When should we name and shame golf online store who has bad service?

[stevenbkk]

I just had a well known online golf shop ruin the start of my golf holiday.  They have a 'Guaranteed Ground Delivered" option with often noted "Same Day Shipping" all over the website.  I am arriving on Monday to the US with rounds set for Tuesday and Wednesday and have a new set of irons, wedges and putter...and a new bag waiting for me.  I needed something to tee off so ordered a used 5 wood since it could work double duty from the fairway.  I could not afford to buy a new fairway since I already spent  too much on new irons and wedges.  Placed order on a Sunday so knew it would not be shipped until Monday (per what their wev site says).  In reality they did not ship until 5:56pm Wednesday, per UPS, and the club will arrive 2 days after the "guarantee" delivery, missing my two rounds... again from UPS. 

I stupidly thought I could quickly contact the company and let them know someone there messed up and it will mess up my golf holiday, so quickly send me another option via Next Day Air.  There solution was I could order another club on their website and choose faster delivery system myself and just keep paying.  They said they would only "consider refunding" the 6.99 paid for the guaranteed shipping.  

I wrote back explaining again what their website says.  I proposed we come to a fair deal on a used 4h that I could use instead of the 5 wood, since the 5w would eventually still show up and I dont need 2.  I was not opposed to paying for the 4h but felt they should pay themselves for Next Day Air and it needs to happen today if it will get there on 22nd.   They wrote back saying they have been busy with alot of orders and had some power problems at their warehouse so delays resulted but they won't help with anything else, not even a new rush order, and to contact them after the order is delivered late for them to consider refunding my $6.99 paid to upgrade shipping from free to guaranteed.  

Many of us travel to golf. We often order things and rely on guarantees from shops to delivery what was ordered on the date it is meant to be delivered.  I dont want to flame someones business online because a few uncaring people who work there but also know that if thet can ruin my golf holiday, and show no sign of caring, then they could do same to others... so people should know they are unreliable.

 

 

 

   

[MGoBlue100]

My opinion:  Light 'em up!  Bad service is bad service, and hopefully you'll save another Spy from having the same thing happen to them.  It's about all you have left at this point...  #IAbhorBadCustomerService 

[TR1PTIK]

I'm not going to lie. If your expectations revolved around a perfectly timed delivery, then perhaps the company isn't the only one at fault here. I'm not saying they are blameless, but I'm sure you've had this planned for some time and could have ordered something sooner. 

They are still on the hook for their same-day shipping policy, but a refund s&h is all you should reasonably expect.

A word of caution for the future: all a company has to do is print a label in order for the tracking number to appear on a carrier's site. It's not uncommon to have them print a label, slap it on a box, and take it to the carrier/have it picked up the next day. It all just depends on pick-up and delivery schedules.

[stevenbkk]

12 hours ago, TR1PTIK said:

I'm not going to lie. If your expectations revolved around a perfectly timed delivery, then perhaps the company isn't the only one at fault here. I'm not saying they are blameless, but I'm sure you've had this planned for some time and could have ordered something sooner. 

They are still on the hook for their same-day shipping policy, but a refund s&h is all you should reasonably expect.

A word of caution for the future: all a company has to do is print a label in order for the tracking number to appear on a carrier's site. It's not uncommon to have them print a label, slap it on a box, and take it to the carrier/have it picked up the next day. It all just depends on pick-up and delivery schedules.

If the company did not make such a big deal on their website about their commitment to ship ASAP, 'usually same day' then I might agree with you.  But they do.  This label was printed at the end of 3rd business day, per UPS.  Also, if a company has expedited shipping options for a fee, which this was, then they should deliver the expedited service they charged for in relation to the complete order.   I made a purchase linked to paying an extra charge to get club on time.  There was actually still time for them to fulfill this as I offered to pay for a hybrid to fill the gap if they would cover the shipping to get it to me on time.  Their excuse of being too busy and having some power problems at warehouse are both issues that should be properly managed by a company, not excuses to customers.  They clearly do not expedite anything.  

I agree it is also my fault for trusting a company who can hide online never having to actually see the customers they obviously don't value.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, stevenbkk said:

If the company did not make such a big deal on their website about their commitment to ship ASAP, 'usually same day' then I might agree with you.  But they do.  This label was printed at the end of 3rd business day, per UPS.  Also, if a company has expedited shipping options for a fee, which this was, then they should deliver the expedited service they charged for in relation to the complete order.   I made a purchase linked to paying an extra charge to get club on time.  There was actually still time for them to fulfill this as I offered to pay for a hybrid to fill the gap if they would cover the shipping to get it to me on time.  Their excuse of being too busy and having some power problems at warehouse are both issues that should be properly managed by a company, not excuses to customers.  They clearly do not expedite anything.  

I agree it is also my fault for trusting a company who can hide online never having to actually see the customers they obviously don't value.  

The bold doesn’t guarantee same day. As the company stated they were faced with large number of orders plus other unexpected power problems. 

