What’s going on? Tuesday morning & I can’t log on!
They must have seen that other thread complaining about the shipping prices and shut down out of embarrassment 
I havent been able to get in either…
hmmm I just tried too and no luck! But was on it alot last night looking at fly sheets
Comingback, I thought the same thing!
I thought the exact same thing about the COTH thread! lol
Dover Saddlery Website
We apologize for the fact that the Dover Saddlery website is currently down and for the inconvenience that this has caused. This situation will be rectified as soon as possible. However, you can shop on our mobile site at m.doversaddlery.com or by mail order by calling 1-800-989-1500.
Whoops, there they are - anything that might impact sales, they’ll jump right on. Customer complaints and direct questions, ignore and hope they’ll go away.
Funny they still haven’t answered the questions about their shipping policy and prices on the other thread. I thought maybe they just hadn’t seen the forums in a few days…silly me.
Thank you to all of you who have posted about our shipping and pricing policies. We do read all your postings and appreciate your feedback. Below I will explain how to get the best shipping rate and best prices when shopping from Dover Saddlery.
The best shipping rate possible is a $4.95 flat rate - on all items. This rate is available through the Dover Saddlery Visa card. In addition when you use the Dover Visa card you will receive savings of 4% on all Dover purchases (through rewards points) This loyalty program is very popular because of the shipping rate and savings offered.
Regarding prices, we aim to offer extremely competitive prices on all our items. Nearly every catalog has coupons where special offers can be found. The sale catalog is your source for a large number of items on sale, gift with purchases, special buys etc. – you can get the same price as in the sale catalog on our website by entering the item number in the "Order from Catalog " box. To search and browse the best offers on the Dover website please use the ON SALE and /or the CLOSEOUTS tab at the top of the homepage. For our retail customers - If you take the sale catalog into any of our retail stores you will receive the same pricing as in the catalog- even outside of the store sale period. All of our retail stores regularly have store sales which are widely advertised and most of our stores have a tent sale at least once a year. If you have further questions our customer service supervisors would be happy to assist and can be reached toll-free on 1-800-989-1500.
I would like to know why you have to have the catalog to get the sales prices. One catalog said to bring it with you and the other one said nothing. Brought the sales catalog in with me since nothing is marked on being on sale and wanting to know prices as I shop had the catalog sitting on the counter as I checked out. When I got to my car I realized I was not charged the sales price. I feel this is a very shaddy way to conduct business.
We apologize for this – you did the right thing and you should have received the sale prices when you took the sale catalog into our store. I will send you a private message so I can get the details and make this right. Our sale catalogs are valid much longer than the retail store sale period and this is the reason why you need to take the sale catalog to the store to get the pricing that is in the catalog. This is rather like in many cases you need to take your card to your supermarket to get better prices.
Janet,
I appreciate you taking the time to write some responses here. I think everyone has customer service stories, both good and bad, about any company. I think what I’m really trying to get at are some policy issues that have continued for several years, and continue to negatively impact your company’s image and reputation.
A couple of things: it’s hard to sign up for the “rewards” credit card, only to have the rewards program discontinued with the original bank two months later, and be stuck with a card that doesn’t do any good, and get dinged on a credit score for opening and closing an account so soon. So for me, at least, I’m really burned by that. I never open new accounts, so to take a leap, open a new credit card, and then have it be useless in a few months, is very difficult to accept, much less having to apply for yet another card.
Secondly, even with the reduced price on the shipping, the Fedex Smartpost simply isn’t working well for a lot of us. With other companies, we get shipments that can be tracked door-to-door. With Smartpost, we get a shipment that eventually gets dumped into a black hole, and we have to wait and see when it might show up. This is incredibly frustrating, and often unworkable, especially when ordering items for a specific event.
Finally, since some of us aren’t willing or able to sign up for the rewards card, the tiered shipping rates make no sense whatsoever. As has been mentioned numerous times on these threads, charging $20+ to ship a pair of $300 Pikeur breeches bears no relation to the actual cost to ship these items. This exorbitant shipping costs often leads customers to purchase the same items elsewhere, sometimes at a slightly higher unit cost, to achieve a lower total purchase price. This doesn’t serve your company any good, since you lose the sales, and frustrates your customers to no end, because it feels like we are being taken advantage of by being grossly overcharged for shipping.
These complaints are not new - if you have looked on this board before, you will see the same concerns coming up over and over again. As far as the 100% customer guarantee, while there is a benefit to that, I don’t think most of us want to essentially pay “satisfaction insurance” in the form of higher shipping costs on all of our items, to protect your company from the few people that are making ridiculous returns for normal wear and tear.
I sincerely hope that you and others in your company will listen to these complaints, and finally do something about them. Thank you again for responding to some of the concerns.
I don’t buy from dover anymore because of how expensive shipping is. I usually get free shipping from smartpak, either using their free shipping codes or the newer free shipping on smartpaks over $40. Although I will say that Dover has great customer service too, at least IME. 
Please have to courtesy and the deceny to speak only for yourself.
I LOVE the 100% satisfaction guarantee coupled with the low prices. In fact, I was just lamenting about the Pessoa turnout I purchased last year that is losing all it’s hardware. If I had bought it from Dover, I could have a new blanket…LAST year when the first buckle broke after limited use. Since I didn’t buy it from Dover, I’ve had to just deal with it. The blanket has been used about 45 days total in 2 years and I’m having to use baling twine to keep in on? Not good.
