Para-Gear: Poor Customer Service

[timmyfitz 0]

Quote

Quote

Judging from the PMs I've received, I'm not the only person who feels P-G doesn't give a shit about customers, only the $.

then lets see them. cause all i have seen is people giving you shit. but i would like to see those PM's of people on your side. hmm, i wonder why they just didnt post it in the tread?

I was thinking the same thing. Hard to dispute something unseen. I know it's bad form to post PM's but I'm very skeptical they exist.

From the OP, sounds like a normal transaction when mistakes are made. This may not be your definition of good customer service but in no way would I call it poor customer service. I have never had any major problems with PG. Some minor problems yes, just like yours, minor.

[riggerpaul 1]

(Not responding to timmyfitz. Just posting after his.)

In a ParaGear order of mine I ordered a particular hook knife.

When the order arrived, it contained the wrong knife.

When I called, they were simply great. They acknowledged their mistake right away, and immediately said they'd ship the correct knife and I didn't even need to return the wrong one.

If the immediate apology was all that was lacking from the OP's interaction, I don't think it is fair to charge the whole organization with poor customer support.

Don't forget that they are people too.

Maybe the person handling it was having a bad day, and was only able at the last chance to add the apology that the OP thought should have come sooner. Maybe that person's mother just died, you don't really know.

Put the shoe on the other foot. I am sure we have all had a day when it was all we could do to hold it together at all.

I have always gotten great service from them, and I am happy to stand up and say so.

[highspeeddirt 0]

Bottom line is Para Gear has been in business for almost 50 years. If customer service as a whole is as bad as yor experience, they would not still be in business. obviously you are an isolated case. I have used para gear for over 35 years and my experience has always been 100 % positive.

[Harmless 0]

I've spent a couple thousand over the last year on lots of little things from Paragear

"Damn you Gravity, you win again"

[pash 0]

Quote

#1 Worst-Case: They would tell me to just keep the spool, which is useless to me. I can’t use this much Type VIII!

#2 Neutral-Case: What happened.

#3 Best-Case: What happened, with a small gesture of consideration and gratitude.

I know I already responded once, but this particular point nagged at me. The title should have been "Para-Gear: Neutral Customer Service."

Jason

[crazydiver 0]

Wow. This conversation is ridiculous. So you had to cut the webbing yourself? you had to put a label on a box and send it back? You should have billed them for your time. What was it, five minutes or so? So let's see, at $12 per hour, they would owe you $1. I can't believe they didn't offer you a $1 credit on your order...

I suppose everyone is different. Your idea of "poor" customer service is WAY different than my own.

Cheers,
Travis

[virgin-burner 1]

so far, in my limited experience, i've only had great service from every skydiving-company, everyone answered my questions (except sunpath) and went far and beyond themselves..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[mcordell 2]

Quote

It’s a costly mistake, sending me a $153 billable spool of material for $1.70.

The last thing she said to me was, “And I’m sorry about this”, and it was the only time acknowledging my being inconvenienced came up. And I don’t recall her thanking me for working to promptly return their material.

No, “O wow! I’m so sorry! Thank you for calling. Let’s make this right.” No, “Well, we know your time is important and valuable; what can we do to fix this?”

#3 Best-Case: What happened, with a small gesture of consideration and gratitude.

So your problem then is that for you, the actual application of honesty and integrity was so incredibly difficult, that a mere apology for inconveniencing you wasn't enough. You wanted them to thank you and offer you some sort of reward in return for you not taking advantage of an error on their part. When you didn't get that, you came here looking for someone to tell you that you did a good job and thanking you on behalf of the skydiving community and perhaps humanity as a whole for your incredible act of honesty. Did I get that right?

If you have such a problem doing the right thing and ensuring a company that supplies skydivers doesn't endure a loss (which ultimately gets passed down to us), then perhaps you need to evaluate yourself and take corrective action. Why would you bring this whiny shit here into the forums where people have already told you that you are acting like a child and then continue to argue when everyone disagrees with you. Perhaps if EVERYONE is disagreeing with you, then it means you are wrong.

I fail to see the poor customer service here. Poor customer service would have been to expect you to mail it back on your own, which they didn't. Unless you live up in the mountains, 2 hours from the nearest UPS drop off location, I fail to see the problem. Go get a cheeseburger, drop of the package, and quit whining about it.

Edited for language.....

www.facebook.com/FlintHillsRigging

[NovaTTT 1]

No, you didn't get it right - at all.

Clearly you didn't read my OP; and if you did, you clearly missed the point. And ignoring the percentage profit, I just don't think $151.30 is going to constitute "enduring a loss" for P-G.

I brought my OP, unemotional and factual, for the same reason I have posted positive comments about other's customer service.

I don't care if you disagree with my assessment of what customer service should be.

Quote from OP:

Making that comparison, I am singularly unimpressed with P-G.

In fact, I am truly disappointed at their poor customer service and couldn’t-care-less-as-long-as-we’re-ok attitude.

End Quote

Your threshhold for whining is pretty low, mate.

