Kifaru Gun Bearer Issue - Poor CS Experience?

[Radams406]

I have use kifaru for a lot of years and they have always been great to deal with. As Aron says, some folks just have bad days. Glad he surfaced to take care of your issue.

 

[justin davis]

Well there ya go. Cant beat customer service like that. The main man of the company reaching out to you!

 

[gelton]

Boom! Snyder for the win!

@Aron Snyder , my last two orders from Kifaru, in the special instructions, I have specifically asked for an autographed picture of you Shirtless and riding a horse ala Vladimir Putin. I have been denied both times. Can you please look into that, you gatdamn sexual tyrannosaurus ?

He has called me while on the side of the mountain to be sure things were handled correctly, never disappoints....the Vladimir Putin photo is in the oval office with Biden but there is another floating around of him that looks like Sasquatch standing in front of a creek.

And never forget the manscaping thread, the gift that keeps on giving, both literally and figuratively.

 

[Ryan Avery]

So I have to say I'm pretty disappointed and a bit surprised by Kifaru on this one and I'd like to hear if you guys think I'm being unreasonable. I've had a gun bearer for as long as I've had a Kifaru. Last year I bought one of the Hunter Lite frames and moved my gun bearer over to that frame. I used it last fall elk and deer hunting and by the end of the season the 3-bar slider on the shoulder strap that the upper portion of the gun bearer connects to was bent at an almost 90 degree angle (pictures below). Unfortunately this slider is sewn in so you can't just swap it out.

So I contact Kifaru CS and I just heard from them that they aren't going to do anything about it. They said I can try bending it back to straight with a pair of pliers "to get a little more life out of it" but when it inevitably snaps I would have to buy new shoulder straps from them at full retail price. I'm pretty disappointed by this response. Considering I didn't have this issue with my previous frame using the same gun bearer in the same way with the same weapon (no extra weight on the gun) I don't think this is user error so I was basically expecting them to take care of it.

What do you guys think? I've only had one other warranty issue with Kifaru in the past and they couldn't have handled it better so maybe I'm just expecting too much? Either way I'm not going to try to fight them on this...just curious what you all might think.

Something doesn’t add up. I packed around a 15.5 pound LRKM for four years with that set up without issues. It’s either defective or you are not running the strap tight enough and the rifle is flopping around.

 

[Stalker69]

It’s cool he got on here and said he will take care of it, but it’s only because the responses on here I feel he agreed to take care of it. If he hadn’t posted this he would not be getting it taken care of. You normally only have one chance to handle customer complaints, and they go else where.

 

[Radams406]

True statement, I know when I get a sour response I am packing my gear and headed down the road. Although kifaru is a big enough name and has a super solid reputation that might be worth a second go. All about who answers the phone...I know this well on my own business.

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

My only customer service with Kifaru was about a pack recommendation and Aaron gave me his cel number so I could call him and ask what pack he would recommend.

I’m extremely rough on gear and my Kifaru pack setup is still looking great after 4 years.

as someone who has a lot of experience with metals and various manufacturing, it looks to me that the weight of the gun was pulling sideways instead of down. Maybe the “rigging” needed to be adjusted a little to distribute the weight evenly instead on one side.

 

[Aron Snyder]

It’s cool he got on here and said he will take care of it, but it’s only because the responses on here I feel he agreed to take care of it. If he hadn’t posted this he would not be getting it taken care of. You normally only have one chance to handle customer complaints, and they go else where.

You would be incorrect and just about anyone who’s dealt with me would tell you that. I responded to an unhappy customer on here but if he called me instead of posting the final outcome would be the same.

You are correct though, you can have a thousand happy customers in a week and one mistake is what’s remembered/posted.


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[Ryan Avery]

There’s a post on here about a dog eating the pocket out on his EXO pack. He has to pay to ship just the bag back, they are fixing it for 15.00 and covering return shipping. That is the customer service I like to hear. And everyone says how pleasant, quick, and friendly on the phone and emails. These packs are not cheap, and good customer service goes a long ways in bringing more money to the company. I won’t consider Kifaru after reading these.

These kind of post make me laugh. I can find shitty CS service reviews on all the major hunting packs within five minutes of looking online. That’s because you only hear about the bad experiences, not the 99.9% of the good CS experiences. Chances are if you are not getting taken care of you’re talking to the wrong person.

 

[Stalker69]

But really should it matter, if the pack can’t carry a rifle no matter what position it’s in, and the frame bends, weather it’s bouncing or what ever, what’s it going to do packing out a load of meat, and elk antlers jostling around. Sorry but I feel it should handle the weight of a rifle with no issues what so ever.

 

[Ryan Avery]

But really should it matter, if the pack can’t carry a rifle no matter what position it’s in, and the frame bends, weather it’s bouncing or what ever, what’s it going to do packing out a load of meat, and elk antlers jostling around. Sorry but I feel it should handle the weight of a rifle with no issues what so ever.

Do you even understand how the gun bearer works? It’s not attached to the frame.

 

[BRTreedogs]

You would be incorrect and just about anyone who’s dealt with me would tell you that. I responded to an unhappy customer on here but if he called me instead of posting the final outcome would be the same.

You are correct though, you can have a thousand happy customers in a week and one mistake is what’s remembered/posted.


