Online buying horror stories...

[FullContact.com]

So before I get too far into this, I want to warn you that I do own a website, and I do sell MMA gear on there; but getting you to come to my site is not the purpose of this thread. Recently I was talking to someone in another thread; he said that he ordered from a company and it's been 6 weeks and he still hasn't received his items and that the company has been giving him the runaround. Personally, being someone who is in this business, I don't understand why it would/should take that long - so I would like to hear what horror stories you might have if you have had a bad online buying experience; so that I might learn from others mistakes. Also, I want to hear what you might expect from a website you would buy from and whatever outstanding service you may have gotten from others... to anyone who replies to this thread, I thank you ahead of time.

 

[DSHO]

Im going through one right now, or at least i think i am. I ordered a shirt on January 26th or this year....it was a pre-order and the dates got changed twice for when it was to arrive, so i kept emailing and calling just to check when they thought that it would arrive and now they wont answer my emails or my calls....so im hoping i am exagerating but its not looking good right now.

 

[Shadow Smurf]

did you really need to go point out that:

a) oh hey I have a website (because, like your username wasn't enough notice?)

b) you aren't advertising (but hey, let me mention I do own a website, and like don't go to it or anything)

Couldn't you have made the post without even mentioning that?

 

[finnegan]

*raises hand* I'm currently trying to cancel an order I made a month ago, and no one from the website will answer any e-mails. Not even sure if they are still in business. No updates to the website. Order in question is said to have been in 4 weeks ago, but no news.
Anyway, end of rant.

 

[ClampXVII]

*raises hand* I'm currently trying to cancel an order I made a month ago, and no one from the website will answer any e-mails. Not even sure if they are still in business. No updates to the website. Order in question is said to have been in 4 weeks ago, but no news.
Anyway, end of rant.

what website was it?

 

[finnegan]

It was a Canadian supplement website. Not technically a G&E website, but still frustrating. I was attempting to order some ephedrine from them. I've ordered multiple times from them before with no problem, so I'd prefer not to blacklist them completely.

 

[004]

i'm trying to spend $100 at muaythaistuff, but they won't return any emails.

 

[FullContact.com]

I pointed out that I had a website so that I could explain the purpose of the thread. I'm trying to further myself through customer service and less through whoring myself out like everyone seems to do... based off your responses in other threads, you should know a little about that. That's okay though, rag me for learning.

Also, I'd like to hear things that you have had done or would like to have done with a website/company that would have you feeling good about your purchase(s)...

 

[FullContact.com]

It sounds like most of the negs are poor communication issues more than anything.

 

[ClampXVII]

I hate CSI for their whole fiasco this week. That is WAY poor communication.

 

[finnegan]

Gotta add this one: I ordered two pairs of fight shorts two weeks before my fight from Title. Only one was in stock. They refunded me the money, but didn't let me know until I got the order and reciept. If I would have went into my amateur MMA debut in a pair of cheapy compression shorts, I'd have been pissed. Thankfully, the Sprawls i ordered were in stock. The Throwdowns, however, remained on their website as in stock a week after they told me otherwise.
To FullContact: If you have the time, e-mail your customers to let them know of order status, color preference, etc. Boomersmma is really good at this, and has earned me and my fight team as loyal customers because of it.

 

[FCFatty]

Im going through one right now, or at least i think i am. I ordered a shirt on January 26th or this year....it was a pre-order and the dates got changed twice for when it was to arrive, so i kept emailing and calling just to check when they thought that it would arrive and now they wont answer my emails or my calls....so im hoping i am exagerating but its not looking good right now.

it's not fight apparel related, but I ordered a US Revoltion & the Presidents DVD set from History Channel, and the date for shipment and receiving was pushed back a few times due to it being a pre-ordered item, and the sets being very popular. so that could be why they keep pushing the date back.

 

[Snake_p20]

I would like to add to this thread in both ways, good and bad experiences I have had with mma online sites lately. The bad, combatsports, like Clamp talked about. Three times in the last three weeks, maybe two, I have made orders through their site just to have them call me and say they were not going to honor the price listed. I understand occasional mistakes happen but it has happened several times. Once they went as far as to charge my credit card, got ready to ship the item then called me and said I couldn't have said item at the price listed, I could either get a refund or pay the full price. To me, that is just wrong.

Now for the good I have had recently. Boomer at Cagesidemma and Jeff at starsguards have been exceptional companies for me to have deal with. Boomer has been their to answer any questions I have had in a very timely fashion and is always willing to help. He doesn't seem to try to push you to buy this or that from him, he is just very helpfull and I respect that. My praise with Jeff is also for customer service. His business is to make just one product, custom mouthguards, and his attention to his customers is second to anything else I have seen. All through the process he has been there to give me his advice, answer questions and pretty much accomadate any request possible in the process of making a custom guard.

I guess in the end a bad website or a lot of errors inside of a company can make a site seem like a bad business, in order to be a truly great site (business) it is all about the customer service that is provided.

 

[fightstuff]

here's my 2 cents which may help to answer some questions for you. As a retailer we do like to dispatch as quickly as possible. However we have recently found ourselves going through a bit of a bad patch due to supplier's changing delivery dates. This causes problems from a customer service standpoint, because we will pass on this information to the customer and if this changes then it makes us look like we are giving them a run around.

Usually this time of year we (the MT equipment industry) would be entering our quiet period. However it is still really busy, which has resulted in sellers putting in more orders with the factories and the factories becoming back logged.

However this aside it's all down to customer service really, as a customer you don't want to be left in the dark. You want to know if the product is out of stock, so that you can make a decision to either shop somewhere else or wait for the stock to come in. However some companies will not tell you this, which is not good because it creates a bad customer service experience.

 

[Teedoh74]

I'm trying to buy a gi for the first time on the internet, heard some horror stories about onthemat.com, staying away from them. Hear a lot of positive about jiujitsuprogear but their website is down.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Budovideos is decent, I've never had a problem with them.

Ordered and returned items to ATAMA and they were pretty good about giving me options as well as refunding quickly.

Truth Fightwear (TXMMA) was really good, Paul gave me advice about sizing, and even when I changed my mind at the last second, he was able to run down my shipment before it went out and changed it.

But by far the best service I've gotten so far is at GroundandPound.com. I bought a gi from there that had patches that started ripping off and fraying after the first wash - I hadn't even had the gi for 8 hrs and I was already having to make repairs. Jim's response to my email was fast as lightning, and he gave me many options - return, exchnage, replacement. Excellent service.

 

[roccity]

MMAwarehouse.com is great! Super Fast Delivery and tracking information is great. Boomer at Cageside is very helpful too. Has good product knowledge and communication is superb. Hope this helps.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

horror stories: none
reliable sites: mmawarehouse, fightstuff, budovideos, bulknutrition.com, trueprotein.com

 

[mmaoverload]

horror stories: none
reliable sites: mmawarehouse, fightstuff, budovideos, bulknutrition.com, trueprotein.com

BulkNutrition.com, IslandSupplements.com, or Bodybuilding.com - it's hard to go wrong with supplements... there's a lot of great options out there

 

[Halli_iceland]

Never had any bad horros stories but i dont like website with bad comunication beacause i live on a small island in the pacific so sometimes it's hard to ship over here. But i stay with Cagesidemma.com and Boomer is the best in comunication with customer's and has execlent products. So i dont see any point in shopping any where else. And if i need like 1-2 items anywhere else i contact him and he will get them.

Can't go wrong with CAGESIDEMMA!!!!!!