Tag: rude staff

“It was extremely icy. Northstar is never my first choice”

I made a visit to Northstar, Jan 3rd, shocked by the parking fee $30, year before $20. I have never paid a parking fee to ski and have been skiing for 20 years, only at Northstar. I have small children and they complain the whole way to the lift and back to the car. Mt. Rose was much cheaper and chose to ski at Northstar due to windy conditions at Mt. Rose. I noticed there was chaos in the lift line on the Vista chair, people continuously cutting, 4 lanes merge to 1…what’s with that. Northstar is never my first choice, it’s the last when there are windy conditions at the other resorts.

Basil Poulopoulos via Onthesnow

Some of the staff were unexpectedly extremely rude. I was quite surprised. Before I went, they said on the phone that the snow level was great. They did not mention that this was only true given that there was of course very little snow. It was extremely icy.

Joey Smith via Onthesnow

“15 years ago I was here.. it was the best”

15 years ago I was here.. it was the best. 15 years later, really bad food, old garage sale style condo’s, really poor snow, yet full price lift tickets $118.00. long walks to the lifts just to wait in longer lines to get on the mountain. it cost me $6,000.00 for 3 people to ski 5 days. I went to Europe and skied for much less. I really think Mammoth sucks, but compared to this place.. At least they had snow.

alan goldberg via Onthesnow

Vail resorts & specifically Northstar are horrible! We came up to ski for the day. We are family of 4 & have a 14 year old disabled son & a 17 year old snowboarder. The plan was that I would ski with the 17 year old & my husband would hang back with our disabled son. When we arrived to the resort my special needs son would not let me out of his site. My husband & I decided to switch places. He was going to ski with our older son & I was going to hang back. So as my husband was getting on the gondola they confiscated the past because his picture did not match. We had no idea that the passes were non-transferable. We figured we had two skiers and two passes. It is written in the smallest possible letters on the back of the card which why would you even think to look there? When we explained our situation to the resort they were not only rude but had zero compassion for our situation. We were treated awfully!!! I will stick with the small non corporate ski resorts where they tend to treat people with respect & don’t belittle them, especially during a difficult situation.

Carmen Petti via Onthesnow

Let me start with the parking lot first. Arrived at the parking lot at 9:39 am. Then, wait for the Shuttle bus for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Finally got to the first lift and waited 25 minutes. The second lift waited for 35 minutes. The third lift (comstock) waited for 1 hour 20 minutes. Finally got to the top of the Mountain at 1:45 pm. Waiting and waiting and waiting..

Ray Fang via Onthesnow

I can not express this enough. Do not go to Northstar. From someone you has lived in the Tahoe Area full time for the last 22 years I can, with absolute confidence, tell you that there are better experiences to have in this wonderful place. Very unhelpful staff. I arrived 08:45 on Jan. 14th 2020 to find that Northstar had decided to start charging to park this year. I drove up to a very empty parking lot and was stopped by a extremely under-prepared Northstar employee. All I had brought with me that morning was a debit card and Northstar could not accommodate me. I was forced to turn around and drive the 2 miles back down the hill to park and wait for a shuttle (Not environmentally friendly). Lazy? Poor organization? or they just don’t care? I’m not sure. I wanted to let Northstar know how they were treating guest of their resort. I called the customer service number and was informed that the process to do just that was to submit a formal complaint online and that a Manager would respond in a few days. I wish I could have had that conversation. I feel that platforms like Yelp are more like just trash talking behind someones back but they ignored me and so here I am. Patronizing Staff. After calling to find out how to express my disappointment with Northstar’s decision to start charging for parking. I mentioned to the woman that I was speaking to that I had to be at work that day at 12:30. by the time I parked, waited for the shuttle, had to walk from the furthest point they could possibly find to drop those who have had to up to this point make the longest trek, waited once again, I was only then finally able to take just one run before having to reverse the process and get to work. Her only response “HA, HA, well have a great day!”

Sam Skrocke via Onthesnow

The lack of empathy and understanding for individuals dealing with significant injuries is deeply disheartening.

During our last skiing trip to Whistler in January, my wife suffered an ACL injury, and I underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery in June of this year. As a result, I did not regularly check my email account that was used for holiday booking, I was auto-charged for the EPIC Pass for next year.

Given these circumstances, it is impossible for us to ski for the foreseeable future. Despite reaching out to the company 4-5 times over the past few months to explain our situation and requesting the cancellation of my EPIC Pass and a refund, the company’s response has been disappointing. The lack of empathy and understanding for individuals dealing with significant injuries is deeply disheartening.

