Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/27/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a brand new saddle from CWD last year. They had their saddle fitter come out and fit my horse. Less than a year later the horse no longer fit the saddle. I was told by the owner of the company that they do not buy back saddles after one year, however it has been less than one year. I "officially" contacted CWD on 5/21/2023 which is still less than one year, but please understand it took me several months to figure out what was hurting my horse. I have been ignored by this company and the owner said nasty things about me on a ******** post saying that I was threatening him but is all I have ever said was that I was going to tell people about this. This saddle company tricks people into buying their brand new saddles and when they don't fit people's horses after a few months they tell them too bad! These are NOT cheap saddles. This receipt does not include the trade in saddle I gave them. So actually I paid about $8,000 for a saddle I cannot use on my horse.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  Hello,
  
  First, to provide some information from our attached terms and conditions of sale:
  1) Article 3 clearly states that all sales are final but in exceptional circumstances we may offer to consent to a refund. This client did not ask for a refund directly but this would apply to her request for us to "buy it back" as well.
  2) Article 14 clearly outlines the warranties made on these saddles. Specifically, "Seller guarantees that the saddle will properly fit the horse and rider for three (3) months from the date of delivery of the saddle. After this time, no refunds or exchanges or free panel adjustment based on improper fit will be accepted".
  
  Second, I have attached the clients order invoice, order #CIMURSU01297 placed on May 24 2022.
  
  Having established this, I have also attached correspondence between this client and her local sales representative, which was the primary person working with her. As you can see on the attached "rep **** 1",client was pleasant in her request however at this point she is outside of the window of opportunity to return the saddle or claim any defect. In fact, this is the first communication we've heard from this client since purchasing her saddle almost a year prior. Her local sales representative emailed back her response, visible on the attached "rep **** 2", informing her that we do not buy back saddles but that we could take her saddle as a trade-in towards another new saddle if she wished to do that. Otherwise the only option would be to have us look over the saddle and horse and then modify the panels on the saddle to adjust it for the horses new shape that has developed over the last year. It was immediately following this that the client responded back with a nasty email, visible on the attached "rep **** 3" seemingly upset that her request was denied for a refund. She did not even entertain the idea of adjusting the panels on the saddle to make it work for her horse because she ended up buying something else from a different company.
  
  In addition to these emails, the client then proceeded to harass not only her local sales representatives personal ******** account but to also make public posts in an attempt to negatively impact the image of CWD.In the attached "******** comment 1", you can see how she's trying to portray an image of us not trying to help at all or even ignoring her which is disingenuous as not only her sales representative has offered to take a look to adjust the panels but so did we at our main office when she contacted us here.On the attached "******** comment 2", our US Director of Sales ****** responded to this post with his own response to defend not only the sales rep but also the company.
  
  This client also opted to trade-in a saddle towards her original purchase. The amount she purchased it for is irrelevant to us, what is relevant is the year, make, and model of the saddle and we base our trade-in value upon that. These trade-ins are completely optional, we do not force anyone to do so and if the client wanted to she could have sold it independently in the first place. She feels wronged because we only offered $1700 credit for this saddle. This is nothing out of the ordinary based on the details of the saddle. Again, this trade-in was completely optional and she could have easily said no if she didn't agree with the trade-in value of her saddle.
  
  This client later reached out to our office via ******** Messenger where she continued to harass and badmouth the company and ****** specifically after his ******** response. We again offered a panel modification to adjust the saddle to fit her horse but she is adamantly refusing any offer to help and only wants a refund. There are no exceptional circumstances here,no one made any mistakes in the fit, ordering, or production of the saddle. We didn't even hear from the client until almost a year later.
  
  The company stance is very clear for this situation - we are happy to have our rep come out to assess the fit of the saddle on the horse and modify the saddle accordingly but we are not willing to entertain any kind of refund due to not only the lapse in time since the original purchase but also the lack of communication since then. This client is unwilling to work with us on any resolution that isn't a refund and on our side we did nothing wrong here and are not willing to refund her. Her being rude to us via every communication outlet is also not to be tolerated. I've also attached the transcripts of her messages with our company via ******** Messenger, visible on the attached "************************* ticket transcript" speaking with the Sales Support Manager ***************************, who also offered to help but the client refused and continued to be rude.
  
  Please see her signed and attached paperwork for her original order CIMURSU01297 placed in May 2022. For us the situation is clear and this client is only after a refund to which we will not entertain.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/28/2023

   
  Complaint: 20242612
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I don't understand why Lim USA company refuses to buy back any of their own saddles but can buy back a used Voltaire. There is no "can't" here, you just don't "want to".
  The legal contract is similar to many you would see in the industry. Up front I expect integrity and quality from a saddle company and that is clearly what I failed to receive. I don't have a written contract. But these saddle companies have contracts with the trainers and we riders all intrinsically trust our trainers. So when I buy a ***, my trainer gets a kick back. This is actually illegal in a lot of markets, such as the medical field. 
  From day one I was told outright "no" when I asked for help from *** after I told them I did not need their saddle anymore.  So I think that is grounds for saying no one was willing to help me.
  I believe I was sold that saddle in bad faith. It never fit, nor was I told that there was a possibility that this could happen. I hoped to own the saddle for a long time based on what I paid for it when it was all said and done ($8k+). It took me several months to figure out what was "wrong" with my horse. So sorry for the delay. I tried to trust industry experts and was led astray.
  As far as threats go, I was told if I did not stop making posts/comments that *** would block and "blacklist" me! I feel like I'm talking to the saddle mafia. Lim USA *** is a conglomerate of saddle companies from France. They are based in France. They are taking advantage of American consumers. They are like a saddle monopolgy and they think Americans are stupid.
  The *** saddle did not fit my horse from day one,arguably. Now that I know more about saddle fitting I cringe when I look at the *** on my horse. It was a bad job done by the fitter and I was trying to be polite to her and she just ignored me and then shut me down. So much for manners! Now I am unable to sell my saddle! The market is flooding with this particular brand because they are hurting horses' backs and are uncomfortable for people to ride in.
  I assert that this saddle was poorly fit from the get go and no matter how much adjusting you do it will not ever fit my horse because you cannot adjust the tree. We "blindly" tried on several brands of saddles and all agreed that the Antares was the best fit for my horse overall. So my apologies if I hurt your feelings but your saddle hurt my horse! This company does not understand how a horse's back works. This is the Titan of Saddles. 
  Their company slogan is "We Care, ********************** is using predatory sales practices and if you read the comments,you will see a lot of people agree with me.
  
  There is no resolution here but return or sale of the ***.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************