Snowbrainer Reviews 27

Awful experience. Booked skis and a snowboard and wanted a one day rental they would only give me two day rental. I get to the rental place and they tell me I should have no problem contacting the company for a refund it happens a lot. Contacted the company and they said not possible but wanted to offer me 25% off of another purchase. Very disappointed at their customer service and lack of empathy after explaining situation and stating that one day was not possible at time of booking and that booking was made 24 hours prior

you can choose from the ski equipment but in the end they give you something very used in the store no matter what you chose and at what price. then you can take out insurance for it which they won't pay despite the store receipt and invoice, making excuses as to why you didn't report it to the mountain police when your ski poles were stolen at an altitude of 1670 meters. their customer service is also condescending and doesn't try to solve your problem, they look at you as stupid

Only use if you want basic equipment.
As other previous reviewers have mentioned, the shop have you over a barrel as you’ve pre paid. Second time I’ve used Snowbtainer and both times the shop had given me average at best equipment. They’ll give you whatever they have in the shop. Selecting premium is pointless. Our shop hired Fischer skis and Nordica boots but I got 5 year old Head boots and budget Blizzard Skis. On questioning them, they said well we’ve only these in your size, despite preordering them months before.
Only use if you want budget equipment.

Just returned from La Plagne 1800 and used snowbrainer to book our skis and boots in resort at Skiset for 14 people. Skiset was located next door to our chalet. All seamless with no issues and would happily recommend. Also used last year at La Tania, again we had no issues.

I've used Snowbrainer for last few years.
Excellent value probably some of the cheapest prices around. I read alot of negative reviews but me personally have never had a issue and would definitely recommend. I've either paid in full or even paid a small deposit and paid the remainder at the shop im hiring from. There were 10 of us hiring this year in Morzine and the LA CLINIK - PRECISION SKI shop were fantastic. I've spent a fortune on boots being custom fitted and always in pain still. I've been skiing 18 years and this was my 1st pain free feet holiday 🤣 Thank you Snowbrainer same again next year

I used snowbrainer for the first time for a weeks rental in Val Thorens over christmas 2025.
I booked using a black Friday deal and it was by far the cheapest option out there.
I only got confirmation from snow brainer and not the shop direct, which had me a little concerned.
However, I shouldn't have been worried, the shop had our reservation and the rental experience was no different than if we had booked direct.
Would definitely use snowbrainer again.

Easy web site to use, but I ended up paying for skies twice over, once to Snowbrainer and then to the shop. Snow brainer then used the small print to get out of refunding.
I would not use them or Alpine skiing again.

I recently had a ski accident in Japan and was hospitalised for 21 days. My family and I had planned a holiday skiing in the French alps 5 days after our rtn from Japan but I was unable to go as I had punctured my lung and could not fly. My wife took the kids anyway and informed the shop on arrival that I could not be there and why. They informed her that getting a refund for myself would not be a problem. “Just call head office.”
When she did this she was told that she was outside there cancellation period so there was nothing they could do. There was no mitigation even if her husband was in hospital in Japan with a punctured lung.
Be ware when working with this firm as they have few ethics or empathy even in difficult situations. Yours Noel Avent

Made an online reservation for my daughter's ski trip in France and everything went smoothly. No need to rent locally and drag the skiis over 3 countries to France.

This intermediary

company offers very easy booking and attractive prices - but beware - if any of your group are unlikely to ski the full booking don’t use them as you won’t get any refund for the days not used. For us, the ski shop gave us a receipt for just the two days used to give to Snow Brainer, but still no, they would not refund. My advise, book direct with the ski shop as they only charge for what you use.

We chose the top recommended shop on the web page in Lech. I double checked the location as no one in their right mind would use a shop that wasn't local to the area, in case there was any issues with the equipment. The map on the web site shows it as in Lech but was in fact 30 minutes away in St.Anton.
Our skis were not at the hotel when we arrived- apparently you receive a confirmation email explaining you have to contact the ski shop 72 hours in advance to confirm your arrival. We did not receive that email. I don't understand why that would be necessary when you book the term of rental when you pay, so then the equipment should be waiting at the hotel the day before regardless?
We had to waste our first morning on holiday sorting different ski hire after we had already paid for it.