Instead, they informed me that they will proceed with charging my credit card next month for the passes for me, my wife, and my children, citing the fine print in the contract.

Knowing that my wife and I are injured, the company’s lack of compassion and understanding of the stress we are going through is both immoral and unethical. We will never ski at any of the Vail Resort-operated locations again in the future.

T.L. (SoMa, San Francisco, CA) via Yelp reviews

“waiting, waiting, waiting..”

This place is a great place to ski if you like waiting in line…..
waiting for parking (can take forever from 267 in the morning)
waiting for shuttle from parking lot to the village
waiting in line for tickets (except if you have season pass)
waiting in line for gondola to get up to the base (crazy packed in the morning)
waiting in line for lifts (No fast passes here)
waiting in line at the top of the lifts just to get going and once you are starting down the runs you have to deal with a lot of people on the runs, I mean it’s always crowded
I used to have season passes every year for a long time but now it’s just crazy crowded and with their new increased prices $240 per lift ticket and new pay to park reservation system I would rather go elsewhere like Kirkwood where my time is spent on the mountain instead of waiting in line after line after line. NorthStar is all about the money now judging from all the other reviewers who also say the same thing

Dr. N. San Francisco, CA via Yelp

A Racket to put simply. Bought two days, our passes did not work both days. Waited in line several hours. Employees were extremely rude and none of them even tried to speak English. Insane for the price! This place has went downhill so fast

Nolan S. Lebanon, TN via Yelp

I hate Northstar I took my first lesson there and I had such a humiliating experience I truly boycott this resort. Not worth even one star

Anna E. B. Linden, CA via Yelp

“Unprofessional staff at resort prices”

The response initially from the staff was helpful. However the check in process was painful. After reading the check instructions one section instructed to get a paper parking pass. Then I was instructed to register online with a link I never received in my inbox or spam. The front desk staff told me they were having trouble with the system. Due to them having trouble I requested a paper parking pass. They refused. My spouse was sitting in the car with in pain from a ski accident. 15 minutes later they sent me a link to register for parking. I completed it and saved a screenshot that I successfully completed the process. In the morning I received a parking citation warning of potential ticket and towing. I returned to the Northstar front desk to request help. I was told not to worry about it and there was nothing they could do. I requested to speak with manager and they refused saying the manager was available but couldn’t do anything. I reiterated my spouse was injured I needed my car more then usual. They again stated nothing they could do with this known ongoing issue. I demanded a paper parking permit. They said ok and issued it reluctantly. This was very unprofessional, lack of empathy. Stay at a motel 6 or super 8. You will get better and more professional service at 1/4 the price.

Gideon S via Tripadvisor

“Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer”

Overall you won’t get what you paid for and it will often be disappointing. Generally this is my least favorite Tahoe destination. This resort is nice in appearance but is overall poorly run. Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer. New and temporary staff generally are not helpful, veterans are generally ambivalent. Staff can also be hostile and aggressive as well which is generally a sign of problems within management. I understand visitors can also be difficult and the staff will certainly make you’re aware as they voice their complaints.

Blaine Schanfeldt via reviews at Google

“Not worth the lift ticket prices”

Rude personnel, extremely strict rules… inconsistent feedback from people working here regarding the resort rules.

Not worth the lift ticket prices and f**k vail resorts altogether

This place is an absolute nightmare! Do not come here unless you want to wait in line for a shuttle for over an hour minimum and wait to park your car for an hour as well. Just parking your car will make you wanna leave it’s so chaotic. Have fun looking at the backside when you arrive, there’s fresh powder everywhere, however they won’t open it and force feed everyone into lines once you hit the front side. It’s honestly the worst resort I’ve ever been to. Just a giant trap to take your money away from you. Oh and when it’s time to leave be prepared to wait in another hour line to get back to your car and then another hour to leave. Avoid at all costs

2 hours to download from village to parking lot. 100+ people line built up from 3:30 to 4 waiting on first bus. Supply trucks were dangerously pulling in and out through the queue of people. Cutting left and right with no direction. Total mess.

No lights in the pitch black parking lot at 6 pm to top it off. This resort needs a total overhaul on customer service and parking functionality. Frankly unacceptable from an upper level management perspective. They have the $$ to do it right.

Don’t come here unless you stay on site. 4x Epic Pass holder. Heavenly and Kirkwood are visitor friendly.

