Alright Paintballgear.com...I'm calling you on this one!

[cphilip]

Ok here is what happened. I have given up on them answering me again on it...

I placed a small order. One item was a tank cover for my new tank. Needed a 68ci but accidently clicked the button for 48-51 and did not notice it until I hit the send thingie. I noticed it as it was flashing off the screen. I said Oh No! (something like that) So I look up the customer service email and send them a email describing my mistake and send it to them. Right away. Withing a minute! This was a 3:27 PM their time on Friday. Just as I send it the confimation email comes in from them. So I hit the reply on it too. It shows its going to the same customer service email addy I had just looked up so I reply to it and explain the problem again just in case. No response all weekend. Monday I get a shipment confirmation from them and guess what! Wrong thing is still on there! So I emailed em again. Much later they come on with a "well we must not have gotten your email because you didn't send it before we processed the order and..."

Let me sum up for you what they pretty much were saying in that one and only email:

"Dear customer BS, please call our people and they will give you a way to spend more of your money getting the thing we sent you wrong back...but we might have to charge you more to do it and you might have to pay again for us to ship you the darn thing you wanted in the first place and told us three times what you wanted and that the order was wrong and it needed to be fixed before we shipped but we ingnore it and didn't read our emails and sent you the wrong thing after all and so now for you to get the right $16 item it will cost you about like $30 by the time we get done screwing you for every last cent we can and ruining any possible future business we might get from you and knowing full and well you will trash us all to heck now to everyone you know and so we will in the end lose hundreds of dollars for screwing you over for a $16 item that we could easily have sent right the first time and/or fixed by sending you out the right thing and appologizing for not being diligent in checking our customer service email and since we are now ignoring and not responding to any of your future emails this is just our tough luck and yours because we treat everyone like crap after we get things ordered shipped out because we do not like to deal with problems as its distastefull to us so we just ignore them after the first excuse is not enough and we thanks for your business"

So that is sort of what he said...I am reading between the lines. :rolleyes:

Customer service? Hardly! They refuse to respond any more to me. I have not heard back anymore on it. None of my emails was rude or threatening in any way. But as to orders...It seems they do not even check their emails before blindly proceeding to fill them so if you make a mistake you are going to have to live with it. Another example of someone wanting to do an online business but not wanting to put the effort into doing it correctly. So I now have no 68 cover coming but I got a 48-51 I can sell ya cheap! Its not worth the money to ship it back and pay a restocking and then pay their high shipping (over $8 minimum) for a $16 item. So I will just pay more for one localy and not do business with them again. I would have had they offered to meet me half way. At least be aware that you cannot make a mistake with them and expect them to correct it after three days of trying and a few more after they shipped to reach some kind of compromise. They just do not want to hear from you after the order is placed. They got the money so why should they? That's the kind of attitude I got anyway.

Oh and thanks Mike Massey of Painballgear.com for answering one email and then brushing me off. If any of you would have answered the first two none of this would have happened

So the moral of this story is DO Not order from PB Gear and make any mistakes. You will pay for them because they don't bother to give you any way of correcting them that will work. Nor do they seem to care if they do.


:(

[Steven]

I have been echoing the same sentaments for the last 6 months. Did business once with them and NEVER again.

[mattyfatty182]

Not to make you feel worse or anything, they let you see what you are buying like 3 times before you actually pay for it...

[meanelvis]

while i've had several great transactions with them, i've had a couple that were horrible, making me do all my online business now through www.countypaintball.com (which is cheaper than pbg on many items and shipping is ALWAYS more reasonable).

their big problem is mainly horrible customer service, who seem to be selective about the correspondance they receive. phoning them doesn't help either, they all seem very happy to stonewall you and say "well i wish i could help, but i cant. anything else i can do for you today?"

i encourage you to do as much business as possible thru your local shops (gotta support the sport at its basic level), but when you just cant afford the 175% markup, check out www.countypaintball.com . mike the owner usually responds to my questions/comments/concerns via e-mail within 12 hours.

[cphilip]

Thanks Matty...I did feel like a dolt. I got in a hurry and screwed up. I fully admitted that to them and all of you But in this case no last pictures. ONly the buttons and its into the cart. Failed to recheck the cart and my account is all set up so its too easy for me to be sloppy. They had them all wiped out for these covers so you had to chose the size. In the fore ground. Only one time there and one at the final screen.

My point was the results after you make a mistake and immendiately try to rectify it. I have done business with them smoothy before. BUT...WITH THESE GUYS NEVER MAKE A MISTAKE!!!! The don't care then if they follow up with one of their own. And they probably will not correct it even if you try and call it to their attention and ask nicely in pleanty of time of them to do so

[TigerMan]

I personally have never had any problems with them ever. I am not trying to criticize you when I say this, but you most likely should have called to change/cancel your order if you could have (unless you did, then ignore this). I know they are very slow to respond to emails, so that wouldn't have been the option I would have taken. However, the email the customer service sent you was simply uncalled for. I wouldn't take that ones sales persons views to be the company's views. If you wish to pursue it, you could always call up and ask to talk to the owner and explain the situation.

