Originally Posted By esstac-:
It's actually quite common at this moment.  Probably will be this way for awhile.

Bad Grammer and triggering below.



Until a week ago we only had one customer support guy who inherited a shit show from the previous.  He's spent the last few months barely treading water.  Took quite awhile to find a second worthy of the task.  A task I wish on no one because it is a soul sucking job.

For every one legit customer support question/issue there is 87 wtf emails watering everything down making life even hard.

I am in Idaho right now for an event and spent a good portion last night helping our CS guys with one individual.  This is not a unique customer support issue but a common theme that is ever increasing.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008353-3123266.jpg

How do you respond to someone like this?  How much time do you vest with an individual like this?  Obviously we need to find out what the issue is so we can correct it if it is our fault.  So the customer support guys involved me furthering the time and money sink.

First off this gentleman didn't leave us much to go on so the first course of action is answering a question with a question.  That's time.  Who is he???  No order number, got a generic name and an email that will help us find who he is but again time ....

We found him after one of the CS guys emailed apologizing (we don't know for what yet?) Asking for further details.

This is his order

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008354-3123276.png

His last order was partially refunded.  Wait?  Last order??  He has 3 partially refunded order.  All fully refunded minus shipping.  Oct 20 order, Oct 30 order and his Jan 17 order.  2 of the three shipped the next day and one shipped same day.  Fantastic shipping!

All three were documented as RTS/NSN.  Return to sender/no such name.  All three....  Three orders for shotgun cards totalling a bit over $300.

Three orders that have been returned that have ended up costing us a shit ton of time and money and yet we are still blamed.  All returned because this gentleman does not have his name on the post office box.



Not trying to be arrogant but that above is just one simple CS issue eating up valuable time that is taken from legit customer support issues.  And it's dozens a day reducing that time needed for legit issues or questions.


Another huge issues is potential customers using us as a Google search.  Answering easily googled questions would reduce the CD workload letting us spend more time with those truly in need.

And then we have the ones who need to speak with someone before placing a simple order.  Or have to email to ask for a discount while passing right by the tab that gets them that code.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008355-3123287.png

Bypass that discount code and direct email eating up further resources.  Every day....  All day



Add in all of the .gov agencies and all their bullshit practices dictating how we are to sell to them.  Multiple different people from the same agency with their hands on the pot to get an order made.  Months and months to get payment from them because they all have their own unique way of ordering completely ignoring they are a customer purchasing from me on my terms.  We just reshipped 12 belts to a sheriff's dept, reshipped....  Because apparently we fucked up the first 12 and sent that department 12 identically sized XL belts instead of all the different sizes they ordered.  Can you imagine the grief given to my employees who swear they didn't fuck up this order and also what it makes us look like??  So we remake their entire order and put extra hands on it to verify it is in fact correct before reshipping.  Further Time .... Money.....  On an order we are already in the hole on now.

It lands at the department.  100% wrong.....

How???  Many hands checked this order just like the first one.

Granted this is a Leo agency who should be able to detect their way out of a paper sack right?  No, some middle management purchasing agent in the office open both boxes and looked at one belt and assumed they were all the same size.  We did infact send BOTH orders correctly.  This is not a unique experience and happens quite often but we are always to blame and expected to put forth the time and energy to fix everyone's issues when we should be fixing just our own letting us have that time needed for the true customer support.

But reality hits arrogance and entitlement and we end up picking up the pieces and being the bad guy.



Sole reason I own this business is to make things I want to make.  If people buy those things it's a plus.  Several years ago I was over ridden on an important decision (me, the owner) What to call our customer service.  The decision was made to call it and title the main CS email as "customer support" not service.  We are not in the business to provide service.  The customer give money for goods, that's it.  If.... We screw up our end we will fix it.  If..... The customer fucks his end we will fix it to the best of our ability.  That ability is lacking because some of the customers, allot of those not or not yet customers,  just eat up a mountain of time sucking the soul out of my customer support guys and by default mine.  Didn't start this business to hold hands.


If an agency wants to place an order we offer an extremely shit yet functional website.  You add things to cart and checkout.  Preferably with a correct shipping address.....  If you meet some criteria and click that little tab offering individual or agency discounts you'll earn -20% off your order.  This helps outfit even more officer's or grunts.  As soon as an email is sent before that order it just slowed it down and all the ones behind it in getting them out the door or answering the next email.



Don't make this hard on us or yourself.  Utilize the website for those goods and services and the discount process.  If you need something for T&E ping us(one of the easiest and simplest CusSupport jobs we can do) and your order will probably ship pretty damn fast.

Originally Posted By TechOps:


GL man, you make great kit, people suck sometimes.
It is Friday.

