Ray's Outdoors

Poor retail experience - online and stores – The negative comments from previous reviewers are legitimate and reflect my own experience. Couldn't fulfill my online order. Followed up with call centre and got the 'different offices' excuse. Was instructed to call around stores directly myself then in the end they refused to ship across state lines. An outdated retail model that will probably see these guys go under in the modern, digital world.

Excellent On-Line Company – I purchased a Wanderer Gazebo on line and they sent me another brand and the zipper broke immediately on the cover. I found their customer service excellent. All the ladies who answer the phones there are super helpful. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of going back and forth and the final outcome took some time. However, as mentioned earlier… Read more

their customer service couldn’t be more helpful. I finally received the Gazebo I ordered and all is good. I received an email from PayPal to say that Rays Outdoors had refunded the cost of the Gazebo. I phoned Rays Outdoors to let them know of the mistake and they told me it was a goodwill gesture as I was mucked around a bit. How’s that for customer service. I would definitely recommend this company and would purchase from them again.

Great advice – We recently went to Rays outdoors to purchase our first family tent. We had no idea what we were looking at and what would suit us. As soon as we walked we were greeted and asked if we needed help. The employee then spent the next hour with us showing us all the things we NEED and then extras that would HELP. We weren’t pushed into anything and… Read more

felt no pressure at all to purchase anything. We came back a few days later after being told it would be on sale in a few days and purchased everything at once. Great service. Hoppers crossing store definately recommend

Zebra Camping Mugs – Solid build Hold the heat a wee bit expensive but worth it - we had cheap enamel ones from Big W - they didnt last three camping trips !

Expiry date on gift cards – Since we've travelled a lot over the last 18 months we received a Rays gift card for Christmas. We were shocked to find that there was a 12 month expiry date on the back of the card! There was extensive media coverage and criticism a few years ago about expiry dates on gift cards. Since then every retailer we are aware of has relaxed this… Read more

outrageous rule. But not Rays!

Get with the times Rays Outdoors! Trying to increase forced purchases at the cost of losing customers is a very unwise business tactic.

We have requested our family and friends not to get us any more Rays gift cards.

Tagged on shelf special for hiking boots at 114 then scanned at 225. Sales assistant then virtually – Very very poor customer service. Accused of changing special tags. And she still had the nerve to sell me the boots. Btw tag was for the product I wished to purchase. It is not the customers fault if products are not tagged correctly

Membership rewards – I have been a member with Rays for years. I was of the understanding that you got reward dollars held in credit for purchases based upon what you have previously spent. I was never made aware of the fact that these have an expiration date of 12 months. Today I was in store and asked what my reward total was, I was expecting several hundred… Read more

dollars as this is what it was when I had previously asked. Their answer nil.

I am for sure not ever coming back to this store again. They are not cheap and only of benefit with their credit rewards.

There are plenty of other retailers to choose from.

I was not notified my credit had and expiry.

I was not notified my credit would soon run out.

Reliable postage, great customer service, good product and price – Bought a down jacket from Rays website for my sister as a gift. It fits perfectly with enough room underneath for a jumper. Bought the size 8 in Red and she is a size 8 Australian, fits perfectly. Looks great on her, doesn't make her look like a Michelin man, and is very comfy. Postage time and reliability was good, and it arrived in great… Read more

condition. Customer service for advice from both online and instore was fantastic.

September 18th 2018 Update: 10 Star Service, great products and prices!

As I have trouble finding shoes or boots wide enough at the front, I rang the Enfield store first before purchasing online. Anita of Rays at the Enfield store was great, she was happy to measure the insole of a pair of Ahnu hiking shoes for me and advise on the sizing, so friendly and helpful! I also later rang customer service about my Rays member credits, and Amy was fantastic in her friendliness and was extremely helpful. And! The boots arrived at my door the next day! They fit perfectly, and look and feel great.

This is my second purchase from Rays Outdoors, and I couldn't be happier with how they made me feel like a valued customer, and provided very good quality items at a great price. 10 Stars to Rays Outdoors staff.