[MajorDamage]

Thats why I love 888, they always fix mistakes :D. I only order from pbgear if 888 dosn't carry the product I want. But then again Ive only had to order from pbgear like three times :D lucky me :D! Sorry you got screwed Phil! Order C.O.D. next time that way if they do this just say "Hey well It's C.O.D., and I'm refusing the package :D!" or just order alot of heavy stufff(like 58 cases of paint, and a ton of Emags) on C.O.D. and make them take it back after they send lol! :D

ENDO!

[LaW]

Yeah i forgot to add something on my order so emailed them right away and i got a response 2 days later after i recieved the order saying "i went to add it on but your order had been shipped already" If you order what you want you'll get what you ordered, if you mess up you'll pay for it. I order from there still because i live one state up and get my stuff the next day always.

[cphilip]

Well they clearly say to cal OR email. No preference. And I like it all in writting so I do it that way when I can. Had I called they could have denied if, when and where it took place. I got the emails with the time stamped on them so I got them by the gonads in that respect that they had three days to fix it and it was during business hours. No excuses.

Anyway... thats the story. I never said Don't do business with them. I said I would not. And I woudl tell all I know why. I do not like the after sale experience I ahd.

[mac2k4]

i've never had a problem with'em, and i've ordered alota crap from them. even when i had to return stuff, they have good customer service.

[MAGS own YOU]

You should have called them instead of emailed them. It would have worked that way. I do orders with paintballgear every 2 weeks. Never have problems.

[Additude]

Hey Man,

I'm not sticking up for anybody here, but look dude, it was your mistake, not theirs.

Just because you send them an email doesn't mean they are obligated to "Snap To" and resolve the problem you created. Just remember, your not the only one on the internet. These guys have more to do than keep track of people who can't use a mouse button and read.

I just don't think you should be bad mouthing someone else for not fixing your mistake.

Next time pay attention to what you are doing and you wont have to *edit* No cussing allowed here.Army about it.:confused:

[irbodden]

The guys at Paintball gear are good people, CALL them, the sales rep. I talked to even admitted that their website/email was unreliable. Don't make a rant about before you exhaust all fesible possibilities.

[Paintchucker]

Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been much cheaper for you to give them a call. It would have been more time efficient, and you could have caught it before it was too late...

[Chef123161]

I placed an order last tuesday the 29th of Jan. Anyway, I did business with them before and didnt have a problem. I call them up and find out if the item is in stock, and it is. I order it, and I ask the guy which credit card he has, my moms or mine. He said my mothers after I told him the name and I said ok. We hang up. I figure it will be here Friday or Monday because they said it takes about 3 days. Anyway, Tuesday the 5th of Feb rolls around and no package. I call them up. Turns out that something went wrong and they needed the 3 digit security code off the credit card and my item never shipped! One whole week it sat there in a box and they didnt even call to tell me anything was wrong! I gave them the needed info and the item shipped that night. Should be here friday. I will NEVER buy from PBG again because of the lack of Customer Service.

[Phil]

I get really tired of customers sometimes. They expect everything to be perfect all the time and if you should do the unthinkable and make a mistake, well, you had better kill yourself trying to kiss their "aft section". If you run a huge shipping business it is not unreasonable for there to be a lag in their reading emails from customers. They have to pay an employee to read the emails. They are trying to make a profit. A company as big as that probably gets alot of emails from people who cant successfully order what they wanted or just want to correspond. I have had nothing but good service from them and will order from them again. I dont see your gripe in this situation.

[thecavemankevin]

I am on cphils side on this one. I must admit that i have never had a problem with them (i have only ordered once). But I have heard way too many horror stories far worse than this over the past year for me to ever do business with them again.

I also am interested in the cover cphil. So if you want to sell it, just let me know. What color is it, and what type is it.

No offense though cphil, you should have known better, after all the horror stories that have been posted hear in recent months...what were you thinking?

[meanelvis]

Chef, that's word for word one of the exact problems I had, though their prob with my order was that the ship address didnt match with the billing address, which caused them to place my order on hold. Thing is, THEY NEVER TOLD ME THEY PUT MY ORDER ON HOLD! I had to call a full week later to discover they had placed my order on hold, they LIED to me OVER THE PHONE about sending an e-mail to me about it, then told me that they would ship right away and acted like there was nothing wrong with how they handled it.

I'm not some 13 year old kid on a vindictive rage here. I, along with some other people obviously, had some bad experiences with PBG's customer service. We choose not to order from them anymore, and cphilip was the guy brave enough to speak publicly about his experience. ANY good store, online or brick-n-mortar, will reconcile a mistake with a customer, whether it was their fault or the customer's silly mistake.