But I had to laugh at crazydiver's cost analysis. Were I to back-charge for a reasonably average hourly rate, for the 3/4 hour I will spend returning the package, I will bill 24 times the $9 you would earn for that time.

So maybe my time is more valuable? Or maybe I just don't like getting the semi-rudeness and "I don't want to bother with a customer, just send us back our shit" attitude I experienced.

A little gratitude goes a long way.

"Even in a world where perfection is unattainable, there's still a difference between excellence and mediocrity." Gary73

[pash 0]

Quote

But I had to laugh at crazydiver's cost analysis. Were I to back-charge for a reasonably average hourly rate, for the 3/4 hour I will spend returning the package, I will bill 24 times the $9 you would earn for that time.

(0.75)*hour = $(9*24)
hour = $288.00

assume a 30hr week to remain conservative...
288*30 = 8640 per week

assume you take half a year of vacation to remain conservative...
8640*26 = 224,640 per year

Maybe you have your own company. And maybe somehow calculated your total cash in per hour, it still isn't YOUR time. You are not the company, even if you are the owner.

If I'm wrong, and your time truly is this valuable, it would not be in your interest to post here. Therefore, I am convinced that your time is NOT this valuable.

Jason

[likestojump 3]

Quote

No, you didn't get it right - at all.

Clearly you didn't read my OP; and if you did, you clearly missed the point.

whats there to misunderstand ? you titled your thread "Para-Gear: Poor Customer Service" whereas all you are trying to say is "Para-Gear: Did not provide exceptional Porsche dealership-like Customer Service"

[humanflite 0]

Quote

Holy hell. You want them to come to your house and give you a blow job for the mistake too?
This is seriously about the biggest cry-baby whining bullshit I have heard in a while. A screw up was made. They apologized. You're keeping what you want, and sending the rest back to them. No hassle at all over the transaction, right. We get it was an inconvenience, but just...wow.
God forbid a para-gear employee doesn't come to your house and pick it up by hand from you.

Get over yourself, you're not that important. Neither am I.

I think they did a great job! stop whining!!

[councilman24 36]

Quote

I am doing them a good deed by being myself: honest and showing integrity. That alone is worthy of a "thank you", in my book.

You want praise for not being a crook? They said they were sorry. They could have not let you cut the whole roll, which now will have to go into stock with the roll they were already parting out. Yes it was their mistake. And they made it as right as they could and said they were sorry. I'm not going to say thank you for not robbing my house. You've shown 'honesty' by not doing that either.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[boyd38off 0]

Holy whiny shitballs, creampuff. Lamest post I've ever read. If I open a thread that says "poor customer service from _____", I expect some juicy, gossipy details, not someone who has a hangnail from a crochet needle accident. What a waste of 1's and 0's. Someone needs the "Bowling Speech".

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and shouting,
".... holy crap....what a ride!"

[mjosparky 3]

Well has anyone else had any really interesting experiences buying rigging supplies from different suppliers or wholesalers?

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[Cloudi 0]

Those BASTARDS!!

You seem like a smart guy. Did it never occur to you to bungee from a 298 ft. tall building with the extra 99 yards?

They probably would have thanked you then...

Kim
Watch as I attempt, with no slight of hand, to apply logic and reason.

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

Quote

I am doing them a good deed by being myself: honest and showing integrity. That alone is worthy of a "thank you", in my book.

You want praise for not being a crook? They said they were sorry. They could have not let you cut the whole roll, which now will have to go into stock with the roll they were already parting out. Yes it was their mistake. And they made it as right as they could and said they were sorry. I'm not going to say thank you for not robbing my house. You've shown 'honesty' by not doing that either.

I would have just cut off what I needed, called 'em Monday and said if ya want the rest of this back...send me a shipping label.

Then this 'inconvenience' of wasted bandwidth would be avoided!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[FFlyer 0]

Wow what a truely pathetic topic. I had to really put myself in your shoes to try and figure out what the huge issue was,...but even now I cant figure it out. It's just not that big of a deal, not in the slightest.

Instead of getting what you ordered, you got much more than what you ordered. You contacted them and they apologised, then sorted out a way to get the product returned and cover all the costs involved. Plus they let you cut the roll instead of sending it back and waiting for the right length to be sent. That was really nice of them id say. I really fail to see the issue here other than they didn't apologise 3 times over to you (and thank you).

Just to add, i've never had anything but good service from paragear. In fact I ordered a dvd from them a few months ago and it arrived scratched so it only played about half of the video. I contacted them and they apologised once (that is all that is needed, I dont need to be gushed over), and they promptly sent me another copy at their own cost. Keep in mind I live in South Africa so sending me something again at their own cost is a significant thing to do.

Anyway, lame thread. Lame complaint.

[riggerpaul 1]

I want to be sure I am clear. They sent you a new full spool, but they BILLED you for 1 yard?