After paying for very EXPENSIVE ticket during Christmas, we were informed by staff that the mountain is closed for the day due to safety reason and extreme weather, after only less than 2 hours of total time spent at the resort. When asking about partial refund or credit, nothing was offered and staff told us that “this situation happens frequently at the resort”.

Source: Google reviews

The Village At Northstar – Avoid

No early check in and service at front desk sucks. Did nothing to help us get into our room 20 minutes early even though it was obviously already cleaned. Front desk did absolutely nothing, just made my family waste their time sitting in our vehicle until precisely 4pm. After paying a considerable premium, I’m less likely to come back here after such poor service. Thanks for making my 6 month old wait in the car when they could have just been in the condo.

Nicholas Young

“overall the place did not live up to how much it charged”

When we checked in at our room, the smoke detector was beeping loudly due to low battery. You could hear it from outside the door. So we asked the front desk if they could change it. They said the maintenance guy just left and we needed to wait till next morning. We were a bit shocked that 1) there was already no emergency maintenance at 8pm; 2) they would suggest us to just wait a whole night in a room where it was impossible to sleep or even rest. So I told the front desk staff that we couldn’t stay there with this constant sharp beeping. Then she offered us ear plugs… hmm thank you but no. We politely demanded a better solution. Finally they switched us to another room, which was great and appreciated (and that’s why this is not a 1 star review). But why this was not the initial solution?

A few other notes. The balcony door in the new room couldn’t lock. The AC was quite ineffective. The room was 65F when we went in. We set the temperature to 72F. Three hours later it was 67F.

The environment was nice. Room was spacious. Location was convenient. But overall the place did not live up to how much it charged (400+$ per night for us). There are many Airbnb options nearby and quite a few hotels in Truckee less than 10miles away from the ski area. So I don’t recommend this place.

Siyu H

“This is NOT a 4 star property .. What a rip off”

THIS IS NOT A 4 star PROPERTY. You have been warned, do not get scammed. A 4 star property should have bell available (not bell service), room service, laundry service, housekeeping without a fee, decent attitude, responsive reservation staff, etc — this property has NONE of the above. You will receive better service if you stayed at Best Western or better attitude at even a 2-star property! To top that off they scam you into not reading the fine lines and you cannot, for the first time in my life, even upgrade your reservation by paying the difference! They also have very dated appliance and their room DID NOT look like the picture advertised and I suspect the room size is much smaller than the advertised 400sqft, and nor is the bed a real King. Their kitchen in the studio is so small they kept the utensil and the KNIVES in an unlocked, GROUND LEVEL cabinet so BEWARE if you have kids. I will NEVER come back here again and nor will any of my family and friends if I can help it. What a rip off.

Claire L

“So bad…ridiculous delays in getting the room”

We were told at 10am, that they were only promising 4pm. At 3:30, they had no idea. At 4:00pm, they said 20 minutes. At 4:30, we called and got no answer. So, $800 per night gets you nothing…terrible.

Daron E

“buyer beware-not worth the headache!”

Booked a trip for my 35th birthday. Front check-in girl was rude, acted like I was inconvienicing her by being their early. They gave us a key to the gym/pool/garage which didn’t work and had to go back and get reprogrammed, and she seemed more irritated like that was my fault. The room was nice and clean. We made breakfast in the kitchenette and put all the dishes In the dishwasher which immediately leaked all over the place saturating the kitchenette floor, so good thing there were lots of towels.
We had a decent time skiing, crowded as usual at northstar.
When we went to check out our folio change was $1,760 compared to the $1,160 reservation we had. When I questioned the front desk person ( a different yet still unhelpful person) told me I had to take it up with reservations, and she gave us their number. Called reservations and they tell me to take it up with the front desk. After 4 phone calls to people you can barley understand im still out $600, and this has pretty much ruined all the fun we had for the weekend. Hopefully my credit card company can sort it out.

The property is decently nice but buyer beware-not worth the headache!

bigislandracing

“It has been a nice place before but now getting much degraded”

It has been a nice place before but now getting much degraded. Terrible traffic during weekends and holidays. Very poor resort management and untrained staff. Ski storage was free before but now charging fees. School check in used to be on the top but changed to village, which caused a lot of confusion and inconvenience.

Yusuo Hu

Overcrowded. Snowboarders have no respect for skiers, skiers have no respect for snowboarders. Best case scenario there is a massive turf war and winner takes all.

B McCaffrey

the staffs are very rude.

Pamela Lizarraga