Mike, I agree with you. I would stand fast right where you are. As an example, I had a bow less than a year old. I stored it in a very hot building. Got a delam in the riser. Clearly my fault. No telling where his riser has been, nor how it has been stored. Over 3 years and no history? Come on now. Only an idiot would have expected you to provide a full warranty replacement. In business, there is always someone out there bent on causing you harm. I sell products, and have to deal with warranty issues every day. I always explain the warranty, and tell them that after the warranty expires, well sorry, it's on them.

This guy is threatening you. I would stand firm, and let him go at it. I seriously doubt that you will lose any customers over the deal. Besides, that type of customer, you don't need.

John

 

He must be a total jerk. To even expect that is so far out of line.

Probably a yankee

 

He must be a total jerk. To even expect that is so far out of line.

Probably a yankee

I agree with BOB except -
I don't get the baseball connection??

 

Mike, your reputation is great. I hope this guy runs into someone who knows better and gets set straight.

 

Mike, you are right. This guy is way out of line in his expectations and threats. Walmart mentality..."just take it back"... throw a hissy and they'll give me what I want.

As far as the slander garbage, When I hear people like this going off, I just consider the source. It isn't too hard to figure out if it's a legitimate gripe.

 

There ya go Mike W.

Brilliant things, these QUOTES, saved me a load of typing.

Thanks Bowbender Mick.

 

You offer was more than generous however he acted like a total butthead with the threat. I'm with you.

 

There's a bit more to the quotation, but, "You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people, none of the time.... A man of honor/integrity will do what he can, as you have done... BUT .... to utilize another quotation, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's a$$." Meaning: The man is not capable of intelligent dealings.

Tom

 

Not every customer is smart
Not every customer is honest
Not every customer has the slightest clue about the social norm

A threat?

Even if he bought the riser new I'd tell him to shove it up his anus.

You and your business don't have to take that crap.


If he is that kind of jerk his protest will fall on deaf ears, or ears that don't matter.

 

Just ignore it Mike, the man's a jerk.

 

Completely unacceptable behaviour on his part.

It seems to me that smaller scale bowyers - such as yourself - normally stand behind their products and offer better discounts and warranties than the big guys. That's one of the reasons I prefer buying from such companies.

However, you will always get people who take the piss, as we say over this side of the pond. You can't stop this people talking about you and spreading lies. The best you can do is just keep doing the right thing by your customers.

 

Mike,
I don't know you from Adam, and I haven't ever played with one of your risers. But I have owned a business for 29 years. You are 100% in the right - period. There are some people who will be unreasonable and all you can do is ignore them. When someone effectively offers to blackmail you, you should tell them to go to hell and tell them you won't sell them a riser even at a a premium.

One advantage of my business is that if I don't like a client I can fire them; it is something that every business should do if possible.

As for an appropriate warranty, I have not been shooting long and do not know the "custom." Car warranties go with the car but computer warranties only go with the original owner. It probably has something to do with the potential abuse that the warranty isn't suppose to cover. One would think it is hard to do much to a riser (how the hell do you get a crack in one?) but I am not educated enough to decide what would be appropriate. Bottom line: the warranty is what the warranty is and the buyer, especially of a used product is responsible to know the facts.

 

It was only used once as a spacer to lift up my RV with the floor jack. I still do not see why you would not honor the warranty.

 

There are lots of faults with warrantys, between the customer and the builders.
Often the customer lies about how the incident took place, and does not say that his buddy dry fired it a few times, to failing to say it got slamed in the door etc.
On the other side there are builders that have a dozen irelivent weazel clauses to get out of fulfilling their obligation.

I love the pro rated warranty. Large print is several years, looks great, fine print is the rate of depreciation, making it virtualy worth nothing after a short time. Some are virtualy worthless if you actualy read them.
I do question the Second hand validity. If a bow is sold why is the warranty void? You guarantee the bow, not the shooter. If it is 6 months or 60 months it is the bow that is covered. Who ownes it should not matter.

