HockeyMOnkey.. MonkeyBusiness or Just No Soul

[geshnyc 3]

I am a CPA and deal with business on a day to day basis and have had participated in a number of IPO companies and have been around major brands for over 10 years. I have been working in emerging markets and have branding, marketing, and business structuring elements of my business. I run a business and have dealt with other e-tailers before.. this by far is the most strictest no personal element buyer beware organization by far. I have had better success getting CEOs of fortune 500 companies on the phone, genuinely busy people, than getting a straight and heart felt response from a consumer site that has poor Internal Control in that they can't oversee so that their shipping arm requires signature for product.

So this is what happens when large E-Tailers have you in their grip;

About a month ago I had ordered a bunch of new gear from hockeymonkey.com and our good old friends at UPS left the packages by the door and cleared the package as signed for ( I guess the imaginary midget who lives in my garage signed for the packages). A few days went by and business took me out to LA. Upon return I checked the site and saw that my goods were Signed for by a completely bogus name and also stated left at door. Here is the heart of the matter; Upon contacting HM I get static right away from aggravated reps and constant contradictions in their statements about tracers and investigations and caught them changing their story on at least 5 occasions. I had had enough and called UPS who actually confirmed that they had been trying to reach HM for days and that all I needed to do was get a police report filled out and the refund would be issued to HM asap. Done deal... no! So now HM is playing games saying it takes up to 8 days for the tracer to get completed meanwhile all t hey had to do was call ups back and answer a few questions. That was my first beef. Instead of being stubborn and reluctant and forcing their policy on me a simple call could have cut down the tme to 1-2 days VS the entire 8. Part Deux.. Store credit; after explaining to the staff that I had to re-buy my gear ( twice out of money) i now wanted to take advantage of the sale and get some Alkali's ..obviously I am not going to dish out another $400 when I have a credit with them. HM has been processing this store credit for days now and guess what they have another policy; 5-8 days to issue a credit. I missed out on at least 3 variations of the skates because sizes are dwindling and I don't feel right dishing out another $400 when I have this credit.

My suggestion to anyone is if you are looking to buy hockey gear go go go far as you can away from HM if you expect some human element if sh*t hits the fan.

I seriously have this feeling that these guys would go so far as to pull something to void the credit al together for even posting this... this is how Livid I am over this organization. Watch them delay the credit for the bad reviews.

I know they have their account here or not..probably not because they don't give two cents about the community but if they do I can't wait for the follow up response on how I am at fault here and how good and honest they are.

[iceman8310 105]

I have had no problem's with Hockey Monkey at all. They have been very helpful and have gone above and beyond any issue I had. I ordered some pro stock pants, helmets and gloves from them. They arrived via UPS within a reasonable time frame without issue.

[geshnyc 3]

Iceman ..please for sake of discussion elaborate on "above and beyond any issue" ... As in they took your order, charged your card and sent you stuff? Because the companies I work with that do go above and beyond any issue involve upper management actually getting involved and sticking to the "Customer comes first" attitude ... So I am just curious how they bent over backwards to get you to post such a kind comment to my grievance of being monkeyed around with for weeks when this company has my money and I don't have product?

[Goonsquad 209]

About a month ago I had ordered a bunch of new gear from hockeymonkey.com and our good old friends at UPS left the packages by the door and cleared the package as signed for ( I guess the imaginary midget who lives in my garage signed for the packages). A few days went by and business took me out to LA. Upon return I checked the site and saw that my goods were Signed for by a completely bogus name and also stated left at door. Here is the heart of the matter; Upon contacting HM I get static right away from aggravated reps and constant contradictions in their statements about tracers and investigations and caught them changing their story on at least 5 occasions. I had had enough and called UPS who actually confirmed that they had been trying to reach HM for days and that all I needed to do was get a police report filled out and the refund would be issued to HM asap. Done deal... no! So now HM is playing games saying it takes up to 8 days for the tracer to get completed meanwhile all t hey had to do was call ups back and answer a few questions. That was my first beef. Instead of being stubborn and reluctant and forcing their policy on me a simple call could have cut down the tme to 1-2 days VS the entire 8. Part Deux.. Store credit; after explaining to the staff that I had to re-buy my gear ( twice out of money) i now wanted to take advantage of the sale and get some Alkali's ..obviously I am not going to dish out another $400 when I have a credit with them. HM has been processing this store credit for days now and guess what they have another policy; 5-8 days to issue a credit. I missed out on at least 3 variations of the skates because sizes are dwindling and I don't feel right dishing out another $400 when I have this credit.

