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

[Zradix]

This thread has only shown some truths.

Sometimes Bear risers have white spots.

Some one at Bear thought a riser with white spots was ok to send as a replacement..or cleared it as ok before it was put in a box that some one else then shipped out.

Mr. Neil Byce, Bear Archery Operations Manager at the Bear booth in K-zoo seemed to care about his customer and reassured the customer that he'd be happy in the end.

...I just hope for Bear and the customer, he will be satisfied this time around.

There is no shame in telling the truth.
...it's the actions being talked about that might be shameful.

[Larrydawg]

being I've owned Bear bows most of my Life, I'm glad to see they will make it right!! I have others but bear has been my favorite since 1968!
LarryDawg

[hawkeye n pa]

I have nothing but good things to say about Mr.  Byce @ Bear Archery.

[John Dill]

I agree with KirkII on this issue. This thread will be here long after your issue with Bear Archery is resolved. Which means its open to the world wide web for anyone to see. In the future it might be better to consider dealing directly with the company first to resolve issues before jumping the gun to the forums. Remember lots of folks work at Bear and make a living at Bear or any other company for that matter....maybe even the one you work at. Nobody wants to lose a hard earned dollar in personal pay due to unwarranted bad press. If Bear had not fixed your issue dealing directly....then by all means flame away on the forums.    :D

[pdk25]

[pdk25]

Originally posted by Pokerdaddy:
The frustration comes from the fact that their replacement/fix was shoddy, and seen as an acceptable fix.  I know of no bowyers or businesses in the archery community that would consider this quality customer service.

I just received this response from Bear, after I expressed my frusration to them:

" those are birth marks where the wood and caused by the wood grains being so tight that they would not except the wood dye......not defective, and usually the birth marks are more rare than the other bows."

Once again, I am glad Bear stepped up to the plate.  What I don't understand are the comments saying that he should have taken it up directly with the company.  He clearly did that on two separate occasions when there were problems, and then he didn't hide the fact that the company resolved the issue in the end.  I am just wondering, when exactly does it become 'warranted' bad press instead of unwarranted?  Some guidelines would be helpful.

[Gentle-Savage]

I'd like to approach this situation from a different place -

Albeit I'm only 24, I've learned some invaluable life lessons/tricks from great folks (Jim Rohn, Zig Ziggler, among many others), one of which applies here.

first off, having worked for multiple large corporations/companies - I can tell you first hand, that a large majority of their call center employees aren't call center employees for life. It's a means to an end for them, and when their home life sucks, and a disgruntled customer calls in with a 'bad' attitude, it takes a very special individual to go the extra mile as Fred Bear would like to turn their frustration into a success story.  

That being said - the lesson I've learned having seen first hand that the people you will be working with to get these problems resolved are also HUMAN BEINGS, and realizing that we, as PEOPLE, respond to sincere, heart felt appeals, and not demands, frustration etc - the phrase that will turn what would most likely end in "sorry sir, that's our policy" or "there's nothing else I can do", into you smiling from ear to ear, feeling like you're their most important customer ever, is::::

"Hey Jim (Bear rep as example), so I'm not wanting to get anyone in any hot water over this, but it would really mean a lot to me if we could get a problem worked out that's really been weighing me down this week. (now go into explaining what's going on) - offer to pay any shipping etc they may require of you (even though we already know good companies like bear archery will say "oh no, don't worry about that") - basically what you want to convey is that you understand that a mistake has been made, it's no one's fault, but it would mean the world to you if you could have some care from another human being in getting the issue resolved.

I can tell you from working call centers for 2+ years, when customers would call in with this attitude, I would go to hell and back for them, calling departments I had no business calling, pretending to be a supervisor just to make sure my customer was taken care of. When you treat someone with praise and adoration, you have just made their day, and it's only natural for them to want to reciprocate that love and help you, even if it means breaking the rules.

I know this is kind of lengthy, but i hope this may be a more resourceful way to approach problems we come in contact with in businesses, remembering that the PEOPLE, we actually interact with bleed, breath, and at the end of the day, lay down and bawl their eyes out with their own sadness from time to time.

Love those with whom you come in contact. When we go out of our way to befriend people in a position to help us, they will more often than not, break the rules to help a friend. (Wouldn't you?)

-Alex

[Jon Stewart]

While working a booth at Kalamazoo this weekend two guys were standing there talking about how there Bear take down bows make noise when they draw there bows back and how each tried different things to quiet them down. One mentioned that at the cost of the bows they shouldn't have to experiment with there bows to quiet them down and that the older takedowns didn't have the noise making problem.   I suggested that they take it up with the Bear rep that was there.

