Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A RESPONSE FROM A GOOD COMPANY

I disagree. Sometimes companies have to be reminded why they are in business. People should not have to fight with a "stand up company" to get satisfaction. It is great that Adam handled this correctly, but he needs to have a serious talk with his customer service and fix a problem gun for free.

Interesting thread. I doubt there are many among us who haven’t been put off by poor customer service reps at some point or another, over some product or service or another. It’s not uncommon to go over that rep’s head, whether to the owner of the company or the next manager up the ladder. No big deal. I’m dealing with a similar situation myself right now (not hunting-related) and am contemplating going over the sales rep’s head. Jorge did just that and apparently got the response he wanted. Again, no big deal.

I think what has rubbed a few folks the wrong way is where Jorge said:

“Suffice it to say, I planned to out them with every publication I know as well as several gun scribes whom I have a personal relationship with, as well as Dallas Safari Club etc. but I figured before I did any of this, I'd [write] Adam Weatherby a note”

Frankly, this comes across as blustering. But you don’t have to look hard to find posts on this site where some of the people who have commented on this thread have done much the same thing on the pages of one forum or another by trashing a product or service they had a bad experience with. I don’t know Jorge, but I doubt he has enough clout for any gun writer, gun magazine editor, or anyone in the DSC to go out and trash Weatherby just on his say-so. So, it was pretty much an empty threat, but just as important is the last part of the sentence “but I figured before (emphasis mine) I did any of this, I’d [write] Adam Weatherby a note”. So, Jorge’s cooler head prevailed; no threat of bad publicity was actually made (only thought about, or planned), the matter was resolved, and the company was publicly commended for doing so. True, Jorge did tell Mr. Weatherby that he would cease to be a customer if he was not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint; but as a consumer with many other options, that is his prerogative. Weatherby created the situation by setting a standard for its customers to expect, and then failing to meet its own standard.

and there it is........people who think they are better than others....are just a$$wipes..........bob

What’s this level headed and fair minded trash doing on this thread!?!?

If you’re not Uber pissed one way or the other, go to a more civil board like the Hunter’s campfire!

Hint...

Laffin...

Nah, the douches on this site are year-round douches, starting with the OP.

Big Stick is a dip sh--...

I sure am glad some of you people don't work customer service for me. First thing to look at here is what issue really ticked the customer off. It is one thing to have a rifle sub perform. That is disappointing, but wasn't biggest problem. The factor that escalated this was the flippant, condescending attitude of the customer service rep on that end. He didn't treat the issue the issue as a valid problem, and he treated the customer like a Ford Fiesta buyer and not a Lexus owner. Not only was the customer's issue not resolved to his satisfaction, he was pretty much dismissed by the company representative. THAT is the real issue.

In Jorge's defense, he knows Weatherby, and he knows what quality and image Weatherby has and wants to maintain. He shot a letter to the boss and let Adam know that the long held Weatherby standards were not being met. A good boss wants to know these things. A good manager appreciates honest feedback. A SMART manager and talented manager can handle customers. Adam Weatherby did just that. Adam picked up the phone, heard the problem, and pledged to help the customer out. Do any of you realize how powerful that it is to a customer? It is incredibly poswerful. It took Adam, what, 10 minutes to call Jorge, hear him out and win back a customer? In the end, many customers want to be heard and many customers want YOUR business to succeed.

I had a couple of my long time patients take me aside a year or so ago and let me know that a new employee was, well, kinda bitchy to them. How'd I handle that? I thanked them for feeling comfortable enough with our relationship to share that with me. It led to some positive changes. I thing the same will be happening at Weatherby. Adam Weatherby has his name on the front door, and it's his name on the guns. He wants Weatherby to be WEATHERBY, not rifles by ACME holding Co. LLC Delaware.

I read a positive here for both Weatherby and a long time loyal customer.

Hatari........he was treated like a ford fiesta buyer and not a lexus owner.......while i respect what you post, usually well thought out.......that statement reeks of a little arrogance.......which is the way jorge came off in his post....i think that is the rub here.......bob

Well said

I'll add more to the personal touch Adam Weatherby exhibted by simply picking up the phone. We ALL know that a message in writing does not always carry the same emphasis and/or emotion that the spoken word does.

