Ski Market files Chapter 11

[billski]

Really???

9 times out of ten yes! Not necessarily the lowest price but expert at equipment and sizing you up. Dudes mostly ski 7 days a week.
Worst overall are closest to major metro areas.
Yes! There are exceptions but very very few

 

[Geoff]

9 times out of ten yes! Not necessarily the lowest price but expert at equipment and sizing you up. Dudes mostly ski 7 days a week.
Worst overall are closest to major metro areas.
Yes! There are exceptions but very very few

I agree with that 100%. We have the perpetual thread here about boot fitters. There's one guy who gets recommended in metro-Boston. At Killington, I can name a half-dozen off the top of my head who are really competent. Why would a good boot fitter want to live in Boston or Hartford or New York City?

 

[severine]

I agree with that 100%. We have the perpetual thread here about boot fitters. There's one guy who gets recommended in metro-Boston. At Killington, I can name a half-dozen off the top of my head who are really competent. Why would a good boot fitter want to live in Boston or Hartford or New York City?

I can agree with that sentiment, however many of us don't have the time to travel 3-4 hours one way multiple times for a bootfitting experience either. MR. evil and I both had excellent experiences with Dave Newman, who is mentioned in this thread and did run an independent ski shop before joining the team at our local Ski Market. When you find someone who knows what they're doing who is within a 30-minute drive instead of 2 states away, you don't care with whom they're affiliated--but you certainly don't want to see them go away either.

 

[darent]

I used to do a fair amount of biz w ski market Warwick.

Used to be pretty solid had a core group of sales folks who were pretty knowledgeable and helpful.

IMHO ski market got blown away by ebay and online businesses. They never adjusted pricing to compete or in lieu of adjusting pricing dialed up the service and quality of the sales staff to justify the high prices.

For me, a knowledgeable consumer and a former binding tech as well why would I pay double money to buy gear from a shop that doesn't provide me a reason to go there? My LSS that I faithfully supported went under a few years ago....I no longer considered ski market a LSS.

Ebay or online deals for me

My last pair of skis I bought from dawgcatching on epicski who owns and operates a LSS in Oregon....I told him my weight, sole size and type of boot and the skis came dialed in perfectly from the shop..... the savings were fantastic and the communication with a shop 3000 miles away was much better than I had any hope of receiving at the local ski market.

I hope they reorganize and come up with a better business model.......

+2 on dawgcatching. no runaround just good service from across the country!

 

[ski_resort_observer]

In addition to Ski Market's retail stores they operate bus tours every week. We get them here at the Bush midweek I assume that means the bus trips are no more but I'm going to check, maybe it's a separate business. They are also major sponsors of the Boston Bay Center Ski Show in late fall so I imagine their filing Chapter 11 will effect that as well.

 

[MR. evil]

Randi and I stopped by the Avon store today to use the remainder of some store credit we have. We were told that until the state of CT rules on the Chapter 11 filing that they would not honor gift cards and store credit. We are lucky that there was only a small amount od store credit on the card, about $40 or so. But I feel for anyone that recieved a ski market gift card for Xmas. Seems a little funny that they filed right after Xmas and may never have to honor those giftcards

 

[Geoff]

In addition to Ski Market's retail stores they operate bus tours every week. We get them here at the Bush midweek I assume that means the bus trips are no more but I'm going to check, maybe it's a separate business. They are also major sponsors of the Boston Bay Center Ski Show in late fall so I imagine their filing Chapter 11 will effect that as well.

They filed Chapter 11. That means they are trying to stiff their creditors, not close the doors. I would be pretty surprised if they stopped their bus trips since those generate foot traffic in their stores.

 

[o3jeff]

Randi and I stopped by the Avon store today to use the remainder of some store credit we have. We were told that until the state of CT rules on the Chapter 11 filing that they would not honor gift cards and store credit. We are lucky that there was only a small amount od store credit on the card, about $40 or so. But I feel for anyone that recieved a ski market gift card for Xmas. Seems a little funny that they filed right after Xmas and may never have to honor those giftcards

That blows that they are able to get away with shit like this. Should of wrote them a bad check, then mail them their store credit.as payment.

 

[MommaBear]

They lost our business this year when they closed their Manchester store for good last spring. Until then, we bought most of our stuff from them over the years. We found the gear decent and the service excellent. Any problems were addressed quickly and efficiently.

We checked out the Avon store when we finally returned our son's leased package this summer. Its a drive from here and we found the staff on that day to be impatient, full of hot air and uninterested in making a sale. We did buy a board on sale (with no thanks given to the sales guy) but ended up returning it when we found the same board (last year's model) in a slightly smaller size for a LOT less at REI in West Hartford. Haven't been back to Ski Market since. The attitude we got is certainly not worth the trip.

If they aren't honoring gift cards, guess we can kiss our rewards credits good-bye.

 

[MR. evil]

That blows that they are able to get away with shit like this. Should of wrote them a bad check, then mail them their store credit.as payment.

I was told that they may eventually honor it depending on how the state rules on the filing. Though my gut tells me they never will honor it, and then use the state ruling as some BS excuse no matter how the state rules.

 

[RISkier]

I SUSPECT gift cards and store creditswill ultimately be accepted. Whether or not there will be anything you want to use them on may be another question.

 

[severine]

Randi and I stopped by the Avon store today to use the remainder of some store credit we have. We were told that until the state of CT rules on the Chapter 11 filing that they would not honor gift cards and store credit. We are lucky that there was only a small amount od store credit on the card, about $40 or so. But I feel for anyone that recieved a ski market gift card for Xmas. Seems a little funny that they filed right after Xmas and may never have to honor those giftcards

Very disappointing. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[powhunter]

wonder if they honor coupons for ski tune ups

 

[MR. evil]

wonder if they honor coupons for ski tune ups

They were today, that was the other reason went.

 

[dropKickMurphy]

.... Why would a good boot fitter want to live in Boston or Hartford or New York City?

Because that's where most of his potential customers are?

 

[gmcunni]

Very disappointing. Thanks for the heads up!

i wonder if they are honoring the free tune up that came with my sundown pass. was planning to use it this week... guess a call will be necessary before heading up there.

 

[severine]

i wonder if they are honoring the free tune up that came with my sundown pass. was planning to use it this week... guess a call will be necessary before heading up there.

Looks like they did for Tim today. I would act on that because the other free tune at Ski Tunes included some pretty unsatisfactory customer service.

 

[MR. evil]

Very disappointing. Thanks for the heads up!

We were just lucky that we used the bulk of the store credit a couple of weeks ago and only had a little left. I would have been really pissed if we still had several hundred dollars of store
credit and they wouldn't honor it.

 

[Geoff]

I SUSPECT gift cards and store creditswill ultimately be accepted. Whether or not there will be anything you want to use them on may be another question.

Consumers are usually the first in line in a Chapter 11. No judge is going to approve a re-org plan that stiffs people with gift certificates and store credits.

 

[MR. evil]

Looks like they did for Tim today. I would act on that because the other free tune at Ski Tunes included some pretty unsatisfactory customer service.

The tune vouchers for both stores expire 1/31. So make sure to use them this month. Once we get these skis back the bump skis
will go in to SkiTunes.