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Inland Surfer -


gobble

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So I just spent $1,500 on two new inland surfer boards and ordered small inland surfer socks from Bakes to store them in. Bakes ran out of small socks and sent me large ones instead. They're way too big for my boards so I'd prefer the smaller ones, which Bakes doesn't have...

I gave inland surfer a call thinking I'm sure after spending a bunch of money on their boards they'd let me swap the large socks with them for small socks. Seemed obvious, why would they care if two more new large socks were sitting on their shelves instead of small socks? The stuff is all made in China and Indonesia anyway so it's not like swapping out one inexpensive thing for another would cost them anything.

Wow, was I wrong. Way wrong. I spoke with two of their people on the phone that were extremely rude and didn't care at all that I was a brand new customer just beginning the process of acquiring a bunch of their products. The response was like nothing I've experienced from a reputable company. Completely unprofessional. It's like they have a bunch of dropouts answering their phones. I still can't believe some of the things they said to me. You'd think I was asking them to send me a free board by the way they reacted to such a simple request.

I thought this company had a cool image and I was planning to buy a bunch more of their boards, but I'll look elsewhere in the future as I use, collect and hang boards on my wall. I was probably good for at least two boards per year but they didn't care one bit.

Anyone else have a similar experience with them?

  • Like 2
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I don't have any of their boards, but in my search for information and questions, i found the people i spoke too on the phone nice and provided me with the info i was looking for. It sucks having to put someone out on blast for not doing what you feel is a reasonable request.

Possibly a more tactful way of reaching your desired goal is to see if anyone on this forum has a contact beyond the 1st level of customer service call center, and escalating your situation.

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I'll call Bakes on Monday. This just seemed quicker and something a good company would have just done to be helpful. Even if Bakes takes care of it, and I'm sure they will, it doesn't excuse what I got on the phone. I'm really surprised how the whole thing went. Thus this post.

The OMG comment doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm too old to get it.

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Bakes & Inland are only a few miles from each other so it probably doesn't speed anything up. I bet the people you were talking to were hurtin to get out on the water, hence the attitude. They probably don't deal directly with the customer that often, just dealers. They may or may not have the product around any more as it all shipped out weeks ago. Doesn't excuse it, maybe put some perspective on it though.

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I'm just curious, when you asked "hey, can you swap these bags out for a different size" and they said (what I'm guessing they said) "no, sorry" what was your response? By the way this thread is going I'm guessing it wasn't "thanks any way, I'll send it back to bakes"

Or why didn't you just order the socks when you ordered the board?

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Bakes & Inland are only a few miles from each other so it probably doesn't speed anything up. I bet the people you were talking to were hurtin to get out on the water, hence the attitude. They probably don't deal directly with the customer that often, just dealers. They may or may not have the product around any more as it all shipped out weeks ago. Doesn't excuse it, maybe put some perspective on it though.

Where is inland based out of?

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I'm just curious, when you asked "hey, can you swap these bags out for a different size" and they said (what I'm guessing they said) "no, sorry" what was your response? By the way this thread is going I'm guessing it wasn't "thanks any way, I'll send it back to bakes"

Or why didn't you just order the socks when you ordered the board?

If you look around the coverage on their products is pretty spotty. Bakes is the only place I could find them. The-House doesn't sell their socks. They also don't sell fins. I prefer buying from them because shipping to Wisconsin is next day. Evo was also out of the socks.

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Bakes & Inland are only a few miles from each other so it probably doesn't speed anything up. I bet the people you were talking to were hurtin to get out on the water, hence the attitude. They probably don't deal directly with the customer that often, just dealers. They may or may not have the product around any more as it all shipped out weeks ago. Doesn't excuse it, maybe put some perspective on it though.

I'm guessing you're right that their focus is on surfing and not customer service. When I called a couple times weeks back to learn which board to buy they were fine. When my Sweet Spot showed up (I believe in factory packaging) with one of the two fins missing from the package, I figured a simple call to inland surfer would get a fin in the mail. I was wrong about that too. They insisted I go back to where I bought the board (who doesn't sell their fins). Because I was anxious to get out on the water I ended up overnighing a new set of "tweener" fins from Evo. That sucked too but I didn't raise a stink about it. I really wanted to like this company but they really blew a couple simple chances to create customer loyalty.

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For that kind of scratch I would have called Brigade or soulcraft directly.

You get great customer service plus a custom board and you are supporting a US built product

I'd return them and call Shawn at Brigade boards

208-315-2526

Edited by DocPhil
  • Like 2
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So I just spent $1,500 on two new inland surfer boards and ordered small inland surfer socks from Bakes to store them in. Bakes ran out of small socks and sent me large ones instead. They're way too big for my boards so I'd prefer the smaller ones, which Bakes doesn't have...

I gave inland surfer a call thinking I'm sure after spending a bunch of money on their boards they'd let me swap the large socks with them for small socks. Seemed obvious, why would they care if two more new large socks were sitting on their shelves instead of small socks? The stuff is all made in China and Indonesia anyway so it's not like swapping out one inexpensive thing for another would cost them anything.

Wow, was I wrong. Way wrong. I spoke with two of their people on the phone that were extremely rude and didn't care at all that I was a brand new customer just beginning the process of acquiring a bunch of their products. The response was like nothing I've experienced from a reputable company. Completely unprofessional. It's like they have a bunch of dropouts answering their phones. I still can't believe some of the things they said to me. You'd think I was asking them to send me a free board by the way they reacted to such a simple request.

I thought this company had a cool image and I was planning to buy a bunch more of their boards, but I'll look elsewhere in the future as I use, collect and hang boards on my wall. I was probably good for at least two boards per year but they didn't care one bit.

Anyone else have a similar experience with them?

Are Bakes and Inland the same company? if not then i don't see your logic of asking one company to swap out a product you bought from another company regardless if they had it in stock or how much money you just spent. It would be the same if you bought a GoPro from best buy but wanted to swap it out with one from Walmart (walmart might not be the best example they take anything back) however you get my point. There is no point getting upset with Inland for not making the exchange. Send them back to bakes and get your money back, wait for the right size to come in. Could they have handled it a little more professional maybe? but I don't know what they said I wasn't on the phone.

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Are Bakes and Inland the same company? if not then i don't see your logic of asking one company to swap out a product you bought from another company regardless if they had it in stock or how much money you just spent. It would be the same if you bought a GoPro from best buy but wanted to swap it out with one from Walmart (walmart might not be the best example they take anything back) however you get my point. There is no point getting upset with Inland for not making the exchange. Send them back to bakes and get your money back, wait for the right size to come in. Could they have handled it a little more professional maybe? but I don't know what they said I wasn't on the phone.

You are missing this it is buying from Best Buy then calling GoPro. Not walmart wow what a newbe post its all good just funny.

On a side not people should be loyal to product not brand. Best Product gets my business every time. Bakes is a great place to buy from and they will make it right.

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Are Bakes and Inland the same company? if not then i don't see your logic of asking one company to swap out a product you bought from another company regardless if they had it in stock or how much money you just spent. It would be the same if you bought a GoPro from best buy but wanted to swap it out with one from Walmart (walmart might not be the best example they take anything back) however you get my point. There is no point getting upset with Inland for not making the exchange. Send them back to bakes and get your money back, wait for the right size to come in. Could they have handled it a little more professional maybe? but I don't know what they said I wasn't on the phone.

That analogy isn't even close. Bakes sells Inland's products. Best Buy and Walmart are competitors.

If you want a better example and since you mention go-pro, I bought a Yuneec brand drone from Hobbytown USA a couple weeks back with a 1080P camera and found out the next day that Yuneec was just releasing a 4k version of the camera. I sent Yuneec an email asking if there was any way to upgrade my camera to 4k, figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Same day they wrote back saying no problem when they get stock of individual cameras I could send mine in and they would swap it with a newer 4k camera. I chose Yuneec over DJI because I had read about their "legendary" customer service and this ended up being a good example. I don't think it's unusual for manufacturers to help their customers post-sale.

Edited by gobble
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Relax man. The OMG reference I made earlier is because your original post reads like a teenage girl that just found out that the cosmetics store was out of her favorite shade of nail polish.

I dunno how people can get so wound up about this kinda stuff.

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Relax man. The OMG reference I made earlier is because your original post reads like a teenage girl that just found out that the cosmetics store was out of her favorite shade of nail polish.

I dunno how people can get so wound up about this kinda stuff.

Maybe I read his post differently but he didn't seem immature or wound up.

Just seemed like a dissatisfied customer to me.

I'm quite glad he posted it as well. Seems like others have had issues with their customer service. If I really wanted an IS board, this wouldn't turn me off. However, if I was choosing between IS and another brand, this kind of thing would push me in the other direction (all things being equal of course)

  • Like 3
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Go to Phase 5 website and order direct. Made in the USA and the boards are better and less expensive. I sold my Inland Surfer a week after I bought my first Phase 5.

  • Like 2
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I love my Inland surfer Big Boy Flyboy and have had good customer service from them. They may not be perfect, but in my case they've been great and the board is incredible.

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Maybe I read his post differently but he didn't seem immature or wound up.

Just seemed like a dissatisfied customer to me.

I'm quite glad he posted it as well. Seems like others have had issues with their customer service. If I really wanted an IS board, this wouldn't turn me off. However, if I was choosing between IS and another brand, this kind of thing would push me in the other direction (all things being equal of course)

So you run off to tell all your friends at malibucrew? Seems like a problem that can be solved over a few phone calls to me. I've got an ongoing issue with a vendor.....4 months now. My level of concern/ stress over the matter 2/10. Small potatoes.

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