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Topic:
Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Talon_Wolfe
Title: Founding CR
Southern Nevada FF, USA
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
5/8/02 3:00pm
Subject:
Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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I just spoke to the owner, and he was a total jerk to me.
A week and a half to 2 weeks ago, two friends of mine and I wanted to buy their vinyl riding boots for our costumes. I call their number, and talk to a lady who tells me they have 2 pairs left (for my friends) but if I order a third pair and had it shipped priority 2 day, they would ship it from their east coast store, and I would get my boots 3-4 days later. I said ok, we all did our orders.
My friends got their boots within a couple of days. As of today, I still have not got mine. I call them back, and while I am trying to politely explain what I was told, this guy freaks out and starts yelling at me... "Listen, this is for a costume, and we end up running out for the equestrian community, YOU GUYS all end up calling us and getting on our case and getting all upset because we can't get you boots in time- "
Here I interupted him and said "Hold on, back up here, what do you mean 'you guys?'? Who are you grouping me with?" I had never told him that it was for a costume in the first place.
He replied, his voice louder and even more angry, "I WILL NOT BACK UP, I AM THE OWNER... THATS THE WAY IT IS, YOU CAN CANCEL YOUR ORDER, GO AHEAD." He carried on for a while, not letting me get a word in, until I said, "Will you please listen to what I have to say for a moment?"
He replied "NO, I DON'T HAVE TIME. Did you call me on the 800 number?" When I told him no, he then said ok. At this point I was very upset, but I was done trying to ask this guy why I was told what I was told originally. I just asked him when he thought I would get my boots (next week) and how I could cancel my order (online).
That is probably the worst I have ever been treated as a customer. I never did anything to tick him off, I was merely trying to inquire as to the status and tell him what his employee told me when I first placed my order. He seemed very upset with the Costuming Community, as he kept referring to "you guys" this and "you guys" that.
If any of you have orders in with this guy, please be polite, as he must have had some bad experiences with some costumers at some point- although we still are customers buying his stuff, he must not think the it's worth the money.
I still don't know if I will cancel my order, because inspite of his rudeness, I still want those boots. Maybe he was just having a REALLY bad day.
Talon
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"...the scale goes to one million." -George Lucas (see my bio)
"God is the Lord, of angels, and of men- and of elves." -J.R.R. Tolkien
"Luminous beings are we... not this crude matter." -Yoda
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Keeper of the Evil GM Dice
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Mrs_MayimNaar
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/8/02 7:38pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I have worked with that company many times, on the vendor end (we sold their privately labeled stuff in the tack shop I used to work at) and he really is a very nice guy.
It was good of you to be polite to him despite your rude treatment. I don't know that I would have been so polite, even if I have worked with him in the past! 
But I can tell you that I have ordered many, many things from this company (for both personal use, as well as for stocking the store) and I have always had nothing but good experiences with them.
As far as the costuming stigma, there is a reason why tack shops feel this way (mind you, I am not condoning this!). Grand Prix has been widely advertised on these boards, as a place to buy boots. Despite popular belief, they are a realatively small company, and may have a hard time keeping up with supply and demand. There are good, faithful equestrian customers who buy constantly from his company. They are return customers, and when you have good customers like that, you like to keep them. When costumers buy out the stock on items for a one-time boot purchase, it means that the company may have to turn away, or backorder items for faithful, return customers. This is frustrating for the owner. That does not make his treatment of you right, but at least try to see it from his point of view!
Just wanted to help smoothe over your situation!
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queenseamstress
Title: TFN Costumes Staff
Registered:
Jan '02
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Date Posted:
5/8/02 8:12pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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I also had a bad experience with Grand Prix. I placed my order online about two and a half months before CII, and after over a month, I called to see about my order-the lady told me they had no record of my order-adn actually got rude with me because I did not know every single detail about the boot. I told her politely I did not ride, that it WAS for a costume, and I did know the name, price, and size of the boot-as well as the date I ordered,etc.
She was very rude, some of the things she said-and acted like I was below her because I was using them for a costume. I politely told her if I were using it for riding-I would be buying a more expensive boot-not the $60 synthetic ones. I emailed customer service and cancelled my order-and told them that it didn't matter who was buying them and for what-that they should treat all of their customerw with respect-because it may be a one time purchase for me-but I could generate more customers for them,and so on down the line. I was very polite about this.
I ordered the same boots from Crazy Horse and received my order quickly and without any trouble or hassle. THEN-Grand Prix decides to send me some boots after I already cancelled, and charge my debit card for them after I just paid for the others! I was pretty ticked off.
If they can't handle the business, then they should have it up on their site that the Challenger boots are not always in stock-"call for availability."
I have worked in sales before-and I don't care if the person is buying your product to go shoot holes in it in their backyard-if they are giving you business they deserve the same respect as their regular customers.
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ID/IC-1095
See us shimmy at www.zweena.com
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Jedi-Finney
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
5/9/02 1:02am
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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those boots suck anyways... imo....
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niennumb1
Registered:
Oct '01
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Date Posted:
5/9/02 1:19am
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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GPRIX.com SUCKS!!! they wouldn't get back to me after 2 months of waiting. I cancelled. If any of you guys are in need of those cadett riding boots let me know! I think it's 27.99 I can get those Cadett boots at a store on a Horse Ranch up near where I live. that's where I got mine 
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RyAnakin
Moviemaker & Costumer of the 501st
www.toywars.org
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Mrs_MayimNaar
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/9/02 8:46am
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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QS, los of riders actually like to have the rubber boots to wear in on extremely muddy days, or for practicing, so that they can keep their show boots in good condition.
