[QUOTE=AppyGoLucky;5504531]
I feel like I’m the only person going to say this, but oh well…
I LOVE Dover Saddlery and have always had a fantastic experience with their customer service and returns policy.
There. I am done now. You may all continue with your bickering and Dover hating :D[/QUOTE]
I too LOVE Dover and have allways had exceptional customer service there!!
I’m really sick of all of these Dover hating threads…
So just don’t shop there!! End of story!
I shop at Dover’s all the time because it is close to where I live and on the way to the barn. 
Furthermore, I think the customer service at the store is exceptional. When I walk in, I know there will always be a friendly and knowledgeable employee available to help. I can’t say the same for certain other tack shops in NJ. There are some I refuse to shop at because the staff are either rude, disinterested or both. However, I have always had a good experience at Dovers. Plus if there is something I want but it’s not in stock, they will have it shipped to the store at no additional cost to me.
I think you guys are missing the point.
Many of us want to shop at Dover’s!! I have never had a customer service problem or product problem. The problem for many of us involves THE SHIPPING. The cost and time involved is putting us off and complaints directly to the company seem to go nowhere. We vent here in hopes that someone ‘out there’ in a position do do something will make changes and we can go back to being Dover customers…
Ding Ding Ding!!!
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;5511496]
I think you guys are missing the point.
Many of us want to shop at Dover’s!! I have never had a customer service problem or product problem. The problem for many of us involves THE SHIPPING. The cost and time involved is putting us off and complaints directly to the company seem to go nowhere. We vent here in hopes that someone ‘out there’ in a position do do something will make changes and we can go back to being Dover customers…[/QUOTE]
THIS! Exactly this! That’s the whole point of this and the other thread. I know people keep talking about the “I hate Dover”, but it’s not that - I can even deal with the hunt for the lowest price in whichever catalog comes this week. But the shipping costs and transit time make me insane, and as you can see from my previous lengthy posts, Dover seems to deliberately choose to ignore those direct questions. For a company that promises 100% customer satisfaction, I’m at a loss as to why they refuse to even address this problem. Apparently the satisfaction is only after you buy from them, not when you’re trying to express your dissatisfaction with their logistics.
Beastie, thank you so much for getting this back on track, I was about to give up.
How about Dover (or SmartPak) opening up a store in Lexington, KY? It is the horse capital of world after all and all we have is a few tiny shops with limited inventory. Just sayin…
I have a Dover store nearby (Charlottesville, VA) and always shop there first. It seems that everything is on sale, so I end up spending less that expected everytime.
I usually don’t buy from Dover unless I cannot find it anywhere else. I would also prefer to spend a little more somewhere that offers discounted or free shipping than to pay premium shipping rates for FedEx Smart Post. I have never in my life seen a free shipping offer from Dover and I am not going to get the credit card to pay $4.99.
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;5511496]
I think you guys are missing the point.
Many of us want to shop at Dover’s!! I have never had a customer service problem or product problem. The problem for many of us involves THE SHIPPING. The cost and time involved is putting us off and complaints directly to the company seem to go nowhere. We vent here in hopes that someone ‘out there’ in a position do do something will make changes and we can go back to being Dover customers…[/QUOTE]
Ding ding ding! We have a winner! I don’t have a problem with Dover CS, and while I’m not a fan of slow shipping, I can deal with it. But I will not be raped on shipping charges.
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;5511496]
I think you guys are missing the point.
Many of us want to shop at Dover’s!! I have never had a customer service problem or product problem. The problem for many of us involves THE SHIPPING. The cost and time involved is putting us off and complaints directly to the company seem to go nowhere. We vent here in hopes that someone ‘out there’ in a position do do something will make changes and we can go back to being Dover customers…[/QUOTE]
Add me to this group, too.
I used to buy a lot from Dover, and generally I have had pretty good service from them. But between the exorbitant shipping costs and the hassle of having to dig through multiple catalogs to find the “sale” price on anything I might want to purchase - I just don’t bother anymore, unless it is something that I simply can’t find elsewhere. (And these days, frankly there aren’t many things I can’t find elsewhere, which means Dover has pretty much lost my business entirely.)
Smartpak, on the other hand… they get a big chunk of my business. Their service has been great, they have what I need/want, have free shipping and don’t try to con me into a credit card every time I shop.
Bottom line: Smartpak makes it easy to do business with them; Dover makes it tough.
Yup. I love to shop at the Dover store in Alpharetta, but even though it’s the closet store to me, it’s still about 4 hours away. Shopping at the store just isn’t always an option. For me it’s an event and a destination.
I would order online, and I used to, but I’m not going to pay the sales tax and that crazy-high shipping.
The sales catalog thing is totally annoying, but I’m willing to hunt and compare. It’s pretty much the same thing I do when I shop between retailers. Shame we have to do it between catalogs for one place though.
As for the credit card, I’m getting rid of cc’s, not getting new ones these days, and no way, no how am I going to get a new one just so I can save on shipping from Dover!
