Tarptents bad ordering customer service

[Kingsleythelost]

Im not sure of the product yet though as it hasnt even been sent.

I ordered my tent from them over a week ago and ordered the double rainbow because of a few things including the fact they were "In Stock". I told TT that i needed the tent by a certain date as im going away and also paid thier top level delivery price. I asked for the tent to be seam sealed (why they are not as standard is beyond me).

Here we are less than a week before i need it after me sending them an email i was told they couldn't seam seal because the weather was raining then windy and they were hopeful for a non rainy period in the coming weeks...for *&^%$# sake!

Im presuming by the amount of activity on this site about them they are selling a lot of tents. But to me this seems like a backyard two bit organisation with a descent product. This is obviously only my personal experience and opinion ....

In this era of internet and world wide delivery this seems like bad service. Not only does it take what seems like weeks to send the package ive now goto deal with USPS

They got my money and i need gratification Disgruntled consumer

[Kingsleythelost]

Dear Kingsley,

You were not charged when you ordered—it was as a credit card authorization, not a charge. You did not “pay extra money” because you were never charged.

Seam-sealing is an outdoor process that takes time and we told you that when you requested seam-sealing. When the wind and weather conspire, we are unable to seam-seal.

We reserve the right to not sell to people we deem not well-suited to our products. We have now voided the transaction authorization and canceled your order.

Henry Shires

Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
ph: 650-587-1548
fax: 801-459-9526
e-mail: info@tarptent.com
web: http://www.tarptent.com

On Nov 22, 2013, at 12:19 PM, kingsley <removed> wrote:


I really cant believe you guys have done that to me. Ive heard great reviews about your products but cant believe the service is this bad,

I paid extra money for prompt delivery also stated I needed the tent by a given date, Was told that it would be shipped and it wasn’t. No one bothered to mention anything too me. You have also effectivly charged me for a tent that has not been sent. I know you only put a hold on the money but it doesn’t leave it in my pocket.

I understand that seaming can be a smelly business but if our running a two bit organization that relys on good weather to get the job done? I know lots of people here in Oz that use your tents im imagining you have a lot of tents sold and sealed maybe its time to invest in an indoor area, what happens if it rains for a month?

Im looking forward to getting the tent but very disappointed in the service im receiving


From: Orders@tarptent.com [mailto:orders@tarptent.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 7:03 AM
To: kingsley
Subject: Re: Thank you for your Tarptent order [331995]

OK. Should we include the seam seal kit?

On Nov 22, 2013, at 11:54 AM, kingsley <Removed> wrote:



Don't worry ill seal it myself please send the tent as I need it soon

Thx

Sent from my iPhone

On 23 Nov 2013, at 3:31 am, "Orders@tarptent.com" <orders@tarptent.com> wrote:
Hi Kingsley,
We are waiting for our weather to stabilize as the seam sealing is done outside. The last few days we have had rain. The next few days we have very high winds. Hopefully next week we will have a few clear days to seam seal. Once the tent is seam sealed we will email you a tracking code.

Regards,
Cynthia
Tarptent

On Nov 21, 2013, at 6:01 PM, kingsley <Removed> wrote:



Hi Henry can you please advice of my tracking number and sent date

Sent from my iPhone

On 16 Nov 2013, at 8:03 am, Henry Shires <orders@tarptent.com> wrote:
We can rebill your card for the difference. You don’t need to do anything.

Seam-sealing takes a few days. It will likely ship about the 19th.

Thanks.

Henry Shires

Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
ph: 650-587-1548
fax: 801-459-9526
e-mail: info@tarptent.com
web: http://www.tarptent.com

On Nov 15, 2013, at 1:02 PM, kingsley <Removed> wrote:



Fantastic how would you like payment for that? Also when will the tent be shipping I've got about 14 days before my next outing would love to take it ..


Cheers
Kingsley

Sent from my iPhone

On 16 Nov 2013, at 4:08 am, Henry Shires <orders@tarptent.com> wrote:
Thanks very much for you order. We will seam-seal ($25) it before shipping.

