Club Obi Wan

I am still having huge problems with Wested-

Long story short- I ordered a jacket 7 months ago- still no jacket.

Let's recap my story:

Over the summer. I ordered three Indy jackets from Wested.

1- OTR Raiders HH
1- OTR Raiders Lamb
1- Custom Last Crusade- Novapelle

They fit perfectly.

I ordered one more in July- using the same specific measurements I had for the Custom Last Crusade- Novapelle.

It came a few weeks later and it was too small. It didn't fit like ANY of the others I bought from Wested INCLUDING THE OTHER CUSTOM JACKET WITH THE SAME MEASUREMENTS.

I contacted Wested. Gemma told me to send it back. I did with a reprint of my measurements and a note asking them to email me when the package arrives.

A month passed.

I contacted Gemma asking for an update. Gemma told me she was on vacation and hadn't gone through stuff in a while.

A week later she told me she received the old one and that a new one has been made and has been sent- AND THAT TRACKING NUMBERS HAD BEEN EMAILED TO ME. I kept saying I have received NO tracking numbers and no jacket.

In September, Gemma emailed me and said she JUST NOW received the original jacket back- and no new jacket had been made.

THIS IS NEW NEW PART OF THE STORY

I finally contacted Peter. He checked everything. Confirmed my measurements were ok. They made the mistake. On the phone he asked me to measure my good custom Last Crusade jacket. With new measurements, Peter told me a new one was being made.

By November- No Jacket.

I assumed since this had been going on for months and the mistake was made by them, they would have put my jacket at the top of the list. I called Peter. He said they were busy with Temple of Doom jackets and didn’t get to mine. Again, I’m told they were going to fix it.

I asked Peter if I would have it by Christmas. Peter gave me his word. Christmas came and went, and no jacket.

I called Peter again after Christmas. He said it was a mistake, and they would fix it.

THEY TOOK MY MONEY. 7 MONTHS AND NO JACKET. IT IS GETTING CRAZY. WATCH OUT FOR WESTED!

Ouch that doesn't sound good A person's word is a strong thing to give..

Most people have good experiences with Wested. You do have 3 other jackets which were perfectly fine so this last one is just unlucky. I'd deal with this privately as it seems like a few of mistakes at a very busy time of year (I'm referring to the past 3 months of your 7). *&%$ happens... I'm sure Peter will sort it out eventually. I understand you are frustrated, but most people get what they need from Wested so I wouldn't jump to conclusions. And I'm a G&B jacket man with no particular Wested interests.

Yeah, judging by your experience compared to others, I would say that patience is prudent. You obviously love their products, and it sounds like they have just been really unlucky and have messed up the same person's order a number of times. Peter seems like a great guy and I am sure he will sort it all out for you.

I know what you mean about Gemma telling you things and then the exact opposite happens. One day she told me that my jacket would ship tomorrow, and yet 2 hours after she told me she was about the ship it, the jacket arrived. I'm sure with the great products they make, they are swamped and having all those orders go through just a handful of people can be a real mess.

Still, keep on them. Be understand, but firm.

Well, zeeno. I don't blame you for being upset. And after 7 months, airing your frustrations on the board seem reasonable to me. Still, I would continue to stay in touch with them, and remain civil (but firm). I have read many accounts of Gemma's inaccuracies, additional to yours, so I think dealing with Peter only at this point is justified.

Keep fighting, and good luck.

I should have purchased a Tony Nowak. It is more money but I would have had a my jacket for the last 7 months. You get what you pay for.

Zeeno, bad situation and I feel for you. But you do have three jackets right now you seem to like, so you do have something to wear.

You really need to call Wested and get a final answer.

I have gotten a final answer MANY TIMES. They keep giving me their word that it is being fixed or it has been sent.
If this were reversed- I placed an order, they shipped me the jacket, and I decided not to pay for 7 months-do you think they would be as understanding as I have been?

It always seems to be OK when companies decide not to send you what you pay for- BUT when the customer doesn't pay for a product, that is unacceptable.

Your frustration is understandable, but lets watch any blanket statements that can be considered slams or libelous (such as bringing in other vendors or generalizations). Keep it objective and non-venomous and this can stay. If it keeps veering, it will be closed down.

A little oil greases the treads. Contact them directly, and ask if they could bump your order so it will be the next one made. I don't think anyone would have a problem with it since this has been going on for months. Calmly, politely state what you want and see if it does not yield the results you desire. Follow it up with a call until the order is moving smoothly through the process.

Zeeno, I feel for you. Did you inquire about possibly getting your money back?