Poor planning on your part to buy a club right before a trip and no guarantee from the company for same day shipping doesn’t constitute bad service. 

[stevenbkk]

36 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The bold doesn’t guarantee same day. As the company stated they were faced with large number of orders plus other unexpected power problems. 

Poor planning on your part to buy a club right before a trip and no guarantee from the company for same day shipping doesn’t constitute bad service. 

Actually the company did make a guarantee.  They had an option to pay extra for "Guaranteed Ground by July 22" which I paid for.  They did not even flag they would miss the date. It was the UPS Tracking that showed it.  

It was piss poor service.  I planned within the stated time

 

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

16 minutes ago, stevenbkk said:

Actually the company did make a guarantee.  They had an option to pay extra for "Guaranteed Ground by July 22" which I paid for.  They did not even flag they would miss the date. It was the UPS Tracking that showed it.  

It was piss poor service.  I planned within the stated time

 

 

Is there anything in the site that stipulates when an order will be shipped based on processing time? There are companies that state orders will  be processed within x amount of hours from at which point then the shipping choice is applied. 

They explained to you the situation that 1) they were busy processing orders 2) they had power issues which affects not only your order but all orders. Should they give free equipment or send a replacement on their dime to every customer affected? 

Them explaining to you the circumstances that led to the delay is something they aren’t required to do...bad service would have been not saying anything to you and moving on. They offered to refund the money spent on expedited shipping that they possibly failed to meet.

As was mentioned by @TR1PTIK mentioned you knew about the trip for sometime and you could have ordered something much sooner as better planning. Ordering something last minute isn’t proper planning, it’s an oh crap I forgot I’m going to need X because of Y...then buy x. That’s an emergency on your part and not the supplier. 

[stevenbkk]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Is there anything in the site that stipulates when an order will be shipped based on processing time? There are companies that state orders will  be processed within x amount of hours from at which point then the shipping choice is applied. 

They explained to you the situation that 1) they were busy processing orders 2) they had power issues which affects not only your order but all orders. Should they give free equipment or send a replacement on their dime to every customer affected? 

Them explaining to you the circumstances that led to the delay is something they aren’t required to do...bad service would have been not saying anything to you and moving on. They offered to refund the money spent on expedited shipping that they possibly failed to meet.

As was mentioned by @TR1PTIK mentioned you knew about the trip for sometime and you could have ordered something much sooner as better planning. Ordering something last minute isn’t proper planning, it’s an oh crap I forgot I’m going to need X because of Y...then buy x. That’s an emergency on your part and not the supplier. 

First of all I never asked them for free equipment I offered to BUY another club so please dont make stuff up.  It is a weak attempt to spin this against me.

It is not last minute to order something on the 14th and pay extra for a "guaranteed delivery on the 22nd".   Refunding what I paid for "guaranteed shipping" is not an "offer" it is an obligation since they did not actually do it.  

I sense some of you might know this company since there are often links to buy from them on this forum, and the negative spin is suspicious.

I will leave it that their company name describes not only their prices but also their customer service.  

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, stevenbkk said:

First of all I never asked them for free equipment I offered to BUY another club so please dont make stuff up.  It is a weak attempt to spin this against me.

It is not last minute to order something on the 14th and pay extra for a "guaranteed delivery on the 22nd".   Refunding what I paid for "guaranteed shipping" is not an "offer" it is an obligation since they did not actually do it.  

I sense some of you might know this company since there are often links to buy from them on this forum, and the negative spin is suspicious.

I will leave it that their company name describes not only their prices but also their customer service.  

 

considering you didn’t state they advertise on here or any reference to the company you purchased from I highly doubt anyone would have guessed you are referring to a company has links on here. There are numerous golf club stores with online presence for purchasing so it would be hard to make that leap. Instead what is happening is you started a thread asking when to shame a company and are getting opinions most of which are opposite of yours and the feeling that you were treated wrongly by the company.

those of us who are disagreeing with you have laid out our positions why. It’s apparent that no unless someone agrees you received bad service we are attacking you.

But again I’ll go back to the fact that you probably knew long before Sunday hat you were traveling and needed a club, but for whatever reason waited til a week before your trip to buy it. Also as was stated earlier by @TR1PTIK the company could have shipped it on the next day and it could be on ups part on when it actually departs depending on when ups comes to the location to get pickups or when the company makes a drop off to ups. Then ups has to do their processing and transfers. 

It sux that you will be without a club when you expected it but I don’t see where there was poor service by the company 

[stevenbkk]

We can agree to disagree. I have no problem with that. A back and forth of countering points is part of a normal discussion. 

Implying I was after a free club is not laying out a position.  It is throwing in an untrue statement to spin blame away and muddy the waters.  

That the company delayed shipping 2 extra days even though it was meant to be guaranteed is not in question.  They did.  The label printing date is clearly noted on UPS tracking and they admitted as such... because they were busy and had some problems at the warehouse.  Things thay actually could have been addressed by updating the shipping times on their website.... or flagged the next day when they knew they would miss the shipment.. or even the next day when they still had not done it... or the day after when they finally got around to it... but they never sent anything to let me know.  If I did not click on the UPS tracking link I still would not know.  They acrually sent me the standard "Your items have shipped email" still noting 'Guaranteed Ground Delivered On Or Before Mon, Jul 22" on the email!  ...but when I click the UPS tracking link I find the truth.  