Thank you BeastieSlave and LucassB for the above comments. I find it most interesting that Dover is only interested in addressing customers giving the “I Love Dover” posts. Dover still and always will never address the SHIPPING complaints ever. Even though I have the credit card, I still buy more from SmartPak, VTO, and others. I won’t hold my breath on them ever offering up an explanation.
[QUOTE=2horseowner;5512230]
Thank you BeastieSlave and LucassB for the above comments. I find it most interesting that Dover is only interested in addressing customers giving the “I Love Dover” posts. Dover still and always will never address the SHIPPING complaints ever. Even though I have the credit card, I still buy more from SmartPak, VTO, and others. I won’t hold my breath on them ever offering up an explanation.[/QUOTE]
To be fair, Janet from Dover Saddlery saw my posts about the credit card rewards and has been working with me via PMs to make sure I am getting my gift certificates from my earned points. As frustrating as the shipping charges are, those are corporate decisions which are made at the highest ranks within the company. Janet really doesn’t have any influence over them and I’m sure her telling them a bunch of people complaining on the net won’t change things immediately I’m going to hazard a guess they are well aware of the feelings towards their shipping charges. However, it must not be hurting business too badly if they are continuing with their current practice.
On a separate note from the above: free shipping with a 100% satisfaction guarantee CAN be done! LLBean recently announced free shipping (non-promotional) to the US and Canada and they still hold the industry gold standard of the 100% guarantee
“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.”
So true. I feel like I could get into that black hole but still never find my order…I always request not to use that method. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t…
On a separate note from the above: free shipping with a 100% satisfaction guarantee CAN be done! LLBean recently announced free shipping (non-promotional) to the US and Canada and they still hold the industry gold standard of the 100% guarantee :)[/QUOTE]
Yes, for sure:)
LL Bean is extraordinary on all levels. Never had an issue in over 30 yrs of purchasing from them.
“As frustrating as the On a separate note from the above: free shipping with a 100% satisfaction guarantee CAN be done! LLBean recently announced free shipping (non-promotional) to the US and Canada and they still hold the industry gold standard of the 100% guarantee :)”
Yes, for sure!
LL Bean are masters of customer service.
[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;5511496]
I think you guys are missing the point.
Many of us want to shop at Dover’s!! I have never had a customer service problem or product problem. The problem for many of us involves THE SHIPPING. The cost and time involved is putting us off and complaints directly to the company seem to go nowhere. We vent here in hopes that someone ‘out there’ in a position do do something will make changes and we can go back to being Dover customers…[/QUOTE]
Well, if you consider you don’t pay tax on online orders, often times the shipping is cheaper then the tax would be in store, so I save myself a trip to the store and buy online.
This may not be true in all states, but here in Texas sales tax is 8.25%
Just a thought…
I have to pay the sales tax online too because there’s a Dover store in GA, so no savings…
And purchasing from a different online vendor may save you tax and shipping. Don’t worry, most of us penny pinchers have worked though the math.
It’s nothing against Dover, but I will shop at the online vendor that gives me the best price/shipping costs/service. There are certain items I buy from tack shops in person instead of online, but I do find that most times Dover isn’t carrying what I need. For instance, ratcatcher and coat colors are more traditional, whereas if I go over to the Farm House setup at Conyers, there will be more variety. That’s fine, I understand Dover’s store inventory is geared to a different market than Farm House. I’m not willing to buy online when it comes to colors in coats/shirts or fit in helmets/boots/shoes and I’m happy to pay extra for that, but chances are that the variety I am after if I am buying show clothes/gear requires that I go to regular horse show vendor.
But Dover could have my business on the online stuff if it wasn’t for the shipping costs. Since Jeffers, Schneiders and Smart Pak are all meeting my needs better than Dover, that’s who gets my business. Acquiring and using a credit card simply is not a fair trade off for what I get elsewhere sans that problem. Signing up for bonus bucks at Schneiders is OK, a credit card is not.
But everyone has their business model and if this is what works for Dover, more power to them.
No one is asking that they change immediately.
But since threads like this have been going on for years now one would think that Dover would have shown they give two squats by now and done something to show their customer base that they understand the frustration.
To be fair, Janet from Dover Saddlery saw my posts about the credit card rewards and has been working with me via PMs to make sure I am getting my gift certificates from my earned points. As frustrating as the shipping charges are, those are corporate decisions which are made at the highest ranks within the company. Janet really doesn’t have any influence over them and I’m sure her telling them a bunch of people complaining on the net won’t change things immediately I’m going to hazard a guess they are well aware of the feelings towards their shipping charges. However, it must not be hurting business too badly if they are continuing with their current practice.
Maybe they aren’t hurting too badly now - but if they want to stay competitive over the long haul, they do need to address it. I would deal with trying to look up their sales prices in 47 locations if the deal wasn’t negated by the shipping. And they just. don’t. address it. Even when asked point blank.
Acquiring and using a credit card simply is not a fair trade off for what I get elsewhere sans that problem. Signing up for bonus bucks at Schneiders is OK, a credit card is not.
This, also. I have a credit card or two. I don’t need another one. I don’t feel that I’m getting any great savings or deals having another credit card in order to come out with the exact same price I could get elsewhere, when there are folks having issues with these cards. I don’t want to have to worry about my credit score.
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