beepbeep Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I've just had a very interesting conversation with 'customer services' at Soldier of Fortune. I bought some stuff off them, including some wooden tent poles for my US small wall tent, prior to going to Normandy. Unfortunately I was so stressed in the run up to leaving that I didn't check the tent poles and guess what? Pitching my tent in a field just outside Bayeux I discovered that the ridge pole was 6 inches too long!!!! I had to use duct tape to join the two halfs of the pole side by side. Back home this morning I rang up SoF to explain my predicament. The conversation went something like this....Me - "My ridge pole is too long, unfortunately I had to use the poles as I had no other choice"…. SoF - "We can't take them back if they've been used, what good are used tent poles to us?"…. Me - "But they don't fit an original tent and you market your small wall tent as an authentic reproduction"…. SoF - "You're tent must have shrunk, we've sold loads of poles without any problems!"…. Me - "By six inches, I don't think so"…. SoF - "Just cut them down and use a hand plane to plane down the shank to fit the aluminium ferrule"…. Me - " I work in the kitchen trade and you couldn't do that by hand, they need to be turned down on a lathe"…. SoF - "Well we're not taking them back"…. Me - "OK well I paid with a Visa debit card so I'll write to my bank to initiate a chargeback and send the poles back to you"…. SoF (now starting to lose his rag) - "You do that, we'll never deal with you again, you're obviously a b*****d!!!!" ……….and hung up!! I've had run ins with customer services before (British Gas comes to mind) but I've never been sworn at before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beepbeep Posted June 13, 2014 Author Share Posted June 13, 2014 Didn't expect to update this so quickly but I've just had a call from a very helpful lady at SoF and I have to pack up the poles for collection by Parcelforce on Monday and a credit will be issued on receipt. Good to see reason prevailing and glad this could be resolved amicably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25 pounder Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 thanks to the social media , this problem has solved itself , sad also that you were blamed at your first call , they never counted on you bringing it in public :yawn: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Cubed Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Yep the power of the internet, large companies have departments set aside to monitor social media sites just for this instant as a bad word or un happy customer can do much damage these days. Good to hear its resolved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 I'd like to have heard the 'debrief' the rude member of staff was given Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAFMT Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 And from my own experiences I only buy from Cost a Fortune if I'm prepared for the item to be wrong in some way. It's not always been like that, when i first started in the hobby I never had a problem with them, but when every Tom, Dick and Harry decided they had to dress up just to go to the supermarket, SoF switched to feeding the masses rather than quality reproductions for the discerning gentleman (which makes fine business sense but is frustrating for those of us who know what these items should be like) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beepbeep Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 It took a while, but after a chase up call on Monday, SOF issued me with a credit for the tent poles yesterday. Thanks for all your comments. Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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