I respect that you guys have had nothing but good experiences with pbg, but they DO have MAJOR probs with customer service, and I know that now 'cause my 2 incidents werent isolated (thx to cphilip's post). Continue shopping with them, but please dont call cphilip stupid for making a silly mistake such as speeding through an online order. He might have made the first mistake in his order, but as far as he, myself, and a growing number of others are concerned, PBG made the FINAL mistake by not valuing our experience with them and fixing what was (and is) wrong.

[Archie]

www.copaintball.com

never had any trouble with them!

[Cardinal_Biggles]

I have heard of other people getting their orders lost or messed up in the huge volume of transactions they do an hour, which is why when I ordered my mag from them I made sure to call on the phone. I even made the guy repeat my order back to me three times to make sure he had it right :D . I use the phone whenever possible, if for no other reason than that it's easier to change if you're talking to a person. By the way cphillip, if you have a 68 and you accidentally ordered a 48/51, it should still fit the tank, just a lil' snuggly. I have an 88 cover on my 110.

[manike]

Is this my cue to start ranting about UPS... :(

manike

[alany]

I just thought I'd add my recent experience with PBgear. I've ordered from them before with no problem, but this last time was a problem. I ordered several items online. One week later I got an email saying that one item was out of stock so the order had not shipped. It clearly says to email or call. I emailed saying to ship everything that was in stock. One week later, nothing, so I called. They said it would ship tomorrow. Another week later, nothing. So I call. This time the guy says the order has shipped today. I ask for a tracking number, and he says I'll get an email. Another week goes by, nothing, so I call. It still hasn't shipped. Finally this time they actually did ship it and I received it. Throughout all of this I sent 5 emails. I never received a reply to any of them. They should not tell you to respond by email if they will not read it and reply. And they should not lie and say something has shipped when it hasn't.

[cphilip]

OK keep em coming I can take it!

FYI I said this before and will repeat I gave them six total days to correct it now and they have responded only once and that last one was Monday. So I gave em all I could. So I am not whining prematurely. They said to use email not me. If they do not intend to monitor it then DO NOT try and run a E-tail business. Tooo many folks want to run the one end but cut corners on the customer service. They did. Claiming you are lazy and just don't have time is not an excuse. Customers make mistakes and you can get a life long one by fixing it one time.


Tomorrow I will share the exact emails with you so you can see how cordial and prompt I was at dealing with mine and how inactive and non responsive they were. You shall see.

I order from Cabela's all the time. Have made changes after ordering and they always do exactly what I ask and respond within an hour or two. They make a living don't tell me it can't be done. They are on top of everything. No emails sits very long.

To the fellow who says he hates customers...you sir need to get out of retail. Tell me where you work I don't want to do business with you.

But lets keep talking about customer service and E-Tail business and such. I find the hostility very interesting here. And odd.

[XspyX]

Hey Phil, you end up getting that .243 after all?

[AngelBoy]

I have had awful service from them. I have ordered almost everything from them, and well, I can honestly not think of one time I have ordered from them and nothing has went wrong. I always check the cart, and its always right. Actually they did get one order right, I ordered a cocker, and it came, it just wasnt timed at all, and when I sent it to WGP twice they didnt time it either! I order a P&P back block, they send me a KAPP front block... I order a chrome KAPP grip frame, they send me a black benchmark frame... thats just to name a few. One of my friends got a bushy from them, and it didnt work, so he sent it back and just asked them to send him a different one or fix that one, they sent him the same one with nothing done to it. They have a nice selection, so find what u want on their site and then order it from ur local store if u have one. Just my thoughts on the matter. And Phil, sorry u got screwed.

[RaV3n_Pa1ntba||]

it works like this my friend...the more you complain the more horse**i* they give you.......I never have a problem with paintballgear.com though...I ordered a good amount of things from them and it always seems they are good to me. Great packaging not 1 thing broke..perfect. But i think its when you order small amounts of things from them they screw you over. Try ordering your small things from g3pb.com ....shipping is only $4 and there stuff is greatly priced. The best place to order period...

[striker]

This little mess is exactly why I ONLY order from www.countypaintball.com

Mike is an awsome guy, and he'll ALWAYS answer your e-mails within 12 hours. Awsome, Awsome customer service! Great prices, too! :)

[damageinc54]

Originally posted by cphilip
Claiming you are half assed is not an excuse.

So it is OK for the Mods to curse, but we cannot :mad:???? I think you need to edit your own post. Once you realized YOUR mistake you should have just picked up the phone and called them. I deal with Jesse Valenciana at PBG all the time. He custom ordered my Red Centerfeed EMag for me. He was very helpful and kept in touch with me throughout and after my Emag purchase. I have not had any problems with him or anybody else I have delt with there. Next time just pick up the phone and talk to him.