Love the service – The service is second to none. I recently received a 20.00 rewards bonus just for being a customer. Who else does that. I bought a Columbia t-shirt with it and after discounts it cost me 1.75 in cash and then bought a discounted Outrak long sleeve t-shirt with zip up neck for 14 .50. Its an excellent shop with excellent products and i would always shop here over anaconda or bcf.

Damaged stock – Bought camping items from rays had to return half of my order due to damage , clothes still had security tags on them.. When i recieved my order for the 2nd time there was damage to my merchandise..i emailed 2 different departments with no response..

WARNING: Keep away from online ordering! – Placed an order online. Parcel arrived - trouser sizing all wrong. Trying to return for refund. The contact number in their returns policy has been disconnected! No reply to email. Stuck with expensive clothes that don't fit. This is usually the behaviour of a company about to fold, so don't risk your money with online orders!

Will not order from here again. 6 weeks and still waiting for my order to arrive. I live in Melbourn – This has got to be the worst customer service I have ever received. It's 6 weeks and counting since I ordered my webber bbq stand from http://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/ (and I'm based in Melbourne!). After 2 weeks I emailed customer service, and they didn't respond to me. I then emailed them 3 times a week later, and they only got back to me when I… Read more

made a phone call to their head office. They finally get back to me after I reached out AGAIN, and said "your order has been lost in transit, would you like a refund or us to send through another". I've requested a refund around 4 days ago and have not heard from them despite my second email. I don't care who's fault it was about my order, your customer service was appalling. Will never order again from here.

Late post - Castle hill closing down sale – Great sales when Castle hill - Rays outdoors was closing down. I was so sad for them as I always use to buy gas cans and other camping gear cheap from these guys. I hope the one at camperdown is equally as good

Fast on-line Postage – Ordered a jacket on-line and received it in two days! Good quality rain jacket - exactly as described, would definately order on-line again Superfast postage - Very Happy!

Customer feedback – Peter Kirsty and Bernard were very professional and helpful. They answered my queries and were Informed too!! I will be back. Great service !!

Giving up on getting refunded for faulty product – It's been months emailing backwards and forwards asking for a post paid bag to be sent so I can return a faulty camping light that failed me on the first use. It cost me lots of money as I lost market sales due to my gazeebo being in darkness and still it's not resolved. Won't buy from them again

Not happy, Ray! – Problems in order of occurrence 1. Website allows ordering of out of stock products. User is obliged to manually remove these right at the end of the ordering process. 2. Website will not accept a post office box as a billing address. 3. Shipping charges are inconsistent. A $100 order of less than 1 kg costs as much to ship within Australia as… Read more

a similar package from USA. Free shipping offer was not available in my area, only 1 hour from Melbourne.

4. Click and Collect arrangement is useless. I had to pay the shipping charge, even though there is a physical Ray's store in my town. Apparently the exact items need to be in stock locally.

5. Feedback was ignored. This is inexcusable. After a week, I had no response to reasonable and polite feedback/complaint.

6. Poor shipping practices. Only half the order has arrived after a week. An aluminium drink bottle was poorly packed, and was dented, and the captive cap had broken off. Fair enough, it was a clearance item, but still should be in new undamaged condition.

Online ordering nightmare – Shoes were ordered on 8/12 (guaranteed delivery before Xmas for all purchases made before 13/12) and when delivered on Monday 19/12 they had picked the wrong shoes from the warehouse (low cut shoes that look nothing like mid hiking boots). Staff through the whole process have been so unhelpful and it has taken too long (still have not received the… Read more

correct shoes as of 2/1/17). Express post had apparently been arranged for the 20/12 and currently still awaiting delivery. Poor service considering I initially paid $20 postage with this company to have the shoes delivered and other stores I ordered through on the same day had free postage and delivery took 3 business days NOT over 3 weeks and counting. Very poor.

