Vanson sucks.

[nhbubba]

He said he got it on the net, not that it has any relevance to the story.

Misleading? Aren't they both saying the same exact thing???

I interpreted "..on the net.." as "ordered from Vanson's site".

Maybe I over read. Maybe everyone else knows what's going on and it's just me.

[The Snowman]

Think this guy will ever make an appearance at Motorcycle Night?

[Stoneman]

Yup, I gotta agree. The only thing Mike did was confirm that there was no communication. Their so-called customer service was playing duck & run. The fact that he claims he's yet to hear from Jay proves how little he really knows about what's going on. A MONTH of being told, '...someone'll get back to you...'? C'mon. Oh, but kudos to you! You now have his jacket hanging in Mike's office. So here we are, a month later and Mike's also confirmed that they have yet to even START. You rock!

BTW-for the record, I credit Vanson Leathers with being part of the reason I still roam this earth. I had their Avenger jacket & Sport Rider pants on the day of my accident some 10 years ago. In fact, I bought the Avenger when they were still in Stoughton. And how I wish that Avenger still fit me!

[9secondsflat]

The bottom line, the op didn't know how to get resolution to his problem. I suggested contacting the owner, I said I could have him on the phone with in 5 minutes...I sent an email and got an answer in less then one hour, did anyone else do anything to help the op out here?

Most on this board would drive by a car on fire only yelling "piss on it" as their way of trying to help the owner..I would stop, grab my extinguisher and try to make a difference.

Its up to the op now to contact the owner and choose the next step...its a 17 year old jacket...he probably didn't pay more then 100-150 bucks for it, if it does not fit (and the costs to repair will be far greater then he wishes to spend or wait) maybe he could just put it back up for sale on craigslist/ebay and purchase one that fits from Vanson or another mfg as others are so fast to promote.

[rolker]

Still irrelevant. It's paid alteration work.

I think matching 17 year old leather vs current stock is indeed relevant.

[rolker]

Most on this board would drive by a car on fire only yelling "piss on it" as their way of trying to help the owner..I would stop, grab my extinguisher and try to make a difference.

Yeah, but if enough of us liberal sheep got together to piss on it, would it be as effective as the extinguisher?

[obsolete]

Your piggybank with two nickles inside makes alot more noise then mine which is filled.....get back to work so you can pay off your mortgage in 30 years and one day be debt free.

How's that, like backing out of deals when you have to pay a vet bill?

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to con more people out of money at some point.

[9secondsflat]

It was a demand driven business....people like you were greedy, wanted a house which according to the media would never go down in value and you wanted your quick flip...people like you got drank the cool-aid and now are left holding the bag...

So how does it feel to be a bag holder?

How's that, like backing out of deals when you have to pay a vet bill?

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to con more people out of money at some point.

[rolker]

Sure but is it relevant to the primary issue at hand, which is lack of communication?

Good point, lack of communication is indeed the primary issue. Of course, Jay's vague description did seem to crap on Vanson a bit more than they deserve, in my opinion.

[obsolete]

Bag holder? I'm not the one with the latent homosexual tenancies.

It's ok, hang out with all your friends tonight they'll help you get over it.

[9secondsflat]

Cant you do better then that after all you have a degree you know the one your still paying on every month for at least another 10 years, unless your now part of the camp that believes they were lied to and should not have to pay back their student loans.


..

Bag holder? I'm not the one with the latent homosexual tenancies.

It's ok, hang out with all your friends tonight they'll help you get over it.

[TheIglu]

The bottom line, the op didn't know how to get resolution to his problem. I suggested contacting the owner, I said I could have him on the phone with in 5 minutes...I sent an email and got an answer in less then one hour, did anyone else do anything to help the op out here?

Most on this board would drive by a car on fire only yelling "piss on it" as their way of trying to help the owner..I would stop, grab my extinguisher and try to make a difference.

Its up to the op now to contact the owner and choose the next step...its a 17 year old jacket...he probably didn't pay more then 100-150 bucks for it, if it does not fit (and the costs to repair will be far greater then he wishes to spend or wait) maybe he could just put it back up for sale on craigslist/ebay and purchase one that fits from Vanson or another mfg as others are so fast to promote.

Bottom line:

OP was mislead on turnaround time.

Communication was made on his part numerous times without anything of substance in return.

"Jay, just wanted to let you know, this is an old jacket we just got in from you and may take a long time for us to modify. Would you like to proceed anyways?"

Too hard to say? I just said it. Took me less time than it took you to CONTACT THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY TO ESCALATE AN ISSUE THAT SHOULD OF BEEN RESOLVED BY HIS OWN EMPLOYEES WEEKS AGO.

If I have to contact the owner of the company to do what they said they would do, then I don't want to do business with them.