Originally Posted By esstac-:

Cola warrior wrecked me yesterday and sore as fuck.  Might die now

Originally Posted By TechOps:
Yeah, but did you die?

Originally Posted By southerncross:
Ok, here's what I am getting from this thread:

OP doesn't realize Esstac is swamped, complains about needing personalized handholding because .gov bullshit. Stu responds and even says expect more of what you already got. OP skims/reads or pretends to skim/read Stu's response and then goes right back to the original argument. OP will likely get no joy

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
I’m looking for insight into the customer service experience others have had with Esstac. I work in the training and armament division for my Department, and have been looking to get Esstac mag pouches as standard issue equipment. So far their customer service has been the worst I’ve ever seen. The few responses have been condescending and far less than helpful. Furthermore, correspondence was in regards to purchasing in bulk to update Officers with open top mag pouches. I have sent multiple emails with no response and wanted to see if this is common.

Originally Posted By NachoDip:
Wish.com might be better off for OP’s needs.

Link

Originally Posted By esstac-:
It's actually quite common at this moment.  Probably will be this way for awhile.

Bad Grammer and triggering below.



Until a week ago we only had one customer support guy who inherited a shit show from the previous.  He's spent the last few months barely treading water.  Took quite awhile to find a second worthy of the task.  A task I wish on no one because it is a soul sucking job.

For every one legit customer support question/issue there is 87 wtf emails watering everything down making life even hard.

I am in Idaho right now for an event and spent a good portion last night helping our CS guys with one individual.  This is not a unique customer support issue but a common theme that is ever increasing.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008353-3123266.jpg

How do you respond to someone like this?  How much time do you vest with an individual like this?  Obviously we need to find out what the issue is so we can correct it if it is our fault.  So the customer support guys involved me furthering the time and money sink.

First off this gentleman didn't leave us much to go on so the first course of action is answering a question with a question.  That's time.  Who is he???  No order number, got a generic name and an email that will help us find who he is but again time ....

We found him after one of the CS guys emailed apologizing (we don't know for what yet?) Asking for further details.

This is his order

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008354-3123276.png

His last order was partially refunded.  Wait?  Last order??  He has 3 partially refunded order.  All fully refunded minus shipping.  Oct 20 order, Oct 30 order and his Jan 17 order.  2 of the three shipped the next day and one shipped same day.  Fantastic shipping!

All three were documented as RTS/NSN.  Return to sender/no such name.  All three....  Three orders for shotgun cards totalling a bit over $300.

Three orders that have been returned that have ended up costing us a shit ton of time and money and yet we are still blamed.  All returned because this gentleman does not have his name on the post office box.



Not trying to be arrogant but that above is just one simple CS issue eating up valuable time that is taken from legit customer support issues.  And it's dozens a day reducing that time needed for legit issues or questions.


Another huge issues is potential customers using us as a Google search.  Answering easily googled questions would reduce the CD workload letting us spend more time with those truly in need.

And then we have the ones who need to speak with someone before placing a simple order.  Or have to email to ask for a discount while passing right by the tab that gets them that code.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008355-3123287.png

Bypass that discount code and direct email eating up further resources.  Every day....  All day



Add in all of the .gov agencies and all their bullshit practices dictating how we are to sell to them.  Multiple different people from the same agency with their hands on the pot to get an order made.  Months and months to get payment from them because they all have their own unique way of ordering completely ignoring they are a customer purchasing from me on my terms.  We just reshipped 12 belts to a sheriff's dept, reshipped....  Because apparently we fucked up the first 12 and sent that department 12 identically sized XL belts instead of all the different sizes they ordered.  Can you imagine the grief given to my employees who swear they didn't fuck up this order and also what it makes us look like??  So we remake their entire order and put extra hands on it to verify it is in fact correct before reshipping.  Further Time .... Money.....  On an order we are already in the hole on now.

It lands at the department.  100% wrong.....

How???  Many hands checked this order just like the first one.

Granted this is a Leo agency who should be able to detect their way out of a paper sack right?  No, some middle management purchasing agent in the office open both boxes and looked at one belt and assumed they were all the same size.  We did infact send BOTH orders correctly.  This is not a unique experience and happens quite often but we are always to blame and expected to put forth the time and energy to fix everyone's issues when we should be fixing just our own letting us have that time needed for the true customer support.

But reality hits arrogance and entitlement and we end up picking up the pieces and being the bad guy.



