Horrible service from Stamina

[Billy V]

I try not to air my grievances on these message boards, but today I've had such a negative experience with Stamina that I had to vent and tell you guys to beware of their shady practices.

On Monday I ordered a 300' coated cable to replace the probe cable on my rigger. I've ordered from them in the past and they've always gotten my product to me in a reasonable time frame and I've even gone so far as to recommend them to others. However, this time I was in a bit of a hurry to get the product here because we're fishing again on Friday. I placed the order on Monday and paid for "3 day" shipping. I fully expected it to be here on Thursday morning. I didn't get an email from UPS until Tuesday night at 7pm telling me that they hadn't received the shipment from Stamina until 6:03PM on Tuesday. This morning when I checked the UPS website I'm seeing that it won't arrive until Friday afternoon. When I called Stamina to ask why my "3 Day" shipping was going to take 5 days I was given some run-around by the owner that I missed their deadline for shipping on Monday. Nowhere on their website does it state that there was a cut-off for shipping, but OK let's assume I did miss the cut-off. That being said, even if I did miss the deadline on Monday, in my mind Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday still comes to 3 days. I told the owner of the company that a) he ought to make his shipping policy more clear so that people can get things when they need them, and b) that I thought that he should ship me another spool of cable via overnight express at his expense to make up for what I see as mis-leading information and the fact that they didn't even get the order that I had placed on Monday to UPS until 6:03 PM on Tuesday. The owner of the company told me that it was my fault that I missed their cut-off on Monday and that the three days doesn't start until they take it to UPS (very late in the day on Tuesday evidently) and that he wasn't willing to pay for the overnight shipping to get another spool of the cable to me. When I pressed him and told him that if he continued to argue with me about shipping time that I would post this info on a few fishing forums he went to look to see if there was another spool in inventory. Surprise, surprise, apparently he sent me the very last spool of coated cable and he couldn't send me one anyway. Funny, but the customer service rep that I spoke to prior to him had checked inventory and indicated that there were plenty in stock. When I asked about what they call "Next day" shipping I was told that if I ordered on Monday that the product wouldn't be here until Wednesday because it won't leave their facility until Tuesday. Maybe I'm nuts, but every time I've paid for overnight shipping on something it's been here the very next day, not the day after that. Here's what their website says at the screen when you choose your shipping options: "SO IF YOU ARE IN A HURRY FOR YOUR ITEMS, SELECT AN APPROPRIATE AIR SHIPPING METHOD. Air shipments are shipped same day (if ordered by 9am central) or next day if ordered after 9am." In my head shipping the next day would mean it shipped on Tuesday during business hours. The fact that they didn't bother to take a time-sensitive shipment to UPS until after business hours the day after the order was placed shows me that they had no intention of getting it to me in 3 days.

So the upshot of the deal is that I'll be looking for a coated cable elsewhere and I'll definitely be sending this shipment back to Stamina. Oh, and I'll never order from Stamina again, and I'll also warn as many people as I can about the way this situation was handled. I've had bad customer service experiences before , but today the owner of this company was just bordering on being abusive.

[tangledline]

Bill,

I don't blame you. You pay good money to have things shipped. I just received an order from Stamina last Friday. I placed the order 6/27. Same thing ...coated cable. I had purchased a sub-troll and wanted the better cable for the install prior to the Red Cross derby. Figured there was plenty of time for it to arrive. I never imagined it would take that long. After reading your comments I checked the ship detail on-line. Now I never asked for special handling but, USPS data shows the order never filled until 7/09. Now maybe they had no stock when I ordered back on 6/27 (nothing told me it was backordered though) yet doesn't it arrive two days after it left the point of shipment ..... and doesn't it show up in the afternoon of the day we had decided to install the cable that came with the unit that morning ....day before the derby! Thanks for sharing the owners attitude. I have no patience for people in a service type business that act as you described.

[traveling man]

Bill, If you want to sell the wire i'll take it. i was going to order a spool today.

[CaptSpike]

I had two similiar experience in the past two months. First was with Lund boats. I had purchased a boat from maple Bay marine in Michigan, I live in NH but the price was right. Thrown in the deal was two downrigger mounts. The salesmen told me I needed to get the mounting hardware for the mounts. After I got home with the boat I called Lund to order the mounting hardware. This was two weeks before our local tournamnet. Lund informed me that I should have gotten the hardware with the brackets and they would contact Maple Bay and have them ship me the hardware or they would ship it to me. either way I was going to get hardware. I waited a week. Now one week away from tourney time I called Lund again. They called Maple Bay and then called me back to tell me the parts had been shipped out. I asked for a tracking number and they told me Maple Bay would have that info. I asked if they could find it out because everytime I call Maple Bay I can't seem to get in touch with the salesmen and emails are un-answered.

