Cotswold Outdoor Reviews 

Dreadful company, no customer service, waste of time and money….

Goods never arrived and no refund

Avoid avoid avoid

Disappointing experience - still waiting with no answers

I placed an order with Cotswold Outdoors and have had a really frustrating experience from start to finish. One item was cancelled without much explanation, and my original delivery date came and went with no update or communication about when to expect the rest of my order.

Getting through to customer services has been a struggle — long waits and a chatbot that keeps resetting, meaning I've had to start the same conversation over and over without ever getting a resolution.

I finally got through to customer services to ask for an update on expected delivery and they accidentally cancelled my entire order, probably for the best!

For a company of this size, the lack of communication and follow-through is really disappointing. I'd expect far better, especially when customers are spending significant amounts of money. I wouldn't feel confident ordering again based on this experience.

Cotswold Outdoor has always been one of my go-to places for outdoor gear. They offer a great range of high-quality products at good value, and their physical stores are genuinely excellent, the staff are knowledgeable, helpful, and clearly passionate about the outdoors.

Unfortunately, that same standard doesn’t carry over to their online store.

The shopping experience itself is fairly standard, but things really fall apart when something goes wrong. In my case, a delivery issue has been dragging on with very little progress. It took around two weeks just to get a reply to my emails, and even now, there’s still no resolution, just updates saying they’re waiting on the shipping company.

To make matters worse, the courier they used (DHL eCommerce) was extremely unreliable. The parcel was misdelivered, and while there have been apologies, nothing has actually sped up the resolution.

I understand that delays and staffing issues can happen, but the handling of this situation has been very poor. It’s disappointing, especially given how strong their in-store experience is.

(Update! After a couple of phone calls, each waiting on the tone for ~40 mins, finally, there is a resolution. Well, at least they are trying to amend for the mistakes)

Overall, great products and fantastic in-person service, but their online support and delivery really need major improvement.

I was shopping for my son’s expedition and after looking at Mountain Warehouse and Decathlon I finally went to Cotswold. I am extremely grateful to the staff there, who spent an hour explaining what my son would need and not need. The prices were more expensive than the other shops, but the quality was so much better. I didn’t realise that there were shops in this day and age that had this level of dedicated (and knowledgeable) service. There were a few items that weren’t in stock and these were shipped to my home the next day for free. I am not only very impressed by Cotswold, but extremely grateful to their staff!

Ordered a pair of Meindl boots which are next day delivery. i ordered them 3 days ago and needed them quickly. I also ordered a pair of boots from Trekkit to see which were the best fit. Trekkit boots arrived next day, Cotswold are still not here. If they don't arrive I may well be away on a trip and not in to receive the boots. Basically, Cotswold say they have stock but either don't or are just rubbish. Who knows? So, lesson is --- Go to Trekkit. (I'm hoping 2 star is appropriate. If the boots don't arrive before I leave I'd make it a 1 star)

I needed advice on buying walking boots, having been very uncomfortable in my previous boots. I was given excellent advice on fit and size, even to the extent of having my feet measured, which hasn't been done since I was a child.The assistant spent plenty of time discussing and advising me, and checking what the boots would be used for. What I bought is just what I hoped for.

Terrible experience, false advertising prices to bait people into purchasing then they’ll refund without telling you and drop the discount rate to make more money. Seriously avoid!

Cancelled my Order of superblast 3 Trainers without any email or contact whatsoever. Seems like I’m not the only one either. Now I need to wait 7-10 days for my refund. Disgusting service, will never go anywhere near them again.

IF I COULD GIVE 0 STARS I WOULD. SHOCKING CUSTOMER SERVICE OR RATHER NO CUSTOMER SERVICE.
EACH DELIVERY NEVER ON TIME, WAITING OR JACKET NO.4 AND NO.5 AND STILL NO ANSWER TO EMAILS.

DO NOT TOUCH COTSWOLD OUTDOOR OR SNOW & ROCK. VERY VERY CLEAR THEY ARE SISTER COMPANIES.

Terrible experience.I placed an order and with no reason what's whether they cancelled it.And I know they will respond with whatever reason they have.However, this is not good.Not significant.More reason I will never shop here ever again

I was looking for a,light raincoat for my holiday. There was a wide range available. I found just what I was looking for. The sales assistant gave me lots of good advice.

my order (worth over £300) was lost by evri. evri were very helpful and contacted cotswold outdoor, who apparently said they’d be in touch with me. 2 emails and one ridiculous phone queue later, i have still had no contact with cotswold outdoor. i have no order and no money!