In the end a warranty is what it is. Read it, and understand it. It is unlikely you will need it, however some warrantys are exceptional , and this increases the re-sale value dramaticly. You may want to consider this in making your choices.
I have seen a Customer get a full warranty replacement after 11 years on a bow that has no written warranty, and I know of a bow that was refused warranty because the owner shot it in the rain shortly after purchasing it new.
Some do not allow modern strings to be used, some have a lifetime transferable warranty at full value, ranging from the bowyers life, to 30 years, to forever. Some warrantys requier a certain weight arrow to be used, some do now have any arrow weight restrictions.
Read it and live by it, wether you are the bowyer or the customer, and be honest , in making or evaluating the claim.

Pete

 

Mike I can't for the life of me see how this is your fault or any way you could have prevented it. Ok the riser cracked ,but under what circumstances? How has it been treated? Dry fired? Over heated? If I was him I would be mad as well, but honestly not at you, because I would need a riser which in my world are not cheap.

 

Mike, isn't business fun.. We also run across this more often than we should. I would like this name for my records,I sure don't wait to do business with this person.. I can't understand, if you can read, warrantee, 3 yrs to the original owner. Sound pretty simple.
Try to remember all the good customers, put this clown on your list, and forget him...

 

We have to deal with this issue on a fairly continual basis, you should see some of the equipment people will send back to us expecting a full replacement. I have seen broadheads with the anodizing completely wore off as well as fish points or arrows that obviously had been used for several years. I guess it all revolves down to, as someone else put it, the "Walmart mentality". I guess people think when they buy something it should last forever or just get it replaced when needed, that just does not happen with most companies although we try to do our best to take care of customers, some requests are just way out of line! What is wrong with some people?

 

Mike, I don't know you. I've never met you and I've never shot one of your bows ... However ....Here on TT you have a first class reputation as a man of integrity and character from members whose opinion I respect and that's good enough for me.
The man's obviously an idiot and if he come on here bad mouthing you I think he'll get a little more than he bargained for.
I think your reputation's safe .... we'll make sure of that

 

Mike
In life a "small mind" will always seek you out!!!!!
No matter what we try to do.

 

mike... we know how you feel... demant of us. push us about and the door of support gets mighty stiff to open. confess the mistake upfront and all sorts of doors open. guys buy ebay limbs and expect support. not one of these types ever dry fires there bow. never has a nock slip and the arow lands 3 feet from thier feet always uses a stringer and never let somone else pull their new bow. the amount of comments that could be true but you get cynical... it becomes impossible... threaten us and the you might hear padlocks on the door. we have a small list of nasty people we wont sell or support ever again. but thankfully there are some massivly great people that we will help to the end of the earth. if we can...

 

Aren't we an unanimous bunch, lol?

Well done, Mike.

 

Unfortunately some people just don't get it. Nor do they have any class.

 

Mike as you know I work retail - we get this all the time - people just don't want to take responsibility for their actions and have been trained that if they bitch loud enough and long enough they will get their way.

If you have to stand on your head to make a customer happy all you are going to get is a head ache.

Matt

 

People vary in their capacity to feel connected. I feel bad for all this guy is missing, a chance at your good will and participation in our little global archery community. No matter how strong our impulse may be to help others some are simply lost for a while, controlled by fear or anger or deprivation.

I admire your decision to set boundaries with him. As well I admire that no one here has suggested retaliation with his reputation. This gives him the ability to take what he can from the situation.

Rasyad

 

Mike,

I have some broadheads, well they look more like field points now - why on earth won't you replace them for free, ship them to me for free and by the way, send me a 12 pt buck so I don't have to go into the woods?

 

I had a lady try to cheat me out of some money in my business. I noted her name and some years later she tried to come back in. She seemed very shocked when I told her that I would not do business with her. Some people are just like that.

 

Ignorance of the warranty on his part is no excuse. He should be contacting the seller he got it from if it's cracked. .