Anyone else having issues with Smartpak?

[Limitless]

I saw joiedevie99’s post about the trainers coat on clearance, and being eternally cold and a hoarder of coats, decided to take a look and they had my favorite color (black) in my size (XS), and not being in a hurry, I thought I’d give it whirl. I live in MA and generally used to get orders from them next day or 2 days. This past summer, I experienced the poor shipping issues on something I needed quickly (White Lightning) and they had to apologize, give me a $25 credit and rush the order out. I haven’t ordered from them since.

Yesterday I ordered the coat at a $99 price. And IIRC, there were 5 left in stock. It did indeed ship yesterday, but it’s not expected to arrive until next Friday. So I guess that the local fast delivery is no longer happening. But the real kicker, is I checked today, curious, to see how many was “left in stock”, after seeing so many interesting inventory issues in this thread. Today the coat is down to $74! (supposedly 3 left in stock, fyi) Pissed. Off. I. Am! Texted them, and I am getting the credit of $25. “In 3 business days or so”. I’ll be watching my CC like a hawk for this, and the sour taste left in my mouth says no more Smartpak. If I’m not getting the fast shipping I used to get, why bother. Lots of options out there I trust.

My advice, be very careful ordering from them, keep an eye on prices, and my opinion is that they are no longer the company they used to be.

[Libby2563]

@Limitless

Yesterday I ordered the coat at a $99 price. And IIRC, there were 5 left in stock… Today the coat is down to $74! (supposedly 3 left in stock, fyi) Pissed. Off. I. Am! Texted them, and I am getting the credit of $25. “In 3 business days or so”. I’ll be watching my CC like a hawk for this, and the sour taste left in my mouth says no more Smartpak…

Hmm, honestly, unless I’m missing something I don’t think that is so nefarious. They are clearly trying to liquidate their stock of that coat because it’s on sale and only the extreme sizes are left (XS and XXL). The natural way to do that is to drop the price. It’s just unlucky coincidence that you bought the day before the price changed. If it were me and they didn’t match the new, lower price, I might be annoyed but they also technically don’t HAVE to match it (unless it’s written in their policies somewhere, haven’t looked).

ETA: Had to laugh today when I clicked on two clearance halters I recently purchased and found that they have both dropped significantly in price also! One (which I’m returning anyway as it doesn’t fit) is $12 cheaper than when I ordered it last week and the other is now $19 cheaper! I guess that’s the risk of buying on clearance.

[vxf111]

@Libby2563

Hmm, honestly, unless I’m missing something I don’t think that is so nefarious. They are clearly trying to liquidate their stock of that coat because it’s on sale and only the extreme sizes are left (XS and XXL). The natural way to do that is to drop the price. It’s just unlucky coincidence that you bought the day before the price changed. If it were me and they didn’t match the new, lower price, I might be annoyed but they also technically don’t HAVE to match it (unless it’s written in their policies somewhere, haven’t looked).

Me neither. Are they never supposed to do markdowns while stuff is pending shipment? How would they ever do markdowns then? Offering a price adjustment was reasonable.

[Limitless]

Well, I suppose you have valid points. But seeing that price drop the very next day really rubbed me the wrong way! I will admit to being very cranky worrying about the incoming ice storm. I still don’t think they are the company they used to be.

[TWH_Girl]

@Libby2563

Hmm, honestly, unless I’m missing something I don’t think that is so nefarious. They are clearly trying to liquidate their stock of that coat because it’s on sale and only the extreme sizes are left (XS and XXL). The natural way to do that is to drop the price. It’s just unlucky coincidence that you bought the day before the price changed. If it were me and they didn’t match the new, lower price, I might be annoyed but they also technically don’t HAVE to match it (unless it’s written in their policies somewhere, haven’t looked).

They have a huge sale every year for many years. Why is this year any different? Usually the extreme sizes are what’s left. Same with Dover. So many pi**ed and moaned about Dover and now they are suddenly the best? Sigh. Whatever. Seeing this thread is just so old. Just order from where you want to order and stop the SP bi*ch fest.

[vxf111]

@Limitless

Well, I suppose you have valid points. But seeing that price drop the very next day really rubbed me the wrong way! I will admit to being very cranky worrying about the incoming ice storm. I still don’t think they are the company they used to be.

There are days you buy something at the mall and he next day they do markdowns. Stuff was one price before Christmas and other price the next day. That’s just the nature of markdowns. That’s what price adjustments are for!

[reefy]

I ordered a bucket of Tri Amino on Wednesday and it showed up on Thursday :eek:
That might be a record for me. Must have shipped from the west coast place (AZ here). And no, I didn’t ask for overnight shipping.

