(I was initially) frustrated With Bear Archery, update page 5

[Pokerdaddy]

I met with Mr. Neil Byce, Bear Archery Operations Manager, this evening at the Trad Expo in Kzoo.

Mr. Byce was 100% committed to seeing that I receive a riser that is a 100% perfect riser for me.

 We had a wonderful converation, and I left knowing that Bear Archery would make it right.

I'm sorry if my initial post overly bashed Bear.  I do feel it was an accurate snapshot of my frustration, which probably did not need to be aired on a public forum.

[Josh Perdue]

Shame on who?    This statement cracks me up Kirk. Its like saying shame on my mother for busting my mouth or holding me accountable when I was out of line.

Good for the both of you, Im glad bear took care of you.

[R.V.T.B.]

Glad to hear that it worked out for you.  As I said above, I had a problem with one of my Bear takedowns a year or so back. I was more impressed with the way the complaint was handled by the customer service department than any other aspect of my transaction.  Like I said, Neil and the guys down in Fla are good people and I felt sure they would take care of you.

Post up some photos when you get your bow together.

[rraming]

No worries-spend your hard earned money and want what you paid for. Glad they were there for you!

[pdk25]

Well, there you go.  A lot of information to be had.  I am glad that they will be making the situation right for you.

[stujay]

This was an informative post, and good to see the bear rep understood your frustration. I hope pokerdaddy will follow up with how it all turns out with riser #3.

[Quickstick]

Tradarchers are humans with a great passion for what they do, for the bows and arrows they take in the woods. I can understand the frustration.
Great it turned out for you with the correction from
Bear . no shame for anybody ..

[Marc B.]

Originally posted by Pokerdaddy:
I met with Mr. Neil Byce, Bear Archery Operations Manager, this evening at the Trad Expo in Kzoo.

Mr. Byce was 100% committed to seeing that I receive a riser that is a 100% perfect riser for me.

 We had a wonderful converation, and I left knowing that Bear Archery would make it right.

I'm sorry if my initial post overly bashed Bear.  I do feel it was an accurate snapshot of my frustration, which probably did not need to be aired on a public forum.

 I'm glad its going to work out.

[bicster]

I would like to thank you for sharing your experience with us. I do think there should be a place for honest reviews both good and bad. Years ago when I used to rock climb the magazines used to give these types of honest reviews. Maybe they did that since a lot more was on the line than just money.

[sswv]

glad it's working out and I agree that there should be a place for honest reviews both good and bad.

[Zradix]

Originally posted by Pokerdaddy:
I met with Mr. Neil Byce, Bear Archery Operations Manager, this evening at the Trad Expo in Kzoo.

Mr. Byce was 100% committed to seeing that I receive a riser that is a 100% perfect riser for me.

 We had a wonderful converation, and I left knowing that Bear Archery would make it right.

I'm sorry if my initial post overly bashed Bear.  I do feel it was an accurate snapshot of my frustration, which probably did not need to be aired on a public forum.

wish I was there!
Good too hear for sure.
I did NOT want to loose faith in Bear.

[BigJim]

No matter what is said here, this was a negative thread that will probably still have very little impact on Bear. All they can do is there best yet people will make mistakes anyway. Do you really think they are trying to screw anybody?

If they refused to remedy the problem, I could understand all the negativity and the same with any other company that would not take care of business but this was never allowed to reach fruition before it was aired.

