onefutui2e

i had some ride rodeos last year whose toe webbing was stripping. i placed a call to them and spoke with someone. he first said, "well, i mean, they ARE eventually going to rip..." he was a bit apathetic to my situation, asked for the serial number on my bindings, then before i can respond he continued, "oh, but i see you bought them only two months ago." then he took down my information and the new straps came in about a week. considering i live in new york and they were coming from i think washington, that was pretty fast.

so i guess my experience was a little better. but then again, i went the "old school" route. IMO it's true; you can say a company should treat e-mail just as importantly but truth is, human nature just doesn't give a shit about anything we can't attach a face to and it's incredibly hard to attach a face to an e-mail.

anyway, just my own chiming in, because aside from the guy's initial snarkiness he got my situation solved pretty quickly.

DrEwTiMe

Exactly right and if there is no face to attach, Voice is the next best thing!

briancgrs

Update to Dogfunk customer service. I couldn't decide on the size to get, so they offered to send a free return shipping label so I could try both on and it wouldn't cost me anything extra! That's awesome customer service yet again!

Oh and free two day shipping... Just can't beat it

East§ide

I don't understand why anyone is an apologist for poor customer service. I'm in the construction industry and believe me, customer service is the #1 thing that gets or loses our sales. There is no "well, in comparison to company X that isn't so bad." Shit is shit, whether it's a solid log or a full mess of diarrhea. I honestly would've told them that I expected the parts to be sent overnight for free since you've waited 4+ weeks while they've had your money.

__________________

Never Summer Evo 153/Restricted ReFlex Cartel
Gnu Danny Kass 156 BTX

onefutui2e

for the record (i don't know if you're directing your post to me), i'm not apologizing for anything. i'm just saying my experience differed. and i just hypothesized it was because i called them directly rather than e-mail.

i've worked in multiple jobs/industries and one of the constants i've seen is that if you really want something done in a timely fashion, you have to get personal with the people you're dealing with. i highly doubt you'll find many who will disagree with this statement.

in the OP's situation, starting with e-mail is fine. but after the first runaround i would've straight-up called them and asked what's going on. sometimes you have to DEMAND customer service to receive it. is it shitty? yeah, i agree with you on that. are there companies who do it better? of course. i also agree with that and all things being equal i tend to give my money to those companies.

so in a way, i agree that his situation was shitty and that in this case Ride customer service was pretty shitty. i'm just pointing that MY situation was of an order of magnitude less shitty than his and offering an idea of why that might've been. cheers!

of course, if your post wasn't directed at me, i owe you a beer.

scottb7

No, it wasn't you it was someone else that was bitching at me for complaining. I should have asked for the order free, but figured screw it, I will just try a different brand next time...

trapper

Well either way I thought it was a worthwhile thread at least. I now probably won't be inclined to buy Ride products in the future without an otherwise compelling reason to do so.

rfrich74

Just chiming in about Backcountry's customer service. The customer service from any of Backcountry's sites (dogfunk, whiskey militia, chainlove etc) is a model everyone strive for. They are like the amazon of outdoor sports only their return policy is even better.

East§ide

It wasn't directed at you and you're absolutely right in fact - when I am too busy to deal with someone or don't want to for some reason, I try to keep it in emails and as impersonal as possible. On the other hand, when good clients want things done, we use the phone.
I don't drink though haha
I just know that I'm constantly asked to provide free things or go above and beyond to make the customer happy on a much larger scale.. The fact that it took them a month to even tell you that they never sent them is wasted time and time is money. I'd want something in return for my time.

Plus, aside from the magazines and such, word of mouth is the best advertising these companies can get right now.. I base alot of my decisions on reviews not only of the product but the company itself

__________________

Never Summer Evo 153/Restricted ReFlex Cartel
Gnu Danny Kass 156 BTX

Nito

Dude,

The OP is correct, this is bad customer service.

First of all, Snowboarding (as well as Skiing) is a Luxury sport and as consumers we pay a premium for it. Since it is a Luxury, consumers expect a premium service.

Second, if you had this same service from a Bank about a check you deposited but had not yet appeared in your account. I'm sure you would be screaming; "I want my money." The analogy here is when the snow falls, you want to make a few turns at your local resort, not wait for parts in the mail. Also think about this, many here plan trips months in advance that require scheduling vacation time, hotel, sometimes car rental and airfare. So now they need to buy a new set of bindings that they had not budgeted for.

Sorry to say this, but you sound like a rep trying to do damage control.

Sincerely Nito