[bornl33t]

Originally posted by manike
Is this my cue to start ranting about UPS... :(

manike

I'm gonna start in on tires plus.... aight?

[cphilip]

Sorry I never said that that was cursing. But if it offends you and detracts from my point then I will take it out.

Ok so here was a good example of a company that is perhaps understaffed to handle an online business to the point that they would not check their emails on Monday morning knowing they had not cleared them all before they left on Friday. Just in case one of their customers had notified them of a problem that they then could avoid. Now remember I placed the order at 3:26PM their time. I notified them at 3:27 and and again at 3:30 of my mistake. They close at 6:00 so they say so lets assume they drop everything and go home then. And I suppose they don't work on the weekend at all (I guess?). So perhaps placing an order on a Friday afternoon turned out to be a mitigating circumstance in their favor. I'll give em that.

Like I said I had bought from them before with good results. But then again each of those times I was a perfect customer and didn't make a mistake. But this time I did. And tried to correct it but it seems the way they suggest has a big hole in it all because they haad no policy or method to red flag a problem in this area. So in this case two wrongs makes a right.

Ok...some have reported problems even after using the phone. Some have said that was my problem. I should have called. Fact is all my communication right now becauseI used email is documented. One small area actualy hurts my argument when I was speculating on why I had chosen the wrongh item but no matter it turned out to be a false lead. I still do not know why it came up. So I am chalking it up to just a bone head distracted mistake on my part. Now where would I be if this problem presisted and I had phoned and they still sent me the wrong thing after me asking them to correct my mistake? Not that it would have happened but just suppose it did. Some of the others say it did to them. Where would I be? Just like the ones above. Just a story no documentation. So I should think people who take the tactic that the phone is better (somehow but the logic excapes me) than the written word I just do not understand. I have many times been confronted with people in denial about something they claim I never told them. But because I did it by email and printed it out and filed it they are quickly eating their words. Just an example why I think getting things in writing, whenever possible, is superior to phone conversations that some of you seem to think is the solution to all problems.

Now another point I was trying to make from this. Too many online retailers try to start up a business thinking the front end of getting the orders is all there is to it. Fact is sometimes people make a mistake. And they will need to communicate that to you. Is it so hard to check your email BEFORE you start shipping that day? Should you have a separate email addy for trouble orders? Perhaps! Not a bad idea right? I mean its up to them to tell me the customer what to do to fix my problem. And they did. And I followed it. To no avail!

Now from the order confirmation. They have the following instructions on it. I am copying and pasting it exactly except for bolding the important part:

Our Customer Service hours are 10:00am - 6:00pm Monday thru Friday Central Standard Time. Please direct any questions regarding your order to our office at 888-679-4327. We can also be reached via email at [email protected].
Again, thank you for using PaintballGear.com as
your source for supplies.


Now another point is how the only response I got from them was. Here it is:

"The order you were sent does have the 47-51 cover in
it. Most likely your order was processed before we
got a chance to recieve your email on Monday so the
change could not be made. If you need to exchange it
please call customer service @ 888.679.4327 and get a
return authorization number.

Now remember the emails I sent were on Friday at 3:30 so they had 2 and a half hours of their listed work hours to get them that day and then on Monday (again we are assuming they don't do any of this after 6pm on Friday and before 10 am on Monday). The Order confirmation seems to have been sent to me at 6:47 PM on Monday. So they had all of that day to read the emails I sent. So lets say then they had a little over 9 working hours to read their email. Part of one working day and all of the next. That was kind of my point in being a bit miffed about it failing to rectify my mistake.

So what I was thinking here is if your customer told you after the fact they had tried on Friday to correct the mistake what would you do? Me? I would go into my emails and see if they were telling the truth. And if they were I would have responded something like this:

Phil,

Sorry but we failed to check our emails and correct your problem for you. Lets work something out. I'll meet you half way. Send us back the one you have as soon as you get it and when I reieve it I will send out the one you wanted at no extra shipping charge. Since we both were in error I think its fair we share the cost of fixing it. Here is an RMA # for you to use if you want to do that. Mark it on the package and put a note in as to which one you need to remind us of the situation.

Thanks for your business.

Joe Blow


Wouldn't that simple gesture have been enough? For me it might. Any comments on that?

[Restola]

last time i placed an order with pbgear.com they charged my credit card 11 times for a little over $1500. my order totalled less than $200.

it was a blast waiting for all the denied charges to clear off my credit card before i could use it...

oh and my favorite part was how they refused to ship it becuase the 5,6,7,8,9,10, and 11th time they charged my card it was denied!