Sole reason I own this business is to make things I want to make.  If people buy those things it's a plus.  Several years ago I was over ridden on an important decision (me, the owner) What to call our customer service.  The decision was made to call it and title the main CS email as "customer support" not service.  We are not in the business to provide service.  The customer give money for goods, that's it.  If.... We screw up our end we will fix it.  If..... The customer fucks his end we will fix it to the best of our ability.  That ability is lacking because some of the customers, allot of those not or not yet customers,  just eat up a mountain of time sucking the soul out of my customer support guys and by default mine.  Didn't start this business to hold hands.


If an agency wants to place an order we offer an extremely shit yet functional website.  You add things to cart and checkout.  Preferably with a correct shipping address.....  If you meet some criteria and click that little tab offering individual or agency discounts you'll earn -20% off your order.  This helps outfit even more officer's or grunts.  As soon as an email is sent before that order it just slowed it down and all the ones behind it in getting them out the door or answering the next email.



Don't make this hard on us or yourself.  Utilize the website for those goods and services and the discount process.  If you need something for T&E ping us(one of the easiest and simplest CusSupport jobs we can do) and your order will probably ship pretty damn fast.

Originally Posted By centermass181:
I'm going to buy some shit that I don't need right now.   Excellent rant.

Originally Posted By JoeDevola:
You appear to be the most butthurt poster in this thread.

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
Originally Posted By southerncross:



Hahaha. I see you keep coming back to interject. I’m enjoying the comments and fact you took time out to reply. I’m sure a very small percentage of remarks here are actually from people who wear kit everyday instead of playing weekend warrior. Also highly doubt you’re buying 500+ units.

I’m just looking to see how many soft people get butt hurt over some criticism at this point.

Originally Posted By southerncross:


I keep coming back because I'm in here a lot. Esstac sponsors Cola Warrior, which is a bunch of wild retards like myself who shoot/obstacle/run in and generally abuse their gear regularly in competition. We also buy a fair amount of soft goods for a group of a few hundred people spread across the states. So no, I'm not buying 500 units myself, but we buy a lot of stuff, and we aren't entitled assholes about it. Mostly.

Originally Posted By NachoDip:

But we are assholes.

And Stu is the leader of the assholes.

Originally Posted By esstac-:
It's actually quite common at this moment.  Probably will be this way for awhile.

Bad Grammer and triggering below.



Until a week ago we only had one customer support guy who inherited a shit show from the previous.  He's spent the last few months barely treading water.  Took quite awhile to find a second worthy of the task.  A task I wish on no one because it is a soul sucking job.

For every one legit customer support question/issue there is 87 wtf emails watering everything down making life even hard.
Never be afraid to fire a customer, that 10% will take 90% of your time
I am in Idaho right now for an event and spent a good portion last night helping our CS guys with one individual.  This is not a unique customer support issue but a common theme that is ever increasing.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008353-3123266.jpg

How do you respond to someone like this?  How much time do you vest with an individual like this?  Obviously we need to find out what the issue is so we can correct it if it is our fault.  So the customer support guys involved me furthering the time and money sink.

First off this gentleman didn't leave us much to go on so the first course of action is answering a question with a question.  That's time.  Who is he???  No order number, got a generic name and an email that will help us find who he is but again time ....

We found him after one of the CS guys emailed apologizing (we don't know for what yet?) Asking for further details.

This is his order

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008354-3123276.png

His last order was partially refunded.  Wait?  Last order??  He has 3 partially refunded order.  All fully refunded minus shipping.  Oct 20 order, Oct 30 order and his Jan 17 order.  2 of the three shipped the next day and one shipped same day.  Fantastic shipping!

All three were documented as RTS/NSN.  Return to sender/no such name.  All three....  Three orders for shotgun cards totalling a bit over $300.

Three orders that have been returned that have ended up costing us a shit ton of time and money and yet we are still blamed.  All returned because this gentleman does not have his name on the post office box.



Not trying to be arrogant but that above is just one simple CS issue eating up valuable time that is taken from legit customer support issues.  And it's dozens a day reducing that time needed for legit issues or questions.


Another huge issues is potential customers using us as a Google search.  Answering easily googled questions would reduce the CD workload letting us spend more time with those truly in need.

And then we have the ones who need to speak with someone before placing a simple order.  Or have to email to ask for a discount while passing right by the tab that gets them that code.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/72956/1000008355-3123287.png

Bypass that discount code and direct email eating up further resources.  Every day....  All day



Add in all of the .gov agencies and all their bullshit practices dictating how we are to sell to them.  Multiple different people from the same agency with their hands on the pot to get an order made.  Months and months to get payment from them because they all have their own unique way of ordering completely ignoring they are a customer purchasing from me on my terms.  We just reshipped 12 belts to a sheriff's dept, reshipped....  Because apparently we fucked up the first 12 and sent that department 12 identically sized XL belts instead of all the different sizes they ordered.  Can you imagine the grief given to my employees who swear they didn't fuck up this order and also what it makes us look like??  So we remake their entire order and put extra hands on it to verify it is in fact correct before reshipping.  Further Time .... Money.....  On an order we are already in the hole on now.

