My absolute nightmare experience with John Stultz and Bearpaw Wilderness Designs

Before the internet became such a major influencer, the rule of thumb was that a happy customer would tell 3 people, and unhappy customer would tell 20. So a business would be inclined to keep a customer happy no matter whether they were right or wrong. This thread shows the type of influence a post can have 3 years later on a well trafficked site on the internet. Potentially dozens of lost sales.

I was considering him for a major refurb. I will look elsewhere. I know a few excellent honest cottage guys.

There is an old saying: You only get one chance to make a first impression.

I think that can be modified slightly to: You only get 1 second chance to make a customer happy.

I haven’t ever purchased any cuben products from BPWP but have gotten 3 or 4 silnylon inner tents through the years and have had no problems with either customer service or quality.

Woah! A blast from the past.  I forgot all about this.  Didn’t realized BPWD was still a thing.

Just going to add my experience with BPWD.

Used two of their products, a used BPWD cuben canopy 2 tarp and a 0.93oz/yard silpoly flat tarp. Used the canopy 2 for 2000 miles of the CDT last summer. It rocked! It looked like it had already gotten a fair bit of use when I received it. with some small pieces of cuben tape it’s still going now.

Spent 7 nights under the silpoly flat tarp. No complaints outside of the known stretchiness of the 0.93oz/yard silpoly.

I haven’t had any kind of custom work from BPWD but their standard products have treated me well. Light, simple, well executed and inexpensive.

I’ve never reviewed a company before but I have to warn everyone to STAY AWAY from Bear Paw Wilderness Designs and its owner John Stultz. In November 2022 Mr. Stultz stole my $269 North Face Soloist Bivy.

The nightmare started when I asked Mr. Stultz, by email, to quote replacing the top and bottom nylon on my bivy. To quote the job, he first asked me to send photos, then asked me to ship him the bivy. He received my bivy on 10/17/22 by UPS.

By 11/3 I still had no quote from Mr. Stultz and emailed him to return my bivy using my UPS account number. He refused and said “I will just toss the bivy into the trash.”

I called the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, which polices Wellington, Colorado, and reported the theft to a deputy.

Customers, take your business to Hyperlite or elsewhere. Vendors, if Mr. Stultz will steal from customers, he will steal from you too.

Long time buyer.  Recent ex-customer here.  Had had good luck except the past year or so.  Not sure what’s going on over there.  Maybe they’ve jumped the shark.

@Donald G – That kind of response is really unbelievable.  “If you’re not going to pay me to do the work then I’m going to make sure NOBODY does the work.”  It’s a shame you hadn’t seen this thread before you reached out to him…

Sad to see the same type of thing happen over and over with this vendor.  I was taught that if something is unusually inexpensive compared to similar items, there is almost always a good reason.  Conversely, (and purposely ignoring the evil that is some marketing) there is almost always a good reason why something is more expensive than normal…if not, that vendor will usually not be in business long.  Capitalism!

“Buyer beware” and all that.

“Sad to see the same type of thing happen over and over with this vendor” AND it looks like NO individual that experienced Mr. Stultz’s behavior has brought their complaints to the Better Business Bureau®.

This business is not BBB accredited.
Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation.

To be accredited by BBB, a business must apply for accreditation and BBB must determine that the business meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. BBB Accredited Businesses must pay a fee for accreditation review/monitoring and for support of BBB services to the public.

https://www.bbb.org/us/co/wellington/profile/camping-equipment/bearpaw-wilderness-designs-llc-0805-46074379

I will post on BBB; please join me.

Should someone reach out to them first?  If I was in the neighborhood…

Heres a gear swap link to my last dealings with them.  Kinda sums things up for me.

https://backpackinglight.com/gear-swaps/bpwd-la-garita-2-silpoly/

I do wish them success but….

Lmao you guys are wild. Just get your money back and chill.

Well duh.  Do you not think I tried?  Ol John there wasn’t having it.  So there’s that.  wtf

Reviving this…but been looking for someone to add a mesh door to my dcf dome tent which lacks one. John after some minimally informative back and forth emails eventually quoted 100$ but Ive read this read and am a bit wary…does anyone know of anyone else, individuals or orgs (I’m in the mid-atlantic/northeast but okay to ship if person is reputable) who would be open to such a task?

Just saw this and thought I’d chime in. I had him do a net door, with a bathrub floor and net rim on a MLD duomid. It was over 10 years ago but I remember a bad experience with him. Maybe with the bathtub floor construction I got. He didn’t seem to care much. I’ve moved on in my life and can’t remember much, just that I wouldn’t business again with him.

Gregory: You might have some luck posting on the MYOG Commissions Subreddit. I’ve thought about having someone there do some work for me, but found a local seamstress that could do the modifications I needed.