[gimp]

Paintballgear ends up punishing themselves with their poor customer service. I ordered something, and recieved almost 400 dollars worth of extra equipment with my order. None of it was on the bill. Granted, it took 3 weeks longer than it was supposed to, I'm not gonna complain. Here's the funny part, I sent them like, 5 emails saying that they sent me all this stuff. I gave them my order number and everything. No response. After a while, I stopped trying to contact them and kept the stuff.

[thecavemankevin]

gimp, i have herd several stories similar to yours. One guy bought a pfhr mag and got a pfhl, and he was a little upset. So he contacted them and they said that there was nothing they could do. Then a few days latter out of nowhere came two more packages. One had a pfhr mag and the other had a bunch of misc. parts for mags and cockers.

So it seems like you are taking a role of the dice when you order form them.





Cphilip, I am still interested in purchasing that cover from you if you want to sell it.

[soldur]

paintballgear.com is a fine place to do business. it just requires a small degree of common sense when buying anything online. this always works for me. i go to the site and put everything that i want on the shopping cart and i make sure that i have all of the product numbers. then i call them on their 800 number and talk to them for free and order everything over the phone and make sure that it is all in stock and that everything is alright with my order.
here is what happened on my last order from them

i was buying an automag for $279 and when i was talking with the guy on the phone adn i told him the number on the item he told me that there was another automag setup that came with a better barrel for the same price. and you know what? it was a much better deal and he saved me a nice amount of money. if i had ordered online and not called i would have missed out on a good deal. just letting you know.

[Additude]

Originally posted by cphilip

Ok so here was a good example of a company that is perhaps understaffed to handle an online business to the point that they would not check their emails on Monday morning knowing they had not cleared them all before they left on Friday. Just in case one of their customers had notified them of a problem that they then could avoid. Now remember I placed the order at 3:26PM their time. I notified them at 3:27 and and again at 3:30 of my mistake. They close at 6:00 so they say so lets assume they drop everything and go home then. And I suppose they don't work on the weekend at all (I guess?). So perhaps placing an order on a Friday afternoon turned out to be a mitigating circumstance in their favor. I'll give em that.

Like I said I had bought from them before with good results. But then again each of those times I was a perfect customer and didn't make a mistake. But this time I did. And tried to correct it but it seems the way they suggest has a big hole in it all because they haad no policy or method to red flag a problem in this area. So in this case two wrongs makes a right.

Ok...some have reported problems even after using the phone. Some have said that was my problem. I should have called.

The fact remains, that you attempted to email them, did not receive a response back by email, yet still decided not to take the time or effort to make not just a phone call, but a toll free phone call on their dime. Do not fail to ignore the fact that you never received a response from them by email. You have no idea if they had technical problems, if there were delays in internet traffic with email or that they didn't have a chance to read through who knows how many emails they receive daily.

You do not even know if your order was pulled and boxed ready to ship on Friday afternoon and was waiting for UPS to get there and pick it up before 9 AM on Monday. UPS will stop by a business 2 or 3 times daily to pickup if there is a need.



Fact is all my communication right now becauseI used email is documented. One small area actualy hurts my argument when I was speculating on why I had chosen the wrongh item but no matter it turned out to be a false lead. I still do not know why it came up. So I am chalking it up to just a bone head distracted mistake on my part. Now where would I be if this problem presisted and I had phoned and they still sent me the wrong thing after me asking them to correct my mistake?

At least you would have confirmation that someone knew about your placing the order incorrectly. I'm not saying it may still not be a problem, but chances are they would have a better chance of helping you out and correcting the situation.



Not that it would have happened but just suppose it did.

Suppose, suppose what? Lets suppose you didn't mess up the order to begin with.


Some of the others say it did to them. Where would I be?

Some of the others say it hasn't happened to them also. Where would you be if you had placed the order correctly? Probably not here looking for sympathy.


Just like the ones above. Just a story no documentation. So I should think people who take the tactic that the phone is better (somehow but the logic excapes me) than the written word I just do not understand.

So, you can't understand the difference between talking directly to a person and explaining your situation to them one on one, or sending an email? Give me a break. Then again, maybe you don't know the difference.
Here, let this situation be a lesson to you.


I have many times been confronted with people in denial about something they claim I never told them. But because I did it by email and printed it out and filed it they are quickly eating their words. Just an example why I think getting things in writing, whenever possible, is superior to phone conversations that some of you seem to think is the solution to all problems.

We have all been confronted this way, on the phone, by email, in person, behind our backs, etc. What makes this situation special? Because they never heard you. They have to hear what you have to say to help you.


Now another point I was trying to make from this. Too many online retailers try to start up a business thinking the front end of getting the orders is all there is to it. Fact is sometimes people make a mistake. And they will need to communicate that to you. Is it so hard to check your email BEFORE you start shipping that day? Should you have a separate email addy for trouble orders? Perhaps! Not a bad idea right? I mean its up to them to tell me the customer what to do to fix my problem. And they did. And I followed it. To no avail!

