Dover and their last coupon...

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8777299]
But who has time to play around with numbers?! I find that so frustrating… I go right to SP anytime I am tempted to start fiddling with numbers.[/QUOTE]

SmartPak has numbers too? If you are ordering an item on the phone w/ SmartPak you need to write down the item numbers too… You can’t just say “I want the bling browband” – you have to say “I want item 19054.”

Any time there is a catalog company you need item numbers to identify the item in the system. It’s really not a novel concept. If you don’t write the full item number down at SP you don’t get the same item or price either.

[vxf111]

I go to SP, type “absorbine” into the search box, click on the liniment and add it to my cart. I don’t spend a second worrying if I am getting the “sale” price. If it’s on sale, I am.

I go to Dover, also search. But I can’t just add the linament to my cart. It’s not that simple. Now I have to go figure out the sale prefixes. Usually there are 2 or more active at any given time. Once I figure out the prefixes, I have to try them all and figure out which price is best. Then add THAT one to my cart.

Which is why I order from SP. I can’t be bothered to play “find the best price” when a product is listed for 3 different prices with different style numbers on the same site!!!

[trubandloki]

SP prices are what they are. You do not have to call and ask for the lowest price or look thru the sale catalog (on line or paper) to make sure you have the special codes. Like the vast majority of retail establishments with an online site SP has the prices for an item that come up when you search for the item, no need for special letter code.

That is my biggest dislike for Dover.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8777384]
I go to SP, type “absorbine” into the search box, click on the liniment and add it to my cart. I don’t spend a second worrying if I am getting the “sale” price. If it’s on sale, I am.

I go to Dover, also search. But I can’t just add the linament to my cart. It’s not that simple. Now I have to go figure out the sale prefixes. Usually there are 2 or more active at any given time. Once I figure out the prefixes, I have to try them all and figure out which price is best. Then add THAT one to my cart.

Which is why I order from SP. I can’t be bothered to play “find the best price” when a product is listed for 3 different prices with different style number on the same site!!![/QUOTE]
http://equestrian.doversaddlery.com/search?w=absorbine%20liniment&cart_count=0&cart_total=0.00&dmi_offer_code=SITE&idc=0&ids=iuheimzrqrhwww0z45fesmuk

https://www.smartpakequine.com/search/search?searchTerm=absorbine%20liniment

Smartpak literally does the same thing Dover does. Their closeout/sales have a prefix after the number and no, it doesn’t just pop up when you use their home search bar. Both websites have a ‘CLOSEOUT/SALE’ page that you can go to and see these items, on sale.

I get it that people don’t like Dover or SP and that is okay, but some of the complaints “ZYZ does this when YXZ doesn’t” aren’t true.

[vxf111]

No. It’s not the same. Dover’s sale options do NOT come up when you search. You only see them if you navigate through the sale catalog or use the prefix. That is the difference. Searching on Dover only returns X1 regular prices. Searching on SP pulls the only current price because unlike Dover…SP only has ONE current price. When you add any SP item to your cart, you get the best/only price automatically. It is NOT the same at all.

[TheHotSensitiveType]

My main complaints (and the main reason I do not order from them very often) are the shipping costs and shipping time. They have such a large selection that sometimes I just bite the bullet and swallow the shipping costs, but for common items, I purchase elsewhere.

I have only used their return policy once. I purchased a girth that turned out to be very poorly designed (bunched by the billets for no reason), and although I used it a couple times, they took it back no problem.

OP, I too get frustrated with their sales and coupons… I saw that last one and realizing I didn’t need 150 worth of stuff ignored it… Glad I did!

[vxf111]

Let me give a concrete example…

At the moment SP has Vetrolin Body Wash on sale for $10.99. If I search for “Vetrolin Body Wash” and add it to my cart- it is $10.99 in the cart. If I navigate to the sale page, click on Vetrolin Body Wash, and add it to my cart-- it is $10.99 in the cart. If I navigate to “Horse Health Care Products > Horse Grooming Supplies > Bathing > Shampoos & Cleansers” and then add it to my cart-- it is $10.99 in the cart. No matter how I shop, once it’s in the cart I get the best price. Because it’s the only price. One item, one price.