It lands at the department.  100% wrong.....

How???  Many hands checked this order just like the first one.

Granted this is a Leo agency who should be able to detect their way out of a paper sack right?  No, some middle management purchasing agent in the office open both boxes and looked at one belt and assumed they were all the same size.  We did infact send BOTH orders correctly.  This is not a unique experience and happens quite often but we are always to blame and expected to put forth the time and energy to fix everyone's issues when we should be fixing just our own letting us have that time needed for the true customer support.

But reality hits arrogance and entitlement and we end up picking up the pieces and being the bad guy.



Sole reason I own this business is to make things I want to make.  If people buy those things it's a plus.  Several years ago I was over ridden on an important decision (me, the owner) What to call our customer service.  The decision was made to call it and title the main CS email as "customer support" not service.  We are not in the business to provide service.  The customer give money for goods, that's it.  If.... We screw up our end we will fix it.  If..... The customer fucks his end we will fix it to the best of our ability.  That ability is lacking because some of the customers, allot of those not or not yet customers,  just eat up a mountain of time sucking the soul out of my customer support guys and by default mine.  Didn't start this business to hold hands.


If an agency wants to place an order we offer an extremely shit yet functional website.  You add things to cart and checkout.  Preferably with a correct shipping address.....  If you meet some criteria and click that little tab offering individual or agency discounts you'll earn -20% off your order.  This helps outfit even more officer's or grunts.  As soon as an email is sent before that order it just slowed it down and all the ones behind it in getting them out the door or answering the next email.



Don't make this hard on us or yourself.  Utilize the website for those goods and services and the discount process.  If you need something for T&E ping us(one of the easiest and simplest CusSupport jobs we can do) and your order will probably ship pretty damn fast.

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
Stu’s response sounds like an excuse. No one cares how short staffed anyone is. It’s not a reason to do a shit job. Don’t work with gov agencies or people in NY, don’t care. The original post was to see if this was common. If hand holding is asking a company for general information to make a bulk purchase you’re misinformed. Figured I would get educated response but guess I was wrong.

Originally Posted By fatguy7814:
I love Esstac threads.

Originally Posted By TNC:


Esstac is besstac

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
I understand the difficulties that come with a large consumer pool. I am one of the “bullshit” gov agencies “your words” with hoops I have to go through. Unfortunately, this is a result of those who control our budget and funding. They request ridiculous things and I’ve tried explaining and have been more than professional.

Nonetheless, the response received was far less than professional and inviting. I simply asked for common paperwork to make purchases, i.e., W9, sole source letter on company letter head and quote. This allows me to submit a purchase request from an approved vendor.

Although, the response that I received from a Melissa was unprofessional and discouraging.

I’m happy to hear others have had positive experiences and not looking tarnish positive relationships. However, if this common then definitely not a company I’m interested in purchasing from. Even with an influx of time consuming CS questions, a good step would be to complete and address things completely and professionally one issue at a time. A simple 5min call would have cleared up the issue and created a positive experience.

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
Originally Posted By southerncross:



Hahaha. I see you keep coming back to interject. I’m enjoying the comments and fact you took time out to reply. I’m sure a very small percentage of remarks here are actually from people who wear kit everyday instead of playing weekend warrior. Also highly doubt you’re buying 500+ units.

I’m just looking to see how many soft people get butt hurt over some criticism at this point.

Originally Posted By brandonpski:
Originally Posted By southerncross:



Hahaha. I see you keep coming back to interject. I’m enjoying the comments and fact you took time out to reply. I’m sure a very small percentage of remarks here are actually from people who wear kit everyday instead of playing weekend warrior. Also highly doubt you’re buying 500+ units.

I’m just looking to see how many soft people get butt hurt over some criticism at this point.

Originally Posted By NachoDip:
I kinda feel bad for OP. It’s hard to be taken serious when your co-workers are shooting because acorns are falling.

Originally Posted By NorCalRT:


If we play our cards right maybe we get an acorn coupon code

Originally Posted By NorCalRT:


If we play our cards right maybe we get an acorn coupon code

Originally Posted By NachoDip:
I was trying to get a “NachoDip” coupon code made that added 10% to the price. The website didn’t like negative numbers for some reason though and it didn’t work.

Originally Posted By ORjeepguy:
I keep a list of my grievances with Stu. You all should too.
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/185965/1000008207_jpg-3135104.JPG