Have you ever owned or operated a small business before? Do you have knowledge of operating a small business on the internet? Have you ever managed several employees at one time? Are you familiar with order processing in a warehouse?
Yea, some people make mistakes, that's only human. But don't you think it's a little redicilous to expect a company to take orders online and then search their emails to confirm that the customer who placed the order didn't send an email requesting a change because they made a mistake? How time consuming is that? These people have a business to run, day in and day out. Weeks, months and years on end. If you were a business person you would understand why your request is expecting to much.



Now from the order confirmation. They have the following instructions on it. I am copying and pasting it exactly except for bolding the important part:

Our Customer Service hours are 10:00am - 6:00pm Monday thru Friday Central Standard Time. Please direct any questions regarding your order to our office at 888-679-4327. We can also be reached via email at [email protected].
Again, thank you for using PaintballGear.com as
your source for supplies.

And your point is? What they didn't say was, "Call 888-679-4327 or email us at [email protected]". It's not either/or, it's not one or the other, either call us or email us. It's, "Call us at this number, We can also be reached by email".
You didn't elect to call them when they didn't respond to you by email. That was your decision, your forfiet.


Now another point is how the only response I got from them was. Here it is:

"The order you were sent does have the 47-51 cover in
it. Most likely your order was processed before we
got a chance to recieve your email on Monday so the
change could not be made. If you need to exchange it
please call customer service @ 888.679.4327 and get a
return authorization number.

Now remember the emails I sent were on Friday at 3:30 so they had 2 and a half hours of their listed work hours to get them that day and then on Monday (again we are assuming they don't do any of this after 6pm on Friday and before 10 am on Monday). The Order confirmation seems to have been sent to me at 6:47 PM on Monday. So they had all of that day to read the emails I sent. So lets say then they had a little over 9 working hours to read their email. Part of one working day and all of the next. That was kind of my point in being a bit miffed about it failing to rectify my mistake.

Yes, and you figure that it's not possible for them to receive your order at 3:30 PM, pull it and box it, label it, get it ready to ship and UPS is there first thing in the moning on Monday and takes it.

My scenerio says you only gave them 2 1/2 hours on a Friday afternoon to fix your problem.



So what I was thinking here is if your customer told you after the fact they had tried on Friday to correct the mistake what would you do? Me? I would go into my emails and see if they were telling the truth. And if they were I would have responded something like this:

Phil,

Sorry but we failed to check our emails and correct your problem for you. Lets work something out. I'll meet you half way. Send us back the one you have as soon as you get it and when I reieve it I will send out the one you wanted at no extra shipping charge. Since we both were in error I think its fair we share the cost of fixing it. Here is an RMA # for you to use if you want to do that. Mark it on the package and put a note in as to which one you need to remind us of the situation.

Thanks for your business.

How about this instead.

Dear Phil,

I am sorry, but we were not able to intercept your incorrectly submitted order prior to it being processed and shipped. Being as all orders are expedited as quickly as possible, using email is not always the fastest way to communicate to revise or change submitted orders. As always, in these situations, the quickest and fastest way to communicate with us is by use of our toll fee number.

We would be happy to exchange the item for you at no charge plus shipping costs.

If you are in a hurry, you can submit another order on line for the correct item, which will ship immediately and you can use this RMA#123456 to return the item and we will credit your account upon receipt of the incorrect item.

Or you can use the same RMA# to send the incorrect item back and upon receipt we will ship you the replacement item plus shipping.

Please let us know which you would prefer and please remember that because of delays in sending emails through the internet and that our emails are only checked periodically throughout the day, that it is best to call if you expect you'll need immediate assistance.

Thanks!



Joe Blow[/i]


Wouldn't that simple gesture have been enough? For me it might. Any comments on that?

[cphilip]

Very good response Attitude! However you do seem to want to take some stuff out of context but I will ignore those. I know what you meant to say.

Let me take a few points in general and respond to them:


No! One of my main points!!! exactly! I do not know when the actualy boxed it. I know they didn't communicate and I did. I know they confirmed they boxed it late after their own work hours late on Monday. Thats all I know. Since they never told me anything different. And still won't. Is that my fault too? So the customer is always wrong until he can PROVE he is right. Where has it all gone these days? I just must be from a different planet or something.

I placed the order just as I left the office at 4:27 my time and the two emails to correct it as well. They said to use email not me. I felt and still feel it was good to leave them something on it that they could do at their own leasure. They do clearly give it as an option however much you may chose to argue it wasn't ment that way. In both of those emails I asked for them to respond and they did not. They never to this point have confirmed or denied they got them. So I have to "assume" at this point since they will not comunicate. Sounds familiar doesn't it? I cannot correctly acertain the facts if someone doesn't communicate. Now in your senario you to had to assume as well didn't you? And your assumptions are all favorable to the vendor. But I like it! It shows the other possibilities which I could have chosen to assume and alluded too earlier. But now I totaly disagree that checking your email takes less time than answering the phone. It does not. It is more efficent. You can do it at you leasure. But if you give it as an option you should at least check it.



