Bass Pro Shops--Still Fishing for Customer Service
Written: Feb 28 '05
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So what is Santa (er, Mom & Dad) to do when an eight year old decides at the (relatively) last minute that a bb gun is this years must have gift? Well, shop on the internet of course!
After sending my husband off to look at deals and set-up's, he narrowed down the selection to a couple of models and left me to hunt down the store and any related deals. Enter Bass Pro Shop, a store I had never visited previously assuming it's just fishing gear. Not so.
What Can You Find At Bass Pro?
The short answer is almost anything you might need for the outdoor lifestyle. The long answer is items for Camping, RV'ing, Hunting, Boating, Electronics, Apparel, Footwear, and of course Fishing!. The site is easy to navigate and well laid out for finding what you want. They also offer a sale and clearance section that seemed to have decent markdowns on the merchandise.
Product Information could have been more thorough, but it covered the basics of what the packages contained. Not the best I've seen, but not the worst. Lucky for us, we were shopping prices and not for information.
Ordering was standard website fare, with a straightforward enough checkout. Shipping options included two day air (which I selected due to Santa's busy schedule), as well as standard ground, and overnight. Payment could be made with the usual cards, as well as their own gift certificates (also sold on site).
Customer Service
I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with Bass Pro Shops; up until Christmas Eve that is. When our son opened up his bb gun, he was so excited, and we happened to be at a relatives house where he could try the new present out for the first time. Unfortunately for all parties concerned, the bb gun never worked right out of the box. Enter the frustration of the customer service department.
I attempted to call Bass Pro customer service the day following Christmas, but was unable to get in touch with anyone. This was not surprising, or upsetting being that it was the holiday weekend. I instead sent an e-mail asking about how to return the item and get a replacement shipped out. The next day (Monday), I again phoned customer service and attempted to solve the problem. They explained that I needed to just mail back the gun via USPS mail with insurance or UPS and they would ship a new one out. I wanted my shipping refunded due to the fact that it was broken from the outset, and they had to check with a supervisor, but were finally able to get that approved. I then asked if they could just ship out a replacement with a return shipping label for the defective gun. My son was extremely disappointed and I was attempting to cut down the time to get a replacement. They again put me on hold and came back and told me that they could not do this unless the item was less than $50.00 (mine was $54.99). I argued back and forth with them and explained that they had my credit card and they could charge it should they need to. No go.
As I packed up my bb gun for reshipment back to Bass Pro I realized that nowhere to be found was the original shipping receipt and I would need to call back to customer service to see what I needed to do. This call was slightly less frustrating as they assured me that I did not need the shipping receipt to process. I asked this person about their policy of replacement and she told me she would be happy to send me another gun immediately, however they were all on hold from the warehouse and there seemed to be a manufacturer defect. I then decided to purchase a gun locally as the wait time to clear the hold was approximately a month. I asked her if she would send me a return postage label so I could just slap it on and send it off, and she informed me that they did not do that, but that they would indeed refund my shipping costs.
In the meanwhile I finally heard back from the e-mail I sent three days before. They informed me via e-mail that they were sending a return shipping label out to me so that I did not need to up front the return shipping. I should have it in 4-5 days. (*Interesting because I thought they did not do that). I am glad I decided not to wait for it, as it has still never showed up to this day!
Anxious to just be done with the Bass Pro headache, my husband and I dropped by a UPS store and forked out the thirty odd dollars in return shipping. EEK! I only paid $17 for two day shipping originally. They explained that Bass Pro had a negotiated rate and got discounts. I think it would have been cheaper for them to just send me one of their labels, but whatever!
Finally, I called customer service again! This time with my tracking number so that they could process my credit. The last customer service rep assured me that as soon as the bb gun was underway the would refund the entire purchase price and shipping so that I could purchase a replacement locally. Come to find out, that was yet another "mistake" the customer service department was responsible for. They never do anything like that, and I would have to wait for the package to arrive, via ground shipping across the country, grrr.
The package finally arrived and I called customer service yet again to inquire about the processing time for my credit. They assured me within 30 days this would happen. Now this was a far cry from the first customer service rep. who assured me they would process my credit as soon as they received tracking information. After dickering with her, and having my husband fax the receipt to them TWICE, they finally issued a full credit for the merchandise and a partial shipping credit.
This facilitated yet another call to customer service to inquire as to why they were only refunding shipping of $14.00 on $30 odd dollars in UPS fees. They replied that the charge at the UPS store they sent me to was too high, and it should not have cost that much. They must have charged me to pack the item. I assured them the bb gun was in original packaging and the original box, and the entire charge was shipping. So I got to fax yet again the shipping receipt to prove the charges.
Odds and Ends
Bass Pro does have some good website features. They offer buying guides and product reviews that outdoor fanatics might find useful to peruse. They also appear to book hunting and outdoor trips, so if that is your thing be sure to check them out. Just cross your fingers it all goes well.
The Bottom Line is that Bass Pro finally processed the credit and refund in entirety, however getting to that point was entirely too difficult. I have no beef with the website and its offerings and I understand that manufacturing defects are not their fault, however the lack of a standard response, and the slow lag time of e-mail makes me unwilling to purchase there again. There are just too many other retailers out there that get it right to waste my time fishing for customer service at Bass Pro Shops.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? air rifle
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