The Official Retailer Appreciation Thread

Originally Posted by shootspeed

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notable experiences so far:

Blackbird:
ordered a cardi from them around the afternoon. everything seemed fine but then a few hours later i receive an e-mail stating that the item was sold earlier that day and that the size i ordered wasn't suppose to be shown as available. definitely a

moment as i decided to wait a day before making the order. anywho, i was also left a voicemail about it and was given a 20% discount on a next purchase.

another time, they announced a discount code that would be available to the next 100 or so people (i forget the exact number) on fb and twitter. i made a purchase the week before and commented on the fb post about how i wish i made the purchase now instead of back then. an hour or two later i get a message from Nicole, basically giving me a 30% off code and free shipping. pretty awesome.

Context:
i made a pre-order for the Alden tankers about a month before they would be available. well that day comes and i did not receive any e-mails about my order. i wait a week, thinking maybe it would take some time considering i only made the order a month before the release. i send out an e-mail after that passes with no contact and it turns out that the guys at Context lost my pre-order and that my size was not available anymore. they offer to send me the 8E they had left (originally ordered a 8.5D) and take $100 off. so i go with that offer and receive the boots in a few days. they end up fitting perfectly, with an unexpected discount.

another time, i e-mailed them about the availability of a jacket and asked if there were any flash sales coming up soon. i get a response stating that there would be one in a few days and that they would give me the jacket for the discounted price now. i bought it right away.

Sounds like some good places to deal with. I will give them a peek when I need something but I will say I think just in selection alone Bureau is my best bet for those 2 brands. Plus I am digging some Post Overalls stuff too.

Present London: Great service, Jack is a star. Quick replies via email and always happy to ship via Royal Mail Special Delivery despite it not being an offered service.

Present is good, have been quite helpful in the past.

ra13.be in antwerp has very good salesmanship - prompt email response and said they would be nice to me in the brick and mortar if I visited pre-official sales time. Diverse in Islington need to up their game - took 3 weeks to respond to a simple query. Hervia.com - have been buying for 3 years on and off - deliveries are tempermental to the point a package was delivered to wrong house number and OPENED by them. Denham in NL are quite courteous and thank fug there is a b&m shop in shoreditch now.

Originally Posted by baba booey

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Just to clarify, I never received my order. I have called them a few times and they have communicated with me. I can see their side of things, the order shows as delivered from UPS. What more can they do? I am just saying, it would have been nice to have the option to purchase insurance or request to sign in person. Better yet, the retailer should cover their own butt. I am not home during the day and would rather not have UPS toss $600 worth of crap on my front door.

Why do you think insurance would have helped in your situation?
Say you had insurance and a claim was submitted. Insurance company sees it shows as delivered and then deny the claim.

Anyway, the insurance protects the sender, not you the buyer.
You could try disputing it with your CC but they'll probably see the delivered status and deny it.

I mean, it wouldn't really be a retailer appreciation thread without recognizing the best in class - Epaulet Shop.

I know most people on this site know of the quality of service that they provide - but figure it's worth shouting them out.

This is what you get with Epaulet:

Prompt responses. Caring people that run the show. Hand-written notes with each order. Quick recovery if there is a screw up. Answers to all questions about their clothes. Great measurements on each garment. Sizing & even styling advice. The sense that they actually care about you as a customer.

If I were to start a retail business, they would be the model I would use. They are like mini-Zappos lol.

Context: recommended. I ordered a pair of Nudie RRDS at a 50% discount. Their web site states that there are no refunds or exchanges on sale items. The measurements on the web site were off, and I asked for an exchange via email. They sent out a new pair in my requested size immediately, and they included a pre-paid shipping label for the return. It sounds like this is pretty much how they do business.

Blue Owl Workshop: recommended. I ordered through the deadstock sale thread in B&S, and they were patient with my sizing questions, &c. I received the order one or two days after I placed it, and shipping was included in the asking price.

BiG: recommended. Gordon was helpful in terms of sizing questions, and he let me know when the specific item I wanted was restocked. He also helped with a particular detail on the item I wanted, which was a nice touch. (I think jet mentioned something about a bad experience with them, but perhaps they've cleaned up their act a bit since then.)

Originally Posted by zippyh

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Why do you think insurance would have helped in your situation?
Say you had insurance and a claim was submitted. Insurance company sees it shows as delivered and then deny the claim.

Anyway, the insurance protects the sender, not you the buyer.
You could try disputing it with your CC but they'll probably see the delivered status and deny it.
How about signature in person? I did not have that option either. Like I said, I don't want $600 worth of stuff sitting at my front door. Earlier in the month I purchased $1K of electronics and shipping was free with UPS. The retailer required signature in person, which was smart. Once an order is over a certain dollar amount signature should be an option for the buyer at checkout or should be automatically added to the shipment by the seller.