Sympathy? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You do not know me do you? I could give a rats behind for any sympathy. There is a logic behind this posting I hope eventualy you will see. You can save that for someone who needs it. A point is being made. If the point angers you then perhaps its a touchy subject that you should explain to us as to why. I would like to know where your hostility comes from. It might help to make this point and counterpoint more productive. If you are not into semantic discussions then you probably do not want to play with this one anymore. It's up to you.

Fact remains they did hear me! They responded once and then refuse to again so far again. They have ignored all but the one of them. They were all nice. So why Figure that out. I dunno...I don't like to suppose but when not given any facts I am left with only that.


OK so you want to know what my life experiences are then huh? OK the answer to all but running an internet online business is YES! I have managed as many as 20 people at a time. Do inventory of large numbers of items. Warehousing? You bet I got one now full of hazarodus chemicals. I even drive the darn forklift! And teach that!! I even operate a database retreival system that gives me feedback so I know it is possible to do what I am asking. If its not don't start up the business until it is! I also do a lot of online business and I can give you several companies to point to who can and do monitor and respond to their customers well within 2 and a half hours...easily. So it can be done and is done. They build a good reputation for customer service. Because of how they fix the problems not primarily for the many sales that go off without a hitch.


Interesting that the customer in your opinion forfiets anything by chosing to use one of the recommended methods. I do not anywhere agree with that. You contradict yourself later by suggesting that they should have said "Calling us is the prefered method". YES! They could have said that but they didn't!!. In fact I like your response from them fine. They could have done exactly as you said and it would have been a better response to the situation. But they didn't. So even you admit their response was not entirely helpful to fix the situation or you would not suggest another one would you?

Eventualy it will become clear this is more about customer service and internet business than it is about my little incident. That was just the catalist and example that fell into my lap to air out some of my frustrations about it. PBG just happened to provide the fodder. Poor fella's. :rolleyes:


And in this case my wallet will do the talking. Someone wants to get picky with me and not tolerate me making a mistake and asking for it to be corrected...nicely...multiple times...well they don't want me as a customer anyway. So they can do without my money. No hard feelings just the way it is. :D


Ok so common guys tell me I am all wet and to shut up then. What say you? At least two or three of you are willing to take the other side. I respect that.

[TheBigRaguPB4L]

first off, i always use the phone. it does seem quicker and in past experiences, it has resulted in much smoother transactions. the 3 time i have used online, all resulted in me getting the wrong item, or not getting them at all, one of those happened to be AGD(but it was the superbole, we all know what happened there), so it was not there fault. anywho, whenever dealing with online companies, i find the number and call them up. most of the times, the sales reps. are really nice and helpful and i am pleased.

now, as for PBgear, i currently do not get anything from them. the 2-4 times i have ordered from them, i have gotten nothing but aggrivation. it's just not worth it. they do have terrible customer service. they're good if they don't mess up your order, but if they do, forget about it. i feel they're like insurance companies, they put you off for so long hoping that you would give up and they profit from sending you less than what was expected or so forth.

i will say, i had to ship something back to them one time and i payed to ship it out. but i never payed for them to ship it back to me. they never even suggested that. they gave me the RA and i sent out. they sent back about 2 weeks later, to my dismay, but still at no charge. i kept up on all my credit card bills so i know that i was not charged. i don't know where you got you would have to pay for the second shipping to yourself. i know they didn't charge me.

now, you say you run your own business and yadda yadda yadda. you know that people can run a large internet business and still have excelent customer service. i agree with this in totallity. can you honestly say that you run this business without any usatisfied customers? i mean this in no disrespect, but you sir are a liar. there is no business on this earth that can possibly have each and every transaction satisfactory to the consumer. it's impossible. everyone will always have something to gripe about and complain about. that's just the way it goes. AGD is the best customer service paintball company out there. even people that dislike AGD will admit to that. but there are people that go unsatisfied with there dealings with AGD. it's going to happen to everybody. saying that you can run a business without such incidents is just ludicrous.

now, i don't know how many orders they get daily and how many emails they get trying to rectify mis-ordered items, but i agree with cphillip. if they have an overwhelming number of emails with similar situations to this, then they should state so on their website. something like:
we can be contacted by email, but for more efficent service, give us a call at 1-800-whatever. emails get checked periodically and over the phone transactions will result in quicker service. something as such, i believe, would be efficient. now they don't do this as to the overwhelming number of calls they would have to take. obviously mass emails is easier to manage than the same number of phone calls. but being that it is not stated, situations like this occur.