Long story short I asked them to overnight me the hardware. They told me Maple had overnighted the hardware so they wouldn't. i asked if I could buy it from them and have them over night it to m,e. they refused saying they only sell thru their dealers. WTF help a guy out will ya!

Then two days before the tourney I was still hardwareless. I went out and bought berts tracks and problems solved.

wife called Saturday of the tourney and said hardware arrived in normal mail! LIARS!!!!!!!!

Next instance I paid off my mortgage. tax money in escrow taxes due July 1. I call motgagee and ask if they are paying my taxes. They say no they will disperse my escrow befor ehten. That was June 15th. Wait wait wait. Call a week later and was told escrow was sent out the 23rd. Wait wait wait. Call again. I have no escrow check. Told they couldn't re issue until a month had passed. Then the guy asks me if my address is still blah blah blah California. I say excuse me did you say California? where the heck di you get that addy from? No wonder I don't have my check. Ask to speak to his boss. Tell him I want my money asap as I have taxes due in two days, overnight me the money. call the next day and told monety was overnighted. Call the next three days same answer no results. I finally threaten to call the cops on them for stealing my money. Check shows up next day in regular mail, not overnighted!

I was late on my taxes, first time in my life.

Lessons learned:

Customer service is dead. Don't ever count on it again from anyone!

Oh and Overnight means when ever we get around to it and what ever method we choose..

Spike

[L&M]

Bill you should of just called Curt and been done with it.

[FISHINMAN]

Billy I can relate to those customer service/that's not what it means issues, as you might remember the issue I had last year with my "we got your probe in" drive an hour it's here.....NOT :!:

[Billy V]

Chris,

If I find another cable elsewhere I'll sell the one from Stamina to you. You just work down the street from where I live I think...Triphammer Rd. in Ithaca? I'll get in touch with you after the Pro-Am.

[K Gonefishin]

Sorry to hear about that mishap....I've heard a few horror story's about Stamina as well, backordered items than charging guys for the stuff, late shipping and the list goes on and one. I did need some spinner blades from them so I bit the bullet and ordered from them and everything went fine...i guess I was lucky.

On a happier note, I placed a couple large orders from GLoutdoors.com got free shipping and it was at my house in two days, even got a personal email from Captain Scott. Great prices and great guy, I'll be ordering from them again soon.

[traveling man]

bill, i still work in the same place.

[Billy V]

OK, I'll be in touch Chris. Thanks! If yo can't wait till early next week, no big deal, I'll either keep it as a spare or send it back.

[traveling man]

Bill, I am in no hurry.

[Broadhorizons]

On a lighter note, I ordered from Lake Michigan Angler late on Friday night (11:30 PM) online. Just Bigwater trolling and a twili tip, not a difficult order. I was happy with the ordering and shipping time, Saturday to Wednesday with no special shipping. I'll probably order from them again. Andy

[LongLine]

Billy V - I can undestand your point. I won't deal with a merchant like that. I've ordered moor antennas from www.esgdirect.com on sunday & had delivery on Tuesday with no special charges. Also I like Jannsnetcraft for any lure building I do.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[stinger]

Ok Billy, I had Stamina in my favorites. In todays market it's all about service first, price second. If your service suck$, then who cares about price.

Two quick clicks on the mouse and they are now history.

[big easy]

I've also bought my coated wire from Stamina,and they always have been slow with their shipping from my experience.It was frustrating,but i dealt with it ok,as it was the winter months,and i wasn't in a rush.

I also had to call them on a few occasions,and although they were polite,i got the feeling that they really didn't care all that much.

I try not to use them if possible,and try to buy as much as possible from local shops.

A while back, i had a similar problem with Cabelas.I ordered some stuff by express 2-3 day air,because i was leaving for a week of fishing,and needed it by Friday.

Well,three days went by,and it didn't show up,so i made a call to Cabelas,and explained my problem to the customer service person.

I told her that i paid extra to have it sent 2nd day air,and that i didn't get it as promised by them.

So the answer i got from this airhead was,"sir,it's not guaranteed.

I couldn't believe it, i had to explain to her that,"hello,earth to Cabelas,your catalog clearly states guaranteed express 2-3 days.

She then says to me,"well it's not 100 percent.

Hell this whole thing was like a Seinfeld episode.I finally had to get a supervisor to refund all my money plus shipping.I don't buy much from them anymore.

They built a new Cabelas store 1/2 hour from my house,made one trip to it,and while they have lots of stuff,i wasn't that impressed.I have more great lakes tackle in my junk drawer than they do in that store.