Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Boot manufacturer meets STW forumites?
  • Zulu-Eleven
    Free Member

    Don’t know if any of you are aware of a fantastic little company called Altberg, still making outdoors boots the old fashioned way up in North Yorkshire. Well, it seems they’ve been encountering some problems, and I thought it drew a nice parallel from the manufacturers point of view to some of the threads we see on here time to time…

    .

    We have received emails from some customers asking why we have decided to discontinue our refurbishment service from 7th December 2011 (it was wrongly stated in the previous email as 2012 – a typing error).

    We have offered our refurbishment service for the past 15 years – and it is with regret that we’ve decided to withdraw the service.

    We have never made any profit from refurbished boots – the amount of work we do in stripping the boot down, and then re-making ‘from scratch’ – as well as hand-cutting key worn components costs about 60% more than the work we do in a brand new boot. But we’ve always accepted this, because we felt it was a good thing to do environmentally, and we felt it was genuinely appreciated by our customers – in spite of the fact that we lost money on every pair.

    We occasionally would have issues with a customer who would expect refurbished boots to be equally as good as a brand new boot!!! But refurbished boots are not as good – the leather and stitching are worn, and not so waterproof – and most of the key components are old – we don’t replace everything! Normally after we explained to customers that their expectations should be realistic, the majority of customers accepted this – but there were exceptions – and they could be very time consuming, as well as causing a good deal of stress for our office and factory staff who had to reply to their ongoing sequence of emails, telephone calls and letters.

    We believe that the recession has made things much more difficult for everyone, and this may be the reason why, during the last 6 months, we have seen an increase in customers who are uncompromising in their expectancy of our refurbishment service.

    We refurbish about 20 pairs each week, and with the vast majority there are no problems – however – there have been three specific cases in the last 6 months where customers have been so confrontational and aggressive, that in our opinion, it fell little short of bullying in order to get what they wanted – and if they didn’t get what they wanted, they stated quite clearly that they would use social media to discredit our reputation.

    Everyone who works at Alt-Berg cares very much about the business, and about our customers – it is our livelihoods – and like all small businesses we do not have the time, or resources to handle what we believe are sustained, ongoing, unreasonable complaints – and an expectancy that a refurbished boot should be equal to a brand new boot in terms of performance and durability is unreasonable.

    One of the three complainants we have had in the last six months was steadfast in his belief that having purchased a pair of Alt-Berg boots in 2002 – he should never be expected to purchase another pair again – he expected that by having them refurbished, they would last forever. Also the time from new to 1st refurbishment was 6 years – so he expected a further 6 years once refurbished – anything else was unacceptable – and Alt-Berg’s problem!

    The email/letter exchange with this customer lasted over 5 weeks – he was adamant that if we could not offer him a further refurbishment, free of charge then we should give him a new pair of boots!

    There is no way that we, as a small business, can handle this – and for the office and factory staff, the situation was unacceptably stressful.

    Last week, after considering the situation, we have had to conclude that the refurbishment service – although ‘well meant’ – is open to abuse, and so with a genuine sense of regret, we decided to discontinue the service.

    We continue to offer our resole service – done in our factory, on the original lasts – and if there is any way in which we can sustain the lifetime of Alt-Berg boots – short of full refurbishment – then we will certainly do what we can.

    We very much appreciate our customers – and we continue to appreciate the work that you give us.

    I hope that this email explains the situation from our side.

    Mike Sheehan, and all at Alt-Berg

    wrecker
    Free Member

    I got that mail. Fair play to him for explaining his position, I’d have done the same thing.
    I don’t really see many parallels with the stuff on here though, as its a refurbishment service offered rather than the failure/cackhandedness issue related posts we often see on here. Also, Altberg were breaking even on the refurb business, I don’t think ANY bike manufacturer would do anything resulting in no profit. Except Turner, who did a very similar thing which they doubled the price of recently (which I also don’t blame them for).

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    I once had to change the bearings on a loose ball ritchey headset after 6 years, and then replace the whole thing after 12. Disgusted, I was! 😉

    donsimon
    Free Member

    Customer in “customer is always right” mis-understanding. I like this company and if ever I need hiking boots I will give them a call.
    Perhaps they should look at the T&Cs in a little more detail to prevent that sort of willy believing they can bully them.
    Selfishness of the highest order, it did remind me of someone on here, but I can’t quite put my finger on who.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    depends really on how they sold their boots in the past – what “promises” were made or implied by their marketing

    but yes, that customer seems to have unrealistic expectations (unless.. see above)

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    Nice one, one or two knobs spoilt it for the majority.
    Boots for a lifetime? How ridiculous!

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    Got that email too. A couple of months ago I put my work boots in to them after 5 years use, and the funny thing is, they have come back looking like new!

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    scaredypants – Member
    depends really on how they sold their boots in the past – what “promises” were made or implied by their marketing

    you mean like the old Karrimor lifetime free repair service?

    ir_bandito
    Free Member

    I bought my first pair of ALt-Bergs a month ago. Fitting service in the shop is brilliant and the boots are fantastic. Shame about the refurb service stopping, I was looking forward to keeping them going for years.

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    I think it’s only full referbs that have stopped – new lace hooks and so on. They’re continuing to do resoles, which should still give you many years use of you look after the leather well.

    Riksbar
    Full Member

    I sometimes think people should have to take a Kobayashi Maru type test before being let loose on the world. That and the occasional conclusion on Watchdog and the like that the complainant is just being a

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    Meindl Burmas.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I thought it drew a nice parallel from the manufacturers point of view to some of the threads we see on here time to time…

    I think we must be reading different threads.

    hora
    Free Member

    I can see their point and why they needed to stop the service. You’d be surprised by the amount of people expecting something for nothing as well in life. As though its their right.

    I’ve had unexpected above and beyond service a few times now and I still get utterly amazed (as I’ve never come to expect someone to bend over and take it from me at any point).

    In addition, on things like footwear some people walk differently, wear out shoes alot sooner than another would and possibly harsher environments. Someone who is a very active retired walker for instance may attempt many peaks and visit the Lakes full-on for a season etc for alot more miles than a weekend walker..

    duckman
    Full Member

    I got masllerstrangs(?) last time out for my summer boots. They are really good….However even a re-sole will give them just an extras couple of years. Some folks are just tubes.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    hora – Member
    I can see their point and why they needed to stop the service. You’d be surprised by the amount of people expecting something for nothing as well in life. As though its their right.

    Pfft. If you don’t ask you don’t get. 🙄

    clubber
    Free Member

    Asking’s fine. Being abusive when you don’t get the response you want is the issue.

    oh 🙄

    donsimon
    Free Member

    Pfft. If you don’t ask you don’t get.

    True, but don’t have a hissy fit when refused.

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