At the moment, Dover has Farnam Bronco E Fly Spray on sale. If I search for “Farnam Bronco E Fly Spray” and add it to my cart-- it goes into my cart for $6.99 (X1-23093). The “regular” price. I might not even realize this item is “on sale” elsewhere on the site. There’s nothing on the “regular” item number to suggest that. If I navigate through the sale catalog and add Bronco into my cart-- it goes in the cart for $5.99 (SC-23093). I save $1. Because this same item is available for 2 different prices, at the same time, on the Dover site. You have to know the Bronco is on sale to get the sale price. So you have to (1) know it’s on sale and then (2) either navigate to the item through the sale part of the website OR figure out the sale prefix and search with that. Sometimes, in the same sale catalog, there will be MULTIPLE sale prefixes. If you want to be sure you’re getting the best price, you have to check them all.

Is the difference clear now? Today everyone ordering Vetrolin from SP is getting SP’s best price. Today some people ordering Bronco from Dover are paying more because they’re not getting the “sale” price.

Unless I have 20 minute to spare playing “test the prefix” I can never order from Dover and feel confident I am getting Dover’s best price. I cannot be bothered to pick out the items I want, then research prefixes, then test all my items with all the prefixes, and then put in the cart JUST the best prices. In the time I spend doing that, I could have ordered the same items from SP 10 times over.

[trubandloki]

VXF, what you are writing is very clear and is my experience too. That is why I prefer other sites than Dover. I do not feel like I should have to have a spread sheet to get the bet price on an item that might or might not be on sale.

[beowulf]

It just goes to show in retail, you’ll always meet someone you can never make happy. Dover has their catalog online, easy to view? Someone will complain they don’t have the time for it. Dover has agents that can bargain-shop for you? Someone will complain that’s too much work to call it in. Dover has their SALE items all conveniently located in one area of their website? Too much work still. Dover has a separate page for closeouts? Still too much work!

All of the tools needed for anyone to get a discount are there. More-so than at SP. The difference is SP might pull up the sale item automatically but you will still be paying much more for most of their items than you would be at Dover in their sale catalog. SP built the free-shipping into their model by increasing their standard prices on almost all non-premier items.

For what it’s worth, SP’s sale items don’t always appear when you search a broad term like “harwich bridle” either - when they had that uggo Rambo Newmarket blanket on closeout (the blue/cream/white one) I wanted to buy it for my boss and had to dig the catalog out of the barn trash because it wouldn’t show up on the website from a simple term. I wasn’t mad, it made sense – catalog-holders should get deals that the non-loyal member shouldn’t.

Dover has its pitfalls. It does. All the same, I would take consciously shopping and being a bargain shopper with Dover over getting ripped off by SP. SP barely has anything on sale for any sort of discount, and up until recently was always marked 10% or more over Dover’s price. They did a rehaul this spring and have a new return policy which is nice, but I’ve been burned by SP too much to give them a second chance.

[beowulf]

vxf11, I know you are a staunch anti-Dover ambassador, but I think you and other people are missing the fact that you can get the item cheaper at Dover, always. They’ve put a lot of literature and stuff on their site so people can get the best price, period - even if you aren’t a Dover customer. And you can return it any time. Which you can’t do at SP.

You don’t have to “spend 20 minutes with an excel sheet”. You can just call and place an order in 5 minutes. JS.

I won’t even deal with SP anymore. Everything I’ve purchased from them has been defective and, when I was shopping their sale items they didn’t give me the best price either. They refused to accept the return on two of the items I purchased (one that was falling apart within the first use/week of purchase) and when I pointed out I paid more for it than what it was on sale online as they basically said “too bad, so sad”. I paid $40 for a browband and that same one was $29.95 online and it was not an online-only sale. So no, you don’t always get the best deal on SP either.

But, that’s retail - you can’t make everyone happy, as evident in this thread.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8777671]

You don’t have to “spend 20 minutes with an excel sheet”. You can just call and place an order in 5 minutes. JS.[/QUOTE]
That is great for those people who like to make phone calls and depend on the customer service rep to help them. I am not one of those people.
Add that I sit in a cubby farm and I can easily go online to order but making a phone call at my desk is not the best idea.

I should not have to jump thru hoops to get the sale prices.

BTW, I am not anti Dover. If you like them then I think it is great that they are there for you to buy from. I just prefer other systems and VXF has posted the reason why.
For the record, I have never had a problem returning something at SP. They have always treated me well.