...but maybe we have different ideas of what commitments and guarantees mean...as well as business ethics and customer service. 

 

 

 

[russtopherb]

28 minutes ago, stevenbkk said:

Implying I was after a free club is not laying out a position.  It is throwing in an untrue statement to spin blame away and muddy the waters.  

No one is reading that into the comments made above. 

We get it, you're upset and wanted to vent. Totally understandable. What's also totally understandable is the company pointing out warehouse issues with power and delayed shipments. If this company is located in a portion of the US that's been hit with massively bad weather recently (hurricane, flooding, etc) it's completely not their fault. If UPS is unable to make pickups due to power loss, weather issues, etc. it's considered an Act of God. The company I work for ships UPS all over the US. There are multiple times we create the label however due to weather or whatnot, UPS cannot make the pickup for a day or two, and then the shipment is even further delayed from there because UPS won't guarantee based on inclement weather over the course of the route from our warehouse to the customer.

Many others have already pointed out your delay in deciding to place an order, so I'll just close with this - a lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on their part.

[cnosil]

They acrually sent me the standard "Your items have shipped email" still noting 'Guaranteed Ground Delivered On Or Before Mon, Jul 22" on the email!  ...but when I click the UPS tracking link I find the truth.  

 

Yes the site says same day shipping and they sent the item late. Since it isn’t the 22nd, you don’t know if you won’t receive the package. I have had UPS packages say a date in the future and then change to the current day and be delivered.

 

I don’t personally think you have a complaint until end of day Monday. If it doesn’t arrive by then, basically you are just entitled to get what you paid for shipping back.

 

If it doesn’t arrive, you are fine to post what happened,

Caution others, and be disappointed that the club didn’t arrive as promised. Things like that happen all the time and just because they have ads in this site, doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes or have issues that cause delays.

 

[stevenbkk]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

 

Yes the site says same day shipping and they sent the item late. Since it isn’t the 22nd, you don’t know if you won’t receive the package. I have had UPS packages say a date in the future and then change to the current day and be delivered.

 

I don’t personally think you have a complaint until end of day Monday. If it doesn’t arrive by then, basically you are just entitled to get what you paid for shipping back.

 

If it doesn’t arrive, you are fine to post what happened,

Caution others, and be disappointed that the club didn’t arrive as promised. Things like that happen all the time and just because they have ads in this site, doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes or have issues that cause delays.

 

Agree, thanks. This is why I did not name the company. 

[Larryd3]

First question did the club show up on the 22nd?  For me, guess I'm in the minority but if the company charges for a guaranteed receive by date as noted above, then I expect them to honor that or be communicating a bunch of what's going on before I have to ask.  Lots of times, I wouldn't have purchased the item without that date guaranteed.  A business should live up to what they say they will do and if not offer a reasonable alternative to the purchaser.   

[stevenbkk]

The order did not show up on the date paid for, "Guaranteed on or before July 22".  It showed up on July 24 as it was labeled and shipped 2 days late. 

The company is Rock Bottom Golf. I have purchased a number of times from RBG because their prices can be very good.  Now I just need to be aware those prices come with a risk.  

They admitted they shipped late, with excuses, but even the simple refund of the $6.99 up charge for expedited shipping required I wait until after it arrives and send them another email.  They already knew they shipped it late and the UPS tracking was clear it was going to be 2 days late but might as well poke the customer in the eye one more time...   I sent them the required email after late delivery and they said they have processed the refund.  

I won't use Rock Bottom Golf again just because they really could care less that they missed sending this on time even though they took money to do so, and the order was actually placed with the understanding the items would arrive "on or before" a certain date.   

It was UPS, not RBG, that revealed this would arrive 2 days late.  If a customer is waiving the free shipping and paying more for "Guaranteed 2 days or sooner" then clearly they need the items then and the seller should say something when they know they missed the shipment date. 

Those of differing opinions are welcome to them but others could keep this in mind when ordering from RBG. 

At least it forced me to get in alot of practice with my 5 iron from the tee followed with alot 5 iron second shots.  Gotta look on the bright side.  

 

[chisag]

... Rock Botom Golf is just that. Rock bottom prices operating on the slimmest of margins. I would never trust an online discount company to deliver a package with expedited shipping. Their prices are so low because they cut corners, something I think most of us expect. I ordered 2 Black Tie shafts one in X and one in S. Four days later they sent an email to let me know they did not have the S in stock and could ship 2 X flex shafts. I looked online and the S was still listed as available because they probably don't have someone dedicated to their web page. Again, when buying shafts for under $20 that sold for $200 I am just not expecting quality customer service. If I want that, I will order from a non discount website or better yet, visit my local brick and mortar store.