The holiday season affects the level of customer service in a way that usually drops it to a new low. Surly salespeople make the season of “happiness” just a general downer for most of us. Standing in lines in an attempt to support the local businesses is time consuming but worthwhile for the community. It offers a rare opportunity to understand why the sales associate may be less than sociable or helpful. Listening to customers snarl as they can’t wait their turns or scream at their exhausted children or berate the salesperson for some infraction, makes me furious. Come on, people, behave like adults! The person at the cash register is doing the best he can and is probably wiped out from working at least one other job and often two. Be glad you have some money to spend. Gosh, I wish Bernie Mac were still alive. He could always tell America how to behave!
Before the Thanksgiving holiday, I placed an online order. Online customer service can go bad, too, but I much prefer to shop online. I had researched and searched for many, many days for a new saddle. I wanted a reasonable price and not some “discount” that was not worth the effort and would cost as much to ship as to purchase.
This is a big deal, as you horse readers know. First of all, I was changing to an English saddle after fifteen years in a Western saddle. Even though I had a wonderful synthetic Western saddle, it was still heavy. You may have noticed that “the HONEY horse” is tall, about 15.2 hands. Swinging that Western saddle up and over her back was starting to get old. How did I know I was going to like English? The barn has a variety of English saddles for many disciplines and was kind enough to allow me many “test” rides in an All Purpose. Like the name suggests, this saddle can be used for general riding, dressage, eventing or jumping. Honey and I just do general riding, nothing fancy. After a few rides in an AP, I realized that I felt more balanced and that Honey was more relaxed. Not only, was it light; it was so easy to use. Yes, Honey still snaps her lips when you tighten the girth but that is her sassy way of saying she is SO not interested in working. Horses are very spoiled at the barn and tend to believe that being pampered is all they should expect each day.
Now that I have decided that an AP saddle will work for me, which brand will it be? I knew I wanted another synthetic saddle and I really wanted a Wintec. The Wintec brand is known for quality and endurance and I’m hoping to get ten years out of it. (Ok, you youngsters at my barn stop smirking. I will still be riding in ten years!) I wanted a 250 AP brown saddle, basic level with no frills. So let the searching begin!
After reading more about the 250 AP and discovering that the 500 AP was being discontinued, I was ready to upgrade. Back to the search engine. It was interesting that lots of tackshops and catalogs were selling the 500 with prices ranging from $300 to $660 before shipping and taxes. This was just for the saddle. As English riders know, unless you get lucky and find a “package” deal, you buy the girth, leathers ( holds your stirrups on the saddle), irons (stirrups) and any other item separately. Step back and think for a minute. How much was I willing to spend for this mid-life crisis? That’s when I went bargain hunting. No, not a used saddle, just the right price on a new one. It was out there and I was determined to find it.
Days into this quest, after tabbing and marking so many horse sites I could not remember why I had saved them in the first place, I found a tackshop in Colorado…Fourwinds. (www.fourwinds.net) They had the 500 saddle in my size, in brown and less than any other advertised price. Did I mention that your saddle has to fit your bottom and your horse’s withers (shoulders)? Too tight on the withers and the horse is uncomfortable. Too small in the seat and it feels like you are in a child’s saddle. Not only that but they were offering an excellent price on a package with girth, leathers and irons. YES!
Let the good times roll! I sent an e-mail stating what I wanted and this is where the customer service began. John Throckmorton e-mailed me immediately to say that brown had sold out. Of course, I could not believe it so I called him. In the nicest way, he explained that the site had not updated when the browns were sold. Would I consider black? Well…that wasn’t what I wanted but sometimes things don’t always work the way you force them to. I wanted a spotted horse, black & white like Little Joe rode on Bonanza, but I chose the most beautiful Palomino Foxtrotter instead, the HONEY horse. Black looks good on blondes.
Yes, I agreed to black and added a black bridle for a few extra dollars. Three days later, John called me. Not an e-mail, a call. Thank goodness I happened to check voice mail while we were on our beach trip. The bad news was the 500 AP had sold out. The good news was that for $60, I could upgrade to a 500 AP Cair. Jack apologized for all this inconvenience while assuring me that the box would arrive on November 30. Deal of the year! Cair is cushioning system that makes your saddle feel like an upholstered sofa. All right, I am over my budget but this is the saddle I really want. So, YES!
Then Sister called to tell me that she and her husband would like to give me half on my saddle for my birthday!!! Wishes do indeed come true. Wow! Can I patiently wait for delivery? The husband knows that patience is not in my vocabulary even though I have gotten better since K’s cancer this summer.
November 30 arrived and ended with no saddle. Holiday deliveries can be a pain, just relax. December 1, no saddle. What am I thinking? I have been scammed just like Sister!!! Of course there is a big difference in price. Sister found the vintage car of her dreams on E-bay in late May. With online negotiations, phone calls and discussions involving not only the car, its condition, its location, transfer of funds and legal issues, Sister still lost $10,000 to an overseas scammer working with a middle man, Fred Colwell, in California. Since a bank wired the funds, this became a federal issue. E-bay refused to acknowledge any part in the scam until the Feds became involved and even then offered no assistance or remuneration to Sister. Bottom line: no car, donation of $10,000 to some jerk overseas! Man, can I digress.
On December 2, I called John inquiring into the delivery status of my saddle. John, you are so patient and polite. If I didn’t know you were from the wild, wild West, land of my Daddy’s youth, I would swear you were a Southern gentleman. Customer service…is John Throckmorton. After John checked the tracking record, he discovered FedEx had somehow misplaced the shipment but WOULD deliver on Thursday, December 3. And you know what, that is exactly what happened! After a quick call to John notifying him that I have received the shipment and that he will see pictures of the saddle on my horse, I ripped into the box!
Is it what I ordered? Yes! Lovely, brand, spanking new! Can’t wait to get to the barn the next day and do the first ride. Hey, girls love horses and all things horsey. The Wintec was almost better than a shipment of shoes from Zappos. Did the HONEY horse like her holiday present? I think so. She certainly looked mighty pretty. Photos of her new Wintec will be on blog soon.
Thank you, John for excellent customer service. Should any of you readers want order tack, please look at this site: www.fourwinds.net
Credits for photos from the Library of Congress:
Item Title:Saddling HorseAuthor/CreatorJones, Suzi, photographer.Created/Published1978-07NotesPeople in photograph: Wheelock, ChuckDigital IDafc96ran 43626http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc96ran.43626 Joy Morton riding a small horse attheOnwentsiaHorseShow
ChicagoDailNews,Inc.,CREATED/PUBLISHED1905.SUMMARYImage of Joy Morton, a boy, riding a small horse at the Onwentsia Horse Show in Lake Forest, Illinois.NOTESThis photonegative taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer may have been published in the newspaper. Cite as: DN-0002816, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. REPOSITORYChicago History Museum, 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614-6038.
ChicagoDailNews,Inc.,CREATED/PUBLISHED1905.SUMMARYImage of Joy Morton, a boy, riding a small horse at the Onwentsia Horse Show in Lake Forest, Illinois.NOTESThis photonegative taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer may have been published in the newspaper. Cite as: DN-0002816, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. REPOSITORYChicago History Museum, 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614-6038.
(the Honey horse dressed in English for a photo shoot and dressed in Western for a parade shoot…ridden by professionals)
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