Issues with backcountrygear.com?

Ben Hobgoodwrote:

AITA?

Yes, you do in fact seem like a gigantic asshole.

Ben Hobgoodwrote:

Let this chat speak for itself

It certainly does to your quality as a customer as well as your empathy and communication skills.

It does illustrate nicely how a customer service call can go off the rails. I've been on both sides of such discussions, its rarely pleasant.

And btw many companies, not just these guys, will reallocate inventory for significantly delayed orders. It goes like this. Oh, this order is delayed for the metolious cam and the order isn't shipping until that comes in. Meanwhile, someone else wants that BD cam, like today. Oh but look we have more BD cams also coming in about the same time as the metolious. So we can sell the on-hand BD cam today AND still satisfy this customer later, too.

backcountry gear is not a big company, is it? I don't think they have some giant warehouse or anything. They work out of a store front and fulfill the ecommerce orders from there as well. Looks like a small business to me and as such, frankly they deserve some slack.

My experience with BackcountryGear is they don't seem to actually stock anything, so there have always been hassles and delays.  I don't use them anymore.  The prices and "in stock" notices seem tempting, but I have found them to be lies and not worth the lower price to deal with delays.  I also think their customer service staff are lazy dicks in dealing with all this, but in the above case I would have cut off the chat and pressed the "refund" button if I were them.

FWIW - Chase has a super charge-back process, for when you just don't have the time or patience to deal directly with time wasters and idiots.  In this case, I would have cancelled the order and filled out the charge-back request, money back in my account before the end of the day.

I've ordered from  backcountrygear.com (how the he'll did they escape the wrath of  backcountry.com's lawyers???) many times in the past and have never ever had any problems with them. 

I think Mr. Hobgood could do a better job separating his frustration with a company and its policies from his treatment of an individual employee who in all likelihood has zero say in how the company is run. 

But I certainly see why he is frustrated in the first place. 

I've ordered from BCG without significant issue many times FWIW. But I have certainly been frustrated in the past when I have gone out of my way (ie deliberately paid more) to purchase from small/local businesses and ended up with a poor experience and mediocre customer service. As a small business that's something you have to get right to survive. I am paying more for 1) principle but also 2) I expect a higher level of customer service if something goes wrong. It's too easy to get stuff at 20-25% off retail. If small businesses can't provide a better overall purchasing experience I'm left wondering exactly how much principle is worth to me. Which is not a dilemma you want customers willing to pay more (a dying breed) to have. 

If you still want a #4 I can say I've never had an issue with Rock and Snow and I've placed at least a dozen orders. The one time something I ordered was out of stock a human called me the next day apologizing and we worked out a solution. 

https://www.rockandsnow.com/96001/camalot-c4/

10% discount if you're an AAC member. It's a relatively modest discount but you're supporting an awesome small shop and in my experience they treat people correctly. 

I've kinda given up on them, the last 3 times I've ordered something that said "In Stock" on their site was suddenly backordered when I paid. Either they have an awful inventory system or they don't keep much in stock and order it when enough people have purchased it to make $ sense to order from the factory. I've cancelled all the orders with no issue though and quickly revived my money back. 

This thread reminded me, I'm so glad I haven't talked to a customer since last march

Ben is exactly the kind of customer I would have dreaded serving when I worked in the retail industry. anyways...

I have friends that have worked at BCG over the years and have personally spent way too much money on gear both at the retail store and online. Their retail and customer service staff have been nothing but helpful towards me and they have offered me special deals and discounts when anything goes wrong on their end. You guys can shoot the messenger all you want but the fact of the matter is you can't blame a small business like BCG for the fact that outdoor gear manufacturers everywhere are scrambling to meet the massive increase in demand for gear while also dealing with huge supply chain issues that have resulted from a global pandemic they could not plan for. Outdoor Research is unable to ship basically any apparel to shops until at least February of NEXT YEAR. This problem is not unique to them. Sorry you cant have your shiny toys delivered on demand during these uncertain times but this is hardly a good reason to condemn a small business that works really hard to have one of the best selections of outdoor gear out there.

Russ Wallingwrote:

12 years after the OP, this thread finally gets some lovin'!

You should order a Valley Giant and report back with your results.

So, see you guys in another 12 years?