Jarome Iginla Jersey Group Buy - UPDATE - May 13 - Jerseys are in!

[casucks]

Bluck ill see what I can find out. And hear me on this Bluck, do not say sorry!!! You've been great to all of us for organizing all of this! Thank you setting it up and fronting us all!!

[casucks]

I spoke with the manager at the Henderson location in Winnipeg where you ordered from and he is calling me back a little later with the contact details for the Regional Manager. Once he calls me ill pass along his info.

[steveo]

Haha sorry for leading you guys to order through river city sports and then you guys end up having this problem. I received my jersey almost 3 weeks ago and I ordered a few days before you guys.

[AC]

Yup I for sure will never do any business through River City again because of this.

[bluck]

What do you guys think??? Any changes?? just a first draft.


To whom it may Concern,


I wanted to tell you about our recent experience at River City Sports and unfortunately it hasn’t been very good at all. A little background…

A few of us that are members of a Calgary Flames Forum decided it would be a neat idea to order Jarome Iginla Penguin jerseys once we found out he got traded from Calgary. After doing some research online and getting some customer reviews we decided that River City Sports would be the best place to get this done. We submitted our order on April 5th in the amount of ~ $3500.00. I was informed that this order was to be ready within 3-4 weeks as we had wanted the jerseys for the start of the playoffs. In fact, your website says that it is possible for customization to be done within 3-5 weeks if we wanted it rushed.

Fast forward to May 07 and we still have not got any word of the jerseys leaving Winnipeg. I am extremely disappointed at the service and professionalism that River City has demonstrated throughout this venture. We definitely had the option to go with other retailers and in hindsight I wish that we would have.

Here is a link to the internet forum where this topic is being discussed http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=126366 . If you look through the last few pages, you can see for yourself that the current reputation and brand of River City is sinking pretty fast. What disappoints me even more, is that some people ordered jerseys a few days before and after us and received theirs weeks ago. The fact that we provided you with over $3500.00 of business should have made us a top priority. We even were planning on putting another big order through after we had received our first one. Needless to say, I will find it very difficult to peruse a future relationship with River City Sports. Some members have suggested some sort of compensation in terms of cash back or a specialty item such as a hat for the headache this has caused. I will leave that in your hands. I would appreciate if you could look into the status of the order. I have been dealing with Rob Main (1-800-950-8201) as my first point of contact.

Sincerely,

________________

[drewtastic]

Originally Posted by bluck

What do you guys think??? Any changes?? just a first draft.

Needless to say, I will find it very difficult to peruse a future relationship with River City Sports. Some members have suggested some sort of compensation in terms of cash back or a specialty item such as a hat for the headache this has caused. I will leave that in your hands. I would appreciate if you could look into the status of the order. I have been dealing with Rob Main (1-800-950-8201) as my first point of contact.[/FONT][/SIZE]

Sincerely,

________________

Not that I'm in this order group--though I have been following your unfair plight...

At any rate, just noticed this typo ("pursue" is what you're after, I think!). Just wanted to point it out in case it went missed!

Otherwise, very professionally done. If I received that letter, I would be most upset that I had not fulfilled my duty as a service provider. Very well said, direct and unemotional!

[casucks]

Looks all good however the 3-4 and then 3-5 weeks confuse me as 3-5 weeks is longer, so that's not better? Also I would mention that we paid for a rush order and how much extra that costed us. Thanks Bluck!!

[bluck]

Originally Posted by casucks

Looks all good however the 3-4 and then 3-5 weeks confuse me as 3-5 weeks is longer, so that's not better? Also I would mention that we paid for a rush order and how much extra that costed us. Thanks Bluck!!

We didn't pay extra for rush shipping, I negotiated that to be included in the order. I was told 3-4 weeks for delivary. The website says 3-5, I wasn't informed it could take upto "5" weeks.

[Drury18]

I also am not in on this group buy, however I deal with these sort of customer service letters at my own company and I think there's a couple things worth mentioning in your letter just to provide whoever reads it with a clearer background of why you expected a quicker shipping date:

It's listed on River City Sports website as 3-5 weeks for normal delivery or quicker if you want rush. You mentioned a few pages ago that rush was part of your deal as per your call on April 2nd. I would definitely put in that prior to placing this order you did some due dilligence and called to find out what the timeline is and was told 3 weeks. Then once you placed the order you were also told 3 weeks. At no point were you informed until after 3 weeks had passed that your order would not be delivered on time and as you had agreed upon. If you have paid for rush (I can't see the invoice image anymore) and
it's listed on the invoice, its a failure to provide an agreed upon service.

I would also point out that on April 23rd you were told the jersey's were in the facility and would be worked on promptly. This should have been your ship date. Two weeks later, you still do not have any idea what your ship date is.

Otherwise, excellent letter.

[RedMileDJ]

Wow...just...wow. I hope you guys get some sort of compensation or money back.

Makes it almost worth it to go to Jersey City and pay the extra to get it right away.

After reading all this, I won't order from River City...ever.

[Drury18]

President and CEO of River City Sports is a Ron Winkler of a listed email address of rbwinkler@rivercitysports.com

Co-Owner of River City Sports is James Winkler of a listed email address of rbond@rivercitysports.com

[Jbo]

Also want to add that after reading this I will not purchase anything through them.