I am not sure your directing your anger in the right direction.

1. If UPS is cleared to leave packages at your shipping address on the front stoop without a signature, then the driver will generally sign for it.

2. Didn't HM send a tracking number ? Were you not able to track it? my past orders through HM , they have supplied a tracking number.

3. Assuming you were able to track the packages. Why didn't you have a buddy stop at your house to pick up the packages? could the packages have been left at a neighbors?

4. Usually the shipping company should be notified first if there was a theft. Why were they not contacted first?

If HM did give you a store credit, they are going way above an beyond to satisfy you. You should also be mad at the person that has the stuff from your original order

[Souldriver 64]

I've had problems with ups saying they delivered something and it shows up a day or two later. It's really a big issue, especially when multiple times I paid extra for expedited shipping and it comes late. And almost every time it'll wait a day or two at their facility 2 miles away from my house and instead of waiting I go pick it up there. It's a big issue, I'm not in a rural area where maybe there isn't a lot to cover but in the suberbs where they have a lot of coverage.

But with HM, I usually don't have gripes about them or nothing too negative. There are a couple.times I've been away during one of their 20% off sales and I'm a day late asking them if they can honor the sale but they never do. Can't complain but they could go out of their way a little. That and they never have free shipping so even with discounts it pays to go else where or shop local .

[geshnyc 3]

Ok Goon Squad: I thought I was clear; I will elaborate for you: UPS came through.. I got a hold of them and they refunded HM weeks ago. More so they had issues contacting HM and could have settled the claim earlier. Screw my buddy I was home the driver is an idiot. That's his issue. His superiors came through and a general regional manager for UPS called me said sorry and made the refund go through faster to HM ( which btw was HMs job not mine to get the claim reimbursed from UPS). HM is taking their sweet ass time acknowledging the credit and then getting it approved and their customer service reps are non willing to do anything but say "well our policy is blah blah blah". I could care less; they were refunded my money by UPS a week ago so now fork over the new Alkali's and lets part ways. Worse part is I re-bought the original gear so I am out of money twice. I feel like i'm talking to Bill Lumbar from office space when I call there.... "Yehhhhhhhh um were gonna need to go ahead and process your credit through accounting and were gonna need to go ahead and put covers on those TPS reports.mmmkayyy yehhhhhhhhhh "

You judge a company by how they treat their customers; like shit or like unique and precious delicate aggressive sports playing bunch that fall into the category of HMs clientele.

My point for this thread is this: if you order from HM than buyer beware in the case you need a refund or an exchange it is going to take a while for you to get your product.

Another example: I demolished my iphone a few weeks ago while skating. the thing looked like someone took a slapshot to it. .. Apple literally did not wink and replaced it .. Warranty! Guess what they have a customer for life. Example 2: modified my X5 ECU ( completely against BMW warranty)..car starts acting funny..bmw service does not flinch, resets ecu, ignores fact that down-pipes were modified ( illegal in NY period.) ...car is fine.. customer for life.. You spend money you want to walk out feeling like a champ, especially on high end product..

[Souldriver 64]

Yeah ups deals with the shipper with any type of insurance or any issues like this. It can be annoying but that's the way it is.

What hockeymonkey could have done, and others have done for me is take ny card info and wait to process it. Especially if they knew A) the card worked the first time B) there is a pending reimbursement. If something happened they would have your info so you can't get away.

Also you're a bmw driver, should I give you flak now or later? ;)

[geshnyc 3]

Yeah ups deals with the shipper with any type of insurance or any issues like this. It can be annoying but that's the way it is.

What hockeymonkey could have done, and others have done for me is take ny card info and wait to process it. Especially if they knew A) the card worked the first time B) there is a pending reimbursement. If something happened they would have your info so you can't get away.

Also you're a ble driver, should I give you flak now or later? ;)

There is a million ways to have went about it vs the way they did. UPS took the biggest hit and coughed up bread like a big boy. I bet HM is waiting for that freaking check to cash till they release the credit broke ass company: I am starting my own hockey shop online - by hockey guys for hockey guys; where every broken tooth sent in gets you an automatic 20% discount and a broken bone a free stick. That's a promise! I am looking for a new side biz anyway. (Copyright)

Souldriver - you could be Chief Tech Specialist or whatever role you want..hahahahaha .. Im not kidding.