So in other words, everyone is at the mercy of the driver? Nothing can override a driver simply saying it is delivered? That means the driver has to be 100% accurate otherwise, everyone else is screwed if he decided to not do his job one day. UPS pulls this crap a lot. They deliver to wrong addresses, leave high cost goods out in the open, theft, etc. I had a good laugh at the guy that says UPS delivers to a destination no matter what...problem is...it is not necessarily the correct destination.

Other than this one bad experience I have had good experiences with Epaulet, Acrimony, Oi Polloi, Albam, Nitty Gritty, A Too, Hickoree's Hard Goods, Tobi and Street Ammo (for SNS sweaters).

Originally Posted by baba booey

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How about signature in person? I did not have that option either. Like I said, I don't want $600 worth of stuff sitting at my front door. Earlier in the month I purchased $1K of electronics and shipping was free with UPS. The retailer required signature in person, which was smart. Once an order is over a certain dollar amount signature should be an option for the buyer at checkout or should be automatically added to the shipment by the seller.

So in other words, everyone is at the mercy of the driver? Nothing can override a driver simply saying it is delivered? That means the driver has to be 100% accurate otherwise, everyone else is screwed if he decided to not do his job one day. UPS pulls this crap a lot. They deliver to wrong addresses, leave high cost goods out in the open, theft, etc. I had a good laugh at the guy that says UPS delivers to a destination no matter what...problem is...it is not necessarily the correct destination.

Other than this one bad experience I have had good experiences with Epaulet, Acrimony, Oi Polloi, Albam, Nitty Gritty, A Too, Hickoree's Hard Goods, Tobi and Street Ammo (for SNS sweaters).


i actually agree with you the more i think about it.

but again, you as the consumer would be protected in a situation like this. even if it was indeed signed for and then stolen you would still be protected. it is disappointing and might be a pain ********** but you would still get your money back one way or the other.

Made a first order with Eleven mid-afternoon, confirmation email almost immediately, despatch notice that evening, order arrived early next day. Very happy.

Emailed Leo at Blackbird asking if some items were due to be on sale in the future. I was expecting a 'wait and see!'

Instead I got a reply saying that I could get them for 20% right now.

Then, before I replied, I got another email saying he spoke to Nicole and could get me 30% off and free shipping right now. Incredible.

Looks like Blackbird has been treating everyone well here, I however am a bit disappointed. After buying something from them on sale, I heard about this promotion where they match sale items from other stores, so I promptly gave them an email asking them if they can match the price of the item I purched with a competitor's price. Well, apparently they dont offer that promotion retroactively, even after I offered to prove to them the price of the competitor's sale at the time of my purchase. It's only been about 4 days since I bought the item; I didn't even recieve it yet, but compensating me was "out of their limitations". Just a head's up for you people.

Context: Dudes are super polite and helpful in store. Good with email support too. Good prices during flash sales.

Blue Owl: Jay is very helpful, detailed responses. Sales all the time.

Blake: Unbeatable sales. Top notch customer service. Just wish they had an online shop. Though, if they did, sale stuff would go too quick!

Blackbird: Solid customer service. Placed an order, decided to cancel one of the items, received the partial refund immediately.

Odin: Decent experience, would give them another chance.

South Willard: Not bad, not great. Would buy from them again.

This may come as no surprise to most of you but my favorite shop is south willard. I've known Ryan for almost 5 years now and he's the nicest guy I've ever met in the business. The first handful of times I ever went into his shop I didn't buy anything but we ended up talking for probably an hour each time. If you catch him when he's not busy he'll do the same with you. The guy knows his stuff and buys things he likes and listens. He's always helped me out and I've bought more stuff at full pop at his store than anywhere else. Apparently I'm not the only one based on what's left come sale time since he's got quite the following and is hugely popular in europe and japan.

His shop has been in countless japanese mags and when he goes to buy in paris people are clawing at him to carry their brands. He brought common projects to the west coast in 2005, put quoddy and crescent down works on the map, was one of the very first band of outsiders retailers as well as stephan schneider. I don't buy as much these days anymore but whenever I'm in that area he's always a great guy to chat with about food, art or whatever. He's also got an incredible book selection. I remember in 2006 he carried willhelm, branquinho, raf, bless and dope womenswear, it was unreal. If you're ever in LA you should stop by and say hello.

Originally Posted by Local_Disk

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Looks like Blackbird has been treating everyone well here, I however am a bit disappointed. After buying something from them on sale, I heard about this promotion where they match sale items from other stores, so I promptly gave them an email asking them if they can match the price of the item I purched with a competitor's price. Well, apparently they dont offer that promotion retroactively, even after I offered to prove to them the price of the competitor's sale at the time of my purchase. It's only been about 4 days since I bought the item; I didn't even recieve it yet, but compensating me was "out of their limitations". Just a head's up for you people.
lol, then you should have returned it and bought at the competitor. its a store policy ... you cant ding them for that. but thanks for the "heads up," lol.