Interesting, I work for a very large company, and we are doing a corporate event with jerseys coming up and River City Sports was brought up as a possible supplier. After reading this thread, unless they make this right, they will not be considered for our business.

Good luck guys.

[renny]

Hey Bluck, just wanted to thank you for doing all the leg-work on this. I am impressed with everything you'v done. I am NOT impressed, however, with River City. I will not purchase anything from them. This was my first, and will definitely be the last time. I could have bought a blank Penguins Jersey, brought it to the Fanattic and had the jersey stitched in time for the playoffs if I had chosen to go that route.

[gartman]

Thanks again bluck for the legwork. I do agree that this is somewhat absurd given the agreement made initially, this is my first and last dealings with River City sports, up until now I had heard they had decent stuff but never dealt with them.

-1 for River City I will be taking my consumer dollars elsewhere

[PeteLFan]

Yeah that's pretty piss poor service you get a order over 3 grand and you don't even contact us to update the order.

[sun]

Not part of this group buy, but bluck you are a good dude, man.

[Jacks]

I went down and picked up a jersey today. Mentioned to the counter guy that they should read this thread and do some damage control. Seemed like a nice guy but he had no idea what I was talking about.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I went down and picked up a jersey today. Mentioned to the counter guy that they should read this thread and do some damage control. Seemed like a nice guy but he had no idea what I was talking about.

I think Bluck dealt with the corporate folks in Winnipeg, that's why the Calgary retail guy doesn't know.

I suppose the corporate guys up in the ivory tower in Winnipeg do not know that they had p*ssed off the most powerful cult in Calgary with their carefree customer service attitude.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

I think Bluck dealt with the corporate folks in Winnipeg, that's why the Calgary retail guy doesn't know.

I suppose the corporate guys up in the ivory tower in Winnipeg do not know that they had p*ssed off the most powerful cult in Calgary with their carefree customer service attitude.

"Hyper-engaged" is what Mayor Nenshi once called us.

[bluck]

I wish I could CC all of you but since I can't here is the letter I just sent to the President and CEO of River City Sports. Thanks to everyone for your help.

To whom it may concern,

I wanted to tell you about our recent experience at River City Sports and unfortunately it hasn’t been very good at all. A little background…

A few of us that are members of a Calgary Flames Forum decided it would be a neat idea to order Jarome Iginla Penguin jerseys once we found out he got traded from Calgary. After doing some research online and getting some customer reviews we decided that River City Sports would be the best place to get this done. We submitted our order on April 5th in the amount of $3443.77 I was informed that this order was to be rushed and ready within 3 weeks as we had wanted the jerseys ready for the start of the playoffs.

On April 23rd I contacted Rob asking for an update and a request for an invoice which I had requested weeks prior.

(Hey Ash,

Has the invoice been emailed to you yet?? I requested that accounting send that to you last week…….

All of the jerseys are in from Reebok as of yesterday and my facility will get working on them promptly.

Rob Main
Customer Service
River City Sports
rmain@rivercitysports.com
Toll Free 1-800-950-8201)

I then contacted Rob again requesting another update on April 26th, Here is what was said in response.

(Hey, so sorry for the extended delay on this invoice. I am trying to get the jerseys ready to ship by the end of next week, but my facility is way busier than I anticipated so they may not leave until the week after. I assure you that they will be worth the wait, our facility does amazing work.

I have come across one complication on the black mediums….I only have 1 of the 3 that say REEBOK on the back. Even the ones I order in from RBK had the vector logo on the back neck and not the REEBOK….is it ok to use what I have? I really don’t know when RBK will have more mediums with the REEBOK applied, it is a running change and they won’t make more until they sell out of what they currently have on the shelf.

Let me know.

Rob Main
Customer Service
River City Sports
rmain@rivercitysports.com
Toll Free 1-800-950-8201)

On May 02, I got fed up and contacted rob via phone. He explained that his facility was extremely busy but we would get them soon.

Fast-forward to May 07 and we still have not got any word of the jerseys leaving Winnipeg. This is unacceptable and I am extremely disappointed at the service and professionalism that River City has demonstrated throughout this venture. We definitely had the option to go with other retailers and in hindsight I wish that we would have.

Here is a link to the internet forum where this topic is being discussed http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=126366 . If you look through the last few pages, you can see for yourself that the current reputation and brand of River City is sinking pretty fast. What disappoints me even more, is that some people ordered jerseys a few days before and after us and received theirs weeks ago. The fact that we provided you with over $3500.00 of business should have made us a top priority. We even were planning on putting another big order through after we had received our first one. Needless to say, I will find it very difficult to pursue a future relationship with River City Sports. Some members have suggested some sort of compensation in terms of cash back or a specialty item such as a hat for the headache this has caused. I will leave that in your hands. I would appreciate if you could look into the status of the order. I have been dealing with Rob Main (1-800-950-8201) as my first point of contact.I have attached the original invoice for your convenience.

Sincerely,

Ash -

I will let you all know if I hear anything. Let's hope I hear back tomorrow and we experience some decent customer service for a change.