So I got an email from Lucy earlier in the week that they were still waiting for an update.
Then I got this email today:
So…I have the August order and an order in November. Are they both cancelled? Just the first one?? Slightly annoyed…but hopeful I won’t have to fight about getting a refund.
WTF? So is Mattes just not filling orders for Hufglocken or not at all? Not doing custom orders? The plot thickens…
The pads and girth for my girls spent a day in US customs and arrived shortly after. Everything was as I ordered. I did have to switch over to global package tracking after the package arrived in the US instead of the postNL tracking that Hypostore originally sent to get updated tracking, but I understand once it gets to USPS it’s out of their hands.
So I got an email back from Lucy that said all 3 of my orders will be cancelled…they are working their way through the list to send cancellations to customers (so they said I would get multiple auto cancellation notices). It did say a refund would be processed in 5-7 days. I had one order from August (custom pad)…November (custom pad and non custom girth cover) and December (2 non custom pads). My mare loves these pads and they fit her perfectly, so I figured I would stock up while they had all those sales!! LOL Guess that backfired.
I asked whether they had any stock that they could substitute in (ie, I would be fine with a different color combo or a non custom pad in the right size/sheepskin specs)…I also asked if this was a temporary issue with supply chain and when they would be resuming orders again (ie, should I permanently take my business elsewhere). They didn’t answer that one right away (they had just replied to my other email, so should be seeing the other one I sent).
I notices that their website has changed a LOT…you can’t do orders and most of the Mattes order options are gone. Looks like the only Mattes stuff is what is their leftover stock.
Well that is very disappointing
That is very disappointing indeed! And really pretty horrendous customer service. The pessimist in me wonders if the writing’s been on the wall awhile, thus all of the delays…but who knows. I thought it was curious when they came out with their own separate line of products–I wonder if that caused an issue with Mattes, or if that was released because they suspected an issue with Mattes was coming. We may never know, I guess.
Very sorry for the folks who didn’t receive their items. Hopefully you’ll get refunds quickly. It’s good to hear that there are some continental European options that may still offer some savings over buying domestically.
Has anyone found other options for custom Mattes orders with lower pricing than the US vendors?
You will…I got a follow up email from Katie that Mattes is no longer doing business with Hufglocken. All Mattes orders will be cancelled.
I do wonder if Mattes found out how low they were selling the products and cut them off. I mean, why order from Mattes or another supplier when you can order from them for half the price? The only thing was the longer time, but most people are willing to wait for that much of a discount. I wonder if it was cutting into Mattes direct business and that is why they are no longer supplying to Hufglocken?
I think Pink Equine in the UK does custom Mattes orders. Less expensive than the US but more expensive than Hufglocken. I’ve also seen on a few FB threads that Piaffe in Canada does custom Mattes but I don’t see it immediately on the site, but it might be worth shooting them a message or an email.
I’ll put in another plug for these guys. I recently ordered a blanket from Equishop and it was a good experience. Good communication, good price. Only hiccough was their emails getting caught in my spam filter.
I’d never heard of them before! Would be happy to order from them again.
I got 2 emails for my 2 orders being canceled, 3 total pads. Now to find where to order something similar from for hopefully similar $$. Ugh
IME when a manufacturer cuts off a vendor, its because the vendor has not paid for their merchandise in a timely fashion. Or at all.
Possibly complicated by manufacturer getting poor product reviews due to vendors poor performance selling and delivering the manufacturers products.
Slight possibility an individual at the manufactures is running a “ back door” or side gig operation, which often involves long waits for products after ordering, when said said individual gets caught, the back door gets slammed ASAP.
Customers of the vendor are SOL, at least here they’re refunding within 5-7 days. Fingers crossed on that.
I ordered my Mattes correction pad September 23 rd. My client ordered hers a few days later and got hers in November. Mine was supposedly lost and would be resent. Today is 1/20/24. No email, no pad, no refund. I just sent them an email to refund my order. We will see. 
I heard Mattes tried to sue PEI so they probably aren’t too keen on Hufglockens own line.
There was a lot of drama with the “build your mattes” original website, epshop.us/lammfell something…This was years ago & they stopped producing all of a sudden for them & cancelled all the orders (after keeping everyone waiting for ages)…similar situation so it’s not the first time they’ve done this to a supplier. Seems to be the supplier gets popular & then mattes wants more of the pie?
I know quite a bit about IP and think it’s much more likely there was a financial dispute or some sketchy vendor practices going on. At this point in time I don’t think Mattes is at fault here.
I can’t believe that shipping or Mattes were the problem. I ordered a Mattes saddle pad from Pinkequine.com and it arrived within 6 weeks with no problems. IMO if something is too good to be true it usually is!
Did anyone get their Hufglocken refund? I got the cancellation email but no refund yet and am wondering if I need to dispute the charge.
I carry Mattes products and there are no issues for me.
I ended up putting a PayPal dispute on my 3 orders as the one order from August had a time limit of when I could dispute (and it was only a few days left). I figured I would do the PayPal dispute, and then do one on my credit card if needed.
I got a refund for 1 of the 3 orders within 2 days of putting in the dispute (the most recent order was credited). Still waiting on the other 2 orders - no messages back in PayPal. Figure I will give it a few more days and then escalate it in PayPal…since right now it’s just the messaging between me and Hufglocken.
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