I haven't personally had any problems with my personal dealings with Wested but apparently there are quite a few out there that do. Not that anyone wants to see costs go up but maybe if Wested were to raise their prices a little so that their order volume rights itself to the point where they can provide a little better customer service to each and every order that is placed with them - assuming that work volume is part of the issue here. They make a good product for the money that they charge but if you can't back up your product with a least decent customer service (some customers receive product in days, others in months and others never see product?) then that's a problem that really needs to be addressed. Not that I'm looking to buy another jacket right now but if I were I currently would be hesitant to do so from Wested as it seems to be more and more a game of Russian Roulette as to the level of service that can be expected and whether I'll ever actually see a jacket from them these days. Communicate! If the problem is not volume then get more/better help.

Again, I'd hate to see higher prices but something has to give and it pains me to see Wested exhibiting these types of issues. At the end of the day the only things that mean anything are your word and reputation.

Wested should hire someone to deal with communication. From my long time experience with online shopping Wested has worst communication of all.

zeeno wrote:I have gotten a final answer MANY TIMES. They keep giving me their word that it is being fixed or it has been sent.
If this were reversed- I placed an order, they shipped me the jacket, and I decided not to pay for 7 months-do you think they would be as understanding as I have been?

It always seems to be OK when companies decide not to send you what you pay for- BUT when the customer doesn't pay for a product, that is unacceptable.

Totally agree.

UPDATE

Spoke to Peter today on the phone. To his credit, he is trying to fix this once and for all. Basically we canceled the old order, and I started from scratch with a new order. We'll see what happens. I'll let you know. I hope the worst is behind me.

Thank you

Zeeno, good luck with your quest. Hopefully it will all work out. From what I have read, Peter is a pretty stand up guy and is easy to work with. I have not made a purchase from them directly.Hope to this year.
Keep us posted.

zeeno wrote:UPDATE

Spoke to Peter today on the phone. To his credit, he is trying to fix this once and for all. Basically we canceled the old order, and I started from scratch with a new order. We'll see what happens. I'll let you know. I hope the worst is behind me.

Thank you

Good to hear. Each time I have spoken to Peter on the phone he has been great.

Just spoke to Gemma again last night. She advised that she is sending out between 20 and 30 jackets per day at the moment...

I think I will wait a few weeks before placing my next order.

I'm another confused and worried Wested customer.
Please, read this e-mails question & answer between me and Gemma.
The question is simple: I want to change my shirt order to a S size.

ME:
Hello, I'm Dario and my order order number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
If you havn't just shipped my items I have a request: can I change size of the shirt from M to S? I think a S size suit better for me.
Please, let me know if it's possible.

GEMMA:
Dear Sir
Many thanks for your email,your order has not yet been shipped so I can change your shirt size to medium.

ME:
Thanks, but I want change to a SMALL shirt. My order was M, but I want change it to SMALL.
Thank you very much

GEMMA:
Dear Sir
We have now changed the shirt size to medium.

ME:
Changed it to Medium? Sorry but this isn't what I've ask for!
The point is: I DON'T want a Medium. I WANT a SMALL shirt.
I don't want to be rude, I only want to clarify my order change (excuse me for my poor english).
Please, confirm me that a SMALL shirt it will be sent to me.
Thank you very much

To be continued...

I've made some mistakes? My english it's far to be perfect but...it's so difficult to understand?!

Maybe Gemma has a sense of humour.

Be happy with your medium. Dry it on a 'hot' setting. ;-)

RCSignals wrote:Maybe Gemma has a sense of humour.

Be happy with your medium. Dry it on a 'hot' setting. ;-)

A sense of humor that involve my (real) money don't make me laugh at all...

I don't undertand your last line (I'm not so deep into the english language) but...be happy with my M?! Hem...now you have sense of humor!

Sorry but I've payed for a shirt that suit me well, and I've recognized the size problem just in time before the shipping. Now they must follow my request.
I'm wrong about it?

No, you're right, and you caught them before they shipped your shirt, so I'll be interested in hearing what you get when the package arrives.

Regards! Michaelson

BazzanoJones wrote:

RCSignals wrote:Maybe Gemma has a sense of humour.

Be happy with your medium. Dry it on a 'hot' setting. ;-)

A sense of humor that involve my (real) money don't make me laugh at all...

I don't undertand your last line (I'm not so deep into the english language) but...be happy with my M?! Hem...now you have sense of humor!

Sorry but I've payed for a shirt that suit me well, and I've recognized the size problem just in time before the shipping. Now they must follow my request.
I'm wrong about it?

You aren't wrong, if you've caught it in time you'd think it would be changed to a small as you ask.
If you do get a medium which it looks like you may, perhaps it will be OK, especially after you wash and dry it. Maybe

Bearing in mind that if you DO receive a M, and you DO the wash and dry trick and it DOESN'T fit, you can't return it.

