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VegasHockey

Frustrated with Customer Service from Pure Hockey and True Hockey /rant

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I don't want whine.... but I kinda of expect white glove service when I spend $1300 on a pair of skates. The fact that Pure Hockey and True Hockey have both been terrible in regards to customer service doesn't reinforce my feelings that I made a good investment in buying skates from them.

Background:

There are no True Hockey "fit" shops in Washington State currently. I was traveling to NorCal for work so I went to Pure Hockey and had them perform the scans, take pictures and place the order. The order was for a pair of True skates with added shot blockers, extra tongue with metatarsal protection, Step/VH holder, and two pairs of Step Steel. Pure Hockey said the skates would be shipped to my home in Seattle, WA since I don't live local to their store.

Issues/Problems:

  1. The first scan done at Pure Hockey was not acceptable and needed to be done a second time. However, I had to contact Pure Hockey to check if the first scan was sufficient. It was then that they said True Hockey asked for a new scan. Since I was only in town for 48 hours it's likely they would not have told me they needed a new scan until after I left the state. Good thing I followed up.

  2. After the order was placed Pure Hockey went radio silent on me. No email. No calls. Nothing. I had to personally contact True Hockey to make sure they got the scans and verify the order details. True verified everything and said the skates were going into production to be built.

  3. Following up with True Hockey on the status I was told that the skates were done and shipped two days prior! Wait!? What!? How come True Hockey or Pure Hockey didn't tell me? If you are selling a premium product it would be good to have an email that says "Your skates are on their way! Welcome to the true Hockey family." Something. Anything... just send me some communication so I know you didn't take my money and fall off the face of the earth. At least make me feel like I mean something until after I get the product. Then you can throw me away. Perhaps True Hockey can learn from Apple on how to accomplish making consumers feel like we mean something. I have gone to shady used car dealerships who paid more attention to me to "get the deal closed."

  4. True Hockey would not give me the shipping information and told me to speak with Pure Hockey. Pure Hockey referred me back to True Hockey. I was passed back and forth before they finally told me "I do apologize for the miscommunication and misunderstanding regarding the tracking of your order. We could not provide you with the tracking number as there is more than one single order being delivered to the store with the associated tracking number." Ok, wait... What? Who gives a shit if there are 1000 pairs being shipped in the same order. I want to know when my skates were shipped, the location they were shipped to and an estimated date of arrival. Excuse me for giving a shit about $1300 of hockey gear!

  5. Pure Hockey said the skates would be shipped directly to my home in Seattle, WA since I don't live near the Pure Hockey store in San Jose, CA. True Hockey said they will only ship to the retailer and would never ship to the customer and had no idea why I was told otherwise. So, why the heck was I told something totally different? There should be consistency. I was not the first order they had ever placed. When was someone going to tell me that my skates were going to NorCal and not Seattle? When they arrived in NorCal? WTF!?

  6. This goes back to my original problem. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication. Communication........

Summary:

Not hearing from Pure Hockey or True Hockey unless I reached out is a problem. If you want to sell a premium product you need to provide premium customer service. Again, I relate this to Apple. When you buy an Apple product you are paying for fit, finish but most importantly customer service. If the device malfunctions, you can rest assured someone will help you. This is why people are willing to pay the "Apple tax" for their products.

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As for the shipping thing it sounds like Pure was going to receive the skates and then ship them to you directly, which is why there is no tracking for the skates to the store. 

Thats the only way I can make any sense of it...

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Just now, IPv6Freely said:

As for the shipping thing it sounds like Pure was going to receive the skates and then ship them to you directly, which is why there is no tracking for the skates to the store. 

Thats the only way I can make any sense of it...

Yeah, I confirmed this with a Pure Customer Service Manager, but he was not sure why the store would have told me otherwise, especially since the store is a True Skate Fit Center and has done multiple orders before. The good news is the skates are now in San Jose, CA and scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Now how Pure is going to get them from NorCal to Seattle, WA is not yet clear. I have asked them to overnight the skates, I feel they should cover the cost due to the miscommunication and "complicated" customer service issues. However, if they won't cover the cost I will pay for the overnight shipping myself. 

I plan on doing a multi-part video review of the skates. More through than anyone has done yet. I searched all over the internet for in-depth reviews and what I found was very limited. As a high priced item that people cannot "see or touch" I think having a very detailed review from the unboxing to the baking, profiling, first times on the ice, and over a period of weeks/months would be helpful to others looking to make such a significant investment. 

