I wanted to post a thread to share a couple recent orders with both companies. I have seen a few threads where people are getting frustrated and as with a high percentage of feedback, the negative is voiced more often than the positive. Plus, I know there are employees or pro-staffers on here that can hopefully forward on the kudos to upper management so the employees at these two companies can be properly thanked.
Kryptek:
As mentioned, I have seen a thread or two where people are frustrated with things being backordered from Kryptek. With that, I posted a thread a couple weeks ago since the Koldo jacket I wanted was listed on the web store as in stock. Just to be sure I contacted Kryptek and received a reply from a gentleman at Powertex Group. I am guessing this is Kryptek's distributor. Anyway, I don't name this gentleman because I don't believe he was intentionally being misleading so I don't think he deserves any negative feedback.
In my inquiry to Kryptek, I asked if the Koldo jacket was truly in stock and what their turnaround time would be since (at that time) I would be leaving for Alaska in just over two weeks. I was told "It is in stock, there are only 2 Left and it will ship ups within 24 to 48 hours and take 2 days". Great! The order was placed within a day and it still appeared in stock on the web store. Well, 48 hours came and went and my order status on the site never changed from "Waiting to Ship". So, I just figured there were some minor delays but no big deal as it was still a good week and a half until I left.
Finally, a week later, I send them another email asking for an update. I receive a reply back of "My name is Nicholas Fennel and I will be handling Kryptek from here on out. I checked on your order and unfortunately it is still on backorder. We are looking to receive goods on Monday and have them checked in by Tuesday. I will do everything I can to expedite your order so it reaches you in time. Please let me know if you have any further concerns." Huh? Never once was I notified that it was on backorder and I was told it was in stock and ready to ship. That was the whole point of my first contact. Obviously, up to this point I was a little frustrated. I understand the challenges of smaller companies as I work in one. However, as a customer, I expect to be treated with respect and honesty. Just tell me it is backordered and we can work something out. That seems to be a good chunk of frustrations I read in other threads as well.
So, enough with the negative. Yesterday (Wednesday) I checked in with Nicholas again as I still had not seen a shipping notification and I leave this Sunday. Nick was great and took my number to check on the order. He called me back within a few minutes and confirmed that the jacket was shipping yesterday with a two day delivery so it would be at my door by COB on Friday. Fantastic! That is all I needed to know. So, thanks to Nicholas for prompt service and quality communication. Please pass along positive feedback to him if you can.
KUIU:
For my trip this year the girlfriend decided to spoil me a bit and wanted to buy me a Hooded Super Down jacket. Upon the initial purchase, she accidentally purchased the unhooded jacket. I called KUIU the next day but I was told that the warehouse has already pulled it for shipping and the only thing I could do was to place an order for the hooded jacket and return the regular jacket when it arrived. I wasn't too pleased with this scenario but it was also hard to hate such prompt service. I was dealing with Sara(h?) on this and she understood the issue. I went ahead and placed another order for the hooded jacket and all was good. Well, come the next morning I have a message from Sara out of the blue saying that she was able to catch the regular jacket before it shipped and cancelled the order. Awesome! Just that little extra effort on her end saved me a bunch of effort and money out of my girlfriends account for a week or whatever. Many thanks to Sara and please pass it along.
Now, my jacket arrived very promptly and I was excited to try it on. It last Friday afternoon and I tried it on a couple times with different under layers. Later in the evening I notice a little feather floating in the air. This happens sometimes with down products as those feathers somehow find their way out. Sadly, I look down I can plainly see more feather starting to make their way out. Sure enough, there is a little slit just to the left of the zipper. It was only a couple millimeters long but big enough to let the down out. I was a little concerned about KUIU's return policy and posted a thread here but was reassured when I found out that the policy wasn't for damaged items. Todd (BigSurArcher on here) posted in the thread which was much appreciated.
So on Monday, just three days ago, I call KUIU when they open and initially talk to Brenda. She is very helpful and understands that I leave for my trip in just 5 days. She asks that I try to get some photos of the damage but she will go ahead and start working on the issue. Shortly there after I am also contacted by Patrick Mayer. I am guessing that he was responding to the email that I had sent to KUIU over the weekend. Patrick was quick to arrange a replacement even before I was able to ship the return back. I actually received the replacement yesterday, just two days later!
Patrick also requested some photos and I was more than happy to get some for him. Also, as I was repackaging the jacket in the original bags it came in I noticed a pretty good gash in both bags and they appeared to line up. I hadn't noticed them when it first arrived probably because I was in too much of a hurry to check out the jacket. Anyway, since I couldn't remember exactly how the jacket was folded and packed, I couldn't tell if the gash matched the tear on the jacket but it wouldn't surprise me. I documented all of this and sent the photos on to Patrick. I also took photos of the new jacket's packaging that arrived yesterday as it was pretty beat up too. Luckily, none of the gashes in the outer bag made it deep enough to puncture the inner bag or jacket that I could see. I forwarded this info on to Patrick as well as it sure seems that those bags get beat up pretty good and with such thin material on the jacket, it might be a concern.
Anyway, many thanks to Patrick and also Brenda for being quick and attentive and doing what was necessary to make things right. That little bit of effort to ship the jacket out quickly as a replacement totally changed my perspective. I went from being frustrated and regretting the investment in a higher end jacket to satisfied and a future customer. Again, props to KUIU for making it right. Also, for anyone placing orders, make sure you inspect the packaging and check the contents promptly.
So, in a long winded fashion, I am satisfied and wanted to post an overall positive review of the experiences and give praise to those employees that deserve it but may rarely hear it. Far too often we only hear the negatives and we should remember that it is often the case that there are far more positive experiences that you never hear about. As I said before, if anyone reads this and has inside contact to the companies, please pass along the positive feedback.