Henry Shires

Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
ph: 650-587-1548
fax: 801-459-9526
e-mail: info@tarptent.com
web: http://www.tarptent.com

On Nov 14, 2013, at 10:06 PM, kingsley <removed> wrote:



Can I please get the tent sealed thanks

Sent from my iPhone



On 15 Nov 2013, at 11:56 am, orders@tarptent.com wrote:

Date: Nov 14, 2013
Order ID: 331995
Paid by Credit Card
Ship Via: Intl Express Mail

Billing Address:
<removed>
AU

Shipping Address:
Kingsley
<Removed>
AU

Qty Price Item
---------------------------------
1 @ $290.00 153 Double Rainbow (Pole and Breathable Liner Options: Carbon(-2oz)/no liner)


Subtotal: $290.00
CA Sales Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $65.00
Order Total: $355.00

Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
ph: 650-587-1548
fax: 801-459-9526
e-mail: info@tarptent.com
web: http://www.tarptent.com



Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959
650-587-1548
info@tarptent.com






Tarptent
12213 Koswyn Ct.
Nevada City, CA 95959
650-587-1548
info@tarptent.com

[Kingsleythelost]

Wow what a joke

[wayno]

thats not on, cancelling your order after all this time.. and the delays involved, that looks spiteful , they should well know how reliant people can be on getting equipment by a set date, you waited and their answer was to cancel your order because you wrote something to them they werent happy about...

[Kingsleythelost]

IM kinda flabigastered and at the same time let down i did really want the product after much looking around.

There's a lesson there on customer service and i take some blame as my reply wasnt what id call professional either. In the end i just wanted a tent in a time frame. I guess its a kinda blessing imagine if something was actually wrong with the tent after getting it all the way to AUS id imagine the service would be much the same.

[photohiker]

Kingsley,

You have published your contact details on this website including your address. This is not wise. I suggest you contact a moderator and have the details removed.

Hope things work out for your tent. Did you contact Franco, I'm sure he would have oiled the wheels of industry.

I've bought a couple of tents from tarptent and the service has been great, but then again I haven't gotten stuck into them for a delay. I understand they are a small cottage business, if they say they don't have an indoor space for seam sealing, I'd believe them. I also think most people who buy tarptents do their own seam sealing, it ain't rocket science.

In fact, I thought Franco does the seam sealing for Aussie orders at his home in Melbourne. Perhaps he is away?

[Strider]

The reason TT's are not seam sealed from factory is because they do not have a huge indoor space to set up hundreds of tents. Australian orders requesting sealing are done by Franco at his house in Melbourne. It is also cheaper for you to do it yourself. If you are willing to get TT to do it for you you will be in the lap of the gods with regards to weather - this is not just fair but unavoidable.

Yes TT are not a commercial outfit. They are a cottage manufacturer. This should have been fairly obvious from your research of the product.

[Kingsleythelost]

Good point it was posted in disbelief and anger...Ive removed my personal details from the email chain.

When you say good customer service did you ask for a delivery time frame? Or just accept they would take many weeks to come? Did you also have any issues with your product that they sorted out in a prompt manner?

This is my first time ordering from them. Im guessing it will be the last. I would love to sort it out and even sent Henry an apology and asked him if we can turn this around...No reply as yet!

Honestly the first time this has ever happened to me ...deemed not fit for a product!

[Kingsleythelost]

The reason TT's are not seam sealed from factory is because they do not have a huge indoor space to set up hundreds of tents. Australian orders requesting sealing are done by Franco at his house in Melbourne. It is also cheaper for you to do it yourself. If you are willing to get TT to do it for you you will be in the lap of the gods with regards to weather - this is not just fair but unavoidable.

Yes TT are not a commercial outfit. They are a cottage manufacturer. This should have been fairly obvious from your research of the product.

As you can see from my email i asked specifically about sealing and a delivery time frame. And made it known when i needed the tent.

If they couldn't achieve this i would have expected a small cottage organisation to handle their customers better since it is just small and cottage. I wasnt given the option of sealing in Oz? And yes i would have done it myself but thought it better to get a professional organisation to do it they would get cleaner lines and probably use a little less glue than i would.