in all reality, is it really going to matter? doubtful. do you think it's really going to bother them that one person no longer orders from them. if they have that many orders and emails that they can't manage, one unsatisfied customer isn't going to mean a damn to them. i realize this is a bad way to run a business, but they're making they're money, what do they care? i'm sure the majority of there sales go out without to many major problems. otherwise, i doubt they would still exist.

i find that people find their internet companies and have good experiences. different people can go to the same company and have nothing but heartache. to me it just seems the luck of the draw. you have to find the company that gives you the best service. my loyalty is with AGD(obviously) and 888paintball. that's the only 2 sites i'll order from. everything else i go to my local store. sometimes, i'll try new sites(new to me anyways) and i'll usually not order from them anymore. it's just easier to stick with the company that causes me no problems.

cphillip:i think the best thing to do is sell the cover. go somewhere else to get the one you need. i'm ssure you can find someone to buy it. you've had a few offers on this thread alone. of course tell of your experiences. people should know. it's up to them to take from it as they deem fit. obviously people are going to have different opinions, but that's life. just move on. save yourself the stress.

[cphilip]

Good input! Not sure I was following all of it but I liked it what I did.

Actually Big, I have not recieved the cover yet. But one of our members here asked to buy it and instead I just gave him the cover (assuming he sends me his mailing addy like I asked). It was never about the cover...

[thecavemankevin]

I still must say i agree with cphil on this. It comes down to customer service. Which they seem to have a lack of (not just in cphil's case).

Yes, he made a mistake, and perhaps it could have been cleared up with a phone call rather than email. However, they emailed him, which would lead you to believe that they like using email as a form of communication. They didn't call him to tell him his order was received.

Nevertheless, if you like using them even though they are over priced and seem to have unstable customer service, keep on using them. Perhaps you will never have a problem. But when you do, don?t come crying to us because you have been warned!

[Additude]

Originally posted by thecavemankevin

Nevertheless, if you like using them even though they are over priced and seem to have unstable customer service, keep on using them. Perhaps you will never have a problem. But when you do, don?t come crying to us because you have been warned!

First off, I am not posting about PBG. I am posting about the situation. The sequence of events. We could be discussing "Grandmas Cookie Heaven On Line Web Site" for all I care. I don't really care if it was PBG or any other on line paintball supplier.

Trust me, I won't be comming here to pout over a problem I have about ordering paintball gear unless I come here with a warning to all because someone tried to intentionally rip me off and I don't want to see others get hurt. I remind you, I said inetntionally try to rip me off. I won't come here with accuasations.

I accept responsibility for my actions. In this case, I would have bit the bullet and accepted the fact that I made the mistake and dealt with it accordingly. I would have asked to send the wrong item back and replace it at my expense. The heck with Customer Service at this point, it was my fault. If I offered to fix my problem at my expense because it was my fault and they told me they would pick up the shipping or whatever, then I call that customer service. Anything less is just fair.

All this trying to place blame based on an email is nothing more than a cop out. Using an arguement in the name of Customer Service is also just a cop out.

That's what seperates the Men from the Boys. Being able to accept the full responsibility for your actions and having the maturity to resolve the issue amicably based on that acceptance.

Crying Boo-Boo because they didn't read my email in time to fix my mistake is not accepting responsibility, any way you slice it.

So no, your not going to listen to me come here and cry foul when I have a problem. You haven't yet and your not going to. I don't need sympathy. Just in case you were wondering, I've had many a problem with on-line orders. Not just PBG and not just paintball. It happens, the worlds not perect, when they mess up, they fix it, when I mess up, I fix it. It's just that simple.

[Additude]

Originally posted by cphilip
Very good response Attitude! However you do seem to want to take some stuff out of context but I will ignore those.

In no way am I sticking up for PBG. If they made mistakes then so be it. They have to deal with it and they should resolve the issues fairly.

No one walks without guilt. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. Some more than others. But just because a mistake happens dosen't mean someone who has made mistakes in the past is automatically guilty.

Who knows, maybe this situation could have been handled differently, maybe it couldn't have been. Maybe the timing was off, then again, maybe it wasn't. Who the heck really knows? There are just too many variables to substantiate the alleged facts. There are always two sides to every story. For every side, there is another.

But I remind you, the two issues that are fact and are absolute and can be substantiated, are the fact that an email was sent to which a reply was never confirmed and if that order had been properly placed, none of this would have been an issue. Not even the first fact, respectfully.

I'm even confident that Judge Judy would have resolved to the same conclusion ;-) Just having a little phun there.....hehehehe

[hitech]

Originally posted by TheBigRaguPB4L
do you think it's really going to bother them that one person no longer orders from them.

There will be more than one. After reading the various experences in this thread I won't order from them either.