Regards! Michaelson

I don't have any problem understanding your English. If I were you I would in this order if possible:

A) Try to clarify your point of the phone. Call Wested directly.

or

B) Send a Reply To All on the last email you have sent to Gemma and CC "peter@wested.com". Make sure it includes all the previous correspondence as you have posted earlier.

Yes, at this point I'm curious too about size of the shirt I'll receive.

Now all I can do it's to wait a logical answer at my last mail or send her another one.

But, with all the respect, let me say that this a paradoxical situation...

Don't Call Me Junior! wrote:B) Send a Reply To All on the last email you have sent to Gemma and CC "peter@wested.com".

I'll try this way, thank you very much! ;-)

Unfortunately I don't speak and understand spoken english very well.
The telephone road to Wested it's closed to me...

Why are people telling him to shrink a wrong size shirt? Maybe it's a joke, but his email seemed clear to me; certainly by the second email it would be clear to anyone.

It's not funny to tell someone to try and fix someone else's mistake before its even happened.

Michaelson wrote:Bearing in mind that if you DO receive a M, and you DO the wash and dry trick and it DOESN'T fit, you can't return it.

Regards! Michaelson

This is true. If when you first try it on it is very much too large, do not wash and dry it as it will only shrink so much.

Raider S wrote:Why are people telling him to shrink a wrong size shirt? Maybe it's a joke, but his email seemed clear to me; certainly by the second email it would be clear to anyone.

It's not funny to tell someone to try and fix someone else's mistake before its even happened.

It's not meant to be funny.

It just seems he will receive a medium no matter what. If he does sending it back would be the logical thing to do, but one has to wonder after reading others experience in similar happenings if it would be prudent.

Lets hope it isn't a problem and he really does get a Small

RCSignals wrote:It's not meant to be funny.

It just seems he will receive a medium no matter what. If he does sending it back would be the logical thing to do, but one has to wonder after reading others experience in similar happenings if it would be prudent.

Lets hope it isn't a problem and he really does get a Small

Before this post I was only worry.

Now I'm really TERRIFIED!








Just kidding...
I understand your point of view RC, but it's ridiculous I have to buy from them with my finger crossed...

I think it's time somebody said this flat out; Time for Gemma to retire.

I can't speak from that same experience, but their communication is terrible. Everything else seems to be good about Wested, but they need to work on communication big time. Their email filter constantly blocks peoples emails (mine included often) and even theirs. Not to mention, they seem to get so busy that they don't read over emails correctly. My question is, if it's been like this for months, why haven't they gotten a new email? As somebody stated Yahoo & Google are free and work excellent. That's not to mention the other countless free emails you can get.

If they practiced more on email issues and communication, I think it would cut down a lot of things. Like having to send back items, or defective jackets or missing details. Everybody would save money in the end.

Hopefully you get the right size!

WhipDude wrote:I can't speak from that same experience, but their communication is terrible. Everything else seems to be good about Wested, but they need to work on communication big time. Their email filter constantly blocks peoples emails (mine included often) and even theirs. Not to mention, they seem to get so busy that they don't read over emails correctly. My question is, if it's been like this for months, why haven't they gotten a new email? As somebody stated Yahoo & Google are free and work excellent. That's not to mention the other countless free emails you can get.

If they practiced more on email issues and communication, I think it would cut down a lot of things. Like having to send back items, or defective jackets or missing details. Everybody would save money in the end.

Hopefully you get the right size!

Totally agreed with you.

Thanks, I hope for the right size too. ;-)

One question I still have is about custom orders. I know they recently modified the online ordering and give a few basic specs and a small area for comments. Yet I still see people here with more extensive lists of specs. My question is are these jackets still at the custom price? Do they use a standard order form? Do they contact directly?

Raider S wrote:One question I still have is about custom orders. I know they recently modified the online ordering and give a few basic specs and a small area for comments. Yet I still see people here with more extensive lists of specs. My question is are these jackets still at the custom price? Do they use a standard order form? Do they contact directly?

Best ask Peter or Gemma

Raider S wrote:One question I still have is about custom orders. I know they recently modified the online ordering and give a few basic specs and a small area for comments. Yet I still see people here with more extensive lists of specs. My question is are these jackets still at the custom price? Do they use a standard order form? Do they contact directly?

For my customs jacket I've first send the specs list to Gemma to have confirmation that the specs are all possible.
Gemma ask Peter and confirm that alla my specs are possible.
Then I ordered the jacket in the normal way from Wested site with the basic options I want (ex. two inside pockets, extra gussets, lining, etc.).
So I've send them an e-mail with my order number AND the list of special specs, asking a confirmation that my order was linked with my specs.

By now I'm waiting for the jacket. When it'll arrive I 'll discover if all specs was applied to my jacket.