[soloudinhere]

You’re free to skip the thread if it no longer holds interest for you after being active for over a year.

@TWH Girl

They have a huge sale every year for many years. Why is this year any different? Usually the extreme sizes are what’s left. Same with Dover. So many pi**ed and moaned about Dover and now they are suddenly the best? Sigh. Whatever. Seeing this thread is just so old. Just order from where you want to order and stop the SP bi*ch fest.

[js]

OT but I just now got a refund on an item I returned in mid November! Not SmartPak but another tack shop highly recommended (on here). I got a quick email from them saying item had been received and refund would be issued in November. I hadn’t even checked about the refund as this tack shop is always very good and quick about things; I assumed it had been refunded back in November. Just now got an email from paypal saying I had gotten the refund. Maybe mine slipped thru the cracks and they just now caught it?

[tarheelmd07]

After being a loyal and frequent customer for years, i had ordered nothing from Smartpak in months aside from my smartpaks as I was tired of the shipping delays. Recently I clicked on one of the clearance emails as I had some downtime between meetings as work and saw that they had a coat I had looked at earlier in the season on sale ordered the coat, a pair of woof boots, and 2 identical halters. Shipping seemed slow but improved a bit and i got a tracking number for the coat and a day later got one for the woof boots and 1 halter. 2 days later i get an email that they only had 1 halter in stock…so i’ll get a refund…as my cc was charged for 2. Several days later still waiting on my orders, still waiting on my refund, and i get an order saying that they have received and are processing my return…great, but i didn’t return anything. I email for clarification…several days and no response.

during my hiatus from Smartpak I have gone to ordering from Dover and a few other places…looks like I’m not going back to Smartpak anytime soon and I’m seriously considering cancelling my smartpaks

[CanteringCarrot]

@tarheelmd07

After being a loyal and frequent customer for years, i had ordered nothing from Smartpak in months aside from my smartpaks as I was tired of the shipping delays. Recently I clicked on one of the clearance emails as I had some downtime between meetings as work and saw that they had a coat I had looked at earlier in the season on sale ordered the coat, a pair of woof boots, and 2 identical halters. Shipping seemed slow but improved a bit and i got a tracking number for the coat and a day later got one for the woof boots and 1 halter. 2 days later i get an email that they only had 1 halter in stock…so i’ll get a refund…as my cc was charged for 2. Several days later still waiting on my orders, still waiting on my refund, and i get an order saying that they have received and are processing my return…great, but i didn’t return anything. I email for clarification…several days and no response.

during my hiatus from Smartpak I have gone to ordering from Dover and a few other places…looks like I’m not going back to Smartpak anytime soon and I’m seriously considering cancelling my smartpaks

Since they charged your credit card for the full amount, and only had 1 halter out of the 2 in stock, they probably “returned” 1 halter in order to refund your credit card. It’s probably how their system works, and then it automatically generated an email notification for you. That’s how I’d interpret it, but they could have easily sent you a note stating that.

[vxf111]

@CanteringCarrot

Since they charged your credit card for the full amount, and only had 1 halter out of the 2 in stock, they probably “returned” 1 halter in order to refund your credit card. It’s probably how their system works, and then it automatically generated an email notification for you. That’s how I’d interpret it, but they could have easily sent you a note stating that.

Yes that seems likely. Once they charged you they had to do a return for the out of stock item. That’s what happened when another tack shop “discovered” their click-bait-y sale item was “sold out” after I ordered and after they charged me.

[IPEsq]

@TWH Girl

They have a huge sale every year for many years. Why is this year any different? Usually the extreme sizes are what’s left. Same with Dover. So many pi**ed and moaned about Dover and now they are suddenly the best? Sigh. Whatever. Seeing this thread is just so old. Just order from where you want to order and stop the SP bi*ch fest.

Dover has recently changed some of their policies (e.g shipping) to be more competitive / desirable. They have always had a good return policy. Seems with recent catalogs there is also a little bit less of having the same item on the website under 3 different codes all at different prices too.

With the price of things in SmartPaks increasing a fair amount over buckets, the appeal to subscribe to their supplements has gone down as well. I can autoship buckets of stuff from other places, and do. Of course, I rarely bought SP branded supplements anyway.

[vxf111]

@IPEsq

Dover has recently changed some of their policies (e.g shipping) to be more competitive / desirable. They have always had a good return policy. Seems with recent catalogs there is also a little bit less of having the same item on the website under 3 different codes all at different prices too.

With the price of things in SmartPaks increasing a fair amount over buckets, the appeal to subscribe to their supplements has gone down as well. I can autoship buckets of stuff from other places, and do. Of course, I rarely bought SP branded supplements anyway.

