Anyone else have problems with Prestige?

[PetrovaFire82]

Keeping it short and sweet, my clients had a Prestige dealer out to do a fitting and tracing of their daughters horse. We believed they were properly trained in fitting both horse and rider. Measurements were taken, several saddles were tried. They decided on one and the order was placed and paid for.

Fast forward 4 months, the saddle finally came in (no thanks to the tack store returning calls about shipping updates) and the saddle was picked up.

Meanwhile, we have met a saddle fitter who has showed us a few things on what to look for (knowing full well she isn’t selling us a saddle). Once the saddle gets here we notice that it is grossely tight and digging into the horses shoulder. Moreover, upon getting on, he’s not very happy (who could blame him). The rider promptly got off him and her mother called the tack store. The tack store argued over the phone that it does fit but he’d be able to come see the fit the following weekend. Once He Got there a.d saw the saddle on the horse and was unable to run his hand between the saddle and horse (without even being girthed) he quickly said that it was “supposed to be tight”. Mmmmm I disagree but he did agree to take it back to send to prestige to “widen”. The mother being passive and not knowing what else to do, Said ok.

2 weeks later we asked the saddle fitter back out to look at the newly “widened” saddle. Although it was ever so slightly wider in the shoulder (and he didn’t try to kill us when mounted) the channel still was partially sitting on his spinal column and the panel was still shooting into his scapula. Additionally, she pointed out that the saddles balance point was too low which was causing the rider to have a tilted forward hip angle. I think it’s important to point out the horse and rider have not changed since we ordered the saddle AND the saddle fitter is independent so her money is strictly made by you paying for her opinion, not on buying a saddle from her.

The mother called the tack store back and was told there’s nothing he could do at this point. Feeling this was unacceptable, I reached out to Prestige USA on their behalf. We were asked to send pics which we did immediately. After some time back, we’ve heard that we basically have one option. Put the horse on the trailer and haul to another dealer nearly 2 hours away for their saddle fitter to evaluate it. This saddle has been sat in for 2 minutes and 5 minutes and is pristine and this company refuses to right their poor fitting techinque. In at a loss to understand how a saddle fitter will magically change the saddle to fit the rider and also how he/she proposes to alter the width of the channel since there isn’t a saddle on the market that the actual width (not angle) of the saddle can be changed. This is $3k down the drain these clients have spent for some of the WORST customer service I’ve ever seen. Has any one else had issues?

[MIKES_MCS]

I would have 3 independent certified saddle fitters evaluate it with pictures and also ck Smith Worthingtons Fitting guide … If all agree the saddle doesn’t fit I would call and tell them you are contacting the attorney general in there state and file a complaint.

[no.stirrups]

I would hope that the purpose of seeing the second fitter is not to work magic, but to confirm whether or not it can be fixed without magic. Right now, as far as Prestige is concerned I’m sure it looks like a “he said/she said” situation and they are just trying to work out what the facts are. I would at least reach out to the second saddle fitter and see what she has to say over the phone.

FWIW, I experienced similar things and the frustration is what inspired me to get trained in saddle fitting. I’m trying to save others the same frustration! Good luck!

[PetrovaFire82]

I think where my customers are frustrated is that they are now expected to spend nearly 4 hours of travel time, milage to drive down to another one of their reps mostly because the first doesn’t want to deal with it. Which makes sense, because if he admits the saddle doesn’t fit then it falls on him for incorrect measuring, ordering or any of the fitting.
I just can not invision how they can possibly make the channel wider at this point, change the angle of the panels or change the balance point for the rider. I Think at this point they are just going to put it on consignment and hope another sucker buys it if Prestige isn’t going to make it right. Granted, there are a lot more expensive saddles on the market but at the end of the day, 3k is still a decent amount to spend to have something that isn’t working and a company who wants to make the customer jump thru as many hoops as possible so maybe they will just give up.

[173north]

Please do not haul your horse four hours round trip to another fitter for Prestige’s peace of mind. That’s quite a bold request from them. If they insist on someone else seeing it, see if you can do it via FaceTime or video. Or, wild idea, their rep can drive to you instead of having you put the horse on the trailer!

