Wednesday, November 19, 2014

3 Rules to Follow With Online Purchases


I will share a quick story of why I feel this post is important and I hope you can learn from my bad experience of not following my own advice! 
 
I recently purchased a set of name brand camouflage online and based my decision of the information posted on the manufactures website.  I purchased the camo in a set sale that allowed me to get both the pants and jacket at a decent price which was a great deal for me.  I saw one red flag which I chose to ignore which I would eventually come to regret… On the website there was a link to be the “First Person To Review This Product”…  It was odd to me that this company which is well known wouldn’t have a single review posted on their website concerning this product. 

Upon receiving the gear I was completely happy with the camo pattern, material, and cut of the pants yet was concerned with the cut and style of the jacket.  The jacket did not fit well and the functionality of it was not built for hunting in my opinion.  The length of the jacket was very short which barely came to my waist line.  The jacket was also very wide at the bottom which compounded the problem about the jacket being too short in the torso.  Between being too short and too wide, every bend or reach I would do, lifted the jacket above my waist line which didn’t seem to convincing to be “Scent-Lok”-ing (and yes I am making a reference to the product I purchased).  The tags on the gear stated, “Guarantee Performance, Quality, Satisfaction” which gave me the assurance that if I tried the gear and didn’t like it within the proper terms then I would be guaranteed my concerns would be rectified. 

I used the gear twice which produced the results I had predicted, being completely satisfied with the pants yet completely unsatisfied with the jacket.  When I contacted the company they originally told me that the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee did not cover the decision on me “liking the product” or not and that there was nothing they could do for me.  When I wrote the exact words which were posted on the tag, the company then told me the only option I had was to pay to send the product back and then get a $50 credit toward another purchase.  I asked them about the cut and style of their jackets and they told me that all of their jackets all followed the same basic pattern and that if this jacket didn’t fit me right then more than likely all of their jackets would fit the same way…   Due to the price of their jackets  and clothing, the option to pay for the product to be sent back and only getting the $50 credit toward another purchase was not a reasonable option for me.  As upset as I could have been I decided that I really couldn’t be upset at the situation and just knew that I wouldn’t be buying anything else from this company due to the style not being made for hunting in my opinion.  Even though I wasn’t happy about it, I couldn’t get to upset with the company. 

BUT THEN… I decided that it would have been very useful for me to have a review which said how this jacket fit prior to me purchasing the jacket.  I got on their website and clicked their link to be the “First Person” to review this jacket.  I wrote about how I am 5’10 and 180 pounds (not to abnormally sized) and wrote about how the jacket did not fit well.  I wrote about how the jacket barely came to my waist line and how wide the jacket was at the bottom allowing the nice cool October breeze to flow right inside my jacket completely defeating the purpose of having a jacket on… I pointed out that if a breeze could easily flow up this jacket, that I felt my scent wouldn’t be successfully “Scent-Lok-ed” inside.  After submitting my online review a page came up thanking me for posting my review online.  The next day I visited the website to see if my review was posted but didn’t see anything… A few days later I got on again and realized that my review was never posted… I kept checking off and on over the next few weeks and was completely disgusted that the company chose not to post my honest review to help prevent a customer from having the same frustration as I did.  I am sure that this goes on way to often with companies, but I can’t tell you how disgusted I felt that this company gave me the impression that no one had written a review for this jacket when in reality there may have been one, if not many people, who wrote a similar review which could have prevented me from wasting my money on a jacket that is designed for the mall instead of hunting! 

Moral of the story is that I will never buy another item off line without researching reviews written about the product.  If there are not reviews on the company’s website I will be searching online reviews from other sources and hopefully finding useful information before making the same mistake twice.  I will admit that I usually do my research and look at other bloggers and their reviews, but when I saw a sale on some gear I needed, I acted impulsively and came to regret it… My advice is to not make the same mistake I did and do your research outside of the company’s website.  I know I myself have posted some reviews on some gear and this is not an attempt to push my own posts, but check out many different sources to make sure the information you find is consistent before making your purchase!  Here are my 3 quick rules to guide your online purchases based off my bad experience:

1- Do you research to find various reviews.

 

2. Call the company and clarify what their "Satisfaction Guarantee" really means and covers.

 

3.  Don't act impulsively... If its an amazing deal and you think you will miss the opportunity, make sure you still do your research before making the purchase!



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