[berchtoldaj 0]

It sounds like Paragear handled the problem effiently and effectively to me. Paragear ended the call with an apology"and I'm sorry about this" If you wait for every person in business who makes a mistake to get down on their knees and beg for your forgiveness, I am sorry to say, you will probably be disappointed for the remainder of your life. Instead of groveling at your feet, they were busy focused on fixing the mistake at no cost to you, with the exception of your time.
From recieving the package on Friday, you had a resolution the very next business day, Monday. Sure they don't work on weekends, but not a lot of businesses do. And I dare to say that if one business day made your job fall behind schedule than maybe you should have started earlier or left yourself a more reasonable amount of time to complete your job or contract.

Good job Paragear.

************
Watch out for planters.

[NovaTTT 1]

Quote

You want praise for not being a crook?

Um....no, Terry. A simple thank you isn't praise. It's a courteous acknowledgment of another's effort. I was raised and brought my kids up knowing that honesty is its own reward, and in personal matters that is more than enough for me.

But in customer relations, there is a need to care for that customer. Is the customer always right? Of course not. Should the customer always be left feeling valued? In most cases, and good businesses make sure they do.

Have you never had somebody do you a favour, Terry? Did you say thank you? Is that praise??

I am getting a real kick out of this thread and I'm increasingly thrilled I made the OP.

I didn't post "Shitty Service!", or "I Got Screwed!!" I posted "poor" and "lackluster" to describe the semi-rude, thankless and unapologetic (except for one anemic and almost undelivered sorry) service.

The imaginations and seeming inability to understand the OP by most subsequent posters is causing me terrific amusement! And Pash: you assume too much in trying to understand my brief comment about the value of my time. My comment, while accurate, is made only to counterpoint the "bill for $1" comment. No need trying to recreate an elephant from examining a hair.

Post more, though! I'm loving it and the bandwidth is here to be used - it's like air. It's a valuable commodity when it's in short supply but otherwise, use it at will.

Finally, nothing has been added to this by subsequent posts that wasn't included in the OP. That's what I find so funny! I'm not looking for advice or reviews (but they're welcome, I assure you!). Like Sparky mentioned, a discussion of CS about this vendor seems the logical way to progress.

Logic and skydivers: it's not just a fantasy combination.

Is it?

Nova


PS to Pash: Apropos nothing, time and the value thereof isn't measured for all of us in how many swings of the hammer we make, how many screws we turn or how many papers we shuffle. My time is valuable to me - as anyone's time is valuable to himself. But there is a thing called multi-tasking and while jotting this post, I also billed several Benjamins. It's like Janis said: Get it while you can.


(edited to add: In Reply To)

"Even in a world where perfection is unattainable, there's still a difference between excellence and mediocrity." Gary73

[crazydiver 0]

Quote

Quote

You want praise for not being a crook?

Um....no, Terry. A simple thank you isn't praise. It's a courteous acknowledgment of another's effort. I was raised and brought my kids up knowing that honesty is its own reward, and in personal matters that is more than enough for me.

But in customer relations, there is a need to care for that customer. Is the customer always right? Of course not. Should the customer always be left feeling valued? In most cases, and good businesses make sure they do.

Have you never had somebody do you a favour, Terry? Did you say thank you? Is that praise??

I am getting a real kick out of this thread and I'm increasingly thrilled I made the OP.

I didn't post "Shitty Service!", or "I Got Screwed!!" I posted "poor" and "lackluster" to describe the semi-rude, thankless and unapologetic (except for one anemic and almost undelivered sorry) service.

The imaginations and seeming inability to understand the OP by most subsequent posters is causing me terrific amusement! And Pash: you assume too much in trying to understand my brief comment about the value of my time. My comment, while accurate, is made only to counterpoint the "bill for $1" comment. No need trying to recreate an elephant from examining a hair.

Post more, though! I'm loving it and the bandwidth is here to be used - it's like air. It's a valuable commodity when it's in short supply but otherwise, use it at will.

Finally, nothing has been added to this by subsequent posts that wasn't included in the OP. That's what I find so funny! I'm not looking for advice or reviews (but they're welcome, I assure you!). Like Sparky mentioned, a discussion of CS about this vendor seems the logical way to progress.

Logic and skydivers: it's not just a fantasy combination.

Is it?

Nova


PS to Pash: Apropos nothing, time and the value thereof isn't measured for all of us in how many swings of the hammer we make, how many screws we turn or how many papers we shuffle. My time is valuable to me - as anyone's time is valuable to himself. But there is a thing called multi-tasking and while jotting this post, I also billed several Benjamins. It's like Janis said: Get it while you can.


(edited to add: In Reply To)

Ya, my time is precious too.

Cheers,
Travis

[beowulf 1]

After reading your original post and a few of your other posts. I still fail to see a problem with ParaGear.

You come across as whining about nothing. You would have been better off not posting about this.

[timmyfitz 0]

I think it's time to let it go Nova. You haven't found anyone to stand by your side for your claim of poor customer service and I doubt you will. Why? Because it wasn't poor customer service.

Take a deep breath, have a beer and relax. The men in black are not out to get you.

[piisfish 135]

Quote

After reading your original post and a few of your other posts. I still fail to see a problem with ParaGear.s.

his problem is he had to go to UPS instead of having the UPS-man coming home for pickup.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM