FHF/MeatEater Mediocre CS experience

[canyonhunter47]

Short version:

Had an issue with an FHF chest rig and it took almost a month of pushing ME customer service and in the end just got a store credit that wouldn’t even cover a comparable replacement.

I’ve had way better recent experiences with other companies (of all sizes) and (for this and other reasons) I won’t be buying ME brands like FHF or First Lite in the future

Long version:

I bought a FHF chest rig last year and really liked the design. The chest rig has lots of room without feeling outrageously big and was pretty versatile, good for hunting (15’s plus basics to keep handy like tag, ammo, knife, etc) or for fishing or really anything. I’ve also had the regular bino harness since several years before and liked it as well and had no issues.

Unfortunately, the chest rig developed an issue with the zipper teeth chain separating from the ribbon. It made the zipper pull not go well through that area and it was getting bigger. I had a hunt in a little under a month so decided to contact the company.

I submitted a repair request on their website form (website says you should get response within 2 business days). No response, submitted again 5 days later. No response, so 8 days later I emailed CS directly and finally got the ball rolling. They said “you will also be able to receive a brand new Chest Rig altogether”. I thought it was wasteful to replace rather than repair but that was their choice. CS setup a return and I sent it out the same day, arriving 4 days later to their warehouse. I waited 8 more days with no updates and emailed their CS. They sent a ME store credit of the purchase price plus sales tax, but not shipping.

By this point I had been waiting 25 days and had a store credit to go towards the price on the chest rig (which is now $20 higher and any sales came and went while waiting for them to respond), including shipping again. That would be ~$32 dollars with basic shipping and ~$75 total for next day air shipping to get it in time for the hunt. That’s not exactly what I had in mind when they said I would “be able to receive a brand new Chest Rig altogether”.

I replied to their CS that this was not satisfactory for me, but got no response. After taking such a long time and getting a mediocre resolution, I used the credit on something from a brand in their store that I figured would have decent direct support.

 

[Swamp Fox]

I could have missed something, but a $25 repair (tops) at a good local dry cleaners or tailor shop gets one back in business.

Bad mojo to hear about poor product support from the original source, though....

 

[canyonhunter47]

I could have missed something, but a $25 repair (tops) at a good local dry cleaners or tailor shop gets one back in business.

Bad mojo to hear about poor product support from the original source, though....

Good point, didn’t even think of that. I would’ve just done that if I was doing this all over again

 

[Idaho_Potato]

It sounds to me like they honored a warranty claim on an item that you got at least a year of use out of. A full brand new replacement sounds like the right move on their part.

The timing issue is not their problem. That’s piss poor planning on your part.

I don’t buy from the Chernin group any more for other reasons. But it sounds like they at least have the balls to warranty their stuff. Some companies don’t.

 

[canyonhunter47]

It sounds to me like they honored a warranty claim on an item that you got at least a year of use out of. A full brand new replacement sounds like the right move on their part.

The timing issue is not their problem. That’s piss poor planning on your part.

I don’t buy from the Chernin group any more for other reasons. But it sounds like they at least have the balls to warranty their stuff. Some companies don’t.

Agreed that there are multiple reasons to avoid MeatEater companies. I got the FHF because it had a good design and the regular bino harness i had pre-ME acquisition was good and wanted to give the benefit of the doubt

But this process should’ve been a week or two tops. Most companies have this down and if FHF/ME followed what they say is their policy, they would too. I had two other issues with other items come up during my first hunt that got addressed with time to spare. And it’s not a full replacement if you have to cough up another 20% of the transaction.