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Honestly, nothing that happened there seems to be out of the ordinary and extreme. Seems like you just want special treatment. The only thing that wasn't on par was that the scan wasn't sufficient. But since it is a retail store it is pretty obvious how something like this could be missed. I don't really think they missed anything either, you are just a special case because you were only in town for a few days. The employees usually have a tonne of work to do, and checking emails to see if a scan wasn't good enough the minute it came in wouldn't be a priority.

Why would Pure verify anything with you unless there was an issue? Sounds like you want Amazon level of emailing and packaging. But no other company does that and it isn't close to industry standard. Did Pure actually tell you True would drop ship the skates? Again it seems more likely Pure said they'd ship the skates out to you without clarifying if it was Pure or True doing the shipping to your home.

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3 hours ago, Hills said:

Honestly, nothing that happened there seems to be out of the ordinary and extreme. Seems like you just want special treatment. The only thing that wasn't on par was that the scan wasn't sufficient. But since it is a retail store it is pretty obvious how something like this could be missed. I don't really think they missed anything either, you are just a special case because you were only in town for a few days. The employees usually have a tonne of work to do, and checking emails to see if a scan wasn't good enough the minute it came in wouldn't be a priority.

Why would Pure verify anything with you unless there was an issue? Sounds like you want Amazon level of emailing and packaging. But no other company does that and it isn't close to industry standard. Did Pure actually tell you True would drop ship the skates? Again it seems more likely Pure said they'd ship the skates out to you without clarifying if it was Pure or True doing the shipping to your home.

Pure Hockey specifically said that the skates will be mailed directly to me from True. Verbatim. 

Also yes, I do expect White Glove service, it's not like I'm buying to $200 pair of skates. How many $1000+ dollar pair of skates do you think of Hockey Shop sells a month?

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This is above and beyond white glove service. You are expecting "Apple" like service, yet Apple doesn't go through a middle man. On top of that, you are a single purchase customer at one time. $200 skate vs $1000 skate I would give the same service to each person, you are not anymore special than anyone else just because you can throw money around.

In fact, in hockey shops? Single purchases like this are near the bottom of the importance pole. Team orders come in way before.

With True going into the retail market, they no longer ship direct to the consumer. No company does... buy fully custom skates, pads, anything from any of the big companies and it is being shipped to the retailer.

When you do that review, please were one skate on one foot and another brands on the other to really compare the two.

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3 minutes ago, Hills said:

In fact, in hockey shops? Single purchases like this are near the bottom of the importance pole. Team orders come in way before.

I'd say that's a poor attitude that too many hockey retailers have. Even if team orders obtain more revenue $1,000+ or a top of the line stick should be getting better treatment when its for one specific customer.

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9 minutes ago, theinfamoust94 said:

I'd say that's a poor attitude that too many hockey retailers have. Even if team orders obtain more revenue $1,000+ or a top of the line stick should be getting better treatment when its for one specific customer.

If you don't think about just the profits it isn't. It is easier to fix a problem for one customer than for a team of players that don't have gear for the new season.

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Howdy,

If Pure told you that True would drop ship the skates to you, _and the extra time in shipping is going to matter to you_, then I tend to agree that asking them to cover overnight shipping is reasonable.  If it doesn't matter to you (like, you're not going to miss a tournament or something), then I think its a little more reasonable on your part to accept that a mistake was made and that the consequences of that mistake aren't a big deal, so regular shipping is fine.  Having to redo the scans also seems like a pretty decent screw up, particularly if they knew you were only in town for two days.

But the constant references to "Apple service" or whatever is also raising some flags for me as well.  FWIW.

Mark

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2 minutes ago, Hills said:

If you don't think about just the profits it isn't. 

That was sentence was a double negative. Unclear.

I never said it was a profits problem if thats what you're trying to say. It's a customer service problem.

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46 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

If Pure told you that True would drop ship the skates to you, _and the extra time in shipping is going to matter to you_, then I tend to agree that asking them to cover overnight shipping is reasonable.  If it doesn't matter to you (like, you're not going to miss a tournament or something), then I think its a little more reasonable on your part to accept that a mistake was made and that the consequences of that mistake aren't a big deal, so regular shipping is fine.  Having to redo the scans also seems like a pretty decent screw up, particularly if they knew you were only in town for two days.

But the constant references to "Apple service" or whatever is also raising some flags for me as well.  FWIW.

