Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Cabelas Disappoints

I've been to the new Cabelas giant retail store in East Hartford several times now and I have to admit I am disappointed. It's a beautiful store with a veritable zoo of stuffed animals some in their own ecosystems and aquariums full of trout. The problem lies in the little things, details in some cases, poor customer service and their pricing.
Cabelas seems a little pricey to me and it's hard to buy clothing there that isn't emblazoned with the Cabelas logo. For example, the "Bargain Cave" at Cabelas is anything but. There they sell returned, repaired or damaged $670 fly rods for $630, some bargain. What's worse is there is no return on these items. Why would I buy a $670 fly rod that normally comes with a lifetime guarantee for $630 if that means it's used or maybe damaged and is sold "as is" without warranty? The cranky old bastard behind the counter in the "Bargain Cave" couldn't be bothered to explain.
Then there are the little things:
  • The last two times I went, the kids shooting gallery was completely out of order greatly dissapointing los ninos.
  • We ate buffalo burgers at the cafe which were pricey, lousy, cold and over cooked. never again.
  • I went to return a defective safe and not once, but twice the head cashier, Roseanne Barr's less attractive and more clamorous sister, interrupted the cashier handling my return to complain about how busy it was and when he should take his break.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by the excellence of LL Bean, but it seems to me that Cabelas had better fine tune their game or go back to Hooterville.

No comments: