On Course Consignment Rant

[H_JPrincess]

I am posting this under an alt, since I don’t know what others will think of this. But I am so unhappy over this and so surprised by the lack of customer service that i had to post.
A month ago I went into On course consignment and bought some things. I am a regular of this tack store, and have bought 1000$ plus in items from them. I bought a pair of Back on track standing wraps that were labeled horse size. Since they were wrapped together and connected by one of those white plastic ties, I could not check them over, but in good faith bought them. I got home, and since I travel a lot did not have time to use them or even look them over. After about ten days, I finally got around to it, opened them up, and one was horse sized, and the other was significantly smaller, like pony sized. Obviously, you can’t use a pair of wraps that are different sizes, so they didn’t even go to the barn. However, I am really busy (School and all) so I couldn’t go back until today.
I came in today with the wraps, showed them to the girl at the front, and said that I had opened them and they were two different sizes, and could I see if I could find the matching wrap. The girl looks at them and says “we don’t sell anything this dirty. Did you use these?” I said “No, they didn’t even go out to the barn. They came like this.” she said, “These are in bad shape. We don’t sell anything dirty.” I said, “Here, I have the receipt. Can I just find a matching one?” At which point another girl came over and they started saying that it was past 5 days. I explained that I understand, but I didn’t want to return anything, I just wanted to find a matching wrap, and somewhere back there there is a pair of mismatched wraps just like mine for sale. They just started saying over and over that we should have come in within the 5 days, while I and my mom were saying that we couldn’t because of travel and work, but we don’t want to return the item, just get what we actually paid for, horse sized BOT wraps. They said no. So we left, sat in the car, and my mom decided she wanted to go talk to the owner, since maybe it was a misunderstanding. My mom went back in, and talked to the owner. My mom explained that she was really upset that we were sold an item that was labeled as something, but then wasn’t correct, and that her business was refusing to fix the problem. She also said that she was upset by how the girls at the front desk had dismissed her. The owner said in a very rude tone “I heard the whole conversation, and it sounded fine to me”. The owner then said that we couldn’t prove that those wraps were even the wraps we had gotten from her. She pretty much accused my mom of being a liar and trying to steal a pair of BOT wraps from her by exchanging our pair for a different pair. My mom said how ridiculous her accusing us of that is. Then the owner said " You couldn’t have checked the product within 5 days? We have five day rule. You couldn’t have called?" My mom then reexplained that we travel and have school and work. The owner then started accusing my mom of lying about buying them from her again, at which point my mom kinda flipped out and said that this could be seen as fraud and that she is losing a customer who has spent thousands over a 20$ pair of wraps.

So, cliff notes version: Bought an item that was mislabeled, tried to get the correct item, was refused, then my mom was called a liar and accused of trying to steal! What a lovely saturday. Let me just say On Course is Never getting my business again!

[Highflyer]

While it’s unfortunate that they were rude to you, generally with consignment items you don’t get to exchange them and often don’t get to return them. 30 days after the sale they have probably already paid the consignor. I think you were being unreasonable to expect that she could magically produce the other wrap.

[H_JPrincess]

To me, it wasn’t really about the wrap, it was how rude and aggressive they were to my mom. From the very start of the conversation they were on the attack. Instead of just apologizing for the inconvenience, and saying that they still can’t take it back, they accused my mother of trying to rip them off and then lying. They never once apologized, and from the second we showed the product they were on the attack.
It was terrible customer service.

[DJohn]

Certainly doesn’t make me want to buy anything from them.

I agree that the customer service was terrible, receipt or not. How about store credit for the mistake they obviously made? How about “oh my goodness, how silly that they were two different sizes, let’s see what we can do for you!”

I ALWAYS brag about good customer service because it is well deserved praise. Bad customer service gets a review, too. People need to know when the customer service is no good. If I read bad reviews, it is very unlikely I will visit said place, regardless of WHO wrote the review, they were displeased enough to take the time to write something about it.

[ReSomething]

There’s a level of responsibility to undertake when you purchase a product to ensure it’s the right thing, a month is a long time to wait especially if you had four weekends to call about returning it. Everyone nowadays has a cell phone stuck to their ears, travelling or not.

You did have your receipt, I’d have likely gone to the back with you and tried to find the mismatch just because I too have purchased rubber farm boots with one size 7 and one size 9, so I know that this happens, and if I had one unuseable set there would be another.

Did you properly store the product, like in a plastic bag, in the month that you had it or did you allow it to get dirty in the back of the car or tack room? Honestly now. I might have upcharged you if the pony sized one were dirty since I’d have been keeping that one to make the set.

If the other not-set wasn’t there, I’m afraid I’d have refused a refund. A month is far too long. I might have kept them and taken your number just in case the other set came back, then we’d have had to decide which of the two of you still wanted/got the one horse sized set and take it from there in terms of refunds.

No, I don’t think the salespeople acted well under the circumstances, but I wasn’t there to hear the whole story at the time, it could have been much different than laid out here from their perspective.

[cschattner]

I really am not surprised at the level of customer service that the privately owned tack shop displayed.
I have worked in customer service and I would go out of my way to help a customer, my coworker on the other hand would lie to their face about a product especially if he knew nothing about it.

Now as far as tack shops one of my worst customer service experiences was from a place called “West 20” if you see them at a horse expo DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!
I went to their home store often in WI since they had the widest selection of saddles and equipment from western to English even though they where on the pricey side. When I was on the hunt for a western arab tree saddle that was the first place I went as they just had a vast amount of options on consignment. I ended up dealing with the owner who I always found to be harsh toned but I needed a saddle so I dealt with it.
We talked about the sizing I needed and my price range which was at a max $1,000 I could not go over that number. Immedietly she says I will not find anything in that price range and I needed to figure out my finances. Ummm ok go ahead and insult your customer. I ended up finding one that looked like it might fit so I took it to try on my horse.
It did not come close to fitting him, I am fairly sure it was marked wrong. The entire saddle shifted around like crazy, leaned to the left and was obviously crooked as all get out on a horse. My trainer who is a good customer with them evaluated it and informed me of the problems.
I took it back and informed the owner and she told me I was wrong and didn’t fit it right. So I left and ended up buying my saddle on ebay for $345. Yes I took a risk but I got exactly what I needed and I still have this saddle 6 years later and last year I had it completely overhauled with new silver, seat, cleaned and dyed. Looks like a brand new saddle.

I had friend who did buy a saddle from West 20 and her experience was much shadier. She needed a new flex tree saddle for her arab/pony cross. She went there and found the perfect saddle for $1,200 so she took it, tried it and it fit. She had more questions about the saddle and the owner of the store gave her the consigners phone number. While she was talking to the consigner my friend mentioned the price and the saddle owner said that it was not right. She had agreed to consign the saddle at $850 not $1,200.
The saddle owner ended up going to the store and taking the saddle off consignment and selling it to my friend for the agreed upon price.

I have heard horror stories of west 20 abusing consigner saddles as well. I ended up almost doing business with their booth at the Minnesota horse expo since they apparently stopped putting their sign up. I was looking for a new saddle pad and almost got one when I saw their card. I ended up apologizing to the girl manning the booth for wasting her time and walking away.

I wont do business with them ever again. They are shady and rude, not worth financially supporting.

[cayuse]

Well, they state they have a five day rule and you were past that. Sounds like the customer service might have been better, but you could’ve checked the product before the five day return policy was up. If you had checked and called them with the complaint within five days, maybe they would’ve been willing to wait until you could get there and do an exchange or whatever at that time.

[H_JPrincess]

[QUOTE=DJohn;8245218]
Certainly doesn’t make me want to buy anything from them.

I agree that the customer service was terrible, receipt or not. How about store credit for the mistake they obviously made? How about “oh my goodness, how silly that they were two different sizes, let’s see what we can do for you!”

I ALWAYS brag about good customer service because it is well deserved praise. Bad customer service gets a review, too. People need to know when the customer service is no good. If I read bad reviews, it is very unlikely I will visit said place, regardless of WHO wrote the review, they were displeased enough to take the time to write something about it.[/QUOTE]

Exactly!

[H_JPrincess]

ReSomething: I actually remembered seeing a set like it, so I thought maybe i could find that set and everyone would be happy! But no.
It stayed in my house, inside the bag i bought it in. If you go in there, you can see that there are definitely dirty items in there. I don’t blame them for that since people bring in dirty stuff, but to act like that over it was ridiculous.
cschattner: Good to know. Definitely will not shop from them.
Cayuse: I would totally agree if it was something like it didn’t fit me, or my horse, or i didn’t like the color. But they sold me an unusable, mislabed product. And then acted like my mother was trying to rip them off!

[roseymare]

But what would someone have to gain by purposly bring in two different sized boots that werent purchased at the store and seeing if there was another mismatched pair?

They wanted to get a useful pair not a refund.

[H_JPrincess]

roseymare: exactly! My mom was so confused when she started accusing her of that. It didn’t even make sense. Where else would we have gotten a mismatched pair of wraps? Why go through all that trouble for 20 dollars? On top of that she knows me enough to ask me semi-personal questions (Like how is the saddle search going?) So she knows us! It was just so rude, and so strange.

[arapaloosa_lady]

It’s a good lesson to learn to check your purchases before the return date. It doesn’t sound like great customer service, but I’m sure the clerk was getting tired of your mom’s excuses as to why you felt exempt from their return policy.

Chalk it up to a communication error, move on, pick a new store if you don’t want to deal with this one.

[copper1]

Always check return policies on anything you buy anywhere!

[js]

[QUOTE=H/JPrincess;8245641]
… Where else would we have gotten a mismatched pair of wraps?..[/QUOTE]

It could be that the person that had the wraps on consignment had consigned a mixed matched pair, either on purpose or not. The tack shop may not have bothered to look and see that the pair was mis-matched considering they consigned and sold them dirty. If you are going to buy something that is already dirty or has marks/scratches etc., have the cashier make an annotation on the receipt, so if you do have to return them they will know they were dirty to begin with.

Regardless that doesn’t excuse their customer service. They could have politely said you were past their 5 day return rule and left it at that.

[chaserider]

[QUOTE=js;8245751]
Regardless that doesn’t excuse their customer service. They could have politely said you were past their 5 day return rule and left it at that.[/QUOTE]

I once bought a pair of half chaps at Quarter Horse Congress. I didn’t bother to open them for several weeks. When I did, they were both for the left leg. Fortunately, the tack shop where I purchased them is local. I returned, showed them the chaps and they were able to find another pair of the same size and we did an even exchange. THAT’s good customer service.

[H_JPrincess]

[QUOTE=chaserider;8245789]
I once bought a pair of half chaps at Quarter Horse Congress. I didn’t bother to open them for several weeks. When I did, they were both for the left leg. Fortunately, the tack shop where I purchased them is local. I returned, showed them the chaps and they were able to find another pair of the same size and we did an even exchange. THAT’s good customer service.[/QUOTE]

Yes! And I think since they are a local shop, it is even more important to have good service.

[Ambitious_Kate]

[QUOTE=arapaloosa_lady;8245713]
It’s a good lesson to learn to check your purchases before the return date. It doesn’t sound like great customer service, but I’m sure the clerk was getting tired of your mom’s excuses as to why you felt exempt from their return policy.
Chalk it up to a communication error, move on, pick a new store if you don’t want to deal with this one
.[/QUOTE]

OP, for what its worth, I agree with you, and I don’t consider, from what you’ve written, your mom’s responses to be “excuses” as to why she wanted the item returned. The above poster is pretty shaming, actually. I think it was rotten customer service, and when your mom stuck up for your and her point of view instead of being bullied by the sales people, she was bullied by the owner as well.

And I agree it wasn’t a matter of returning an item which didn’t fit when you got it home. It wasn’t even an item! It was some jumble of mis matched boots which weren’t what they were labled, entirely the stores’ fault, and the behaviour of the sales dept was deplorable. I would feel the same way.

As for the above poster marginalizing you and suggesting you “pick a new store if you don’t want to deal with this one”, well,that’s what your point was and what you have already said you were doing.

Just a snide post, arapaloosa lady. And I really just had to call you out on it.

[roseymare]

Part of a qualituy consignment shops duty is to vet items before they accept them.

[roseymare]

And the other point is the shop is not even losing the entire 20 dollars. Their real loss is the percentage the paid to the consigner. Maybe $10. The other $10 is a profit loss.

[Highflyer]

They’ve probably already paid the consignor, since she said that it had been 30 days. So it’s $10 plus a $20 refund.