Ultra Sabers experience

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Zendragon

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I am not sure if this is off topic, so please feel free to move it if it is.

I wanted to share my recent experience with Ultra Sabers... figured anyone interested in buying a lightsaber from them might want to hear about this experience. It's somewhat long, so sorry in advance.



Several people have heard about my recent experience with Ultra Sabers and asked what happened. I am happy to explain my dealings with them and what I consider to be a lack of customer service.

In short, a couple of days ago I ordered a saber from them and forgot to add in the covertecs that I needed. I contacted them within 4 minutes of placing my order, mind you contacting them via phone isn't recommended by them, they suggest email. I learned that after calling them first. Still, within 4 minutes I had sent them an email with my order number asking if they could amend my order and add the two covertecs to my order.

They only offer Fed Ex as their shipping option and it didn't make sense to ship two light weight plastic items from San Jose to Oakland )40 minute drive) for $11. Every $ counts these days.

I received an email response within the hour and I was told the following:

Hello,
This order has already been fabricated and is due to ship.
Sorry about that. You would need to order those with your next order with
Ultrasabers
-Emory Harris

I was shocked to hear that considering that the web site said to expect 2-3 weeks for fabrication that they couldn't add the items to my order and bill me for the difference.

I questioned them about this along with their customer service at that point, explained that if it was easier I could cancel my order and reorder everything together (like many companies ask you to do, due to their systems not being able to modify orders)

I should note that this wasn't the first customer service issue I had run into from Ultra Sabers. A few weeks before, Abby Dark-Star had contacted them trying to get some precise measurements of their products only to be told that they don't have that information and that she would have to measure it herself.

This was their response:

Hello,

The customer service is in the fact that we start fabricating these
IMMEDIATELY. It also says that on the order confirmation screen. I
understand your frustration in this, trust me I do, it happens to me all
the time, I place an order and realize I forgot something. But this is
NOT our fault. We are here doing our best to fabricate and ship
hundreds and hundreds of sabers. As you said this was your mistake not
ours. It also says right on the order confirmation screen that these
orders can't be cancelled, again, because we have already started
fabrication on your custom lightsaber.

You should really stop and think about your words and your actions. We
haven't done anything to wrong you. The order you placed was fabricated
and shipped just like you ordered it. And now you insult our company
and our customer service because of a mistake you made. If you want the
extra parts just order them. Or don't order them, it's up to you. But
we haven't done anything to wrong you. This is your mistake, not some
wrong doing on our parts. I apologize for any inconvenience your
mistake has caused you. I'm sure you will still greatly enjoy your
lightsaber.

-Emory Harris

So after that exchange, I decided that I didn't want to do business with them and wanted to cancel my order, while I think their products and price points are good, I don't want to deal with someone who treats customers this way.

This was their response:

Hello,

This isn't a debate. If you want covertec shipped via regular mail then
ask for THAT. We can't add the covertecs to your current order and your
order can't be cancelled, those issues are not up for debate.

If you want these shipped via regular mail then it would be $2 for
shipping, let us know if you want that setup.

-Emory Harris
www.ultrasabers.com

Now at this point I almost was going to just go ahead and order it. But when a company tells me what I can't do... and what I was supposed to do, I take note of it. Needless to say, I responded by telling them to just cancel my order. If they didn't I would dispute it with my CC company and Paypal.

And their response:

Hello,

I don't have time to call you over a situation you created. If you
wanted to call your credit card company (please don't make the mistake
of filing it as fraud, because I will prosecute you) or paypal, feel
free, you aren't the first person to own a phone. You need to consider
the fact that you haven't been wronged at all in this situation. You
placed an order and it was delivered. You made a mistake. That is not
a basis for a dispute. Your own emails and the fact that the good were
delivered as more than sufficient proof of that.

If you want to BUY these covertecs and have us put them in the regular
mail, let me know and that can be setup. Other than that, we don't have
anything else to discuss. Your actions and threats to a company that
has done nothing but fulfill the order you placed speak volumes of your
character. Quite frankly, it's childish, sounds like something my son
would do in response to not getting what he wants. You made a mistake
here, not us.

