Looking for a good boot fitter? Aviod Techno Sport

that seems weird, as they are one of the 3 best bootfitters in the city
now on that that note you have 4 posts and 2 of them are about poor fitting boots? when you are in the shops do you buy for "comfort" as it looks like your issues start after some days of skiing which means you are packing out a boot that is too big then trying to solve issues?

If a boot fits that badly how in the heck did you end up buying it? Did you have an epideral when you were trying them on?

nate

...I can guarantee that these boots are NOT too big. Like I said earlier, I have been skiing for twenty years, have worked in the ski industry, and have worn numerous other pairs of boots. I know how ski boots are supposed to fit. The boots went from needing 'some' work to a worse fit needing a whole lot of work. How can you properly punch a boot without first putting them on someones foot and asessing where they need to be punched?

I have to side with Blueman on this one.
I had a similar experience a couple of years ago... they sell you boots and then when fit problems arise they are pretty unwilling to back their fit policy. If you aren't going to honor it then why bother having one. Also I highly doubt that Blue's boots were sold to him too big. During the sales pitch that I received when I bought my last pair of boots there, the sales person clearly stated that they would simply refuse to sell anyone a pair of boots that were too big as it wouldn't be in the stores best interest with all of the work that would need to be put into boots that wouldn't fit anyways and would eventually need replacing with different boots (not in their financial interests).
So like I mentioned earlier, 'Down with Techno Sport', try else where unless you want to be posting a negative experience here too!

On a different note if you are in need of good boot fitters, Top Shelf in Fernie is highly recommended.
Brian Campbell and Donny Dion are the owners and have years of experience. Brian came from Whistler I believe, and is very renowned, he's been featured in Ski Canada on a few other ski rags in the past. I've never heard anyone complain about these guys. Top notch service! :)

Werd to the herd. Those guys are amazing.

Okay, okay, if we're going to begin a slag session here, I think that ALL of the facts should be presented.

First of all, Techno Sport has a boot fit guarantee, with absolutely no mention of new boots, secondly, there have been a few omitted facts from Blueman's post.

A customer comes in, wants a high performance, low cost boot. Not an easy thing to come about in the first place. This same customer spends minimum of an hour and half trying on boots, and not just one boot, but many boots in all price brackets. End result- Nordica Dobermann Aggressor 100 (a great boot)- for RACE PRICE. Customer is not a racer. Customer is not charged for any boot work (which is customary for recreational boots, but all racers pay [$50/hour], seeing as there is little to no margin on race stuff).

As most people have experienced, most 'hot spots' pop up when skiing- not when in the store, so yes, there should be some responsibility taken by a customer to know where their boot is hurting them, not the stores, as nobody there has skied in that boot. That being said, the boot in question on at least one occasion was put on the customers foot, and 'hot spots' were attempted to be determined.

If there were issues in the store, a possibility that the boot would not have been purchased soley on price?? ( one would hope...)

So, out of the hundreds of pairs of boots that get sold a year at Techno Sport, there is MAYBE one a year that comes to the point that no more fitting can be done. It definitely happens.

Now, feel free to inform opinions about shops in the city. Nobody ever has the intention of someone ending up in the wrong boot, skiing should be enjoyable- that's why we're all here.

Oh, and for reference, when a toebox is expanded, especially on a race boot with an extremely low volume, more often than not, the seal will pop.

Ooooohhhh, and Brian and Donny are awesome!! You just have to have a few extra bucks to spend, but from a shop perspective- Tres bien!

WOW!!
Thanks for you insight into this 'Roo'... it definitely sounds like you work there (at Techno Sport). And an even bigger surprise... your story confirms that someone else out there is having difficulty with your store as well, I can sympathize. Doesn't really support your 'maybe one out of a hundred' theory does it?

Maybe you guys need to review your stores 'fit guarantee'. Even better yet, why bother? Just take their money and run!

Too bad really, sounds like you are more into it for the $$$$$ than for what skiing is really about.

If you don't believe my story then just take it right from someone who works there. Is this really the kind of experience that you want when purchasing ski boots? Thanks again Roo.

Hey Blueman, I never subscibed to this forum or any other but this was brought to my attention and so now I am a subsciber. I take offense to you thrashing on my shop that has been 25 years in the makeing and was not built on poor customer service. I'm sorry that you feel you were misrepresented on the service you would recieve from my shop and you are disatified with the outcome. I do remember you, as I really do get only one or two customers a year that have an experiance that is not "a happy one". We sell over 900 pairs of boots a year and you are not the norm. You were to call me on Wednesday @ 1:00pm after I talked to the bootfitter who had been working on your boots to discuss solutions. I never heard from you wednesday and was skiing yesterday. Sorry. You really should discuss these things before makeing remarks about my shop, which I am quite proud of, as I am the largest independantly owned ski/snowboard shop in Calgary. I told you I would help you out if we could not get you satisisfied with the fit. Even though you bought your boots @ half price, as they were sold to you on race pricing, and we tried to work on your boots to make them fit, which is not free on the race price deal, I am still ready to refund your $$$$ (as you put it). My only request is that before you decide to thrash on somebodys good name that I have tried so long to establish, please voice your concerns at the store and not behind your computer screen. Call me @ 244-4492 to arrange to drop your boots off for a refund.

