[pct-l] marmot driclime & sonoma outfitters

[jeffmoorehead1 at cox.net (Jeff Moorehead)]

Bob,
 It's really easy for internet based stores to be rip-offs-- it is hard to 
police. Your action is the best one to take-- i.e. let everybody know. 
Unfortunately, there are people everywhere willing to take the same chance 
who do not have the information. I got ripped royally by one of those NY 
city based camera firms. Unfortunately, I had sent the money and didn't 
realize the rip-off until it was too late to get refunded by Pay Pal. I was 
powerless and just had to forget it. Chalk one up to learning...
Maybe Sonoma Outfitters just had a bad day with a bad employee-- if so, they 
should be in touch if they feel your message might adversely affect their 
business. Good move...
Jeff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Trekker4@aol.com>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>; <info@sonomaoutfitters.com>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 7:31 AM
Subject: [pct-l] marmot driclime & sonoma outfitters


> Here's my bad experience, as promised; this is sent  to S O also for their
> info. A while back, Yogi posted that the Driclime was on  sale at Sonoma
> Outfitters for $50; the list price is $100. This was a damn good  price; 
> however, I
> wasn't sure I wanted one, and had already spent a lot of money  in 
> January -
> hundreds of $ to lighten my pack.
>    Later I decided to go ahead and get one; going  through the order 
> process
> the shipping came out as $9, a bit high I  thought, but nothing I could do
> anything about. I decided to add a couple  Platypus bottles I wanted, a 1 
> ltr &
> a 2 ltr; the shipping jumped to $17, a  big time rip off for 3 oz of 
> weight
> the could be shipped first class mail for  way under $2. Also the bottles 
> are
> flat and could be put in the same box with no  strain; and I do realize 
> the
> computer doesn't know this.
>    I deleted the Platypus bottles, and almost canceled  the whole order. I
> changed my mind again and went ahead and ordered the  Driclime. The 
> acceptance
> email said 25 Jan @ 8:28 AM CST. After that I  emailed an man specifically
> named on their site, complained about the shipping  charge rip off, and 
> told him
> he could add the 2 bottles for the same shipping if  he wanted to; he's 
> still
> never answered my email, pretty poor for someone who  personally solicits
> input on a website. About 11 hours later an email  stamped 7:34 PM stated 
> that the
> item was out of stock, would not be  backordered, and the card wouldn't be
> charged; to be fair their site says this  is what will happen if something 
> is
> backordered.
>    However, no other website I've ever dealt with does  that. They always
> backorder and honor something they put on the site; basically  everyone 
> else
> removes out of stock items from a site immediately. Sonoma  Outfitters 
> DOES NOT
> RUN AN HONEST SITE. The size and only color available  was still there the 
> next
> day, the 26th; I tried the order again, just out of  curiosity; almost 14
> hours later the out of stock email was sent. I just  checked again; the 
> item is
> now removed, but it was still there yesterday, the  27th.
>    This smacks of a classic "bait and switch"  operation to me, or a 
> poorly
> run business at best. The lack of backordering  an advertised item, listed 
> as
> available; the lack of a response to solicited  email; and the rip off
> shipping charges --- lead me to advise DON'T SO  BUSINESS WITH SONOMA 
> OUTFITTERS.
> I'll be adding my "rating" to the sites  that rate online "stores" also. 
> Maybe
> I'm out of line, but I'd never  run into any of this with any other online
> retailer.
>
> Bob
> Big  Bend Desert Denizen
> (Naturalized Citizen, Republic of  Texas)
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