff who is the General Merchandising Manager for BPS. I shared my concerns and gave some feedback. All in a polite and respectful manner. Basically saying, I hope this feedback can be useful.

Nothing. No response. Nothing. These guys just don't give a s*&t.

It's so sad. Anyway, that's it. I've deleted my accounts and I will never again have anything to do with either store.

 

[Clam]

Cabelas just doesn’t have the shooting supplies I need consistently in stock, or ever in stock any more. I have a Sportsman’s warehouse closer to my house that I happily support now.

 

[Scott85]

I had a few fishing lures get cancelled. My guess was things were out of stock.

 

[Texas_Jaeger]

It happens to me also with Homedepot, Bass Pro and Acadamy Sports. It is always the same, you place the order, the card gets charged, you receive email confirmation, you wait, nothing happens, when checking the order again item is canceled. You go to the store and ask what is going on (because the item still shows available on the site), and they just say it isn't in stock. God dammit, then call, or send me information or offer something different. But, it might be too much I am asking for.

Btw. BassPro in Texas is the worst place to buy a gun. Even if you have a ready to pick up order, and you have a LTC, they need 2 hours+ to get everything processed. I understand that they want do double or tripple checks, but even snails are moving like Formula 1 cars compare to those guys.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

It happens to me also with Homedepot, Bass Pro and Acadamy Sports. It is always the same, you place the order, the card gets charged, you receive email confirmation, you wait, nothing happens, when checking the order again item is canceled. You go to the store and ask what is going on (because the item still shows available on the site), and they just say it isn't in stock. God dammit, then call, or send me information or offer something different. But, it might be too much I am asking for.

Btw. BassPro in Texas is the worst place to buy a gun. Even if you have a ready to pick up order, and you have a LTC, they need 2 hours+ to get everything processed. I understand that they want do double or tripple checks, but even snails are moving like Formula 1 cars compare to those guys.

Same with Woodbury, MN Cabelas!

 

[badkarma6]

Btw. BassPro in Texas is the worst place to buy a gun. Even if you have a ready to pick up order, and you have a LTC, they need 2 hours+ to get everything processed. I understand that they want do double or tripple checks, but even snails are moving like Formula 1 cars compare to those guys.

Same at the Cabela's in Gainesville, VA. Bought a pistol there once. Absolute nightmare.

 

[LuketheDog]

Someone gave me a Cabelas gift card a few weeks ago so I took my daughters over to the Lone Tree, CO location to have a look at the fish tanks and the taxidermy, I haven't been since the merger and coronavirus had their impacts. What a sad place it is now-the Bargain Cave is gone, the entire gun section is nearly empty, there were a bunch of solicitors on the floor trying to sell me timeshares (so annoying!), the food court is closed, and there were very few people shopping there...

 

[cedahm]

So I went on LinkedIn and looked up the guy at BPS/Cabela's who I thought might be in charge/care about these problems. I determined that was probably a guy named Sean Streff who is the General Merchandising Manager for BPS. I shared my concerns and gave some feedback. All in a polite and respectful manner. Basically saying, I hope this feedback can be useful.

Nothing. No response. Nothing. These guys just don't give a s*&t.

It's so sad. Anyway, that's it. I've deleted my accounts and I will never again have anything to do with either store.

I am NOT defending the organization (honestly, IMO, the merger was just curtains for CAB’s general decline in the dawn of ecomm). From their roots as one of the most successful catalog retailers in US history, they somehow skipped over e-commerce and feeding their customer base what they wanted, and doubled down on massive standalone gallery-type storefronts, camo barbie toys, taxidermy and fish tanks. This focus on real estate and physical merchandising, according to colleagues, hampered their ability to invest in multi-channel sales support amongst other things.

When I was working at a well-known footwear brand and had responsibility for our global distribution centers, I would occasionally get emails about individual shipments, etc. from people that were savvy enough to sniff me or my team out.

Again - I’m not defending the guy, but our rule was to forward said inquiries to communications/legal (and if they were really interesting I’d CC: the CEO). This is true of nearly every large consumer products company. Especially publicly owned corporations. He looks as has also been at Cabelas his entire career so is legacy “Sidney”. He may hate it as much as we do.

I share the general disappointment in CAB’s foibles the last decade or two (I gave up on in-person when they couldn’t look up my club number in the store and the gimmick/logo section was bigger than my house), but it’s pretty likely he isn’t allowed to respond directly to social media inquiries.

 

[badkarma6]

I am NOT defending the organization (honestly, IMO, the merger was just curtains for CAB’s general decline in the dawn of ecomm). From their roots as one of the most successful catalog retailers in US history, they somehow skipped over e-commerce and feeding their customer base what they wanted, and doubled down on massive standalone gallery-type storefronts, camo barbie toys, taxidermy and fish tanks. This focus on real estate and physical merchandising, according to colleagues, hampered their ability to invest in multi-channel sales support amongst other things.

When I was working at a well-known footwear brand and had responsibility for our global distribution centers, I would occasionally get emails about individual shipments, etc. from people that were savvy enough to sniff me or my team out.

Again - I’m not defending the guy, but our rule was to forward said inquiries to communications/legal (and if they were really interesting I’d CC: the CEO). This is true of nearly every large consumer products company. Especially publicly owned corporations. He looks as has also been at Cabelas his entire career so is legacy “Sidney”. He may hate it as much as we do.

I share the general disappointment in CAB’s foibles the last decade or two (I gave up on in-person when they couldn’t look up my club number in the store and the gimmick/logo section was bigger than my house), but it’s pretty likely he isn’t allowed to respond directly to social media inquiries.

He did end up responding and was very nice. Seems like a good guy. I wished him luck and I hope they fix their problems. I just hate to see a store/brand that you've enjoyed your whole life go down hill like this.

I truly do hope they get it right and I become a customer again.

 

[badkarma6]

Friend of mine called me all excited because he found the tree stand he wanted on Bass Pro for a great price and it came with free shipping.

He called back 4 hours really pissed because his ordered got canceled because Bass Pro didn’t actually have the item in stock like their website said. However, if you looked at the website, it still said the tree stand was in stock even after canceling the order.

Lost another customer. Truly pitiful.

 

[thomas89]

I can hardly keep straight the places I'm supposed to go/not-go, stores I'm supposed to boycott, who supports/doesn't support the 2nd amendment, who's donated to an anti-public land candidate, mask/no-mask, etc. etc.

It's exhausting! Good for some of you for holding grudges and having good memory! As for me, I can't even remember what darn day it is.

 

[badkarma6]

I can hardly keep straight the places I'm supposed to go/not-go, stores I'm supposed to boycott, who supports/doesn't support the 2nd amendment, who's donated to an anti-public land candidate, mask/no-mask, etc. etc.

It's exhausting! Good for some of you for holding grudges and having good memory! As for me, I can't even remember what darn day it is.

You don’t remember good service? Bad service? Whether a business is trustworthy or not? This thread is not some ideological crusade. It’s simply a reaction to poor performance and poor service.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

What a sad place it is now-the Bargain Cave is gone, the entire gun section is nearly empty, there were a bunch of solicitors on the floor trying to sell me timeshares (so annoying!), the food court is closed, and there were very few people shopping there...

Seems you can't get help when you need it. Too busy playing grabass with the female employees or socializing to be bothered. Then, they won't leave you alone when you don't want help.

Every time I go to the store and I ask for help or it is offered, it always ends with, "so do you have the Cabela's credit card? Let me get you signed up!" I end up having a 5 minute conversation about how I don't want it, but the sales folks won't let it go. Now I just go to Sportsman's.

Just say you got one and hopefully they will leave you alone.