Agreed. Dover made 2 huge changes recently that helped get my business

-Free shipping on orders over a certain mount
-Free returns on sized items

[Firescorpion]

I ordered the Smartpak trainer’s coat in a small - everything normally fits me fine in a small - but sadly it didn’t fit very well at all. I decided I would order the medium before they sold out and return the small. All fine and good… so I get my medium coat, and to my surprise, it fit just like the small?? So I take a second look at the coat, and everything (packing slip, bag) are labeled Medium… but the coat was a Small (and labeled as a small also) - imagine my surprise. I got a hold of smartpak right away and had a nice smartpaker help me out, she said she would get a medium sent to her desk to make sure the same issue wouldn’t happen again and then overnight it to me. Great, thanks so much!! - the next day I get an email that my order is Cancelled??? So I start up a chat again and ask what’s going on. Apparently they sold out of the coat (and the day before I checked and they still had 7 in stock, or so it said) and just cancelled my order.
I normally stay pretty calm throughout stuff like this, but I will say I am pretty pissed off at this entire situation. They ended up giving me a full credit for the price of the coat, which was generous, but I am still without a good coat, and they don’t sell anything like it in a price range I’m willing to pay. I am pretty disappointed in this, and over the last few months I’ve had multiple orders cancelled on me because they were ‘out of stock’ even though when I ordered them, the system still said it was in stock… I used to LOVE smartpak, these days I’m becoming more and more cautious of using them.

[halla]

@halla

I forgot about this thread and ordered three things on Tuesday. Third was because I was about 5 cents short of the free shipping. My order confirmation told me to expect delivery today. Today I got an email with a tracking number for Thing 1 and Thing 3, with the disclaimer that it might take 24 hours to track anything. No word on Thing 2 (winter gloves), which was the one I was most looking forward to.

I feel like I should update that I did get the full order by the next week. Longer than they said it would take when I ordered but I think a reasonable time for free shipping.

[trubandloki]

@Firescorpion

I ordered the Smartpak trainer’s coat in a small - everything normally fits me fine in a small - but sadly it didn’t fit very well at all. I decided I would order the medium before they sold out and return the small. All fine and good… so I get my medium coat, and to my surprise, it fit just like the small?? So I take a second look at the coat, and everything (packing slip, bag) are labeled Medium… but the coat was a Small (and labeled as a small also) - imagine my surprise. I got a hold of smartpak right away and had a nice smartpaker help me out, she said she would get a medium sent to her desk to make sure the same issue wouldn’t happen again and then overnight it to me. Great, thanks so much!! - the next day I get an email that my order is Cancelled??? So I start up a chat again and ask what’s going on. Apparently they sold out of the coat (and the day before I checked and they still had 7 in stock, or so it said) and just cancelled my order.
I normally stay pretty calm throughout stuff like this, but I will say I am pretty pissed off at this entire situation. They ended up giving me a full credit for the price of the coat, which was generous, but I am still without a good coat, and they don’t sell anything like it in a price range I’m willing to pay. I am pretty disappointed in this, and over the last few months I’ve had multiple orders cancelled on me because they were ‘out of stock’ even though when I ordered them, the system still said it was in stock… I used to LOVE smartpak, these days I’m becoming more and more cautious of using them.

Something similar to this happened to me with Amazon and LL Bean.
(My point is simply, it happens everywhere.)
I ordered a shirt on sale from LL Bean, the one I received was not the color I ordered (much louder color than I wanted). The package said it was my color, so it was a packaging issue. I could either return it for a refund of the lovely sale price or accept the color I did not order, because it was a clearance item.
Amazon lost in shipping some shirts I bought at a crazy good price on Black Friday (that were a gift for someone). Their solution was a refund. So I then had to go buy something else, at a higher price, for that gift.

[GutsNGlory]

I haven’t ordered from SmartPak in quite a while after several issues with out of stock items, continued order delays and push backs, etc. But tempted by the winter clearance sale plus additional 20% off last week, I placed an order for four items on Monday 1/14. Two of the items arrived Thursday 1/17 and the other two came this morning 1/21. Not too bad!

[MGLpony]

I haven’t ordered from SmartPak in forever but purchased a clearance bit which took about a week and a half to arrive. On Thursday I bought a Toklat saddle pad which arrived today! I live on the West Coast so don’t have terribly high expectations for shipping speed. Maybe having single items for each order helped? I also don’t think I ordered particularly popular items so didn’t have “out of stock” problems. For now, the companies that offer free shipping and free returns will get my business.

[skipollo]

I gave them a test run today. Joint supplements are 50% off plus 20% off when you sign up for auto ship in Paks. I’ve been curious about the tumeric pellets, and for $9 with free shipping I figured it was worth a try.

We will see if they actually show up :ambivalence: