@Sarah from SmartPak
Thank you! I have always, and will always, be a loyal SmartPaker.
Not to negate other people’s experiences, but mine have always been wonderful, and small mistakes were always set right immediately. Fyi, 2 different things I ordered in January both arrived on time, as did my autoship smartpaks. I live in Texas, so no where near a warehouse.
Another Thank you to @Sarah from SmartPak for coming here and taking the pummeling and trying to help make it right.
For all those with smartpak and amazon shipping delays do you not have a local tack shop to go to?
We had a two nice little shops in the area. One was a small vet supply/ranch supply place, the other was a tack shop catering mostly to the H/J riders, very little for dressage or other disciplines. But it was somewhere to try on a helmet or boots.
Then Dover arrived, as well as Murdoch’s Ranch Supply.
The little shops didn’t stand a chance. I did shop locally when we had the option. I’d rather buy something from my vets if I need something urgently, like vet wrap or OTC meds. I don’t usually buy such things from SP or Amazon.
@Sarah from SmartPak gets another shoutout for her response to this thread. Thanks, Sarah!
The returned blanket which arrived back at SmartPak on 1/17 has not moved through the warehouse pallet routine a week and half later to be credited to my bank account. When I spoke with the gal on Tuesday 1/23 she offered that they were working on items which had been returned 1/8-1/10. She had thought by today, Fri 1/26, they would be at my return. Just checked my bank account and no refund was applied today. That is pretty darn slow return service.
Meanwhile on Tues 1/23 while discussing my returned blanket I went ahead an ordered the same blanket in the size I needed. The tracking info shows that the blanket will arrive this coming Monday. That is outstanding and a huge improvement.
The blanket I ordered is a SmartPak brand turnout blanket. I have one I’ve used for years on one of my horses and decided to order this one for another one of my horses because the product was very good.
My local tack shop has a very limited inventory and pretty poor customer service to boot so I stopped going there. I usually order things through riding warehouse and have it the next day.
Thats sad. I just don’t understand small businesses that think they can get away with bad service. I bend over backwards for my customers
No. The nearest tack shop is 100 miles and a hefty bridge toll away. And it’s just one tack shop. The next nearest is who-knows-where.
@Sarah from SmartPak how backlogged are returns? I am waiting (again) to even get a notification that mine was received.
I buy some supplies locally, but our tack shops here do not have a great selection and do not carry the brands I tend to purchase. Most of our stores cater towards the racing industry, so while I can get great halters/barn supplies/etc locally, I cannot find most tack and apparel brands that I like around here. When I do, selection is limited and quite often, significantly more expensive than ordering from SP, Dover or RW.
In my case, my last two orders from SP were a)easy boots which yes I can buy here, but I wanted to be able to return for a refund not store credit if they didnt fit and b) TS Trophy Hunters on sale, which only one of our local stores carries in limited quantities.
When I lived in NJ, I shopped almost exclusively local because there were so many good tack shop options. Here, mostly online.
The blanket I ordered last Tuesday on 1/23 arrived on Monday 1/29 so I’m calling that good. 
OTOH, the credit to my bank account for a returned blanket that was in the SP warehouse on 1/17 still has not taken place. So that is at least 2 weeks to process a return, an area that needs improvement.
They told me they are only now processing returns from 1/10, so add 7 days plus the 5 or so for the credit for your return.
Well they lost me as a customer today, which makes me sad but I am fed up. I had another issue with a return which looked like it was going to be almost a month since they received it before I got my money back. Overall I am glad they were able to even locate it as I was told they had no record of my return (using their shipping label) when I first inquired.
I went ahead and canceled my smartpaks. I cant continue to support a business who holds your money for a month before crediting you back for a simple return. The cherry on top was I canceled my SP, and the CS agent I spoke to said I would get a refund, Then I got an email saying they were still charging me and shipping my current order, then canceling it.
I do hope they get their act together as they used to have great CS, which is why I was a loyal customer. After my last two interactions, I am taking my business elsewhere.
This sounds to me like Smartpak is “working the float”.
What does that mean?
(I learned long ago to not just google terms posted on COTH using my work computer, very weird things sometimes come up.)
Float is money in the banking system that is briefly counted twice due to delays in processing checks. Float is created when a bank credits a customer’s account as soon as a check is deposited. However, it takes some time for the check to be received from the payer’s bank. Until the check clears from the payer’s bank, the amount of the check appears in the accounts of both the recipient’s and payer’s banks.
In this instance, keeping their sales high and not processing returns quickly seems a little suspicious to me…
Last Tuesday the employee told me they were currently unloading return pallets dated 1/8-1/10. So for a week they’ve been unloading 1/10 returns? Dismal system.
I have always had a great experience at Smartpak. Recently I have not.
One of my clients, who recently purchased their first horse, ordered a blanket. It was shipped to our barn, not their house, for efficiency. The blanket price was enough to qualify for free shipping. After receiving two separate emails indicating a delay in delivery date, the family finally called Smartpak (13 days after original order). The customer service representative said that “when they are backed up, they delay shipments to barns”. Lo and behold, that day a shipping label was created and the blanket started its slow journey across the country. It arrived 7 days later, a full 20 days after ordering. My client called to complain and was told there was nothing to do, when I contacted them they finally gave a $25 credit for the hassle.
I returned items to Smartpak, dropping them off at the post office between Christmas and the New Year. They were only processed today. The amount processed is wrong, not simply accounting for the fact that I had to pay for return shipping, but they did not credit the true amount I had paid.
It is becoming much much harder to support them, especially when I have families that are trusting my recommendations.
I spent down my sizeable store credit and at this point am no longer considering Smartpak for my items.
My return couldn’t be processed because in the time between the order and the time they processed the return, my cc number had changed due to an expired card and they couldn’t refund the new card. So that added to my store credit.
Even so, despite this going on for months, they’re still shipping things late, and taking weeks to process returns. I don’t know if somehow they got too big for their britches or the new parent company has changed the way things operate, but the business ran fine for years and now somehow is vastly overburdened with holiday sales as we come into February? It doesn’t make any sense at all. Two days of snow and a one-week sale don’t cause 4 months of delays.
Sorry, guys. It’s just not working out. I think we should see other people.
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