As far as the "most on this board" comment: It is painfully obvious that you have never spent any time with the members here. They are the kindest, most giving, thoughtful and charitable group of IP's I have ever run across of on the internet. If you stopped tooting your own bitter horn now and again you'd realize that.

[9secondsflat]

Go give your fellow members a circle jerk tonight..


'

Bottom line:

OP was mislead on turnaround time.

Communication was made on his part numerous times without anything of substance in return.

"Jay, just wanted to let you know, this is an old jacket we just got in from you and may take a long time for us to modify. Would you like to proceed anyways?"

Too hard to say? I just said it. Took me less time than it took you to CONTACT THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY TO ESCALATE AN ISSUE THAT SHOULD OF BEEN RESOLVED BY HIS OWN EMPLOYEES WEEKS AGO.

If I have to contact the owner of the company to do what they said they would do, then I don't want to do business with them.


As far as the "most on this board" comment: It is painfully obvious that you have never spent any time with the members here. They are the kindest, most giving, thoughtful and charitable group of IP's I have ever run across of on the internet. If you stopped tooting your own bitter horn now and again you'd realize that.

[rolker]

Go give your fellow members a circle jerk tonight..

In!

[obsolete]

Cant you do better then that after all you have a degree you know the one your still paying on every month for at least another 10 years, unless your now part of the camp that believes they were lied to and should not have to pay back their student loans.


..

Actually, you're paying for my degree. Actually, my first, second and when I get my masters, Thanks.

[Awesome]

Well it got pretty exciting in here. Thanks for quoting 9second in this case, since he's been on my ignore for a long time now. No one from Vanson has contacted me. The jacket I bought was used, never even broken in, I was unaware what the manufacture date was, or how it matters. To my inspection it could have been 10 days or ten years old. The leather looks and feels like every other star jacket I've ever seen. This was never brought up as an issue. I did not bring this jacket to the open house, I brought it in on a regular old business day. Am I to interpret that comment as I bought a used jacket that happened to be old, so I'm cheap and not a valuable customer? I did not haggle or complain about alterations price and I did not ask for any special service. I specified that I bought the jacket used, and I wanted it to be fit to me. Money is not an issue, and I did not say I need this done in a week. I was told 'we will have this done and sent back to you in a week'.

So now from what I'm reading, some guy that I don't know on the internet had to call his buddy, the owner of Vanson, and now my jacket that has not received any of the alterations is pulled out of the work queue? I don't see how that in any way addresses the issue.

I have not been contacted by Vanson since the last call that was returned Wednesday, where I was told they were waiting to receive the right leather and it might be two weeks, but they don't know. The previous message I have before that said the jacket is at the tail end of the alterations. If anyone would like to hear my first returned call after my 3 or so, you'll have to tell me how to load if off of an Iphone.

And yes, those patches that I asked them to add are NESR patches. Thanks Manny.

[butcher bergs]

Most on this board would drive by a car on fire only yelling "piss on it" as their way of trying to help the owner..I would stop, grab my extinguisher and try to make a difference but not before I repeatedly let them know how stupendous I am because I have a little money.....and THAT's what's important here me and my money.

I just had this vision come to me...some angry rich guy shitting on people while he pulls them out of a burning wreck.


Barry, I don't think anyone here really gives a shit that you have $145.52 in special savings. Some people can get through life just fine by appreciating the good things they do have without flaunting it around like an idiot.

[SteveM]

If I ever "take a hard left turn" politically, blame it on 9secondsdouchebag.

I know I can be a little "dad like" from time to time, but I hope I never come across as the absolute ass he has portrayed himself as in this thread.

It's so bad, it almost seems like a put on.

[9secondsflat]

Something does not sound right....never before have I heard of Vansons turn time being one week..its not as if they were just sewing on patches. Do you think it might be possible that you didn't hear them correctly? Could it be maybe they said 4-5 weeks or something similar???

Well it got pretty exciting in here. Thanks for quoting 9second in this case, since he's been on my ignore for a long time now. No one from Vanson has contacted me. The jacket I bought was used, never even broken in, I was unaware what the manufacture date was, or how it matters. To my inspection it could have been 10 days or ten years old. The leather looks and feels like every other star jacket I've ever seen. This was never brought up as an issue. I did not bring this jacket to the open house, I brought it in on a regular old business day. Am I to interpret that comment as I bought a used jacket that happened to be old, so I'm cheap and not a valuable customer? I did not haggle or complain about alterations price and I did not ask for any special service. I specified that I bought the jacket used, and I wanted it to be fit to me. Money is not an issue, and I did not say I need this done in a week. I was told 'we will have this done and sent back to you in a week'.

So now from what I'm reading, some guy that I don't know on the internet had to call his buddy, the owner of Vanson, and now my jacket that has not received any of the alterations is pulled out of the work queue? I don't see how that in any way addresses the issue.

