Bad experience with custom hide

Figured I'd share. I ordered a US army briefcase from Custom Hide in December and was quoted 6 weeks. Got busy. Called in March and was told the mistakenly marked it as shipped, would build it and ship it immediately. Two weeks later called again and that actually got it shipped. Yay. It showed up in the wrong color and without a shoulder strap. I was on the fence about the color anyway so that I can deal with. Another phone call got me a shoulder strap which did not match. Another phone call promised a new strap. And still nothing after 3 weeks. Just kicked off an email so I have an additional paper trail before I give the credit card company a call.

The bag is actually really nice. I'll never order from them again. They actually make Jantzen's customer service look good.

I got a briefcase from them recently. When the bag finally arrived, it was superb and everything I was looking for.

However

The website quoted 3 weeks for the shipping time for the bag I was ordering. I waited 6 weeks, figuring that should account for shipping time. Nothing arrived. I emailed them to get a tracking number so I could find out where the bag was and if it had been held up in customs. Nothing from them for two weeks, so I emailed again. A week later I sent another email (marking the email URGENT) and got a response a few days later. They had no record of my transaction even though the money had been sent by immediate transfer on paypal when I ordered the bag. They apologized and said they would put a rush on the order and that I should receive it two weeks from that date. 8 weeks and many emails later, the bag finally arrived. It only took 3 days to arrive once shipped, so the problem was on their end.

Like the OP, I won't order from them again, despite how happy I am with my briefcase. It's just too much of a hassle.

I'm on the fence about ordering from them for months- then I order yesterday. NOW this thread pops up? FML...

So who would you guys recommend instead?

Originally Posted by JesseJB

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I'm on the fence about ordering from them for months- then I order yesterday. NOW this thread pops up? FML...

You'll be happy with your purchase... once it arrives.

Originally Posted by GradSchooler

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You'll be happy with your purchase... once it arrives.

Cool. I'll just think of it as buying a gift for "future me." Something to look forward to.

I'm not sure I should pile on, but this happened today, I came found this thread, and I feel the need to share.

I bought a Custom Hide Scholar with pockets about a year and a half ago. That went smoothly, and I was very happy with the bag. However, just a month or two later, one attachment for the shoulder strap broke. I sent it back for repair. They paid for shipping both ways, and they went out of their way to make it right. Even so, I was without my new bag for 3+ weeks. A few months later that summer, one of the handle attachments broke. That time, I paid shipping to them, but they paid the return. I wanted to argue about paying shipping, but I didn't bother.

Skip ahead a year to now, and the other handle attachment broke (and one of the repaired shoulder strap attachments is starting to tear). I got an email from them with the return information, and was surprised to see that they asked that I enclose $10 for return shipping. I called them again, and had a brief back and forth. He said $10 was policy after a year, I said returning it three times was at least twice too many. He told me to forget the $10. He sounded put out, and it left a bad taste.

The leather they used for the attachments on the original bag was clearly too thin, and the last of that leather broke. In the previous repairs, they replaced with thicker leather, which is holding up better, but I'm still not sure about the long term.

So I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand, I quite like the bag, and the price is right. On the other hand, there was clearly something wrong with it if it broke three times in a year and half through basically just using it. I felt churlish for making a stink about $10, but then I was already going to pay $15 for shipping, plus lose the use of my bag for I'm guessing close to a month.

I'm just wondering, has anyone else had physical problems with their Custom Hide bag? Was it unreasonable of me to complain about $10? Part of me felt like I should demand they pay for shipping both ways, but I'm not that sort of person.

After if broke twice I would have ditched the bag and never purchased from them again.

Clearly, you have more patience than I do.

I've never ordered anything from them before, but can we realistically expect a company at these prices and margins to be able to offer world class customer service? I guess the solution is to order and follow up with order immediately.

I'm afraid I can't afford to just ditch a $280 bag. And when it works, it's an attractive and functional.

Custom Hide used to have a reputation for excellent customer service. My first two interactions with them were very good. Has something changed? Or have a few people had bad luck (seeing as people in forums are more likely to post problems and complaints, rather than compliments)?

I'm not defending them, but wondering if they should be written off. Maybe I am forgiving...

You are very forgiving.

I have a Andrew Marc bag that I purchased almost two years ago on Bluefly for about the price of your bag. I use it daily and travel every other week. This bag has been overstuffed, dropped, thrown around, and abused in every sort of fashion. The only care I give it is some leather treatment every 10 months or so. I have not had a single issue with it.

When I saw an Andrew Mark leather jacket with a fur liner on sale at Bloomingdales, I purchased it without hesitation as I knew I was getting decent leather at a decent quality.

On the other hand, brands that piss me off are blacklisted and never purchased again.

sounds f ing ridiculous.

"American leather craftsmanship at its best".

Finally got my Custom Hide Slinger bag after 2 months. No strap. Here we go...

Shot off an email to 'em. Can't wait to see how this goes wrong!

Odd, I bought a Ranger laptop bag from them a couple of years ago. The transaction went smoothly and the bag has been fantastic. I wonder if they have had some changes with people in their office or something?