Also it was only 25$ for the hastle!

[Kingsleythelost]

Im actually also blown away by the support strider. I think hes had some bad feedback and now its time for damage control. Strider do you think its ok he cancels an order after a week because he got some negative feedback? Why would you divert the topic to seam sealing?

FACT I ordered a tent with a few conditions and paid for it....

FACT he did not fulfill his promise and now cancels the order because he couldn't handle a little bit of negative feedback.

[photohiker]

When you say good customer service did you ask for a delivery time frame? Or just accept they would take many weeks to come? Did you also have any issues with your product that they sorted out in a prompt manner?

My last tent from Henry was shipped in a couple of days and was on my doorstep within the week. What I didn't realise was that it was actually shipped from Franco's place in Melb as he had some stock there. Did my own seam sealing.

Prior to that, the tent I ordered took about a month to ship, but I knew it was out of stock when I ordered it.

Sacking customers is a valid strategy to maintain a pleasant, low stress and low cost working environment. In any business, you will find that a very small percentage of your customers cause you the most pain and expense keeping up with their demands and taking their heat. Sometimes, you can see the train coming down the tunnel and you can save yourself a lot of bother by sending the train to the next station.

[Franco]

Kingsleythelost,
Sorry you had a bad experience but not all that you posted is correct.
You have never been out of pocket because you have never been charged.
As it was explained to you by Henry, when a customer places an order the amount is put on hold so yes you cannot access that part of your CR limit but you are not out of pocket either.
The customer gets charged on the same day of shipping .

Seam sealing.
We do not advertise that $25 service exactly because it cannot be done during the busy season (that is the US Feb to Sept season) and no TT USA does not have an indoor space to do them.
Do keep in mind that bigger brands such as Black Diamond,Macpac and Terra Nova do not offer that service at all.

For about two years I did most of the seam sealing orders for the Australian customers however some complained that they had to pay for International postage and the shelter was sent from Melbourne.
This goes under the can't please everybody all of the time.
This is how it was done by me :

and this is TT USA :

the building you see at the back is the TT warehouse/shipping office next to Henry's house
(the tents are made in Seattle)

Now as it happens the DR has had a much higher demand than expected and well above the capacity from the Seattle factory so folk had to wait 2-6 weeks for theirs since mid January .

Anyway, yes you order has been cancelled, I hope you find the shelter you like from another brand.

[photohiker]

I just remembered, I did have an issue with my product.

When I was in Scotland using my Scarp 1, one of my Easton stakes that came with it started to fail on me. The top collar came off the top of the stake which made removing it from the ground difficult to say the least.

A couple of days later, I was in the campground at Braemar, and who should set up a Tarptent Moment beside me than Henry! I showed him the problem with the stake and he immediately replaced it with one of his own stakes on the spot. Now that's customer service!

Henry also schooled me on the correct way to put up the tent, I was a bit of a newbie with the Scarp back then and hadn't realised I should have the silnylon stretched and taut. So top notch customer service and on the spot training!

[icefest]

You insulted the company to the guy who owns the company. "Two bit outfit" is hardly constructive criticism.

Honestly, what do you expect? Do you have a right to insult them to your hearts content just because they will receive your money? It's people with this attitude that make retail work frustrating.

You would hardly mouth off and complain to your personal tailor.

As fat as the waiting goes, zpacks And MLD often have much longer waiting times.

Of course there are also threads like this that mention what the issue is with seam stealing http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... gination=1

[Travis22]

We're heading into the worst time of year for sending and receiving international packages.

Even if TT were able to get something into the post, over the Xmas period i wouldnt hold my breath for anything to arrive on time. What usually takes 1-2 weeks can easily blow out to double or triple that.

Ive got a purchase in route from the states right now and what took a week last month has now been a week and its still in the USA.

