LeftLane Sports Review – A Report on Two Separate Transactions
I get a lot of search inquires for a review of LeftLane Sports. LeftLane Sports offers amazing sales on top brand outdoor apparel. I’m sure you have seen many of my posts promoting the sales at LeftLane. For many, the great prices on great gear seems to good to be true. As a result I took it upon myself to test out and review the purchase and return process at LeftLane to see how they do.
Back around Christmas Leftlane was having a sale on Mountian Hardwear. Unable to resit the great prices I bought a Tucana Jacket. The site stated “Anticipated ship date: Ships within 2 business days.” I ordered the Jacket on December 27, 2010. On January 3rd, 2011 I received an e-mail that stated:
Due to the some unruly weather and the holidays affecting shipping times, we are emailing our members to inform of a slight delay in orders shipping. Your Mountain Hardwear order is now anticipated to ship out by Thursday January 6th. Once your order has shipped a tracking number will follow for you to review. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have created; we know how important it is for you to start enjoying your purchase. We are committed to bringing the best brands, products, and customer service to our members, so of course please get in touch with us if you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns.
Thank you again,
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| Mountain Hardwear Tucana Jacket from Leftlane Sports |
On January 6th a second e-mail came that stated: “Good news! Your LeftLane Sports order has been processed and is on the way!” I received the Jacket on January 13th a full 13 business days from the day I ordered it. I was not in a big hurry to get it…so this didn’t bother me too much. The jacket was exactly as described and I am happy with my purchase.
After this transaction I decided to test and see how Leftlane would do on returns. I looked for the cheapest thing I could find on their site intending to return it from the start. On January 18th 2011 I ordered a pair of Wigwam Ironman socks. On January 19th I received an e-mail with a shipment tracking number. I received the socks on Janurary22nd. I requested a Return Merchandise Authorization number (or RMA#) on January 24th. I was sent an e-mail asking if I would like to exchange the socks for credit or something else on the site. I requested store credit and was told a RMA# would be sent in a separate e-mail. By 3:00 pm the following day I still had not received a RMA. I e-mailed the company and received a message that said the following:
I apologize. We created the RMA, but the email did not get sent out. It should be on its way to you now, however. I apologize for the inconvenience. Please let me know if you have any other questions or comments.
Thanks for shopping with LeftLane Sports!
I received the RMA# moments later and put the socks back in the mail the same day (1-25-11). My USPS tracking number said the socks were delivered at 10:27 am on January 27th (3 Days Later). Almost a week later I still had not received store credit. I e-mailed Leftlane to see what was going on. They responded by saying the socks couldn’t have arrived that soon, but they would check into it. They requested my tracking number. I sent the tracking number and received a response that said “That sure was a fast delivery!” and they would process my return ASAP. I received store credit for the cost of the socks later that day (February 2nd.) I had to pay for shipping both ways.
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| Wigwam Ironman Socks from LeftLane Sports |
In conclusion I feel a little extra patience is required when shopping with LeftLane Sports. It seems you can’t leave them to take care of your transactions on their own. Extra time and effort is needed to ensure everything works out. You will have to decide if the extra work is worth receiving the great prices on quality gear LeftLane consistently offers. If you do shop with leftlane make sure you keep all records, e-mails, and tracking numbers.
As an added bonus Leftlane offers incentive for telling your friends about their site. Again you will have to deiced if you want to subject your friends to the quality of service leftlane provides. For me…the prices are too good. I will continue to shop at leftlane and will continue to link to their sales on My Life Outdoors. All the links above are for my personal invitation link. When you follow my links to Leftlane and sign up for an account I receive $10 credit when you make your first purchase. New members will also receive free $10 credit when they sign up following my link.
Current LeftLane Sales:
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Anonymous
Thanks for the review- very helpful!
anonymous
are they legit? not fake?
Steven Smith
They are legit…I have bought several items since this review…and I am happy with the service I have received.
Robi lorik
after my experience with leftlane sports, i would not even reccomend them to an enemy.
first of i ordered a pair of shoes, i was far from satisfied with my purchase so i sent them back expecting a full cash refund. They do not give cash refunds they give you store credit. it is a huge hasel and i have been fighting with there customer service since august. If you ever order something from them they will get your money for the item you agree too buy, even if you are not satisfied with the product.
i ended up just buying a new pair of shoes somewhere else, by the time i recieved my store credit in october . so i just ordered a bunch of stuff that i could get something for my 70+ dollars.i had to put in my creditcard information to make an order using my store credits. i had 69.99 in store credits and my order was 66.65, but as soon as i put in my order in my credits went down to zero. I emailed them about it and they told me it was a "technical glitch" and they would fix it right away, then i told them my concerns about ordering form a website "technical glitches", and they ensured me that they card number was encrypted and "deleted after the purchase is processed"
i get my stuff in the mail that i really didnt need with no problems. Then i get my bank statement about about two weeks later and i see i had a 66.65 charge from leftlane sports, When entered in my credit card information for my second order it told me it would only use my store credit. i emailed them again and they told me they were sorry and they sent the money back to my credit card. how did they do that? They told me the Deleted my credit card number as soon as my order was procecced. well i allready recieved my order, how long is an order processed?