Kryptek:
As mentioned, I have seen a thread or two where people are frustrated with things being backordered from Kryptek. With that, I posted a thread a couple weeks ago since the Koldo jacket I wanted was listed on the web store as in stock. Just to be sure I contacted Kryptek and received a reply from a gentleman at Powertex Group. I am guessing this is Kryptek's distributor. Anyway, I don't name this gentleman because I don't believe he was intentionally being misleading so I don't think he deserves any negative feedback.
In my inquiry to Kryptek, I asked if the Koldo jacket was truly in stock and what their turnaround time would be since (at that time) I would be leaving for Alaska in just over two weeks. I was told "It is in stock, there are only 2 Left and it will ship ups within 24 to 48 hours and take 2 days". Great! The order was placed within a day and it still appeared in stock on the web store. Well, 48 hours came and went and my order status on the site never changed from "Waiting to Ship". So, I just figured there were some minor delays but no big deal as it was still a good week and a half until I left.
Finally, a week later, I send them another email asking for an update. I receive a reply back of "My name is Nicholas Fennel and I will be handling Kryptek from here on out. I checked on your order and unfortunately it is still on backorder. We are looking to receive goods on Monday and have them checked in by Tuesday. I will do everything I can to expedite your order so it reaches you in time. Please let me know if you have any further concerns." Huh? Never once was I notified that it was on backorder and I was told it was in stock and ready to ship. That was the whole point of my first contact. Obviously, up to this point I was a little frustrated. I understand the challenges of smaller companies as I work in one. However, as a customer, I expect to be treated with respect and honesty. Just tell me it is backordered and we can work something out. That seems to be a good chunk of frustrations I read in other threads as well.
So, enough with the negative. Yesterday (Wednesday) I checked in with Nicholas again as I still had not seen a shipping notification and I leave this Sunday. Nick was great and took my number to check on the order. He called me back within a few minutes and confirmed that the jacket was shipping yesterday with a two day delivery so it would be at my door by COB on Friday. Fantastic! That is all I needed to know. So, thanks to Nicholas for prompt service and quality communication. Please pass along positive feedback to him if you can.
KUIU:
For my trip this year the girlfriend decided to spoil me a bit and wanted to buy me a Hooded Super Down jacket. Upon the initial purchase, she accidentally purchased the unhooded jacket. I called KUIU the next day but I was told that the warehouse has already pulled it for shipping and the only thing I could do was to place an order for the hooded jacket and return the regular jacket when it arrived. I wasn't too pleased with this scenario but it was also hard to hate such prompt service. I was dealing with Sara(h?) on this and she understood the issue. I went ahead and placed another order for the hooded jacket and all was good. Well, come the next morning I have a message from Sara out of the blue saying that she was able to catch the regular jacket before it shipped and cancelled the order. Awesome! Just that little extra effort on her end saved me a bunch of effort and money out of my girlfriends account for a week or whatever. Many thanks to Sara and please pass it along.
Now, my jacket arrived very promptly and I was excited to try it on. It last Friday afternoon and I tried it on a couple times with different under layers. Later in the evening I notice a little feather floating in the air. This happens sometimes with down products as those feathers somehow find their way out. Sadly, I look down I can plainly see more feather starting to make their way out. Sure enough, there is a little slit just to the left of the zipper. It was only a couple millimeters long but big enough to let the down out. I was a little concerned about KUIU's return policy and posted a thread here but was reassured when I found out that the policy wasn't for damaged items. Todd (BigSurArcher on here) posted in the thread which was much appreciated.
So on Monday, just three days ago, I call KUIU when they open and initially talk to Brenda. She is very helpful and understands that I leave for my trip in just 5 days. She asks that I try to get some photos of the damage but she will go ahead and start working on the issue. Shortly there after I am also contacted by Patrick Mayer. I am guessing that he was responding to the email that I had sent to KUIU over the weekend. Patrick was quick to arrange a replacement even before I was able to ship the return back. I actually received the replacement yesterday, just two days later!
Patrick also requested some photos and I was more than happy to get some for him. Also, as I was repackaging the jacket in the original bags it came in I noticed a pretty good gash in both bags and they appeared to line up. I hadn't noticed them when it first arrived probably because I was in too much of a hurry to check out the jacket. Anyway, since I couldn't remember exactly how the jacket was folded and packed, I couldn't tell if the gash matched the tear on the jacket but it wouldn't surprise me. I documented all of this and sent the photos on to Patrick. I also took photos of the new jacket's packaging that arrived yesterday as it was pretty beat up too. Luckily, none of the gashes in the outer bag made it deep enough to puncture the inner bag or jacket that I could see. I forwarded this info on to Patrick as well as it sure seems that those bags get beat up pretty good and with such thin material on the jacket, it might be a concern.
Anyway, many thanks to Patrick and also Brenda for being quick and attentive and doing what was necessary to make things right. That little bit of effort to ship the jacket out quickly as a replacement totally changed my perspective. I went from being frustrated and regretting the investment in a higher end jacket to satisfied and a future customer. Again, props to KUIU for making it right. Also, for anyone placing orders, make sure you inspect the packaging and check the contents promptly.
So, in a long winded fashion, I am satisfied and wanted to post an overall positive review of the experiences and give praise to those employees that deserve it but may rarely hear it. Far too often we only hear the negatives and we should remember that it is often the case that there are far more positive experiences that you never hear about. As I said before, if anyone reads this and has inside contact to the companies, please pass along the positive feedback.