Utterly dreadful company. Sent me the completely wrong running shoes (wrong brand, wrong size), I then had to chase them several times about organising the return via post of the wrong item and getting the correct item sent to me. I then find out that I have to pay delivery costs and packaging for their mistake and organise my own refund and then re-order the item I was supposed to be sent (presumably for the same thing to happen again). Will never use this company ever again! Utterly hopeless.

Ordered an item from Cotswold Outdoor and unfortunately had a very poor delivery and customer service experience.

The courier (Evri) failed delivery multiple times, and the tracking information was inconsistent and confusing throughout the process.

I had to follow up several times myself to confirm that the parcel was being returned. The live chat system was unreliable – it was difficult to connect to an agent and responses were inconsistent.

Eventually, the item was returned to their warehouse and the refund was processed, but only after I actively chased the case.

Overall, the issue was resolved, but the process was unnecessarily slow and required too much effort from the customer. I would strongly suggest they improve their choice of courier and customer service responsiveness.

Still waiting for refund for item returned back to company 31/3/26. Unable to get through on phone and 3 emails ignored and appears chargeback via CC is only option to obtain nearly £400 refund. Won't use again

I booked an appointment for a Gait Analysis at my local Salisbury Cotswold Outdoors (I didn’t even know they did this, so was a bonus when I saw an appointment the following morning). I’d recently got back into running, so felt like this was a necessity.
I arrived and Brandon was helping two other customers, but was quick to find alternative support for them, as he wanted to be able to give his full attention to my appointment. You don’t often find that customer service anymore!!
He couldn’t have been more helpful throughout my appointment. He was so knowledge which you could tell wasn’t just learnt from a training course, but he was actually passionate for running and able to advise me accordingly. Explaining all parts of the gait analysis thoroughly both how it works and the results.
I wanted to make sure I got the right shoes for me and I’m so glad I didn’t buy offline like I was going to do the day before because firstly I’d have got the complete wrong size and secondly I wouldn’t have found the right shoes for me either. I was looking for a hybrid road to trail shoe as I already have road shoes, but he was even able to advise me on my road shoes as I’d bought them to the appointment.
He couldn’t have been more helpful if he tried, he spent near on an hour with me, nothing was too much trouble even after asking so many questions and trying on multiple pairs of shoes in different sizes and styles. Even offered to order in different sizes for me to ensure I got the best for me.
I walked away with a pair of Hoka Challenger 8’s as they’re the shoes that felt best (my road shoes are also Hoka) but tried on New Balance, Brooks and other Hoka’s.
I’ll definitely be back to Cotswold Outdoors for future running kit because Brandon really restored my faith in in-store shopping, so thank you!! He’s a real asset to the store in Salisbury.

I purchased a pair of Scarpa GTX boots in November 2025, the most comfortable boots I have had. A lace cleat broke recently and I took the boots back to the Cotswold Reading branch where they were exchanged immediately, no quibbles. Whilst there I bought a Gore Tex shell jacket as I prefer to buy in store rather than online in case of problems.

So 3 weeks later still no order. Sent two emails a week apart no reply to either.
Unless it’s in store DONT order. Terrible service phone never answered.

I was gifted the Icebreaker Unisex Sierra fleece gloves for Christmas. Worn 3 times and noted holes in the seam of one glove. Contacted customer service 24 Feb. Returned gloves 26 Feb for 'manufacturer assessment'. No offer of a replacement despite sending photos of holes.
Chased customer service for a update twice - no reply to emails. Eventually spoke to customer service and advised could take up to 6 weeks....Finally received offer of exchange on 15 April. Terrible customer service.

Ordered a pair of walking shoes from Cotswold Outdoors online. The delivery was arranged with DHL Ecommerce but did not arrive (could not access property!!). Spoke to a Cotswold advisor who promised to get an update from DHL and ring me back. The call back did not happen and Cotswold have not answered the phone on numerous attempts to recontact them. Emailed their customer services and got no reply. Have since contacted my credit card company who have kindly provided a full refund. Very poor customer services from Cotswold Outdoors and woeful service and blatant lies from DHL Commerce.