If you want the covertecs, that can be arranged. Other than that the
order will be delivered as you ordered it.

-Emory Harris

So this is when I decided to call him out on his BS and respond a bit more forceful.

"Clearly you have learned nothing in regard to customer service. A search of your company has shown that this is actually how you guys do business. So yep, I will cancel my order. Don't worry, it's not fraud and I won't report it that way. Your website says I can cancel my order and you guys do a 20% restocking fee, so let's do that. I have no desire to do business with someone that treats their customers the way you do.
I will let my UPS store know to refuse delivery of the product should you choose to send it anyway. Consider this my official request for cancellation. Keep the $26 restocking fee and credit me the difference. I expect to hear back ASAP as to the status of my refund. If I don't get confirmation of my refund, then I will note fraud to the CC company.

It's unfortunate that you don't see the damage your bad customer
service is causing you. Expect a poor review of your company as
well. Not that it seems to matter to you guys, you guys just keep doing business as usual.

I am sorry that this issue could not be resolved.

So I did get my refund as requested. But I also got this closing statement:



I didn't realize this was a session where you were trying to teach me
something. Seeing as how we sale millions of dollars in sabers per
year, I think we have learned plenty.

You on the other hand acting out because you forgot to add covertec
clips to your order, seems a bit rash and childish and like you have a
think or two to learn.

And when you leave that bad review please be sure to include (unedited)
copies of these emails so that these readers can see exactly what your
plight was and that a resolution was offered for YOUR MISTAKE and that
you decided to act out instead of taking that resolution to make up for
a mistake that you made. But I'm sure you won't do that, you just like
every other lying, deceiving, lowlife that wants to leave an unmerited
bad review will omit facts and change sequence of events and spew deceit
to appease themselves (in your case over forgetting to add covertec
clips to your order....). Please go ahead, you won't be the first
person. Consumers are still smart enough to know a good product and
good service when they see it and they will still buy. Yes, I have been
rude to you, very rude. But your insults to our customers service and
threats of cancellation and chargeback insinuated it. And I didn't go
into business for myself to be insulted by anyone.

So please go overpay for a Parks Saber or buy off ebay and get cheated
out of your money or get a Hasbro so it can break when you look at it
wrong. We make a great product and we stand by it. What's sad is that
you let you forgetting to add covertecs clips to your order make you
forget or overlook that.

Your order will be refunded minus the shipping cost and restocking fee.
Good luck in your lightsaber endeavors.

-Emory Harris

I think that folks in our hobby should know about this companies way of doing business.

Tell your friends, beware of doing business with these folks.
 
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They're blacklisted at FX-Sabers, likely the largest lightsaber-centered forum on the web. That should say something by itself.
 
Yep... my first experience was fine with them and they had been recommended by a friend. So I didn't do much research. But we all learn along the way... sometimes the hard way
 
Just sharing my experiences here, but I have had almost a dozen flawless transactions with ultra sabers. customer service was perfect any time I needed them. I stand by there products.
 
Well, that's fine, but there are too many bad reviews out there for me to ever buy from them.
 
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Just sharing my experiences here, but I have had almost a dozen flawless transactions with ultra sabers. customer service was perfect any time I needed them. I stand by there products.

Oh I don't doubt that they have people who have positive stories, everyone does. But I have read way too many bad reports and reviews. Wish I would have ahead of time. They even have an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau

My first experience with them was fine when I was shopping for sabers. It was only after we bought the first one where it seems like the customer service stopped after the sale.
 
Thanks for posting this! I was just checking out their site the other day thinking about buying something. I also seriously doubt they sell millions of dollars of lightsabers. :lol I would think Lucasfilm would take notice of that.
 
Just got an email from one of the Ultra Sabers guys. Accusing me of taking money from their charities and employees because we followed their employees advice and posted a review.

How nice. What a great company!

They employ people who call people names and then say its someone elses fault! GREAT!

Let me give you money!

*Sarcasm*
 
OMG I was just looking at there site a hour ago, thinking I should buy some thing. Thanks for the heads up.
 
