Archery Vendors / Manufacturers

[acmcgaha]

ETA: I have now been contacted by SH. I still feel like I went out of my way to contact them prior to finally reaching someone who made sure my needs were addressed. And they were very attentive when I finally spoke to someone. So I guess I am removing them from my never again list, and things happen, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a problem in this industry. I also know that ATA is taking place; however, I have never agreed with putting future sales above current customers. I could be a weirdo though.


This is kind of a "Dear Diary" post, but wanted to share my observations. I am currently angry and venting and I hope I am not wasting anyone's time.

Some major archery manufacturers SUCK at CS.

Some shops suck at CS.

I know everyone has different expectations. Coming from the firearm/tactical gear market, I know some manufacturers / vendors have cult-like followers and will defend a manufacture regardless (the customer is never right).

Here is my new rule. Unless I receive an out of office reply, or we will be out from x date to x date voicemail message, I expect some form of acknowledgement in 72 business hours. I have been trying to contact a very popular sight manufacturer for 2 weeks with negative contact, because they sent a sight with incorrect parts. I don't want to mention the manufacturer or problem as it is only 1 example of terrible CS that I will not encourage... Spot Hogg...

I understand that some companies are very small and want to focus on manufacturing, but (especially when you made a mistake) service after sale is non-negotiable (to me). In the future, I will not make a purchase without being absolutely certain that a company is very responsive to their customers.

Some companies that have glowing service that I will mention:
Kifaru
Annihalator Broadheads
EXO Mountain Gear
Option Archery
Hamskea Archery
Seek Outside

I spend a lot of money on hobbies and want to reward companies who take care of their customers, so feel free to list your favorites as well.

 

[Billy Goat]

That's a shame to hear, I have spent over an hour on the phone before with Josh Johnson (owner of SH), resolving an issue. I really enjoyed the conversation and not only does he know his product and archery, he just seems like an overall good guy.


I guess the good news is there's lots of choices out there, it's a shame you had a poor experience with what in my mind is a great company.

 

[WyoElkHntr]

Totally agree with this post. I recently made a similar thread about Mathews CS. I was disappointed with the "That's just how it is" responses, primarily because there are several outstanding companies out there. I will go out of my way to do business with companies who go above-and-beyond to make customers happy.

My favorites: another vote for EXO MTN Gear, KUIU, and Vortex (shudder)

I've had only one horrible experience with ebay seller rrcherry on an arrow purchase. Really the only vendor that I will go out of my way to never spend money with.

 

[dtrkyman]

I managed an archery shop for a while and worked their part time for years, Spot Hogg was always exceptional as well as Mathews. Mathews does rely on it's dealers to deal directly with customers though.

As a whole the Archery industry was stellar for CS, times are changing however with all the small companies being bought by large investment type companies.

ATA will have 5 booths before too long.

 

[5MilesBack]

Ya, Spot Hogg has always been one of the best for me. In fact, I've never called them and not gotten what I called for taken care of quickly.