Is the saddle custom or stock? I know they mostly do custom, but if it’s stock or close to stock, Prestige should absolutely take it back. Even if it’s been sat in a few times, they can use it as a demo saddle. If it’s custom, that’s trickier, but still - Prestige measured and made the saddle. If it doesn’t fit, that is entirely their fault.

[LadyB]

Oh the Joys of their Customer Service. I live in Canada and we seem to lack stock of Prestige products period.

I bought a Prestige Jump Roma 2 years ago, it fit my horse like a glove, had a very reputable saddle fitter come check it out, who does not work with Prestige, I was beyond happy with the fit and feel of the saddle.

2 years later, I am now on the hunt for a dressage saddle. Since no one in Canada seems to carry stock or even trial rides of the saddles I am interested in I am finding it hard to purchase one without trying it, which is 100% fair IMO.

I e-mailed Prestige USA twice, and am still waiting on a response. E-mailed Prestige Italy once, and still no response. Posted on Prestige USA Facebook page twice, still no reply. Posted on Prestige UK & Ireland once complaining about their Customer Service, and someone replied within an hour, they were able to get me minimal information. I need to know the shape of the tree, all they could provide was who were reps in my area. Which I knew and have had absolutely no help with.

One company is willing to ship me the saddle to try, with a $300 deposit, that won’t be returned if the saddle doesn’t fit, I can use the money towards another. They don’t have the best used stock, and I don’t want to try other new saddles as they are too expensive, so I’m stuck a little at this point.

I’m disappointed, I had great success with the first saddle, but this time around its been hell. One person on here who works for a tack store has been more helpful than anyone else.

The customer service of Prestige is disgusting in North America. I contacted Amerigo about their Vega, within hours they contacted me, and I like to ask questions, they responded to every single question without hesitation. Equipe I’m assuming isn’t english and their response was very automated with absolutely no help.

I would rather buy from Amerigo at this point because of their customer service, but their saddle isn’t my cup of tea.

I know I’m not much help with your situation, but I can slightly feel your pain. I would contact Prestige again and be a t-rex about it. Demand them to make the effort, you are a paying customer and HAVE PAID… so they need to fix it.

[PetrovaFire82]

173, We agree with you at this point. This is not OUR ordering error and feel that it is not necessary to the horse or an efficient use of our time to go thru that hassle.

We can not get a straight answer on what we got. We were sold and thought we were getting a semi custom and it was sold as that is how they do all of their saddles. We thought the purpose of having the tracings done and sent to Italy were to get the closest shape and fit as possible. This is a 16.1h wb X tb who’s moderately fit and developed but in no way a “hard fit” or in need of a custom. No one seems to know if the tracings are done in order to get the closest stock size or if it IS actually to tailor the shape of the panels and angle. Regardless, if it WAS “semi-custom” its a train wreck and if it was just ordered to the closest stock size then they ordered too small and a large size and a Mattes pad was in order.

LadyB, its sort of funny you tell your story. How this whole thing started is that I had a VERY hard to fit WB X mare who has a back like a Thelwell pony. When Prestige was marketed to me as so customizable and a decent price, I was sold. It was a no brainer. When I contacted the closest store/dealer I explained to him my dilemma and that we needed to try a few on her and the needed to be WIDE. He ALSO had me send pics ahead of time. He assured me there would be no problem so we set the date. He was also aware that he was also seeing this client and that they may be interested in getting something that would fit their newish horse better than what they had.

When he showed up he came with only 3 saddles. All of which were too narrow to even put on my mare and barely wide enough for the clients gelding but enough she could lightly hack around in. He did the tracings of my mare and The plan was for me to ride in the clients wider one when it came in (the seat sizes were not even appropriate for either of us) and then do my order based on what I thought of hers. Well, aside from not hearing from anyone for 4 months on her saddle I began looking other places and at other brands. Our first red flag should have been the lack of communication on the tack stores behalf. To this day, he has never returned a call or email and I now question if it was because he had no idea how to fit my mare.

There is a part of us that is to blame. We thought we knew enough about saddle fit to get by (although even the newest horse show dad could tell this one is too tight for the horse) and what we didnt know, we trusted this company and their “trained” rep to fill in for us.