I dont blame them for not wanting to 'deal' with you after reading your correspondence with them. Id chalk it up to a lesson learned and perhaps if your really keen on the product get a mate to order it on your behalf and when it arrives it arrives, dont worry about it. Hindsight's a wonderful thing hey.

Travis.

[wayno]

i have to work face to face and on the phone with clients all day fixing peoples peoblems, i have to admit, when you're having a bad week or month and everyone wants a piece of you, you can get grumpy and i'd be happy to just cut some clients loose.. if TT are flat tack and all they get from you is a string of emails complaining, in the end its easier for them to just cut you loose and focus on the rest of their clint base, remember you're dealing with the person who is doing everything, in cottage industries, they make em and do customer service and complaints dept, the more complaints they deal with the less productive they are, and no doubt they want to focus on producivity

[Giddy_up]

One does have to be careful though, this thread will be pretty high on the hit list on google in a couple of days and if it puts 10% of the potential customers off who do the search on TT it will hurt.
I'm sure Snowgums would have liked another 10% in their bottom line!!!!!!!!

[Onestepmore]

I've been really happy with the service and delivery times from Tarptent, having bought two tents from them. The seam sealing was done here in Australia by Franco.
As a vet, I've 'fired' clients too. As a small business owner some clients are just not worth the business, stress-wise.

[Travis22]

I don't think this thread is bad for TT at all. Honestly I think it's almost good for them..

Travis.

[Bubbalouie]

Just to add to this thread, I ordered a Moment DW 6 weeks ago, I've had it now for about 3. It was also seam sealed.

I asked Franco a few questions about it and his answers were very helpful (thanks if you're still following this thread).

On the seam sealing, it is the best I've seen, certainly better than my Vaude (which is also quite good). The real kicker though is that they even painted stripes on the floor for me, I don't know if that's standard seam sealing service for TT but I was very very happy to see it. For $25 it's a service that's worth the cost AND the wait.

All in all I have had a very positive experience with these guys. It is important with the "cottage" manufacturers to go in with realistic expectations, especially around this time of year. When they're flat out there may be delays.

[Kingsleythelost]

I didnt want to stir problems or make issues i just wanted a tent that i ordered and paid for.

First off about them not taking the money ....

They do a pre purchase on the credit card thus the funds are not in my account but instead held by the bank until the purchase is finished. So although he hasn't got the money i definitely don't have it! But lets not let the wording of one comment take away from what has happened. Because the email i sent has every correspondence ive had with TT.

I dont consider myself a bad customer ...yes i had a bit of a shot at Henry because he promised me something he didnt deliver. He personally told me the date he would post the item as the email suggests. He personally failed to notify me that he could not fullfill my request.

Some people might think there's more to this story but the fact is not. Every bit of communication i had with the company is on the one email line. Ive not rang and abused or sent other emails....And i would challenge Henry to pike up at this point if he feels this is incorrect.

I also apologized to Henry after my initial email as i was angry because i felt let down. I have not heard back from him. It sort of obscures the trust worthiness of any forum when there is so much vested $ in good reviews for a product . People tend to believe these more than say an add or an "independent" review.

I know forums are quite commercially sensitive , so understand why people with vested interest in selling TT are crowding around this guy. Why would i be black listed for one bad comment? I find this amazing? Why would people back this guy youv'e got all my emails above. Ill let you all figure that one out.

I also think you've hit the nail on the head that they are busy and therefore dont care about the odd disgruntled customer. Remember Henry himself told me he would ship the tent on the 19th and understood i needed it so i think he needs to take some of the blame here,

Again I ordered... i paid..... i was promised ....i complained (not very elegantly)...and i was told its all too hard therefor your not eligible for a tent from us.....this is bad customer service anyway you look at it. I never once stopped the order changed anything and was happy to use my old heavy tent for my trip away and was still excited at getting my new tent.

If Henry is the owner?? he should take customer service personally and take the odd hit across the chin like we all do when working in a service orientated environment.

[Kingsleythelost]

Franco i liked the pictures of the seam sealing and can appreciate the effort that goes into doing this. I never imagined it like that!

All it would have taken is communication from TT that they could not do what they promised and i would have been fine.