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BroodMcEto
Registered:
Jan '02
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Date Posted:
5/11/02 10:38am
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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I work for a company that prides itself on making a connection with customers, making sure that they feel as though their money and their time is very important to us.
Granted, you hate to tell your repeat customers that you don't have something that they regularly buy, the fact remains that they are a repeat customer, and they will probably not buy anywhere else unless they absolutely have too. Especially when your product has no equal.
Loyal customers are just that, LOYAL. That means even if they have one bad experience, they play it off because they are always made to feel good. It's just that easy. Keep your customers happy (ALL OF THEM) and you will thrive in your business. Granted, that means you have to make sacrifices at times, but you still make friends and more LOYAL customers.
Now, based on the OP, I would not buy from this guy. Why? He made a potential customer angry, not for any other reason than because he thought the guy was a costumer. Supply and demand, that's the marketplace. But if you treat every customer as though they're gonna come back, chances are they will. And, if this guy had been treated nicely and politely, then the OP would say, "Hey, this guy was great, he gave me what I want, and I want you guys to give him your business."
I don't own a business. I don't survive on what I sell. I survive on how well I treat people. Some of our best customers are the ones that come in to try us out, get the greatest service and enjoy the experience.
This guy is a bad businessman. He needs to realize that even if he's selling boots to mere Jedi/Sith costumers, he's still selling them. If he can't make them, then be nice and say, 'hey, I'd love to get your boots for your tomorrow, but there are a lot of orders and it's gonna be 2 weeks, is that alright?' Sometimes that's all it takes. I guarantee you that if that guy had treated me that way, I'd be sure to let the world know that this guy is bad business.
We may be nerds, geeks, losers, but the fact is this society is capitolistic. That means the dollar speaks volumes. If every costumer boycotted this particular business, then maybe he'd realize that those extra boots that never see a horse's hide would mean a little extra money at the end of the month. I say we should forget about this guy and find other sources that treat their customers better. I tell you that I'm not afraid to spend a couple of dollars more just because I was treated well. If we all took that attitude, maybe we'd all get better service from the businesses we patronize.
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Athas
Registered:
Mar '00
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Date Posted:
5/11/02 12:48pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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All I have to say is that I got my boots from Grand Prix last year. They were delivered quickly and arrived on time. Since then, I've gotten my money's worth out of them, they're a great complement to the rest of my outfit, and I'm quite pleased with them.
Talon, when I read your post I couldn't believe a business owner would treat a customer with such hostility. When I read MayimNaar's reply, I could sort of understand where this guy might have been coming from; it might give a reason for the way he treated you, but it still doesn't excuse it.
I also have a question; if this sounds ignorant, forgive me, I don't come by here very often - - I was referred to Grand Prix by a Star Wars costuming website (and you probably know the one I'm referring to). If Grand Prix resents selling to costumers, wouldn't they object to having their products advertised on a costuming website? Or don't they know about it?
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Mrs_MayimNaar
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/11/02 12:52pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Please understand, I was not in any way condoning what the owner did. He was wrong to treat people that way.
The only reason I posted what I did was to explain what his reasoning might be. Not to say that his actions were right, just to try and pose some reasoning for the madness!
It's along the same lines as the graflexes. Lots of photography companies hate SW fans for buying them for anything other than photography.
It's not right, but it happens.
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R2-B9
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
5/11/02 6:10pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Wow.. I had just been considering Grand Prix. Until now. Don't they realize the power of the internet? Well, I guess that there are enough horse riders to make up for whatever they might sell to "mere costumers"...
And about Graflexes.. I bought one for $8 out of a box of junk at a camera show last fall. The guy was happy to get the money for what he considered useless equipment, because he'd not heard all the hype about eBay, etc.
R2-B9
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----> R2-B9
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----> çorruption usurps new threads!
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jedivalens
Registered:
Apr '01
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Date Posted:
5/11/02 9:00pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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i dont think the boots are good for a jedi costume. i ordered the synthetic ones about a month ago and they just dont look right. im sure they are good for someone whos in equestrian.
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"Bunch of savages in this town!"
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Jedi-Finney
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
5/12/02 3:54am
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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well... that is what they are for. lol...
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R2-B9
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
5/14/02 12:23pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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In desperation, I bought a $13 pair of black rubber hi-boots at Wal-Mart for my "Jorg Sacul" costume for Celebration II... They were so super-glossy, they were perfect imitations of the action figure's painted boots. Sometimes you get lucky. I tell ya, having 20" calves is a pain when looking for boots!
R2-B9
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----> R2-B9
----> Tides have already turned,
----> çorruption usurps new threads!
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Morrigan_McKnight
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
5/14/02 4:01pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Large Calves has always been my problem, mostly as a woman. I wonder if about 99% of women have skinny legs. Add together being athletic as a kid and my german ancestry and I usually outdid some of the boys during weightlifting class
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Morrigan_McKnight@yahoo.com
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JediPony
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
5/14/02 4:58pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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Sorry about your experience! I'm a equestrian and use the Ariat brand so I haven't really delt with Grad Prix. I'm not sure if Ariat sells the tall calf high ones but you might check. Probably wasn't much of a help but hope you get what you're looking for!
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"Ya know, life is like swinging in a tree, you're riding high then hit a tree."
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tk721
Registered:
Dec '00
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Date Posted:
5/14/02 5:04pm
Subject:
RE: Let me tell you about Grand Prix Equestrian boots
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i also had a real bad experience trying to order stuff from gprix.com.
what's funny/bad is that they hide their phone number on the website until you actually place the order.
the people there are very rude and not helpful at all.
i've since found a few other places that sell the same boot for about the same price. just do a search in google and i'm sure you'll find an alternate supplier.
take care
chris
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