Mark

Ok, I will reference Apple and Amazon then. The two goliaths when it comes to meeting and exceeding customer service. 

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50 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

If Pure told you that True would drop ship the skates to you, _and the extra time in shipping is going to matter to you_, then I tend to agree that asking them to cover overnight shipping is reasonable.  If it doesn't matter to you (like, you're not going to miss a tournament or something), then I think its a little more reasonable on your part to accept that a mistake was made and that the consequences of that mistake aren't a big deal, so regular shipping is fine.  Having to redo the scans also seems like a pretty decent screw up, particularly if they knew you were only in town for two days.

But the constant references to "Apple service" or whatever is also raising some flags for me as well.  FWIW.

Mark

The extra time does matter to me. It's less time I get on the ice between work trips. It's missed games. It missed coaching for the private sessions I give. It's more than just me being annoyed.....

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1 hour ago, theinfamoust94 said:

I'd say that's a poor attitude that too many hockey retailers have. Even if team orders obtain more revenue $1,000+ or a top of the line stick should be getting better treatment when its for one specific customer.

Yeah, I think this attitude is garbage. I would never give my money to a shop that puts team orders before any individual customer. 

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1 hour ago, theinfamoust94 said:

OP my question is why didn't you just drive north two hours across the border? Vancouver has like 15 True retailers.

It's a long story but I didn't have the time to do such. Otherwise, I would have. In hindsight, I should have waited until I was in New York, last week, and gone to Westside Skate and had them do it. They are the best. In fact, they even reached out to me offering to help with the situation when shit was hitting the fan. 

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3 hours ago, Hills said:

This is above and beyond white glove service. You are expecting "Apple" like service, yet Apple doesn't go through a middle man. On top of that, you are a single purchase customer at one time. $200 skate vs $1000 skate I would give the same service to each person, you are not anymore special than anyone else just because you can throw money around.

In fact, in hockey shops? Single purchases like this are near the bottom of the importance pole. Team orders come in way before.

With True going into the retail market, they no longer ship direct to the consumer. No company does... buy fully custom skates, pads, anything from any of the big companies and it is being shipped to the retailer.

When you do that review, please were one skate on one foot and another brands on the other to really compare the two.

I have bought custom skates from Bauer and CCM and they most certainly had no problem delivering them to my home. As for comparing skates, the True skates will be compared against Super Tacks, FT1, 1S, and 1X skates. The 70k doesn't fit me at all and neither does the Nexus. Hence why they will not be included. 

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OP and rest of the MSH group overseeing this thread. In efforts to not make this too much of a retailer post(I work for Pure), I will be in office tomorrow and in direct contact with our San Jose store so as soon as those skates are delivered we can get them repackaged and shipped back out to the customer. Shipping to store the order was placed at is True policy and I apologize if you were told otherwise by anybody at our company. My goal is to deliver on that service that you expect and make the best of the less than ideal situation that we have here. 

 

Again, not trying to make this a retailer post or spam in anyway. Just wanted to follow-up with the customer. I look forward to the review and I am sure you will love the skates. 

 

Best,

 

Tyler 

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9 minutes ago, Tyler Roy said:

OP and rest of the MSH group overseeing this thread. In efforts to not make this to much of a retailer post(I work for Pure), I will be in office tomorrow and in direct contact with our San Jose store so as soon as those skates are delivered we can get them repackaged and shipped back out to the customer. Shipping to store the order was placed at is True policy and I apologize if you were told otherwise by anybody at our company. My goal is to deliver on that service that you expect and make the best of the less than ideal situation that we have here. 

 

Again, not trying to make this a retailer post or spam in anyway. Just wanted to follow-up with the customer. I look forward to the review and I am sure you will love the skates. 

 

Best,

 

Tyler 

Tyler. You are awesome. Thank you so much!

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6 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

Yeah, I confirmed this with a Pure Customer Service Manager, but he was not sure why the store would have told me otherwise, especially since the store is a True Skate Fit Center and has done multiple orders before. The good news is the skates are now in San Jose, CA and scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Now how Pure is going to get them from NorCal to Seattle, WA is not yet clear. I have asked them to overnight the skates, I feel they should cover the cost due to the miscommunication and "complicated" customer service issues. However, if they won't cover the cost I will pay for the overnight shipping myself. 

I plan on doing a multi-part video review of the skates. More through than anyone has done yet. I searched all over the internet for in-depth reviews and what I found was very limited. As a high priced item that people cannot "see or touch" I think having a very detailed review from the unboxing to the baking, profiling, first times on the ice, and over a period of weeks/months would be helpful to others looking to make such a significant investment. 

