Montbell Clearance

James, I take it you are DerSasquatch from Backpacker.com?

Just in case anyone is interested, here is the thread that was running at backpacker.com as the events unfolded…

http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=832107219;t=9991136686;st=0

So I work in Golden, CO where BGM is located and while mistakes are mistakes and they shouldn't have happened in the first place, it is a small, locally owned mountaineering shop that's simply trying to compete with the big boys and keep their doors open.

With the deal-hungry group of folks here at BPL wanting nothing less than the best when it comes to gear, their website unfortunately matches their shop and can't keep up with the quantities of gear you hounds gobble up when a rare sale is announced on WM, Montbell, etc.

What I love about this site is the support of the little guys in the industry and while they obviously need a new web guy, take it easy. People happily wait 3-5 weeks for a MLD/SMD/Zpacks item but all patience is lost because they don't have REI quantities of items on sale. Realize the small gear shop owners out there practically have to refinance their lives when placing orders for the gear they carry, especially the top of the line brands we all covet. Profit margins are extremely slim too so 15% off a WM bag leaves all of 25% profit (yep, 60% of retail is cost for WM) so a $500 bag that they paid $300 for comes to $125 gross profit, which hardly keeps the doors open and food in their employees mouths.

This is all stuff most of you know but just wanted to throw it out there. Have a good weekend everyone and GO STEELERS!

I had the same thing mike had happen to him back in the fall about a wm bag on sale. I never got it.

Later, I did get a few things from them on a NICE sale.

When I was in golden a month back I went there, just because I wanted to see the place.

you would be shocked at the size. Its just a local shop, with a darn good selection (I wish tahoe had such a place).

You can tell the guys that run it (or at least work there) are outdoors first, sales persons second. I was there for a half hour and not one person asked me if I wanted help.

I will take these guys over some of the cottage guys here however, after truly being wronged by kooka bay, these guys look like saints.

I support a lot of the "little" guys and will continue to do so- I've found that in most cases not only do they make top notch products, but offer great customer service as well. What I won't support is crappy CS- waiting for an item if it happened to be bought off the shelf during a hot sale is not a problem- send me an email, let me know it's going to be a bit to get back in stock- not a problem, if it is- simply refund my $

purchasing an item and then told two days later they can't honor the price you purchased the item for…. well that's different in my book, I'm sure one less customer isn't going to hurt them, but from the sounds of it appears there's been more than one

Go Packers!

Formerly known as, Chad – yep.

If everyone decided to not do business with companies that made a mistake or had a customer service slip up, we'd all be doing MYOG. Everyone make mistakes. If I went into Walmart and the cashier gave me an extra $20 in change I wouldn't think "Hell they can afford it!" and put it in my pocket. It was a mistake. While it certainly won't bankrupt them, it's still their money. I don't mean to pick on Chad but as an example, with the $15 quilt, what was their price that they offered to sell it to you for? The difference is their loss on that item. They took a loss because one of their employees screwed up and tried to keep a customer happy. It sure sounds like they tried on that sale.

This hits home for me because today a co-worker and friend of mine (we've worked together for 9 years, the first 2 members on a team of two that is now 18) who is a really smart and skilled guy, made a seemingly minor mistake. But the effects were disastrous. I'm going to end up working at least an extra 10 hours (what's that in gear deal $$?) over the weekend and already missed my daughter's choir performance tonight because of it. But I'm not mad at him. He made a mistake. And it's possible it will cost him his job. Maybe it cost the web guy at BG his job because he typo'ed and posted it for $15 instead of $115. Who knows? But what did it cost all the end users who didn't get their unbelievable deal and complained about it? Their expectations of an awesome gear score?

I say do unto others as you would have done to you. If they are rude and treat you like crap, then boycott them. But otherwise, why not admit that we all make mistakes and be more forgiving of others when they do? What can it hurt?

In my previous experience, the only foul I found with them (BGM)was them not wanting to initially honor a price we settled upon and I paid for a quilt. However, they were very quick to speak up (the next morning) and they did even offer me the quilt at their price. To be honest though, I didn't want it that bad. So, I refused the offer, commented on how if I were to get it I felt it should have been at the advertised (and paid) price and thanked them for being up front and quick. They refunded me my money back, and I was fine (as could be).

Meanwhile, in the thread back at the forums, which started out as an awesome gear find thread, I kept everyone up to date with the process. The thread was brought to the attention of BGM by a couple of those forum members and later the owner contacted me and told me that he would be sending the quilt for the advertised price.