[vxf111]

beowulf, I know you worked for Dover and you’re loyal. And that’s great. But claiming…

[QUOTE=beowulf;8777403]

Smartpak literally does the same thing Dover does.

<snip>

I get it that people don’t like Dover or SP and that is okay, but some of the complaints “ZYZ does this when YXZ doesn’t” aren’t true.[/QUOTE]

(post #44) simply isn’t true. It is NOT true that the websites work the same way. On SP’s website there is a single price for each item and no matter how you get that item in your cart (via a search of navigating any path to that item) you get the same price. On Dover’s website, there are multiple prices for each item. Depending on how you navigate to the item, it will go into your cart for different prices.

You can be a cheerleader for Dover but it’s not fair to claim that customers are wrong or saying “untrue” things when they point out an obvious difference between the company’s websites. The websites function differently. And that different functionality makes me not use Dover’s website. Dover would be better served to LISTEN to complaints and IMPROVE its website rather than have it’s employees/former employees out there rah-rahing “the websites work the SAME” when they quit plainly DO NOT.

Whether Dover generally has better prices or SP once goofed up their search function once on an item-- these are red herring issues to the topic I’m discussing. The websites work differently, it’s disingenuous for you to claim otherwise. Which is what you did in post #44. And, yes, Dover loses THIS customer in part because of how their website works. Such is life in retail.

I have not personally found SP’s prices to be consistently higher or Dover’s customer service to be consistently better either, FWIW. I have seen items be cheaper on SP and other items cheaper at Dover. I’ve had SP totally goof up orders and Dover totally goof up orders. I’ve had SP make it right sometimes and sometimes require a lot of back-and-forth. I’ve had Dover make it right sometimes and sometimes require a lot of back-and-forth. I have not had such a uniformly positive experience at Dover that it overcomes the sale price website clunkiness issue-- and for me that’s part of how I decide where to shop. IMHO SP has a much more user friendly website. And that is part of why I look there first.

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8777671]
vxf11, I know you are a staunch anti-Dover ambassador, but I think you and other people are missing the fact that you can get the item cheaper at Dover, always. They’ve put a lot of literature and stuff on their site so people can get the best price, period - even if you aren’t a Dover customer. And you can return it any time. Which you can’t do at SP.

You don’t have to “spend 20 minutes with an excel sheet”. You can just call and place an order in 5 minutes. JS.

I won’t even deal with SP anymore. Everything I’ve purchased from them has been defective and, when I was shopping their sale items they didn’t give me the best price either. They refused to accept the return on two of the items I purchased (one that was falling apart within the first use/week of purchase) and when I pointed out I paid more for it than what it was on sale online as they basically said “too bad, so sad”. I paid $40 for a browband and that same one was $29.95 online and it was not an online-only sale. So no, you don’t always get the best deal on SP either.

But, that’s retail - you can’t make everyone happy, as evident in this thread.[/QUOTE]

I am not a “staunch anti-Dover ambassador” and in fact order there from time to time. But I will always try SP first because I find their website much easier.

I don’t like to call. I prefer to shop entirely online.

I don’t have any reason to diss Dover. I’m a real like customer giving real live feedback on their website. They can choose to hear it or choose to lose some of my business.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8777685]
I am not a “staunch anti-Dover ambassador” and in fact order there from time to time. But I will always try SP first because I find their website much easier.

I don’t like to call. I prefer to shop entirely online.

I don’t have any reason to diss Dover. I’m a real like customer giving real live feedback on their website. They can choose to hear it or choose to lose some of my business.[/QUOTE]

I hope, for both SP and Dover’s sake, that they do listen to their customers . We can agree that there is a lot about Dover’s search engine not to like. I did notice that their website has changed over the past few months, so maybe the new model will be more user-friendly. For that note, almost all of the equine retailers have dinosaur sites that I wish would get a heavy upgrade.

[red_mares]

[QUOTE=Bent Hickory;8774331]
Shout out to Dover Saddlery and their Chantilly, Virginia store in particular. We visited there this morning and let’s just say the store manager and one of their senior employees bent over backwards to accommodate/assist us. Their actions today only reinforce why we are and will remain frequent and loyal customers. Needless to say I’m a BIG FAN.

Further, we forgot an item and when we got home, I ordered it online. The item was a “premier product” and I was able to apply the $25 coupon during the online checkout process without issue.