Op. I read threw the best I could.   It sounds to me like there is information that would perhaps help others see where you are coming from.    I can tell you didn't start out the relationship negative. It seems like excessive time for delivery and then no record of you and needing to rescan is the beginning of you getting pissed.  I think at this point the situation snow balled . And you wanted definitive answers... I can understand your frustration.  I believe in my gut that everything you are experiencing is at the fault of the retail location....The big box store hockey retailers should not be The point of penetration for a high end bespoke product.  There are too many points of contact in the process .   The factory only knows the information they receive and if it gets lost in the retail quagmire they are going to appear to be uncaring;  while they are searching for this information.  They are doing everything they can to not have to call you back and say I don't know. 

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4 hours ago, theinfamoust94 said:

That was sentence was a double negative. Unclear.

I never said it was a profits problem if thats what you're trying to say. It's a customer service problem.

It wasn't a double negative. It isn't a poor attitude if you don't just think about profits. Plus you brought in the revenue into the conversation.

Also, Bauer and CCM will not allow stores around here to drop ship to a customer's or employee's house. It has to go to the store.

3 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

It's a long story but I didn't have the time to do such. Otherwise, I would have. In hindsight, I should have waited until I was in New York, last week, and gone to Westside Skate and had them do it. They are the best. In fact, they even reached out to me offering to help with the situation when shit was hitting the fan. 

Shit never hit the fan.

3 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

Ok, I will reference Apple and Amazon then. The two goliaths when it comes to meeting and exceeding customer service. 

The two goliaths that just sent a customer a $6k camera box filled with rocks and a the replacement filled with bricks, and the company that slows down an old product and the fix of which is a discounted cost at a still extreme price compared the the competitors. Mistakes happen, this one wasn't even serious.

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2 hours ago, Playmakersedge said:

Op. I read threw the best I could.   It sounds to me like there is information that would perhaps help others see where you are coming from.    I can tell you didn't start out the relationship negative. It seems like excessive time for delivery and then no record of you and needing to rescan is the beginning of you getting pissed.  I think at this point the situation snow balled . And you wanted definitive answers... I can understand your frustration.  I believe in my gut that everything you are experiencing is at the fault of the retail location....The big box store hockey retailers should not be The point of penetration for a high end bespoke product.  There are too many points of contact in the process .   The factory only knows the information they receive and if it gets lost in the retail quagmire they are going to appear to be uncaring;  while they are searching for this information.  They are doing everything they can to not have to call you back and say I don't know. 

Pure Hockey customer service escalated to a manager whoch seems to have helped put things back on track. We will see on th next few days. 

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2 hours ago, Hills said:

The two goliaths that just sent a customer a $6k camera box filled with rocks and a the replacement filled with bricks, and the company that slows down an old product and the fix of which is a discounted cost at a still extreme price compared the the competitors. Mistakes happen, this one wasn't even serious.

No one even knows if that's even real..... 

 

Mistakes do happen. It's when customer service doesnt take the problems serious that consumers get frustrated. 

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7 hours ago, Hills said:

It wasn't a double negative. It isn't a poor attitude if you don't just think about profits. Plus you brought in the revenue into the conversation.

“If you don't think about just the profits it isn't.” 

Two negatives make a double negative

I said that someone who brings in $1000 worth of revenue should be taken just as seriously as team orders even if team orders bring in more revenue. Or at least that was the message I was trying to portray  

Never disputed the policy’s integrity. Just said an attitude of “skates are at the bottom of priorities because team orders are more important” is poor. 

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Here's the issue. There was an assumption that the level of service received would be higher than any other customer. Treating customers differently based on the products they buy or how much they spend is bad business. Everyone who walks through the door is important. There was also an assumption....or maybe an expectation that a manufacturer would add a personal touch by emailing or dropping shipping direct. Scale that up to everyone who buys their product and you have a logistical nightmare. Consider the staff they'd need to actually make that work and make it work seamlessly.

I don't believe Apple to be any more or less personal than their competitors. Sure, you get better service at an Apple store but everyone who walks in receives that same level of service. They sell direct and their margins and volume is way bigger, and most of all, they want you in their ecosystem (iTunes, Apple Music). Same goes for Amazon. Should be noted that those two companies are giants. They could buy up Pure and True and not even realize where the money went.

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