Club Obi Wan

As topic says:
I have ordered my ROLA jacket on 7th April. I had problem with my paypal, so I asked my friend for help, he paid for it immediately and after confirming the order I sent the email with aditional specs - armpit to armpit, bottom width, pocket size and collar width. I politely ask for them and asked if it could be done. The next day Gemma replied that she would talk with Peter about it and would let me know. But I got no single response.
During next week I sent 4 emails to all adresses asking about my order. To my surprise, on last Friday my friend, who paid for the order, sent me the email with tracking number for my jacket. He got no more emails from them. I immediately dropped them a message asking if they had followed my specs.
Today my jacket was delivered. Of course too big, only one - bottom width - was made to my specs. The rest no. So I have wrote another email explaining my situation to all three adresses. I will wait, maybe I will got a reply tomorrow. If not, I'm going to call them.
I need to send the jacket back, but I don't want to pay for the postage, it is not my fault that they don't read emails or don't write emails when such situation happens. I really don't know what to think about it. It's the second time when Wested delivers oversized jacket and does not follow specs. I would understand if they wrote that it couldn't be done.
What do you think guys?

Honestly, what I would have done was to write Gemma/Peter about the specs first before placing the order. That way when the order came in they already knew what to do with it.

Tomek9210,

Sorry to hear that. I like Wested jackets but I've learned a lesson concerning dealing with Wested: phone call is the only thing you can rely. PEter is a great guy and I admire his work, however people at Wested need to improve the communication servide there.
When I ordered my goatskin, I sent emails and immediately I would call Peter to check if he read the emails, which he did, but I would insist many times and even be very annoying to make sure everything was according my specs.
Call them... my experience tells me you will get no reply by email.

Hope you can fix this...
best
tekors

The most weird thing is that Gemma promised she would let me know after she talked to Peter. Even if it couldn't have been done, I should be informed about that. We'll see tomorrow how the whole thing will turn out.
Thanks for support.

tomek9210 wrote:The most weird thing is that Gemma promised she would let me know after she talked to Peter. Even if it couldn't have been done, I should be informed about that. We'll see tomorrow how the whole thing will turn out.
Thanks for support.

Yes, wait until tomorrow.
No response, then pick up the phone. But talk directly to Peter and negotiate the postage issue.

You're welcome my friend

I agree with Nick on this...

It's always best to get all your requirements in as soon as possible, at the same time as ordering, if not earlier, and make sure that they're all written in one email, since the email response time is sometimes rather erratic.. I honestly wouldn't say that's a problem with Wested so much as a normal procedure in ordering anything that you want tailored... No?

We all know that Gemma isn't always online, and Peter doesn't deal with that either, so if in doubt, call them, or email beforehand and make sure that they know what your order needs and what to expect.. Then your order should work fine... If it doesn't after all that, THEN I'd say Wested had a "problem", but I think this time it's just an expected slip given the email/internet usage over at Wested...

Some companies have lovely internet availability, and I'd suggest it SHOULD be taken for granted in the 21st century.. But some companies don't, and I think allowances and expectations need to be changed in those cases..

I sometimes think Wested should only offer OTR sizing, like G&B. They'd still be great value. Customs seem to be too headache-inducing.

_ wrote:For the life of me I don't know why anybody gives these people their money...

That's how I feel about Mc Donalds!

_ wrote:LMAO! They put opiates in their French fries - didn't ya know?

I don't eat McDonalds... but opiates in their french fries? So, eat one and go sleep well...

_ wrote:For the life of me I don't know why anybody gives these people their money...

I fully agree with that! The service is abysmal, which is a shame as the product is good. 5 emails later and they still haven't gotten back to me with answers to a simple question on jacket sizing. Don't they realise that this is money they won't get until I get an answer? Actually, it is now money that they will never get. I've given up on them.

I haven't received any email, but I have called them. Gemma said that Peter would be in the office the following day, so I will try tomorrow.
Am I weird or the dark brown lambskin really stinks? It doesn't smell like my previous jackets, HH's smell was beautiful while dk brown lamb smells like vinyl or something

Tomek9210

I guess the smell will be gone after some wear.. the goatskin had this weird smell but after some wear and wash to distress it was gone. Someone said in a previous thread about smealling like fish..

For some reason the definition of insanity comes to mind. You know, doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results...

Too bad that they didn't answer. This may not be the thread to do it at but I'm sure people can give you several other vendors who deliver.

I guess that people continue because they don't know. Or they think it wont happen to them because they have an easy order or something to that extent.

My Wested is fine and I had no problems with them, but I am one of the lucky ones who lives only an hour away from the barn so i was able to see Peter and get my jacket in person.
And then there's Holt who has many Wested jackets and keeps coming back for more and he always seems to have great jacket after great jacket from them. I guess it's luck of the draw or something.
All i would suggest is speak to Peter and see what can be done about your jacket. I am sure he will come through in the end.

Joe

Why I went again with Wested? Because I appreciate the job they do and I know they can deliver fantastic jackets. But they must improve the contact with customers. That's is the basic thing in each company.
I hope I will make good deal with Peter tomorrow and he will agree to redo parts of the jacket.