Sure, I was not the happiest person when I found out I wasn't getting the quilt, but I never talked trash about the company and I don't think that relaying that experience is a bad thing. Especially now with the end result being that they owned up and fulfilled their end of the sale.

But I did find it a little odd that I came across this thread which sounds like a near similar experience I had with them. To me it does sound like whoever is working on the web site is messing a few things up, and maybe that should be addressed. I have heard quite a few great things about this company though on multiple forums, so I don't think that any of this is actually intentional, just maybe a little lacking. I do still have the site bookmarked on my computer and on my blog. I still occasionally browse through there and if the price was good would still buy from them, but I will take a little extra precautions, and maybe just call on the phone to order…

I did place one other order with them since the quilt incidence. It was actually about a day after all of that had happened. I ordered 2 pair of Chaco's and the transaction went great. I even received a Climbing magazine courtesy of BGM with a coupon inside for their store a few months ago.

I ordered the U.L.down inner jacket on sale, paid for it and received notice that it would be shipped within 24 hours. Last night I received an e-mail from BGM notifying me that they were out of that item and would not receive any more, how did I wish to proceed. I checked their updated website which showed the item I ordered available in a different color, so I replied that I would accept the different color. Haven't heard back yet.

Has anyone who ordered one of the on-sale items received it?

geoff

Just wanted to throw out there that I ordered an Icebreaker shirt from them with a coupon code, and I got an email saying the shirt was no longer available. That was a few months ago, and the shirt (same size) is still on the website. The email was very nice though and relatively speedy. If there is a guy who is solely responsible for the website, it seems like he's not doing the best job. I would order from them again though, they have some books that I can't even get on Amazon. I just wouldn't get my hopes up that they definitely exist.

It's a common trend with Bent Gate Mountaineering. When I spoke with the president through email, bait and switch came up a couple times.

In a lot cases, items were ordered, paid for (money was withdrawn), and then the order was cancelled by BGM for "X" reason and money was refunded. Items ordered still remained on the website as you've seen here, and the problem repeats itself.

It's really disappointing to see this business practice continuing with a company that offers decent service and good prices.

Buyer beware, it seems. Any sale item isn't guaranteed.

As an update, I received the Montbell UL down inner jacket today at the advertised $99.99 clearance price, so I'm happy with Bent Gate.

geoff

I got my Thermawrap today too – good transaction, decent shipping speed, and a great price. I'd buy from them again.

I had no problems with Bentgate. I found them online as having the Montebell Thermawrap Parka on sale at $119. I could not find one cheaper so i went for it. 5 days later the parka was on my doorstep.
As of tonight I still can't find a better deal on the Thermawrap parka online than i got from Bent Gate.
I friggin love my Thermawrap Parka! I sleep in it everynight as i am getting acclimated to my MLD Spirit Quilt system. The sizing is a little on the trim side. if you want it for an outer layer go for one size up.

"With the deal-hungry group of folks here at BPL wanting nothing less than the best when it comes to gear, their website unfortunately matches their shop and can't keep up with the quantities of gear you hounds gobble up when a rare sale is announced on WM, Montbell, etc."

Sorry, that doesn't wash. If you set up a web site then it should be able to track stock levels. If it can't, shut it down, set it up properly and start again. As they say, once is happenstance, twice is an issue.

It also doesn't wash that they've got a physically small shop – the whole point of web shops is that you don't need much of a physical presence to be big on-line.

"People happily wait 3-5 weeks for a MLD/SMD/Zpacks item but all patience is lost because they don't have REI quantities of items on sale."

That'd be because the MLD/SMD/Zpacks stuff is usually hand-made in someone's garage. And the issue isn't how much stock BGM have on sale, but that you can apparently get all the way to checkout before you get told that the sale items are gone.

the difference is small manufacturers clearly state there is a backlog or how long to expect shipment.

a webstore has no excuse. you stock an item, you put it in an inventory system that tracks instore and warehouse inventory, and subtract it out as it is purchased, NOT HARD AT ALL. bent gate, o2gearshop.com, gearandtraining.com are stores ive had problems with. they wait a week then cancel an order. eventually these companies will be out of business. o2gearshop for example is paying people $20 coupon codes to write positive reviews on consumer review websites, they have to pay people off to get fake positive reviews so anybody will shop there.

yes some of these stores are "small", but how big of a bank balance you think they can keep by selling fake orders and then refunding a week or two later?

any other stores that do this???

Sorry, that doesn't wash. If you set up a web site then it should be able to track stock levels. If it can't, shut it down, set it up properly and start again. As they say, once is happenstance, twice is an issue.

If they can't do that, they better have Paypal or something like that because I won't trust them with my credit card.