your good (or not so good) customer service interactions of late

[Voyageur]

Good-Vortex
My binoculars were functioning just fine, but thought it was about time to send them in for a “tuneup” as over time I had put some small scratches in the objective lenses.
The level of service I received was way beyond what I expected and turnaround time was only two weeks give or take a day or two.

 

[HandgunHTR]

Had a good one today.

Ordered a scope from CameralandNY via their website. Within 10 minutes, Doug called me to let me know that the scope I ordered (Nightforce SVH 4-14 FFP Mil) was actually not in stock and that he wasn’t sure when he was going to get it in, but it would for sure be after the new year as Nightforce is off for the rest of the year. He also stated that it may be longer due to the Shot Show being in Jan as well.
He could have just let it sit or just cancelled the order, but the personal call was very welcomed.
I am in no hurry so I told him to ship whenever it came in.

 

[croben]

I reached out to Kifaru last week and spoke with one of their customer service people on the phone. She was awesome and super helpful. She asked me to send her an email. Within 5 minutes of emailing her, she responded back and I had all the information I needed

I bought a new pair of Crispi boots during their Thanksgiving sale. The boots were too small, so I called to see if I could exchange them. Their customer service was awesome and hassle free. Couldn’t say enough good things about them.

I bought a pair of pants from Stone Glacier this fall. Within 4 hours I had a tracking number and they were to my house in under 2 days. This has been my experience with them every single time.

 

[ewade07]

Cabelas. You guessed it, they suck again. Ordered some powder 3 weeks ago to be delivered to the store for pick up, still no email on the delivery status. Have contacted them multiple times and i just keep getting the runaround as to why its not there yet. That place is beyond terrible.

 

[dtrkyman]

Gazelle tents, called with a concern and actually got someone on the phone relatively easily. Got competent help quickly.

 

[Elk97]

Good- LesSchwab tires in Anacortes, WA. Had them repack trailer bearings and new seals, did a great job, greased suspension and had it all done in a couple of hours.

Riverside Archery in Mt. Vernon WA. These guys are great, usually have anything I need in stock and have fixed, tweaked a bunch of stuff while I was there. Very reasonable prices too.

Bad- Les Schwab tires in Bozeman MT. I've never had bad service at Les S over the 50 years that I've been dealing with them but twice now I've had to wait well over an hour for them to even start to work on the truck even though I was the first one through the door in the morning.

 

[twall13]

Good-
Nunatak- Jan was incredible to work with on a custom order pair of puffy pants. I understand he's doing away with custom stuff to cut back on lead times but he actually shipped me his personal pair of pants to test before deciding how long to make the leg zipper on mine. That's just insane to me. Gave me all sorts of confidence that he'll take car of me.

Gastronome- My last order came with one bag that had a hole in the bottom and leaked everywhere. I reached out via email and sent them the photos and they had a replacement in the mail that same day and threw in some bison snack sticks as a bonus.

Kryptek- I had the stitching on a pretty new Lykos puffy coat come undone in the pocket. I emailed them and they sent me a replacement within a week. They let me keep the other coat as well so I sewed the pocket up myself and ended up with two puffys for the price of one.

Cameraland- Always pleasant to deal with, promptly took care of an item that was missed from my most recent order.

S&S Archery- Warrantied some of their trekking poles for me twice, the second time was an issue of my own doing and over 2 years after the initial purchase. I was contacting them to see if I could buy the parts and they sent them out free of charge the same day I asked about it. Great guys to work with over there.

Still deciding-
Kowa- I had to send in my little 554 scope and it was a little hard to get ahold of them. Contacted them through email first, took about a week for them to refer me to their website to fill out a form. Filled it out and couldn't get a confirmation that it was submitted, no response to my email query to see if they got it. I finally called them up and after a brief hold talked to a live person who got me an RMA number. Sent in the scope and heard nothing for two weeks. I called them up to confirm they had received it and they said they had and would get back to me after someone looked at it within the next week. They've had it for over 3 weeks and I still don't know for sure what's going on. As long as they take care of the issues and it doesn't take 6 months I'll be fine, but I can also see this one going south quickly. I love their scopes, so I really hope this one turns out okay. I can't say they have stellar customer service, but I'm still hoping for adequate service.

Poor-
Cabela's- Multiple crappy experiences lately but I'm pretty ticked at them for the latest in particular. I tried to burn all my Cabela's bucks and be done with them but they cancelled my most recent order and now the deal I was getting is gone.

Fedex- I've had 3 packages get "lost" en route from them over the last two years. One of them cost me a snowshoeing trip I had planned as the snowshoes I ordered never showed up and then were out of stock for over 6 months. They said they found the box empty in their facility so I got a refund. Interesting way to lose a package...

Walmart- Their online order system sucks. About half of my wife's orders get cancelled a day or two later because the items aren't in stock. If they aren't in stock, don't let me check out. Drives me crazy.

