ZPACKS Customer Service

I’ve been getting the shipping notifications for recent purchases and its been up to date. Lead times were longer than they claimed but I understood that during these COVID times.

I do think they’ve outgrown the cottage company scale and failed to scale with their growth.

Customer Service is a substantial part of the advantage of cottage companies, as a result we pay premium prices. We also enjoy supporting US companies and pay a premium for that. However, Zpacks just isn’t cutting it right now.

Whats the advantage over TarpTent, GG, HMG, SWD, MLD, etc.?

I don’t know because I don’t have experience with the above companies.

All in all, this is very frustrating. All I asked for a how to receive replacement stays/frame. I don’t want it for free, I’m willing to pay. Still no response.

I did see they took the time to increase social media presence and introduce a new pack on YouTube.

At least they’re priorities are straight.

No school like old school.  Gonna have to fire a rock through the window with a note attached telling them to check their email.  Too harsh?

I sent them one last email explaining my issues with Customer service. This time I got an auto reply saying they usually respond in 24 hours during weekdays. Obviously that’s not true. I will update the thread once I hear back from them.

Whats the advantage over TarpTent, GG, HMG, SWD, MLD, etc.?

I’ve dealt with all but HMG. TarpTent is outstanding. Six Moon Designs is pretty good. The rest are awful.

My experiences with Dan McHale is better than any company large or small.

In all fairness in my previous post, it has been many years since I did business with those companies and their customer service may have improved.

“The rest are awful.”

I’m surprised to hear that about GG as my prior experiences with them have all been very positive.  Can’t comment on HMG, MLD & SWD.

Six Moons was has always been great as well.  They promptly added Line Loc 3’s to the DCF Deschutes I ordered after I read your post about the one you purchased.  Excellent tarp BTW.

I’m not a social media person except for stuff like this.  Perhaps they are using one of the venue icons shown on the bottom left of their web page more often ?

Their business phone is listed as (321) 345-4938

Hmm, I just bought a few accessories from them a few days ago.  Lead times on the items were listed as 2-3 weeks, but then I got a shipment notification about 2 days after I placed the order.  Items have been shipped and are scheduled to be delivered in a few days.

I’ve generally had pretty good service from them over the years.

That’s good news but takes some of the fun out of this thread.  j/k   I placed an order fir a pack.  Hopefully I’ll get the email shout soon

In May I ordered Zerk from Mountainsmith, one of your mainstream companies, and received a notice to expect longer than average turn-around; they didn’t provide an ETA.  Then a few days ago it showed up without any prior heads-up that it was being shipped, tracking number, etc., which was all good.  It would be easy to say that their customer service is in the pits, but these are interesting times we are living in…perhaps a revision of expectations would be in order.

An adjustment of expectations and an understanding of human-ness is indeed essential in these times.

But I suggest having a browse of this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/fuf93m/so_zpacks_is_essential/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf and considering if this business really deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Usually Paige responds pretty quickly but she didn’t get back to me a few weeks ago, with a question I had about a quilt I wanted to purchase from them, so I ended up going with Katabatic instead.
Also, I’ve also chatted with them through their Instagram account in the past. You could try that even though it’s not ideal.

I received items I’ve purchased recently within the delivery window as well, so this lack of CS is somewhat surprising. All of their shipment notifications have been accurate, up to delivery notice.

However, getting in contact with someone has been awful.

Well that linked article was interesting.

One of my greatest fears while the world gets back on its feet, are the hiccups we’re going to have with manufactured items on multiple levels, having inferior quality for multiple reasons.  sigh.

Zpacks ship times are slow compared to HMG and Tarptent all of whom I’ve purchased many products. CS excels at HMG and Tarptent typically with same day response. Longer with Zpacks but acceptable IMO. I ordered a few small stuff sacks and some cordage over two weeks ago with no lead times and yet no notice of shipment yet. Not good.

Definitely an interesting read. Even if only half of it is true.

“Definitely an interesting read. Even if only half of it is true.”

If nothing else, it certainly makes you appreciate the civility here!

Just received notification that my order from Zpacks has shipped.  That’s within the 2-3 wk lead time as quoted.

Good stuff. They’re shipping times have been accurate for me so far. It’s their CS that is awful at the moment.

Good stuff. They’re shipping times have been accurate for me so far. It’s their CS that is awful at the moment.

So, we might wonder. How many inbound emails/phone calls did a company like ZPacks get per day before the pandemic. With so many people at home with nothing to do, has the inbound traffic increased? Could it have increase with a factor of 3 to 4 times? That would be a huge problem for many companies, no matter how big or small they may be.

Please give them the benefit of the doubt during the pandemic.  I went back and looked at my last interaction with ZPacks earlier this year:

• On February 28th I emailed with a question about the Nero pack and had a reply just seven hours later
• I ordered my pack on April 11th and received the tracking info that it shipped on April 15th and it arrived a couple days later

I really hope that they get back to you on your emailed question.