We are now about 8 months into this nightmare and both of us have already purchased saddles. Prestige has proved they are not willing to work with or right a wrong and much like you, the dragged out and slow communication isnt instilling any confidence. We just want them to take back their mistake and call it a day. I went thru quite a few of the mainstream, “popular” brands like CWD, Antares, Voltaire and Devecoux and still could not get a good fit for my Thelwell horse but (aside from the no call, no show Voltaire rep) I was consistently met with great customer service from the new and used dealers.

[PetrovaFire82]

173, We agree with you at this point. This is not OUR ordering error and feel that it is not necessary to the horse or an efficient use of our time to go thru that hassle.

We can not get a straight answer on what we got. We were sold and thought we were getting a semi custom and it was sold as that is how they do all of their saddles. We thought the purpose of having the tracings done and sent to Italy were to get the closest shape and fit as possible. This is a 16.1h wb X tb who’s moderately fit and developed but in no way a “hard fit” or in need of a custom. No one seems to know if the tracings are done in order to get the closest stock size or if it IS actually to tailor the shape of the panels and angle. Regardless, if it WAS “semi-custom” its a train wreck and if it was just ordered to the closest stock size then they ordered too small and a large size and a Mattes pad was in order.

LadyB, its sort of funny you tell your story. How this whole thing started is that I had a VERY hard to fit WB X mare who has a back like a Thelwell pony. When Prestige was marketed to me as so customizable and a decent price, I was sold. It was a no brainer. When I contacted the closest store/dealer I explained to him my dilemma and that we needed to try a few on her and the needed to be WIDE. He ALSO had me send pics ahead of time. He assured me there would be no problem so we set the date. He was also aware that he was also seeing this client and that they may be interested in getting something that would fit their newish horse better than what they had.

When he showed up he came with only 3 saddles. All of which were too narrow to even put on my mare and barely wide enough for the clients gelding but enough she could lightly hack around in. He did the tracings of my mare and The plan was for me to ride in the clients wider one when it came in (the seat sizes were not even appropriate for either of us) and then do my order based on what I thought of hers. Well, aside from not hearing from anyone for 4 months on her saddle I began looking other places and at other brands. Our first red flag should have been the lack of communication on the tack stores behalf. To this day, he has never returned a call or email and I now question if it was because he had no idea how to fit my mare.

There is a part of us that is to blame. We thought we knew enough about saddle fit to get by (although even the newest horse show dad could tell this one is too tight for the horse) and what we didnt know, we trusted this company and their “trained” rep to fill in for us.

We are now about 8 months into this nightmare and both of us have already purchased saddles. Prestige has proved they are not willing to work with or right a wrong and much like you, the dragged out and slow communication isnt instilling any confidence. We just want them to take back their mistake and call it a day. I went thru quite a few of the mainstream, “popular” brands like CWD, Antares, Voltaire and Devecoux and still could not get a good fit for my Thelwell horse but (aside from the no call, no show Voltaire rep) I was consistently met with great customer service from the new and used dealers.

[LadyB]

I was impressed with Amerigo, I told her straight up front that I can’t afford new and was looking at used, they will work with you no matter what. They clearly stand behind their product. I liked that about them. Unfortunately I can’t afford new, and anything used in good shape isn’t a good price for me at the moment.

I was beyond ecstatic with the UK & Ireland rep on facebook, they responded and worked a little with me… but yet again couldn’t answer my questions. Its really disappointing.

Their site lacks information about the trees, mostly about the saddle and leather and flap lengths. Which is the least of my worries. I need to know tree shapes and who they fit. I feel blind with this process.

It doesn’t help that the Canadian reps all seem to be stuck up and not want to be helpful unfortunately.

The fact that they won’t take back the saddle that does not work makes you not want to recommend them to anyone and definitely not buy another. I can’t believe the lack of information and communication. It may not be a lot of money to some people, but buying brand new period is a lot of money and a big investment to wait for. I’m so sorry you’re in this situation. Makes me nervous to order mine!

I wish it was easier to fit horses.

[ghettozoo]

VTO was helpful with their trial saddle program Just the cost of shipping. I do not know if they ship to Canada. Prestige was the only saddle to fit our funky guy.

We finally settled on a Prestige and another rider in our barn bought one after our saddle arrived. We have enjoyed them for almost a year now.

[LadyB]

I love my saddle, I don’t love their service.