With that said i do not believe leftlane sports is a secure website, and i will never again order from them again.
my advice to anyone is just to spend the exxtra couple bucks and order from website with a good reputation and a reasonable return policy.
Steven Smith
I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. Since writing this review I have ordered from them numerous times and even returned a few things. I have not had any problems and have become very happy with Left Lane Sports. In their defense…their return policy does say "only for store credit."
Janetxx
I do not like this company at all. They have given me twisted information when I have called them about returning merchandise. I was told I could get a refund to my credit card. Now of course they are keeping my money on their account. I agree with Robi, I would not recommend them to an enemy. You can definitely get the same prices elsewhere with a company that treats their customers fairly. Backcountry for instance. Stay away from left lane!!!!!
JohnPeters12
In my opinion, LeftLane Sports offers unbeatable deals on the brands and stuff that I love. I've ordered with them now 5 times, and I have been completely satisfied with all of them. They have all shipped on time, and the return I had to do on a pair of Salomon shoes was handled quite easily. The cust. service reps. have always been super helpful, so I kinda doubt some of the comments below about them being misleading. In response to Janetxx below, it clearly states on the site that returns can be exchanged or store credit. It's underlined and highlighted, not buried anywhere. Same goes for Robi. I think the comments below are just customers that didn't bother to read and are now blaming the company for something that was their own fault. I've always been happy with LeftLane and I will continue to shop with them. The deals are unbeatable (I don't care if you go to Backcountry, Dept. of Goods, Moosejaw, or wherever .. you're NOT getting lower prices (or even better service) elsewhere). So thanks LeftLane!
Johndoe
Why won't they even let non-members browse their products. Don't like the secrecy.
Jonny Cockring
I just ordered a pair of Electric Polarized Sunglasses from them for more than 50% off of what Amazon and other retailers are asking. Originally I was weary about this company as I had never heard of them and the deals looked "too good to be true" – I was wrong. Once my order was placed I immediately received a confirmation. I actually had an issue with my CC and was contacted almost immediately. Once resolved my product was shipped and in less than 3 days it arrived at my door. This is what I call great service. This company seems to know what they are doing. They have excellent customer service, great products, and low prices. I will be purchasing from them again.
Carl Lingus
Leftlane sports is the dick and balls!
Daniel Stahl
Thanks for the review. I was wondering if it was too good to be true. Just ordered a jacket for the wife. Hopefully I don't have any issues.
Amie
we purchased a complete longboard for our 7 yr old daughter. when it arrived, my husband and i opened it in front of a friend. i didnt like the look at all, esp for a girl. my husband put it back in the box, and paid the return shipping asking fo exchange, well aware of the store credit only returns.
we then recieved an email stated they couldnt take it back because it was clearly used, with dirt on the grip tape, footprints seen, chips in the trunk? and underneath, and rocks and dirt embedded in all four wheels. this is an outright lie. it was in no way used and literally taken out in front of the three of us, 35-43 year olds, not skateboarders, while my daughter was upstairs. then put back in the box. no one used i at all in my house. i dont have a problem with small companies, and their less than great return policies and shipping costs/times, esp in comparison to amazon, but that board was not used. i have a huge problem with a company that lies. we will be contacting our credit card company, which we have never done in uour entire lives.
Steven Smith
Amie,
I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience. As I have said elsewhere. I have been using Leftlane for more than a year and haven't had a problem since writing this post. I have literally bought dozens of items, and returned more than half. I have been quite pleased with Leftlane and prefer to shop there (when they have what I need).
Eric Owen42
To be a member, all you have to do is sign up, and it's free. This isn't some exclusive club…
Joey Zepeda
Ditto, you lose 8 bucks for shipping and only get a store credit, I wish I read this first…
Michael Collins
Ordered a pair of new shoes, which when they got here had been torn and were obviously used. Steer clear of this POS store.
Jamie Jackson
From a usability perspective, the site has some issues: After performing searches, clicking on a search result would lead to a detail view of a completely different product. Googling (with the site specified) seemed to yield more accurate results, though the drawback was that many of the Googled items were already sold out. It was better to search through LLS and then Google for the found item, in order to get the desired detail page.
As for the order fulfillment: I ordered a snowboarding jacket and received an older model year than pictured, which makes a significant difference in its value.
Their stated policy seems to be that they'll grant a refund (or store credit) in any case*, but to get free return shipping, you must opt for store credit, instead of a refund**.
Since the mistake was theirs, not mine, I requested either a significant price break, or free return shipping plus a refund. I also asked that they update their images for these jackets in order to avert future problems.
I'll report back once I receive their response.
* http://www.leftlanesports.com/Guarantees.aspx
** http://www.leftlanesports.com/App_Themes/Default/graphics/infoBox_freeShip14.jpg
jacalicasa
LeftLane Sports was the only place selling the Hoka Mafate Low Trail Running Shoes
I was looking for, and on top of that they were selling them at half price. I placed my order. A couple of questions came up, the company answered my emails helpfully. I was surprised to see that both times they responded in less than an hour.They also sent me an after-hours email to let me know my shoes had shipped. The next day I had my shoes, delivered by Priority Mail. They were perfect and I am wearing them now. I saw the customer feedback on this site but my experience with Leftlane was so much better that I took a chance, and I am really glad they did.
Based on my one experience, their shipping/customer service is much improved.