Great exchange of comments, above. I would like to add that I went to the RI store a few times and was so put off by the sales help that I actually complained to Dover and was assured this info would be forwarded to the store. Haven’t been back since. Not much of an inventory to boot. Smartpack store was so much better… nice, helpful, and much more to choose from- and deep discounts with the monthly coupon (15% - 20%). And I agree that the Dover shipping costs are a real turn-off. I tried to order clipper blades a few days ago and decided to shop elsewhere - got them for 2/3 the price and no shipping cost just by googling it. Just sayin’
I’m not sure I understand the decency remark, but let me clarify - there are stories going around about people returning blankets after four or five years of hard use, saying it didn’t meet their expectations. Or turning in badly abused paddock boots after two years, and expecting a new pair in return. I can’t imagine anybody wanting to pay substantially higher prices across the board so that Dover can protect themselves financially from these kind of nutty returns.
I will freely admit that when I’m buying items that have a questionable reputation (such as Ariat paddocks or half chaps), I often consider Dover more than other companies, so that if they break too early, I have some recourse (since Ariat sucks at addressing their own problems - but that’s another thread entirely). But, as an example, I have a Peter Wylde bridle that I’ve used for three years five times a week on my jumper. The stitching is pulling out of the noseband. According to this guarantee, I could return it and get an exchange or credit, because it “didn’t meet my expectations”.
While most of us, including me, have too much integrity to do such a thing (and I had included most of the people on this board when making my previous comments), I don’t want to pay substantially higher prices for shipping on things that don’t break or have problems often, to subsidize those outlier people who would take advantage of such an offer.
I hope this helps to explain further.
Janet,
Any thoughts for your canadian customers? The Dover Visa is not going to help me. The last time I placed an order I was told the only shipping option would be FedEx Air, which was going to cost over $100 - I don’t remember exactly how much. With my own detective skills, I figured out that FedEx ground to the same location would likely cost around $20 but I was told that wasn’t an option, and that the price difference was mainly brokerage, which was included in Air but not ground. When my package arrived, Lo and behold, a $35 brokerage charge was waiting for me.
Is there any chance that your shipping policies might be altered to allow ground shipping? I realize it isn’t as fast, but when I wait months for your sale catalogue, another 2 weeks really won’t kill me
The most common explanation I’ve gotten is that you have had too much trouble with usps (which i have used for many other stores shipping from the us and have never had an issue myself…) but if that is a problem, wouldn’t FedEx still be reliable with their much more affordable ground shipping?
Honestly, it’s very sweet that you offer discounted shipping to those that have a Dover credit card, but I don’t particularly want to sign up for a Dover credit card, particularly when people on this board have had reliability issues with them in the past.
What’s your thought for those of us who would prefer not to use your line of credit?
What they’re not telling you is that those cards charge more in interest than you save…am I the only one that has realized this??
I, personally, like Dover’s products (like their version of Eskadrons and their schooling pads) but now that Smartpak is becoming larger and I get free shipping from them once a month with my Smartpaks, I don’t care to bother with Dover and their embarassingly horrible customer service.
Example of EXCELLENT customer service: My boyfriend ordered me a bridle from Smartpak with a figure 8 from the same product line that they assured him would fit when he inquired about it because a customer review had said that it didn’t. It was his Christmas present to me and I oiled the bridle/figure and tried to put it together that morning and low and behold, it didn’t fit. I called Smartpak and not only did they apologize, they sent me their figure 8 bridle that happened to be the next line up from what my boyfriend had ordered for me AND let me keep the old bridle. Now THAT is customer service.
Example of PISS POOR customer service: I ordered a surcingle from Dover because I went to college and obviously couldn’t take my trainer’s surcingle with me that I used frequently on my mare with my Pessoa rig. Not only did they send it to the billing address instead of the shipping address, but when it arrived it was MOLDY inside the plastic. I called Dover and was rudely told that they recommend opening leather products as soon as they arrive so that this will not happen. Well gee, had you sent it to the right place, maybe I could have opened it sooner than 4 WEEKS after it was shipped to the WRONG address first. Didn’t I provide you with a SHIPPING address for a reason? They also refused to replace it. So long, Dover…I spend so much money with Smartpak now and recommend them to everyone and make sure that I tell people to be very wary of your business.
Wonderful post KingoftheRoad.
Let me add the frustration with the sale fliers and the inconsistency of the pricing.
It is totally absurd that you have to have the catalog item number in front of you to get the sale price on line or at the store. Oh but wait, you not only have to have that catalog but the other six catalogs that you have because each has different prices for different things so if you are ordering six different things you probably find the lowest price for each in a different catalog.
In the long run I am betting Dover would save money on programming and such if they simply had things on sale. One item code, one sale price. Not one item having many different codes and many different prices.
I used to shop at Dover regularly before I realized there was a better way to go. They have good products. I am just not willing to play their childish games when it comes to pricing.
The fact remains that consistently I can find the same products for within a dollar or two of Dover’s prices, and get $7.99 or less flat rate shipping or even free. Most of the time I can find cheaper prices and free shipping on the exact same items they sell!
The industry has “raised the bar” on online equestrian supply orders. It’s time for Dover to catch up.