...They even have an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau

.

Now, I do agree with you that you had a terrible experience, the person you had contact with seems ridiculous and as I had also been thinking of placing an order that I now won't after reading this.

But, just to play Devil's Advocate, how many people do you know that go out of their way to give a company a good rating on the BBB. Typically someone only thinks to go there when they have had a bad experience with a company. Just a thought. I could be wrong of course. (and frequently am!)


I still agree with you though....thoroughly messed up.
 
Now, I do agree with you that you had a terrible experience, the person you had contact with seems ridiculous and as I had also been thinking of placing an order that I now won't after reading this.

But, just to play Devil's Advocate, how many people do you know that go out of their way to give a company a good rating on the BBB. Typically someone only thinks to go there when they have had a bad experience with a company. Just a thought. I could be wrong of course. (and frequently am!)


I still agree with you though....thoroughly messed up.

I have to respectfully disagree. The BBB is B.S. Some of the worst and slimiest companies in the world have A ratings. It's total B.S. A scam. So if these guys are so bad they can't even manage an A from the BBB and have an F. Oh yeah, stay away.

After checking a few A rated companies with the BBB and then dealing with them I discovered the truth about the BBB in doing some research.

Customer reviews are the only way of learning the truth about any company or product.

Thanks for the info. Always good to know who to avoid.
 
Now, I do agree with you that you had a terrible experience, the person you had contact with seems ridiculous and as I had also been thinking of placing an order that I now won't after reading this.

But, just to play Devil's Advocate, how many people do you know that go out of their way to give a company a good rating on the BBB. Typically someone only thinks to go there when they have had a bad experience with a company. Just a thought. I could be wrong of course. (and frequently am!)


I still agree with you though....thoroughly messed up.

You have a point, however a friend of mine works for the BBB. Apparently the rating isn't based on complaints, it's based on complaint resolution. So they actually contact the company to see if things have been resolved.

So it's not like Yelp where it's just a place of either good reviews or bad reviews.
 
I wanted to give you guys an update:

Alex (the owner) and I have been in communication and are making a lot of positive progress. I have always maintained that "Stuff happens, it's how we deal with it that defines us" and in this case, I believe that we are both gaining respect and understanding for each others position on all of this. Call it a learning experience for us both. I would like to think that in the end we will all be better for it. I will be updating folks with the outcome in all of this. I know that Ultra Sabers has recognized their shortcomings in our community and would like to fix it. I feel that this is a good step in the right direction.
 
You should let them know that a lot of websites have them on "lists" I personally have never had any problems with them but have also heard a lot of bad things. I speak from only 1 time that I dealt with them.
 
You have a point, however a friend of mine works for the BBB. Apparently the rating isn't based on complaints, it's based on complaint resolution. So they actually contact the company to see if things have been resolved.

So it's not like Yelp where it's just a place of either good reviews or bad reviews.

Good to know! Thanks!
 
You should let them know that a lot of websites have them on "lists" I personally have never had any problems with them but have also heard a lot of bad things. I speak from only 1 time that I dealt with them.

I agree if they really care about their rep they'll want to know how many sites have them on ban lists and they could send me a free saber and i'd never do business with them after hearing this. They shouldn't even be allowed to use a business permit.
 
I wanted to give you guys an update:

Alex (the owner) and I have been in communication and are making a lot of positive progress. I have always maintained that "Stuff happens, it's how we deal with it that defines us" and in this case, I believe that we are both gaining respect and understanding for each others position on all of this. Call it a learning experience for us both. I would like to think that in the end we will all be better for it. I will be updating folks with the outcome in all of this. I know that Ultra Sabers has recognized their shortcomings in our community and would like to fix it. I feel that this is a good step in the right direction.


In my last job I was the head of client relations and had to deal with the BBB. For me it always worked out well because I was focused on fixing the issue not proving that I was right ( no matter how badly I wanted to!) the BBB is more of an arbitration board then anything else.

So getting an F is really bad. means they didn't do much of anything to fix the problems and the BBB sided with the clients.
 
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