Quick update on Kowa, I did get an email today letting me know the scope had been inspected and that it's covered under warranty and there wouldn't be a charge for the repairs. I still don't have any idea on when I'll get it back but at least it's progress.

Additional Update: Received the scope in relatively short order after my last update. Everything appears to be fixed and in great shape. Overall, not a stellar experience from the communication standpoint, but the turnaround time wasn't terrible and I ultimately got the service I needed out of them so I'm satisfied.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[snowymtnwolf]

Scheels for the W. I hate to say it, but cabelas and bass pro are for the most part a thing of my past (but depends on location).

Scheels takes care of customers period !!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jake195]

Had a great experience with Crispi and Shnee’s. Both answered all my questions about sizing and everything, and Shnees sent me a free shipping label after I didn’t like the boots. They also worked with me to get me my refund when it was taking awhile. Overall great experience

 

[Jake195]

Tightspot was also very helpful

 

[hunting1]

Good: Sitka, sent in a repair request email for a broken zipper on a Kelvin Light jacket and within a week have a shipping email.

Bad: Bushnell, broken Range Finder Binos, sent in asking for repair, offered to pay, no notification they just shipped them back and no correspondence. Not that will ever buy anything else from them but really.

 

[Silveroddo]

Positive:
GoPro Surprised me today, had a Hero 8 Black that was out of warrantee and not recognizing the battery, called to see what the options were and because I still had a subscription they were going to do the $99 replacement. He did some checking and they ended up replacing it for free with a Hero 9. No complaints and the entire process was less than 15 minutes.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Good. Kuiu. Ordered a proximity jacket and got scared that the sizing leaned towards their mountain gear. I received the jacket on the 10th of December but didn’t get to hunt it until this past weekend.


I had bought up. An xxl based on how my kenai fits at the same size. Well, it was sized normal. So, I called them Monday and explained my situation. I decided to go ahead and purchase an xl. They 2 day mailed it for free. Tomorrow morning I’ll climb in a stand with my nephew wearing a better fitting jacket. Thanks to them 2 day mailing it. It doesn’t get any better.

 

[Yarak]

Left some Burris Binoculars on my shooting table while I went down range
Got back and they were gone not to be immediately found
The neighbors dog snatched them and ran
I found them a couple weeks later chewed all to pieces so I contacted Burris and they sent me a shipping label
I had these binoculars for more than 20 years and they replaced them free of charge with a better pair
Great customer service from Burris

 

[Themic86]

Had a RCBS case trimmer with broken foot. Contacted RCBS to buy a new base as not there fault it was broken. Shipped my the new base free of charge. Can’t beat great service.

 

[Geewhiz]

Good:

Kuiu. They went above and beyond to help me out when they didn’t have to.

Vortex. Always good to deal with and very prompt. Have used their customer service 3x over the past 10 years or so.

Maven. Working through an issue at the moment but they have been great to deal with this far. Will have to report back with the outcome.

Badlands. Great service but I have sent the same pack back 2 or 3 times so far and now it’s just sitting on my shelf with broken zippers and straps again. Not the highest quality gear…

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Sent a letter to Trojan advising them that numerous strangers had contacted me believing I was their father based on DNA testing data they got through Ancestry.com. They wrote back telling me I was not a magnum size

 

[eddielasvegas]

Three fantastic CS experiences this week and the companies deserve the recognition. All sell products RS members would use.

1) Splatterburst Targets (in MN). Ordered mine (12x18" & adhesive backed) from Amazon. They were shipped in a plastic envelope so the targets were splattered in shipping as well as folded. Amazon gave me my money back, but I sent a note to the company via Amazon seller link and they apologized and are sending me replacement targets. They are scheduled to arrive Tuesday.

2) Jerent Enterprises, LLC (in NE; DBA sonicboomtargets.com). This is the binary explosive many of us use as a reactive target. Tannerite is the brand name, I think, and most of us use the name generically. Anyhoo, one of my 2lb targets got rock hard so I sent them an email asking how to salvage it. They requested a pic to confirm what I was saying and said breakup and spread the white pellets (I think it's nitrogen) on plants as fertilizer. They then said they'd replace it and sent me 2 2lb targets. They arrived today. Crazy fast shipping IMO too.

3) Called Swarovski (no clue where their USA office is) to inquire about used EL Range binos I was considering buying. It was a long wait for them to answer but the CSR was very helpful (and super knowledgeable) in answering my questions on the binos and even told me some problem areas for the binos I was considering. I almost didn't mention this as I didn't own the product but the CS was so good that I think it deserved a mention.



Eddie

 

[Trial153]

AAE was fantastic.


Sportsman warehouse 50/50 …took them several times to fix their screw up, but they were accommodating at least.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

Camera Land NY

I had another great experience with these folks. Called and got Joel on the phone. He processed my order for a ridiculously deeply discounted Slik tripod and head. Their free shipping had it in my house 3 days later.