VTO was willing to ship, but I would have to pay for shipping and Duties on top of that, so it wouldn’t be worth it, way too costly for a trial.

[PetrovaFire82]

I agree! I found VTO and spoke with them and they were very helpful. I tried so many I was starting to burn into my budget in shipping fees. Plus I was “over it”. My saddle fitter suggested (again) that I try County even though I turned my nose up at them several times (I do not have a good reason why I was blah about them). But dang it if nearly every saddle we put on that mare didnt fit. It was incredible. AND she brought about 8 saddles that were able to be ridden in that were close to my mares size and my size. I can’t believe I was being such a snob about it. The same prestige client bought one too after asking the County rep about 17 times to thoroughly explain their guarantees and protocols:D

[eclipse]

Sounds like a bad fitter… Get a 2nd opinion and fitting without you having to haul! My Prestige experience was nothing like yours. My fitter measure and fitted me and when my saddle came we realized “crap we should’ve ordered a plus 4 forward flap” as it was pushing me into a chair seat No problem, back it went and Prestige made me a completely new saddle that fits awesome! Yes I had to wait another 6 weeks (she deals direct with Prestige in Italy) but they were making it from scratch! Sounds like this tack store needs to step up to the plate!

[jaybird660]

I didn’t read through all of the replies, thoroughly, but some gullet channels can be widened by a saddler. That doesn’t mean the rest would fit but that is something to keep in mind.

[Brutus614]

It’s all about the rep you work with, unfortunately. I bought a new Prestige a few years ago and the rep was SUPER. Very knowledgeable and provided great customer service.

I would advocate speaking with the second rep over the phone… maybe s/he will be more reasonable?

[crimsonsky]

didn’t read all the answers but i’ve owned multiple prestige saddles (currently ride in a D1K dressage and a Jumper R) and have always had good response/experiences with Prestige. i’m sad to read this thread. sounds like a crappy fitter/rep, not a crappy company per se.

[Prestige_Italia_USA]

Hello, As discussed in the facebook messages back and forth between us, this was another dealer who was willing to help fit the horse even though she did not sell the saddle to your customers. She was not able to come to your customers for a few months so to expedite the process, your clients would have had to go to her. The other dealer would have either fit the saddle to your horse properly, or would have taken that saddle off your clients hands and gotten them one that did work, Prestige or not. Prestige was covering the cost of the consultation fee that would have been charged for this service. Since this was not an option for your clients, we are currently working on another way to resolve this issue. Please be aware, Prestige Italia USA is a wholesale company. We firmly stand behind our products be we cannot take saddle or accessory back from any customer and give them a full refund. We always advise everyone to go back to the original store where the item was purchased from. We have no say over what our dealers store policies are but we do work closely with our dealers to resolve any issues.

[Prestige_Italia_USA]

Hello Lady B, I work at Prestige Italia USA and I wanted to know how you tried contacting the company. I have not gotten any emails that I have not answered. Nor has Prestige Italy. They also would like to know how you tried contacting them as they have not gotten any emails or inquiries that they have not answered as well. I’m wondering if perhaps your email has been marked as spam and put in our junk folder? please email info@laselleria.com with your questions. What is your email so I know what to look for?

[Spud_amp_Saf]

Honestly, I am so unimpresed whenever saddle companies feel the need to post on these types of threads and air the dirty laundry between them and the OP. Personally, I would never want a company I had purchased a product from to essentially call me out as a liar on a bulletin board. Prestige, your time would be better spent communicating with the unsatisifed customer rather than posting here. You have not provided me with any better impression of your brand or service by dealing with complaints in this manner; as a matter of fact, I will now not buy your product(s) as a result of the posts above.

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=Spud&Saf;8412779]
Honestly, I am so unimpresed whenever saddle companies feel the need to post on these types of threads and air the dirty laundry between them and the OP. Personally, I would never want a company I had purchased a product from to essentially call me out as a liar on a bulletin board. Prestige, your time would be better spent communicating with the unsatisifed customer rather than posting here. You have not provided me with any better impression of your brand or service by dealing with complaints in this manner; as a matter of fact, I will now not buy your product(s) as a result of the posts above.[/QUOTE]

agree, it’s boxed-wine levels of klassy