[wayno]

i wouldnt say they don't care as such, if they are under the gun,
like i say i work in customer service and you cant control your workload all the time, and sometimes you're just swamped and pushed to breaking point trying to serve people
it comes to the point he didnt have time to get into an ongoing discussion about the situation, he could see you werent happy, he's got a load of orders to fill so he'll focus on them , no doubt he's had customers before complaining that he struggles to please, and he probably has plenty of customers he can please... if you're working long hours to serve a lot of people, something has to give sometimes, at this time of year he's only probably stopping work long enough to eat and sleep... he will want to spend the bare minimum of time dealing with customers and hte maximum time getting the gear out the door.

[Kingsleythelost]

I was not discussing with him the issue and happy to take the tent when he could send it ....no more time or effort was needed on his part in fact less because i said dont worry about the sealing....you have every bit of communication ive had with TT....I let it go now there are lots of other tent companies out there that value customers their have great customer service.

Lets face it they are just tents that can be copied by anyone whose willing to pick one apart. Te difference with a good company and a great company is customer service. TT is clearly not great

[gayet]

...yes i had a bit of a shot at Henry because he promised me something he didnt deliver. He personally told me the date he would post the item as the email suggests. He personally failed to notify me that he could not fullfill my request.

Remember Henry himself told me he would ship the tent on the 19th and understood i needed it so i think he needs to take some of the blame here,

.

There is a bit of convenient misrepresentation in the above statements. And I'll quote from your posted email trail.

On 16 Nov 2013, at 8:03 am, Henry Shires <orders@tarptent.com> wrote:
We can rebill your card for the difference. You don’t need to do anything.

Seam-sealing takes a few days. It will likely ship about the 19th.

Thanks.

Henry Shires

Henrys reply to you was it will LIKELY ship about the 19th.

That cannot be claimed as a promise it will definitely ship on the19th. The main premise of your argument is unfounded.

Yes you should have been advised when shipping was not going to be the 19th. This does not absolve you of failing to understand the difference between a definite promise and an estimate.

I have no connection in any shape or form to TT.

[Franco]

"They do a pre purchase on the credit card thus the funds are not in my account but instead held by the bank until the purchase is finished"

I'll explain in more details how that works because the way is presented here is, in my view, clearly misleading.
Lets pretend that you have a $5000 CR limit on your CR card .
You place an order with Tarptent for $300.
At this point you have $4700 left on your CR limit to spend but nobody (not the Bank nor TT) has your the $300 , so as Henry and I already have pointed out Tarptent has not seen any of your money nor clearly we want to see it now.

[Kingsleythelost]

Its a debit card trust me the money was gone

[Kingsleythelost]

[b]"so as Henry and I already have pointed out Tarptent has not seen any of your money nor clearly we want to see it now.

Tha'ts the customer service i was talking about.

[icefest]

EDIT: Franco wrote a functionally identical post, I'll leave my bit here but feel free to ignore.

They do a pre purchase on the credit card thus the funds are not in my account but instead held by the bank until the purchase is finished. So although he hasn't got the money i definitely don't have it! But lets not let the wording of one comment take away from what has happened. Because the email i sent has every correspondence ive had with TT.

Seeing as you a bringing up the money again let's talk through how a credit card works. I think that you might not correctly understand it.

Lets go with the wikipedia definition: "It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them. The issuer of the card creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the consumer (or the user) from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the user."
Most of the time this credit is interest free for the first month (if it isn't you'd better have a good reason or be called an idiot).

The credit limit is the maximum amount you can borrow.
A credit block is a request by the vendor to the credit institution to reserve a certain amount of the credit limit for a possible future payment.

You are complaining that TT are getting a promise that you will be able to loan the money that you have promised to pay them, and to top it all off this is all on an interest free loan.

You are not out of pocket, you are not paying any interest and it's not even your money yet.

[wayno]

we can see it obviously hasnt been a pleasant experience for you mate, sorry to hear about that... just focus now on finding someone who is happy to provide you with a tent that you want...