I don't have a dog in this hunt but this is an example of three expensive bow owners having problems and I guess you wonder "why".  Is there  a problem with quality control somewhere down the line.

My dad owned an archery shop back in the 60's and told my brother and I one day that "we don't make anything in here. We sell service and if the service is no good we might as well close the doors."

I am certainly not making that suggestion but maybe Bear needs to take a long look at their quality control.

Just my thoughts on a cold snowed in Sunday morning.

[BigJim]

Here's the thing Jon, there is only three minor things that have changed about their take downs in many many years (other than wood choices).
 They have put brass sleeves in the alignment holes, they changed the screw that holds the lever clip in place and they are fast flite compatible, they even build them the same way.
All take downs are capable of making a little noise and they were 40 years ago too. Oh yeah, they had risers that didn't take complete dye back then too.

Complaints of customer service are nothing new to any company as customers "demand" perfection and satisfaction.
The few minor little things a customer can do to quiet an occasionally "noisy" bow are very minor and cost nothing but a little tinker time.
There is no way that Bear could test for this on every bow and if they could it would cost you more anyway.
Those that think this bow is expensive(for what it is)are not being realistic.
Can you even imagine how many calls they get a week  from people that are trying to pull a fast one on them. We are just a small company and it happens to us all the time.

We have had people try to return a defective item to us that we don't even sell and be adamant that they bought it from us.

I once had a customer complain that all the feathers were coming off his arrows that we had fletched. If it was just one, I would have taken care of it anyway....when we got them back (we paid return shipping and already had sent out replacements) there was only the tip of one feather on one arrow of a dozen that was lifting.
As I said, I would have taken care of it anyway but he felt he had to make it out to be a whole lot worse to get "satisfaction" that he was going to get anyway.

BigJIm

[59Alaskan]

I saw some really great Bear bows at Kalamazoo and the guys working the booth were class acts.

Big Jim - I never replied to your email back about the Cheyenne.  I should've let you know that I was going to K-zoo and going to check it out there.

Looks like a great bow but the grip wasn't my style.

Now, Bear NAILED that 59er Kodiak.  Absolutely nailed it.  Beautiful bows....and the Super Kodiak just melts in your hand...

Thank you for the quick reply to my email Jim and I thank the folks at Bear for funding a booth at Kalamazoo and showing us all some great bows.  I know if I do ever buy a new Bear bow it will be from Big Jim, and that 59'er has the wheels turning....

[Jon Stewart]

Well I have a beef with you Big JIm. There were only 12 arrows in that dozen blems I just got, LOL.

Great looking arrows and I am really looking forward to tossing them down range next week.

Some are quick to complain and slow to compliment and I must say I ordered blems from Big Jim and two days later they were at my door.

[Yellow Dog]

Same here on Big Jim. I ordered a few dozen blems online and after I sent the order on its way I realized I could probably could use a couple rolls of fletching tape to put em together. Silly me, if I would had been using my head I could have saved a little over $6 on shipping had I put it on the original order. Well my Blems and tape were on my porch in two days and a couple of days later I receive an email from Big Jim that they were crediting me the extra $6 shipping fee. Never asked for it, never contacted him about it, my mistake. Now that's service.

           

[Yellow Dog]

Big Jim and Tim at Braveheart. They take customer service to the next level  

     

[moththerlode]

I gauge a business not on mistakes , but on how they resolve issues. A business will always have issues to deal with.

[Roger Norris]

I saw the riser in question.....Pokerdaddy brought it by our booth. I wouldn't have been happy with it either. No question I would have been upset by it. For what it's worth, Pokerdaddy had an absolute legitimate complaint, and handled it like a gentleman.

The Bear booth was across the isle from ours. Great guys, I shot several of the new Bears, all very nice bows I would be thrilled to own and hunt with. I'm glad it worked out.

[Nala]

I wonder what they'd sell that riser for?  Heck I wouldn't mind having it, but I've wanted one for a LONG time and can't spend that much on one.

I can certainly agree that it wasn't what you should get when you buy one though.

Nalajr

[Gentle-Savage]

My thoughts exactly Nala ^_^

[jax]

It is hard  working with the American Public.

[jrchambers]

it is also hard dropping some $ and not being sure at what you are going to get and having faith is a huge plus.  as far as this post went i would have faith in bear and big jim.  so i guess this did some POSITIVE pr for more than just bear.  as for some others that would like things hidden?  you decide

[David Mitchell]

Well, I am still waiting for a replacement bow from Bear for one that had the finish go to pot three weeks after buying it new this year. (The customer service rep told me the new one might do the same thing!) The wait is now four months since I returned the bow after receiving return authorization from Bear.