Terrible Steel Cap Boots – Bought a pair of Magnum boots for approx $200. After wearing them for around 1 week, i couldn't help but feel a painful physical sensation in the middle of my foot and it got worse day after day. I figured that it may be due to standing/leaning on my right foot too much, but after i had bought a second pair of boots (Target brand actually) the… Read more

pain started to reduce after a few days. I went back to try on the Magnums and the pain came back after a few minutes so I decided to check inside insole of the right boot, and felt a fairly raised bump along the edge. This is what had been digging into the bottom of my foot and causing me pain. So after i realized that, i right away called Rays Outdoors in Watergardens, and let them know about the pain/ discomfort and asked for a refund. It had only been 2 weeks since i bought them and i still had the receipt. The staff member refused my refund and told me that there is nothing they can do. So now i have a pair of boots here that are going to end up in the bin.

I will not be shopping / recommending this store to anyone!

RaysOutDoors review – I got an air mattress from RaysOutDoors online and when I got it and inflated it had a defect with the air mattress not happy. Not going to buy from there again and delivery was slow.

An example of a poor Aussie retail service standard – Rays Outdoors (part of the BCF Group) is rationalising its outlets and I see why. Went to their local store after seeing what appeared a good deal on Swags via their website. This is where the poor service/ attitude begins " oh those are Web only prices"?? " but we will match them?? say what? its either their company price or it isnt. On… Read more

attending the store staff just chat amongst themselves about their private lives whilst your left to wonder about, not so bad bad i would have thought one would eventually offer to assist if needed. Updtairs in the tent area I finally decided upon an item similar to the floor model.

On returning home i checked and it was quite a deal smaller than the floor model tent so i returned the item to swap it over.

I then received the oh this is a sale no refunds or returns see the signs? but we will see if we can help? again What the? I was happy to pay the difference and my issue was legitimate as the 2 same brand sized tents were actually different in length by a fair bit. The staff member was arrogant and being testing but eventually exchanged the item.

Customers should not be subject to assistants power trips and I can see now why they are going out of business to be apparently replaced by BCF .

Note to the Group have your staff lose the poor attitudes and train them properly in customer service.

I will use OS suppliers such as from China. Were common courtesy, decent pricing and fair trading are the norm.Sadly as an Aussie i will no longer willing to pay for lousy retail attitudes. These attitudes, together with the whole entrenched Wholesale/ Retail marfia model is this reason for your declining business

Overpriced, – This store is a joke. So damn expensive. You can buy the the stuff cheaper at any other camping/outdoor store. Best to buy online in my opinion.

Camperdown store, Parramatta Rd Sydney NSW – We had such a huge bad customer service experience at Anaconda Moore Park we were really hoping for an alternative shop for camping gear. So we decided to drive a little further to Ray's and we're glad that we did! Customer service was excellent, really helpful. We were asked twice if we needed help with the tents! And when we were assisted the… Read more

guy was so helpful, took time to answer my "amateur" questions, without belittleling me in anyway. There were quite a few options for a standard family of four tent that was under $200 (anaconda had one!) and the tents on display were quite extensive which was super helpful. All in all definitely recommend, the price is WAY better than anaconda and the staff were much more helpful and knowledgable. They have slightly less clothing stock but they still have all the essentials.

Satisfied customer – I rang Ray's Outdoor's at Bendigo to see if they had a pair of Merrell shoes. They had one pair in stock & I received a text message letting me know that the item is being transferred to a Ray's Outdoor's closer to where I live. A huge "thank you" to Crystal for over the phone customer service.

Happily matched the price of an interstate competitor – Yesterday we went into Rays Waurn Ponds to purchase some Campfire saucepans and skillet. They were exactly what we were after with removable handles for easy storage. On arriving home we realised we had been over charged at the register and then my wife found the same products online at an interstate store for two thirds the cost. Back into Rays… Read more

we went and the staff happily refunded our money and then matched the price of their interstate competitor.

Unhelpful staff – Went into Ray's Ballarat on 16/5/16 to purchase a 20 metre, 15 amp extension lead for my caravan. Had what I wanted however it was $16.00 dollars dearer than Bunnings. Guess where I purchased it.