I've payed no extra money for my special specs (and that was a surprise).

I've not had any problems with any of my extra specs on my Raiders or the LC that I recently ordered but both cost me a little more because of the additional specs. The Raiders more than the LC because the Raiders required a pattern change while the LC was more SA cosmetics.

crismans wrote:...The Raiders more than the LC because the Raiders required a pattern change while the LC was more SA cosmetics.

Also my LC specs was only SA cosmetics. Probably that is the reason because I haven't payed extra money for it.

Update (and The End) of my Q&A with Gemma...

The last old mails:

GEMMA:
Dear Sir
We have now changed the shirt size to medium.

ME:
Changed it to Medium? Sorry but this isn't what I've ask for!
The point is: I DON'T want a Medium. I WANT a SMALL shirt.
I don't want to be rude, I only want to clarify my order change (excuse me for my poor english).
Please, confirm me that a SMALL shirt it will be sent to me.
Thank you very much

The new two:

GEMMA:
Hi
As in all my replies I have changed the medium size shirt for a small as requested.

ME:
OK, evidently I haven't understood. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.
Cheers

THE END...?

I'm pretty sure I have understand that SHE never understood...but, at the end, all seems ok. And that's is the most important thing.

BazzanoJones wrote:I'm another confused and worried Wested customer.
Please, read this e-mails question & answer between me and Gemma.
I've made some mistakes? My english it's far to be perfect but...it's so difficult to understand?!

Yeah i hear you. Thats what always bugged me. Your english is better than Gemma's which is strange. I ALWAYS recive that kind of answers to a simple questions from Wested. That experience is compared to talking to some HK sellers from Ebay.

Bazzano

Your English was perfectly clear from your first email and clarified in subsequent emails so that if someone read your email the only way a mistake could be made was if it was because THEY made the mistake

You should not apologise for your misunderstanding - you did not misunderstand and if you have copied and pasted her exact emails then what Gemma says is not correct.

Ken

Ken wrote:Bazzano

Your English was perfectly clear from your first email and clarified in subsequent emails so that if someone read your email the only way a mistake could be made was if it was because THEY made the mistake

You should not apologise for your misunderstanding - you did not misunderstand and if you have copied and pasted her exact emails then what Gemma says is not correct.

Ken

Thanks for your words and, yes, I've made a cut&past of the full mails text. ;-)

I know I'm right, but I've not interest to start a "I'm right-no, I'M right" war with Gemma and the first (wrong) thing I've think to close peaceful this Q&A was to make my excuses.

The impression I get is that they are so busy you'd better get it right when you order cause they dont have time to read emails and adjust orders. I'm guessing they get pretty snowed under.

Poor customer service in my opinion, maybe they should hire some extra staff.

Scott

rover smith wrote:The impression I get is that they are so busy you'd better get it right when you order cause they dont have time to read emails and adjust orders. I'm guessing they get pretty snowed under.

Poor customer service in my opinion, maybe they should hire some extra staff.

Scott

It's also my impression.
And I agree with you about the extra staff advice.

Yes, they need to hire extra staff or get better help and raise the prices if they must to accommodate their existing and future customer base. They're still one of the best values around for the Indy series jackets but that value is really all for naught if the Wested customer service is as poor as it seems to have gotten lately. If it's not consistently good then I would have to consider it poor - it would be difficult for me to recommend a friend to do business with them as I wouldn't know what level of service they might receive and then my reputation is affected as well. There's more than just the oddball complaint against Wested's customer service lately.

Well after 7 months of problems, I finally got my jacket from Wested. Peter did in fact resolve the situation. He was a man of his word. It fits perfectly. I can't wait for it to be warm again so I can wear it.

zeeno wrote:Well after 7 months of problems, I finally got my jacket from Wested. Peter did in fact resolve the situation. He was a man of his word. It fits perfectly. I can't wait for it to be warm again so I can wear it.

PIIIIICS...PIIIIIIIIIICS... (with "Zombie-Asking-For-Brains" voice)

zeeno wrote:I can't wait for it to be warm again so I can wear it.

Warm again?? Cold weather is the perfect time for a leather jacket! I'm glad Peter was able to get those jacket issues resolved. Now let's see some pics, Zeeno.

Kind regards,
Craig

sometimes it's just too cold for a leather jacket (one that doesn't have lining etc).. I feel the same.. when I got my first jacket, it soon got too hot to wear it.. December I got my 2nd, a thin lamb ToD, it was too cold!!

Emails are OK for initial contact and to gauge information, but I find when ordering items formal written correspondence is best.
It's harder to lose letters and they give you the opportunity to list your needs in a very detailed, concise manner.
(I sound like a school ma'm)
Cheers
JTW