Joeyeah_right wrote:My Wested is fine and I had no problems with them, but I am one of the lucky ones

I think you just nailed it without realizing it. Should a customer have to be "one of the lucky ones"?

And Holt DID have problems with Wested previously. There was one big thread about it not long ago.

Best of luck to you Tomek.

Joeyeah_right wrote:My Wested is fine and I had no problems with them, but I am one of the lucky ones who lives only an hour away from the barn so i was able to see Peter and get my jacket in person.
And then there's Holt who has many Wested jackets and keeps coming back for more and he always seems to have great jacket after great jacket from them. I guess it's luck of the draw or something.
All i would suggest is speak to Peter and see what can be done about your jacket. I am sure he will come through in the end.

Joe

I'm assuming Holt's jacket orders are filled correctly because Holt knows how to manhandle Gemma and Peter to make sure that he leaves nothing to chance such as Gemma forgetting to convey a message to Peter, or Peter just forgetting something. I'm also suspecting Holt has no problems because he's threatened to give Peter a personal Tai Kwon Do demonstration if he gets the order wrong again.

I have an OTR. It was a pretty straight forward experience. I sent out an initial email with questions regarding sizing and got a reply the next day from Gemma. I didn't get all my questions answered, but had enough to go on. Later on, I had another question which took them 2 weeks to get back to me on, and again, some of the items I inquired about were left out.
The tone was always polite, but I walked away with a sense that someone wasn't really focused on the details. So, between that vibe through email and reading others' experiences here, I'd say I'd be reluctant to place any custom orders with them. I love my OTR Wested. Wear it everyday. But that's as far as I'd be willing to gamble on it, I'm afraid. And it does sound like it's somewhat of a gamble there.

I've just talked with Peter about it. He said that I should send it back and he will make it smaller. We'll see if I get some refund for the shipping costs. I will drop him a message but I think the best thing I can do so that he will see my specs for sure will be sending them with my jacket. I will write them on a piece of paper and include to the jacket.
He said also that they get too much special request and cannot follow all of them.
Heading for the post office right now! Keep fingers crossed !

tomek9210 wrote: He said also that they get too much special request and cannot follow all of them.

This is the kind of information that would be really useful to the customer and should be in bold type on the website.

Why do so many people have problems setting expectations? He's not new at this, and yet it is such a rookie mistake to take orders you can't fill.

_ wrote:It's hard because they really don't give a rip about what they sell. If they cared it wouldn't happen. It really is that simple.

^^^ Exactly, well said _.

And as said above, if you can't do special requests, don't take the order. I sent Peter a message about getting a jacket made, never heard a peep back. Riley Barrie is now making my LC jacket and I bet it'll fit like a glove!

Tomek, I hope you end up happy and get what you paid for, that seems only fair, I think. Sorry to hear about your troubles!

_ wrote:It's hard because they really don't give a rip about what they sell. If they cared it wouldn't happen. It really is that simple.

I guess I was just giving them the benefit of the doubt in that I figued they did care about the product, but were just so horribly, abismally, and utterly disorganized and scatterbrained. I probably came to this conclusion because I can't figure for the life of me how someone cannot take pride in their life's work. I still like to think that all of this is a result of a lack of organization and communication skills, rather than an overall lack of interest in the product. Maybe my rose colored glasses are fogging up?

Hey tomek9210, I hope Peter mentioned what to write on the out side of the box, regarding repair of jacket or some such. I sent a jacket back and it was almost refused, I kinda had to plead my ignorance with Peter for him to track it down and bring back to the shop. Otherwise it wouldv'e been sent back and I'd have to pay the shipping again. And speaking of shipping, you'll peobably not see any reimbursment their I'm afraid. But I still hope you do.

Good luck, Croft

Ya, that did that with me. "To many special requests" when in reality I had a very very small list of extras. In the end they sent me a completely different leather then requested.
We constantly provide help to Wested to improve their service, but it's ignored. It's fairly safe to say that COW members do want to help Wested and see them improve. Not just throw rocks.

Aside from limiting the special requests, they really ought to limit the amount of order changes. They say a customer can change their order multiple times but those changes are rarely taken. Allow the customer to change it once and that's it unless otherwise noted. That way they aren't getting extra emails and it keeps things more simple.

I know it sounds like a no brainer, but I'd recommend keeping any documentation of the jacket. That just helps you out in the long run in case you don't get anything back or it's flawed again.

Keep us updated.

I'm located in Poland, which is in EU, so I don't have to write anything on the box other than the adress. Look here: http://www.wested.com/return-policy-3-w.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Shipping within EU is duty- and taxfree.
I've put a little letter to Peter inside the box, where I wrote down what I would like to have redone and what not. I will ship it today. I hope it will turn out great.
Thanks guys for nice words!

I just wish there was some previous wisdom about excuses. Maybe if someone of note had said something in the past about using excuses......

tomek9210 wrote:I'm located in Poland, which is in EU, so I don't have to write anything on the box other than the adress. Look here: http://www.wested.com/return-policy-3-w.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Shipping within EU is duty- and taxfree.
I've put a little letter to Peter inside the box, where I wrote down what I would like to have redone and what not. I will ship it today. I hope it will turn out great.
Thanks guys for nice words!

and with that I am locking the doors on this one. no need for it open. keep us updated.