In a situation like this, getting someone on the line to ask them "tell me what's going on" is really 99% of solving the problem. The customer will feel valued.

You two need to put your Mahatma Ghandhi playbook aside. Caste, really? It was a joke

car salesmen

Oh and the rifle's on it's way back, courtesy of the outstanding company Weatherby is, pre-paid, next day air. And just to illustrate what a prompt and good response can lead to, while on the phone with them this morning, I placed an order for their new Back Country 6.5 Weatherby RPM.

Guilty as charged and you can even upgrade little to "very"

As to the people that "don't know me" but say they know who I know or don't know, let's just say that besides being immaterial , I wouldn't have posted untruths but my point was the power of the pen and not the individual, "Letters to the Editor" do work (worked for me years ago with the Browning "salt" issue)

fair enough......bob

i purchased a brand new Weatherby accumark 338 Lapua,this rifle cost just under $2000.00 tax and all ,i mounted a nightforce 5.5-22x56 with picatinny mounts and rings made by Nightforce. this rifle shot terrible ,tried a different scope still shot terrible. so i called Weatherby they told me if i was not satisfied send rifle back with $150.00 and they would check this rifle out but if it shot within their specs of 1 1/2 inch 3 shot group at 100 yards with their factory ammo ,Weatherby would send this rifle back and keep the $150.00. i told them to forget it i would take the rifle to machinist who builds national bench championship rifles and puts match grade barrels on for around $500.00. with shipping to Weatherby and the $150.00 they wanted i put it towards building a much better rifle which i did. all`s i got from Weatherby was i am sorry you feel that way,I told this Weatherby person Weatherby has horrible warranty i wished Roy was alive this would not have been done this way and hung up. as far as i am concerned Weatherby can kiss my BUTT !

The "defense" rests....

The douche here is the customer service rep at Weatherby.

Bob,

That goes back to written vs. spoken word. Not my intent to come off as arrogant, and I freely admit I'm not Charles Dickens with the keyboard. Very few of us are well enough trained and practiced to nail a complete thought/idea/emotion in a paragraph laid down in 5 minutes or less. I kant evin git spel chekker to fix my tipos sum of the thyme......

The paramount point I was attempting to make is that Weatherby is a premium product. They've positioned themselves as a cut above for 60 years or more. Better customer service and better handling of the customer could and should be expected, and it fell short here.

As far as Jorge coming off brusque, again let's go back to personal abilities with the written word and a person's training and experience. Jorge is a military lifer. You are going to get things, short, blunt and to the point. There is little place for subtlety in military writing or evaluations. Raw and unvarnished. It doesn't always read well. Hence my compliment of Adam Weatherby phoning him. "Dude, what's on your mind?". That personal verbal contact eliminates the other shortcomings.

Read Big Stick if you to see shortcomings in writing - unless you take it as comedy, in which case he could be a genius. I'm not sure he speaks English, though.....

Alwaysoutdoor:

Not necessarily. Weatherby's policy is to charge for verification of the accuracy warranty. The policy came down from Mr. Weatherby. The question then becomes does the rep have the authority to override company policy and if so under what circumstance. I'm sure this situation arrises more than infrequently, especially when different shooting abilities are factored in.

What guidelines are given the representative in order to allow them to make the decision. Because without them, they have a fractured policy. Others have mentioned that Andy Weatherby is a fine guy, however this policy seems to be area that needs to be visited, in that one customer agrees and another is arrogant. The rep is then supposed to know when or guess when to override the policy, and do it without aggravating a customer. Poor policy if that is the case.

Or maybe Chip is following policy. First try to get them to pay, but if they scream, threaten and yell, then go along and we upstairs will take it from there.


Hatari:

True when Jorge is working under his military employment. However, that gives him no authority, right or privilege to be short, blunt or arrogant in his dealing with civilians.

How many more times are you going to come on this thread to make excuses for a poor attempt to bitch about a product and customer service?