I guess it’s true: “Haters gonna hate.”[/QUOTE]

Ditto for me. I was there on Friday night and 2-3 people rooted for boxes looking for a specific size sheet in a 90* tent. I thought they were nuts to even try and find the ONE sheet their computer said they had in that mess.

The kind of restrictions that were on their coupons are consistent with those at non-tack shops.

[AmmyByNature]

beowulf, do you work for Dover?

ETA: wait, just saw an edit. Did you used to work for dover?

ETA2: yes, used to. Thanks for clarifying.

[RugBug]

I hate to say it, beowulf, but vxf111 is right on about Dover and getting the best price. The way the onilne shopping works, you will only get the best price if you do one of two things: 1)Search the Sales/Closeouts page and order directly from their or 2)already have noted in your print (or the online catalog features…which is a nice edition that I’ve utilized) to price check.

That has been my biggest frustration with Dover for 20 years. They need to link the regular items and the sales items so customers are assured of getting the lowest price available when they shop. Otherwise, there is a feeling of getting ripped off because you just didn’t know something was on sale.

(FWIW - Dover did just honor a sales price on an item that was in the online sale catalog…but that had already expired. The sale was over, but since the catalog was still up on the website, I was given the price. That works for me…BUT that same order took a lot of work to find the item and figure out how to add embroidery. I had to call it in, which isn’t my preference. I use the chat feature A LOT and the chat person figured out what was going on, but I had to check with a friend on whether we wanted to order and the next day, I couldn’t replicate the steps. I probably spent close to 1.5 hours to order three items. A portion of that was on my indecision for embroidery options (had to go through everyone. ) but that is a lot of time.)

For the person that said the shipping was slow? IF an item is in stock, it’s not slow at all. I mentioned this earlier, but the above order was placed on 7/21 and had two embroidery items in it along with a pair of breeches (who knew TS Trophy Hunter side zips are still so popular? I thought everyone was wearing front zip these days…I had to go with my 3rd color choice to get something in my size. :winkgrin:). The order was on my doorstep on 7/27

Shipping costs and catalog functionality truly are the biggest areas that Dover can work to improve.

[Madison]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8777671]
I think you and other people are missing the fact that you can get the item cheaper at Dover, always. [/QUOTE]

Simply not true - I was curious, I just plugged in 3 separate items that I recently bought, and SmartPak was cheaper on all 3. Plus, Dover’s shipping charges vs. free shipping and returns from SP makes a big difference in cost too.

I like Dover, and wish their shipping was more competitive and their sale pricing more transparent/consistent. They do some things well, some things not so well, and the shipping and sale pricing fall in the latter category. On the positive side, the website customer service is very responsive. I emailed looking for measurements on a martingale this week, and had a phone call back the same day (granted, they left the measurements for the full size when I’d asked about the o/s, but they were prompt!).

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=Madison;8777745]
Simply not true - I was curious, I just plugged in 3 separate items that I recently bought, and SmartPak was cheaper on all 3. Plus, Dover’s shipping charges vs. free shipping and returns from SP makes a big difference in cost too.

I like Dover, and wish their shipping was more competitive and their sale pricing more transparent/consistent. They do some things well, some things not so well, and the shipping and sale pricing fall in the latter category. On the positive side, the website customer service is very responsive. I emailed looking for measurements on a martingale this week, and had a phone call back the same day (granted, they left the measurements for the full size when I’d asked about the o/s, but they were prompt!).[/QUOTE]

What were the items? I’m a huge bargain shopper, and have always found Dover to be the cheaper of the 2… As in I won’t even lift a finger to place an order unless the item is literally a firesale/steep discount. I’ve noticed that the free shipping companies usually have the “shipping” built into their merchandise price – so you think you’re getting a deal until you’re not. Riding Warehouse is the only one I haven’t had an issue with so far though, as far as online warehouses go.

[AmmyByNature]

I’ve been eyeballing a new pair of eskies. At dover $149.99

http://www.doversaddlery.com/eskadron-flexisoft-air-front-boots/p/X1-04265/

at smartpak $147.95

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/eskadron-air-flexisoft-open-front-boots--front-11766

However, the USEF ssavings at SmartPak DOES kick in, so it comes up as $140.55 for me.

Not including the difference in shipping prices (Free vs. $21 dollars unless I have the credit card, then $5)