Truly,
TechnoB

Sounds like TechnoB was and still is willing to work something out with you Blueman, too bad you jumped the gun and made this stupid post, in the end you are the idiot.

nate

To blueman, the fact that you left out the special pricing you got on the boots makes you look like a tool. If you had paid full retail and were not able to work out a solution, then you'd have a case. And always discuss it with shop management before posting on the web, if I were them I wouldn't help you after this post.

BM, you need to return all your ski gear and give up the sport.

I too have to wonder how someone buys a boot that fits so poorly.
I have worked with many ski shops over the years and it always seems that the cheapest of the cheap always bitch the loudest. Nothing can be cheap enough and surprisingly the equipment is never satisfactory.
Blueman, I hope for you and others like you, Walmart starts to sell ski equipment. When the season is over and you have skiied the s**t out of it, you can tell them it wasn't quite right and take it back.

Hmmmmm... doesn't look to me like he is too much of an idiot. In fact I think quite oppositely.

Let me get this right. Blueman has problems with a Techno Sport. He makes what seems to me a reasonable effort to resolve these issues with the shops owner prior to posting here (regardless of different pricing or not, if a fit policy is offered to a customer it SHOULD be honored). Then in frustration he creates a post here in this forum generating quite a collection of responses including an employee and the store owner himself!
I have to say kudos to Blueman for finding himself quite a unique solution to this problem and capturing your attention.

To the owner(s) of Techno Sport (TechnoB): What I read out of all of this is that if you had made a reasonable effort to resolve this issue and didn't piss off your customers posts like this wouldn't even be here which has obviously caught the eye of quite a few people (575 as I post this) in addition to all of the people that Blueman has undoubtedly told to avoid your shop. This has generated quite a lot of negative exposure that I personally would want to avoid if I were you, very poor business in my books.

Live2play seems a little to eager to come to the defense of Blueman (even giving him "kudos"). I wonder if the moderates could let us know if the accounts for Blueman and Live2play where created by the same IP address.

hopefully people who drive on past decide to stop and check it out with this extra exposure. I have always been treated top notch when dropping in there.

And my feet tell me when I shouldn't buy a pair of boots pretty quickly. I buy on feel, not on how cheap they are, or how cheap I can brag that I paid for them.

LID

Havne't had any boot fitting done there but I use the 17th ave location for ski tuning and am always impressed when my sticks come back looking brand new with a nice texture on the base and perfect edges.

...Bring it on.

Off topic. Last time I took my skis too get mounted they ended up drilling into the bases. They figured a base grind would sovle the problem and gave me paper thin bases. What a bunch of ameraturs.

Trying to hide dimples with a deep base grind on brand new skis is so lame, especially on a nice pair of skis/bindings, you KNOW the customer is going to be wise enough to see it.

Live2Play, seriously, did you just use "bring it on". Dont you watch the news, tough guys use drive by shootings and prison shanks to threaten people. And by the way "the bloods" have a patent on large red font scary threats in forums. I'm not sure if you want to piss them off.

Bring what on? Getting the moderators to see if you and Blueman's post were made from the same computer?

I can tell you that TWICE this season I've been in TS and both times they tried to get me to buy boots for my teenage kids that were not the right size.  Said things like "Boots don't come in 1/2 sizes" (DUH!  That must explain why I ordered a pair a half size smaller through another retailer for the exact same boot that was a perfect fit  fro my daughter).

At least they are not as arrogant as the staff at Lou's (don't even get me started on them!)

TopShelf Snowsports in Fernie - www.top-shelf.ca are the best bootfitters in Canada (from Ski Canada Magazine)

They don't sell boots, they build you custom boots from the ground up.  You have no choice in what brand, model or colour of boot you get, they choose the best shell suited to your foot and skier type, make you a custom footbed to build  a solid platform, blow a foam injected liner in your new shell and finish it off with a boot sole alignment so your ski's are flat on the snow.

It's the only boot they sell and it's called the TS-1  It will be the best fit you have ever had and it will list 3-5 times longer than any boot off the shelf at any other shop (the foam injected liner doesn't pack out like regular liners)

They can also help you out with making your old boots fit better, doing boot punches etc. Oh, and of course they also have stock liners that you can buy for cheap to refresh your fit in your old boots if you can't afford the TS-1

check em out.  they are in the basement of the Griz Inn on the mountain at Fernie Alpine Resort.