Fantastic Experience at Ray's Outdoors – I visited Ray's Outdoors Nunawading last Sunday, Mothers Day. I was approached in a friendly manner by Brad the manager of this store who subsequently helped me to purchase a pair of Merrell walking shoes for myself which were on special for Mothers Day, a pair to take home for my husband which I could bring back if not right & a rain jacket, also… Read more

on special. On getting to the check-out he told me my husband's shoes were discounted by $100! All in all a very worthwhile visit to Ray's which has recently undergone a big refurbishment & looks fabulous. My husband was delighted with his new walking shoes which are the best he's ever worn.

A big thumbs up for Ray's Nunawading Vic.

Poor range of brands – Where did all the good quality brands go? And what you do have is very limited. Sad to see as these stores used to be fun to walk into and shop. Bye bye rays outdoors

Won't go there again – We went to Mandurah Rays Outdoor store whilst visiting from the country. We were treated rudely when we queried ticketed discounted prices to the actual total of purchases at the checkout. He snatched the discount tickets off the shelf and said they shouldn't be on there. He begrudgingly honoured it and made us feel he was doing us a favour! … Read more

Rude service and very condescending. You lost our custom. We always buy camping and hiking gear clothes etc when visiting the city.

A rude and dominating Manager, pushing an unacceptable Customer & Returns policy in breach of Consu – I will never, ever, do business with these people again. Some time ago I was refused a refund after being told by the Sales Staff member if the size of the item I was buying for my wife would not fit, I could get a refund no problem. When I returned it, as it did not fit her, they refused a refund and said "Credit Only". When I would not accept… Read more

that for the above reason, a rude and dominating Manager came and ordered me out of the Nunawading Store! As a National Marketing Director with 50 years of shopping I have never been treated in such an unprofessional, pathetic and demeaning manner, and the staff also seemed intimidated by this arbitrary individual.

Wrong item posted. Terrible communication – I have been sent a gas stove instead of a camp kitchen. The invoice clearly shows that they have sent the wrong item. I've sent four emails and rang several times only to be told someone will contact me. Very very poor service and communication. I have never ever had any issues with dealing with anyone else online. Will never buy again.

Online Order Debacle – Ordered a kayak seat/backrest through Rays Online service for collection at Mandurah WA store. Wait a few days, no call to say come and collect, so go in store to check. Find that computer showed stock, but stock was not there. Leave it with us. Few more days, check again. Having trouble finding one, eventually locate one at another branch and it… Read more

will be courier delivered to my home. Next day, ask store to have delivered to store as not certain will be home some days following week when should arrive. Store respond that they will notify Midland immediately. Another week goes by, no call so go into store to check. Store interpreted that I would be away all week, and somehow the transfer did not occur. Check Midland again, no stock.Will chase one up. Online service email an apology, but no information as to when I might get my item. Store then locate one in Kalgoorlie WA, be a couple of working days for transfer. I suggest they might get one from BCF (sister store around the corner) A week later, discover from online data, Kalgoorlie have played ducks and drakes with the order.Contact online dept, to find Houston, we have a problem, the item has disappeared into cyber space. Get phone call from store saying my item will be available for pick up in a few hours time, guess what, they got one from BCF around the corner, and three weeks to the day, I got my seat. Seems like the online dept, and store staff all have a left hand and a right hand, but don't know which is which. Oh, by the way, Rays Rewards only apply to full priced items, sometimes.

Don't buy online – I purchased socks online. After 12 phone calls over a period of 6 months they finally arrived with no apology or anything. Will never purchase from them again. No service and no explanations.

Online Misleading Prices – Rays Outdoors have 4wd mattresses advertised for $100 for a double and $120 for a queen. The issue is that the queen states "only available in stores" but when you go in store to buy one they are closer to $200. If you try to buy the doubles online you get charge an exorbitant "handling fee" even when you are picking up in store. I was going to… Read more

order 2 of the doubles but the handling feeds were going to be $158. I have tried contacting Rays multiple times about this issue but they don't seem to care at all. After my initial complaint about the handling charges they asked for more details on the products I was buy (which I gave them) and I have not heard back from them since. I have tried contacting them 2 more times but still have had no response. Fair to say that I won't be using this company again!

No Refund – Hat ordered on line was too small. Returned for refund. No luck. Have emailed marketing and received no response. Still no refund. Weeks now.