On another site, right in the middle of a promotion that I was doing on the blemished arrows, a disgruntled customer stated that"IMHO BIgJims has very poor customer service" (first that is not a  humble opinion and second he had only ever done business with us one time)apparently we had forgotten to cut his shafts before sending them out. He contacted us and I spoke to him..apologized and said we would send him return shipping and get everything taken care of.
Problem is that he spoke to me personally and I dropped the ball as I have done before. It "likely" would have never happened if he had spoken to someone in the office but they were slammed and I was running overflow off of overflow (this can happen when we get the gold tip blems in). No excuse, but with everything we try to do here just to make a living, I get sidetracked and forget things. The shipping label never got sent. Instead of questioning us again (yes, he should not of had to do that), no more was said until my next post. I had no idea I had a disgruntled customer out there.
Funny thing is only one person came to my support and thankfully no one jumped on the band wagon. Yes, we have made more than a few mistakes as do many others companies, but no one who cares tries to make them.
 Don't think for a minute that only money paid to employees is hard earned and that money going to business's is gathered in with rakes.
 Lets start a negative thread about all the mistakes we have made here at BIgJIms. I hate to say it but it might rival my pigs and peanut butter thread. I'm just kidding..we don't need to start that thread.
BIgJIm

[Rob W.]

I think some things that make Tradgang so great are the same things that make it not the best place to make a bow purchase decision. An honest exchange of information around a campfire would most certainly include some bad experiences with bows over the years. Would that be the deciding factor to a well informed buyer? I doubt it but who knows.

A new bow purchase for a lot of us (myself incuded) is a sizable investment and traveling to places like Kzoo is not in the budget. So tying before buying isn't an option unless I want to shoot the same thing my buddy shoots down the road.

It seems us Tradgangers don't have any problem with honest opinions of broadheads, backpacks, arrows and such. If there is a bad batch of nocks or carbon we hear about it but when bowyers come into to play we are tight lipped.


We are smart enough to weed out witch hunts or people that were placed on this planet solely to complain. I would rather sort through that information and make my decision than give $800 of my hard earned money to a guy and not be happy because no one wanted to say they didn't like something.

If the problem is something the bowyer can fix by all means deal with it privately. If it can't be fixed, its a design flaw, wont work for a certain draw, has overall poor workmanship, bad shooting characteristics, bad customer service, or sub par materials used I want to know.

[Gator1]

Rob w well said. No doubt Bear would resolve this.  Information is powerful.  I also agree that honest feedback is good especially on a high  Priced bow custom or not.

I'm in the same camp of wanting to know of negative experiences  regardless.  

I stick to  reliable bowyers I'm familiar with.  I also agree with your comments that good or bad feedback shouldn't be hidden behind a curtain.

[bicster]

No one is perfect and neither is any business. Good things can happen from bad situations. Read the Black Widow threads and you will see a common theme of outstanding customer service. If I could afford to do business with them there would be no worry on my part about them taking care of me. Communication from the business is key to resolving issues and inspiring consumer confidence. With this philosophy you will look at problems as opportunities to shine. We have great vendors in the trad industry and we want all of them to succeed.

i think this all started with poor quality control.
that riser never should of had latches put on it to begin with.
 it should have been pitched into the firewood bin as soon as it came from the stain room.
 im sure whoever put the latches on it seen the problem.
 maybe send it to the dip tank for camoing.(im sure theres a market)
 it was probably already in a box when the shipper sent it, so its not there falt.

I assume the employees don't have enough control to do such things on there own.

its all on quality control for letting this slip past (how many people)?

I don't usually post on these kind of threads,
just thought I would throw my 2 cents on the table.
glad its taken care of, bear has a reputation they need to protect, hope they do better down the road.

[ron w]

Good thread ,bad thread...we all have our opinions.     and the rest of  us can say that we can still deal with Bear with some confidence.  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Just as  I suspected, they made right by you.    

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by Josh Perdue:
Shame on who?    This statement cracks me up Kirk. Its like saying shame on my mother for busting my mouth or holding me accountable when I was out of line.

Good for the both of you, Im glad bear took care of you.

This whole thing should have been discretely handled in person with Bear Archery managers in the first place. Bringing it to a public forum is shameful. It discredits a really fine company that has been in business for many years.

With a production operation there's always going to be blem's that get missed here and there and get delivered to the customer. To make a public drama about it is just wrong IMO. Of course Bear is going to make it right....

[ron w]

It did not discredit Bear Archery at all     .....they made it good and we all now know it!! If anything it was a public service.