I have used Snowbrainer a few times, but have increasingly come to the view that it is a bit of a scam. I have always selected the 'platinum' category, which is supposed to give you that season's skis. In reality, though, I have ended up being given skis that are several years old. This year the shop only had a single pair of battered old skis in my size remaining - it wouldn't have mattered which category of ski I'd selected as there was only one pair left.

I've reached the conclusion that while snowboarder might save you a bit of money, it removes all leverage with the shop - they know you've already paid and are obligated to go with them, so they can just give you whatever crap they have left.

Booked to collect skis from Precision Skis inTignes Le Lac. When we got there they had no skis for us. The same with two other families in the shop so who knows how many other families had no skis on that or other days. They blamed snowbrainer as putting in height/weight and shoe size is optional on the snowbrainer site and we hadn’t bothered this time. Surprise surprise they only had much more expensive skis for us to hire. So spent over double the original amount.
Very disappointed won’t use again.

The website claims flexibility in modifying and cancelling orders yet fails to mention that all of this comes at a cost/burden to you:
1) 10% fee for cancellations
2) no money refund (just a coupon for use on future SnowBrainer orders.

Really disappointing and outdated terms (hidden in general T&Cs) that consumers should not find on EU webshops anymore. Sadly, this still exists with Snowbrainer.

Brilliant service. Had to change date twice due to covid and never a problem. Highly recommended

The website is pretty basic and doesn't have a lot of information on the actual ski's available. That said, everything went as smooth as you could expect. The price was even significantly cheaper than that on the website of the Ski Shop. I would recommend.

We have used Snowbrainer for a few holidays in the Alps and have always has good experience in the partner shops. This year we had to cancel due to the French travel restrictions. I sent an E mail request as there was not an option on the website. The request was dealt with and I had money back in my account within a couple of days. Could not fault the service.
I just hope all of the Ski related businesses can weather the COVID storm as it must be incredibly difficult for them in these times. We'll be back next year !

We had our flight cancelled for France and needed to swap our booking for Switzerland. Snowbrainer agreed to refund us or offer us a voucher with 10% extra credit. We took the voucher and booked for Morgins. There was an issue on the website with the checkout. When we called Glen answered the phone immediately with no waiting on hold. Within 1 hour everything was resolved and we were collecting our skis at the shop. Dealing with online companies is not always easy especially when you need to call but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the customer service was. I have used Snowbrainer for around 6 years and would recommend them to anyone. Also excellent value when you use a discount code. Thanks to Glen and the team for resolving our website issue :)

Booked a week in Lech, Austria and booked skis etc through Snowbrainer in a shop in Warth about 6km away. We only discovered on pick up day that the road to Warth is closed during the winter. No mention of this on the website.
We rang snowbrainer expecting them to transfer our booking to an
accessible shop and maybe charge a few euros for admin.
Instead we were told by the shop and HQ that we should have cancelled in good time and there was nothing they would do. They couldn't have been more unhelpful if they tried.
It was a four hour round trip to the shop, which we didn't think worth taking.
So we lost the £170 original booking and then had to pay €273 for a short notice booking with another company.
I'd read other reviews previously and wish I had taken notice. Beware!

We have used this company for many years and always found the service efficient, pricing competitiive and quality of equipment good. This year we went to La Tania in the Three Valleys and as it is a very small resort we were offered just the one shop and this was quite understandable. However, the shop seemed to have a very small rear annex where the ordered equipment was stored ready to be collected. There was very little room for customers to wait and indeed several people had to queue outside. Once in and being served, it was apparent that there simply wasn't enough equipment to hand and this caused further delay whilst awaiting other items to be brought from elsewhere. We were a group of seven of varying abilities and therefore using different categories of equipment. Apart from the beginner, none of us felt really happy with our skis. in previous years in both France and Austria we have always been very happy with the standard of skis. We are returning to La Tania next year and we are unsure of whether to use this shop again even though the prices were very competitive as always with Snowbrainer. All in all we were very disappointed sadly.