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I 100% believe this is true.
I hadn't called yet because I need to check my issue again after shed hunting. While I thought the wear was a little wierd I wasn't worried about a sudden blow out. And as long as it hasn't gotten worse I won't worry about it...

I appreciate you stepping in Aron, I don't see any big wigs concerning themselves with issues like this on the web. Besides possibly Seek.

Its a huge time and energy suck.

 

[Stalker69]

You would be incorrect and just about anyone who’s dealt with me would tell you that. I responded to an unhappy customer on here but if he called me instead of posting the final outcome would be the same.

You are correct though, you can have a thousand happy customers in a week and one mistake is what’s remembered/posted.


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But unless you are going to answer every call, we are going to deal with your “ customer service” and they probably handle ( I imagine) 80-90% of the calls. So I would say I am pretty correct. Most people my self included, are not going to try and reach the owner or who ever, after they are told what the “ warranty “ or problem is, and it’s not covered. I am selling it, or throwing it in the trash, and moving on. Again cuddos for offering to make it right.

 

[Stalker69]

I don’t care if it’s attached to the frame or not, if a rifle swaying around or whatever can bend the frame, I don’t want to packing out an elk or antlers on it. I’ve seen loaded packs fall down shale rock slides, doing cart wheels and getting air born with every bounce, and not get “ bent”.

 

[gelton]

But unless you are going to answer every call, we are going to deal with your “ customer service” and they probably handle ( I imagine) 80-90% of the calls. So I would say I am pretty correct. Most people my self included, are not going to try and reach the owner or who ever, after they are told what the “ warranty “ or problem is, and it’s not covered. I am selling it, or throwing it in the trash, and moving on. Again cuddos for offering to make it right.

He has been putting his personal number out there for years, it isn't hard to find the "right person" if your dealings have not been satisfied with the customer service dept.

You certainly don't want to start with him but he helped me get sorted out with my first purchase from Kifaru a DT1, and several years later when I purchased my 2nd frame and bag that shipped out with the wrong belt and I got a less than favorable response from customer service, I texted him and he called me in the middle of a hunt to be sure that things were squared away to beyond my satisfaction.

As the saying goes - You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time...and that will always be true no matter who you are dealing with.

 

[Aron Snyder]

But unless you are going to answer every call, we are going to deal with your “ customer service” and they probably handle ( I imagine) 80-90% of the calls. So I would say I am pretty correct. Most people my self included, are not going to try and reach the owner or who ever, after they are told what the “ warranty “ or problem is, and it’s not covered. I am selling it, or throwing it in the trash, and moving on. Again cuddos for offering to make it right.

I don’t need to answer every call. My customer service people do an amazing job and when there’s an issue I try and help out.....like I’m doing now.


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[Aron Snyder]

I don’t care if it’s attached to the frame or not, if a rifle swaying around or whatever can bend the frame, I don’t want to packing out an elk or antlers on it. I’ve seen loaded packs fall down shale rock slides, doing cart wheels and getting air born with every bounce, and not get “ bent”.

Lol

It’s not bending the frame. I’d go take a look at the video of the gun bearer so you know what’s actually going on.

It’s a small metal slider (half the size of a quarter) that it attaches to on the shoulder strap.


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[Outlaw99]

But unless you are going to answer every call, we are going to deal with your “ customer service” and they probably handle ( I imagine) 80-90% of the calls. So I would say I am pretty correct. Most people my self included, are not going to try and reach the owner or who ever, after they are told what the “ warranty “ or problem is, and it’s not covered. I am selling it, or throwing it in the trash, and moving on. Again cuddos for offering to make it right.

You’re trolling this hard at this point. Do a search, Aaron’s put himself and his phone number out there publicly for a long time for anyone to see. Do a little research on it he didn’t just jump in here to save face. I don’t care who or what company it is, it’s always possible to connect with the wrong person at the wrong time on an off, or bad day.
I don’t give a shit who buys what from where, but it’s pretty common knowledge how approachable Aaron is.
On a side note: one time when I had an Exo pack, I had a simple question that I emailed them about.......they never responded back!!!!
So no one buy any more stuff from them anymore. (True story, but they are great guys with great products, my message just didn’t get through to the right person)

 

[gelton]

I would just add that ALL of these companies spend a mint on advertising, attending shows (pre covid anyway), and sponsoring events....one post like this does more damage to any of these companies than those marketing dollars can makeup...you think that any of them would spend $50-$200 to make things right to protect the tens of thousands a month some of em are spending on advertising? Of course they would, without blinking an eye.

I will be the first to say I torch companies when I think they have done me wrong, but most often I either leave their name out or be sure to congratulate them when they turn the corner which is almost always the case.

 

[Trr15]

Its unfortunate that perceptions are formed based on isolated incidents. I lead an operation that has a fairly large customer service department that I like to think is top notch (This feeling is supported by top tier customer service ratings year-over-year). Even still, people have bad days and shit happens. Its how the leadership/management/owners respond that really show what the organization is all about. I've been on this site for a long time and Aron has been a stand up guy since day one. Answering questions, personally following up on orders, giving out his personal cell # even to people who aren't Kifaru customers. My personal experience with Kifaru CS has been great. Yeah, maybe someone in their CS dept was having a bad day. You're doing them and yourself a disservice by writing off the entire company based on one interaction or a second hand description of one interaction.