[Souldriver 64]

Nah, Ill have to pass. I already work for the NHL and im loving it. I create those clips you see on their websites as well as other things.

also that should of said BMW driver, not ble. phones autocorrect.

[Goonsquad 209]

Ahh.. Now its all clear.. HM's refund department is taking their time reimbursing you for original purchase. My fault

[geshnyc 3]

Yeh man...

[Jakedajewler 1]

Hockey monkey are a terrible terrible business, I ordered a stick from them last year, it came snapped in half mid shaft, I emailed and called them they said send us some pictures which I did, that's when I got ignored, they wouldn't answer the number they gave me or any of my follow up emails. It got so bad I wrote them emails that said stuff like You will never get away with this, I will spam the shi$ out of your email every single day for the rest of my life, and I did so everyday I would write them and say I haven't forgotten about this, I also blasted them on this message board and another one which I sorta got banned for. After about 15-20 days I guess hockey monkey realized I wasn't going to go away and I was going to make their life miserable a lady finally emailed me and said she would take care of it send the stick to her and i'll send out another one. That was it, that's the last time I ever deal with them. What shocked me the most was the hockey monkey apologists on this board and some other ones, like i'm in the wrong, yeah i should just pay for a broken stick and accept it? Crazy

[sjs0433 15]

They've got some good prices on some Combat sticks that I was thinking about picking up.....now I'm wondering if I should take my chances or not. I've ordered from them once in the past with no issues but I hate reading stuff like this.

[beedee 227]

Good thing I work 5 minutes away from the Irvine, CA location.

[Souldriver 64]

Hockey monkey are a terrible terrible business, I ordered a stick from them last year, it came snapped in half mid shaft, I emailed and called them they said send us some pictures which I did, that's when I got ignored, they wouldn't answer the number they gave me or any of my follow up emails. It got so bad I wrote them emails that said stuff like You will never get away with this, I will spam the shi$ out of your email every single day for the rest of my life, and I did so everyday I would write them and say I haven't forgotten about this, I also blasted them on this message board and another one which I sorta got banned for. After about 15-20 days I guess hockey monkey realized I wasn't going to go away and I was going to make their life miserable a lady finally emailed me and said she would take care of it send the stick to her and i'll send out another one. That was it, that's the last time I ever deal with them. What shocked me the most was the hockey monkey apologists on this board and some other ones, like i'm in the wrong, yeah i should just pay for a broken stick and accept it? Crazy

you also have to separate who is to blame in these situations. did HM send you a broken stick? did they pack it incorrectly? if they did then ok. besides that this is a fedex/ups claim bc they probably mishandled it. if so it takes a minimum of 2 weeks for HM to get the refund bc the shipper always refunds the person sending the package. once that happens then i yes it should be credited/sent to you very easily, but it seems that is rarely the case.

[Jakedajewler 1]

Yeah but that's not my problem ya know? Not trying to be a dick but I didn't hire ups to ship it, I paid for a product and I didn't not receive it in the shape it was suppose to be in. They need to figure out what the problem is and not leave the customer in the wind for almost a month, just ignoring them. I was about to report them to the better business bureau

[geshnyc 3]

Yeah but that's not my problem ya know? Not trying to be a dick but I didn't hire ups to ship it, I paid for a product and I didn't not receive it in the shape it was suppose to be in. They need to figure out what the problem is and not leave the customer in the wind for almost a month, just ignoring them. I was about to report them to the better business bureau

I think this all boils down to the internet evolving and commerce with it ( consumer is part of commerce ) and we allowed the variety and information element produced by the internet to replace something valuable that you could get from a brick and mortar shop: That Good ole customer service from a guy named "Joe" or "John" who had probably been there since the day it opened who is willing to bend the store policy for his regulars and remembers your name. I had my new skates baked today at a shop I did not even know existed tucked away deep in an even deeper part of NYC. Damn it felt good to have the owner bake me up and lace me up; turn out he is a Bauer dealer and had the Bauer rep on the phone in 2 minutes after we had some skate questions. Guess who I am going back to now.

[SirJW 207]

What shop?