I have not been contacted by Vanson since the last call that was returned Wednesday, where I was told they were waiting to receive the right leather and it might be two weeks, but they don't know. The previous message I have before that said the jacket is at the tail end of the alterations. If anyone would like to hear my first returned call after my 3 or so, you'll have to tell me how to load if off of an Iphone.

And yes, those patches that I asked them to add are NESR patches. Thanks Manny.

[Awesome]

Something does not sound right....never before have I heard of Vansons turn time being one week..its not as if they were just sewing on patches. Do you think it might be possible that you didn't hear them correctly?

Not possible in the slightest. They told me, 'we will have this done by Friday'. I told them it is a long drive, so I'd like to have it shipped back. They said, that's fine, we will call you Friday for the payment and ship it.
I asked to pay for it right then, but they said 'no, we'll just call your Friday.'

I even questioned the one week turn. I said, 'wow, one week, that's fast. When I called on the phone a couple months ago they told me the alterations would take at least a month.' They said, yup, it'll just be a week.


And I didn't put this thread up to start anything. I put it in the vendor review section to share the experience that I'm having with this business. I just don't spend all my time on a message board, nor am I looking to monitor the immature arguing that's going on in this thread. I am happy to see the review is getting attention. And I will be sure to continue to report how the rest of the story transpires. I am also dissapointed that my experience has brought me the point of putting this thread here.

[nhbubba]

Still irrelevant. It's paid alteration work.

Sure but is it relevant to the primary issue at hand, which is lack of communication?

You are correct. I got distracted by prematurelyflat's massive string of bullshit. My eye left the ball, so to speak.

Good point, lack of communication is indeed the primary issue. Of course, Jay's vague description did seem to crap on Vanson a bit more than they deserve, in my opinion.

Maybe, but you can't fault a guy after getting jerked around.

And yes, those patches that I asked them to add are NESR patches. Thanks Manny.

Wait wait, there are NESR packages.

[FalArAk]

Hey just to add to this guys....they recently had an open house advertising to buy old leathers for a max of 100 bucks towards a new vanson. I have a twice worn joe rocket speedmaster like freakin new and i told them i wanted to buy a 700 dollar jacket if they gave me 150 for my twice used 500.00 joe rocket...Oh no we can't do that...Oh no guess you don't get my business.

Me and my buddy went there during the first day of the trade in program a month or so ago.

He bought a leather there last year during the no tax sale,it was a decent jacket,but it was made in El Salvador...He wanted a Made in USA one...He wore the jacket once last season,I think it was in the $400 range.

So we go talk to the "only guy working" and ask about the trade in towards a new Vanson,he says something like the owner has to be here and has no idea how much he could give him for the jacket.

WTF ? We go there specifically for the trade in program,on the day it starts and they don't do trade ins,or the owner has to be there ?

I like my Vanson,but something is seriously wrong with that place.

So

[Garandman]

Hey just to add to this guys....they recently had an open house advertising to buy old leathers for a max of 100 bucks towards a new vanson. I have a twice worn joe rocket speedmaster like freakin new and i told them i wanted to buy a 700 dollar jacket if they gave me 150 for my twice used 500.00 joe rocket...Oh no we can't do that...Oh no guess you don't get my business.

Their customer service problems are well known, but asking them to take in another manufacturer's product - especially Joe Rocket - is a little rich.

You can't sell it on CL or eBay for more than $150? What does that tell you?

Really...I have no idea...my last company which I started from zero had well over 200 employees and revenues of 30 million...and you do what exactly?

As a business goes through its cycles it experiences challenges and a hands on one like Vanson which is a small business permits the owner to get involved directly with customers when needed to resolve issues. Any person who has built a company understands this. You may delegate duties and responsibility to your staff but at the end of the day its not their business which you have busted your ass, blood sweat and tears to build. They go home at the end of the day cash their check and you stay late almost every day to to make certain that the company has a future.

but I have no idea how to run a business...according to you.....

You are not the only one on this forum to have started a business or hired a bunch of people or dealt with customer service issues.

I take it you are a Vanson customer? I AM a Vanson customer (one piece leather and Vent Max jacket) but bought my stuff "off the rack." MANY friends have had problems with custom orders with them, and have endured exactly the same cycle of late delivery / broken promises as the OP. You will find threads complaining of this on many forums.

The Vanson story.
Vanson FAQ

Why does it take so long to get your products?
There are 2 main factors that contribute to the long delivery issues that we have faced for the past couple of years.
1. Raw materials supply. Like other manufacturing segments our supplier base has contracted. Many of the suppliers are smaller and do not have available stock at hand and we have to wait for their production cycle to occur. Several of our suppliers have gone out of business and we have had to source new ones, or change the specification of what we use.
2. Labor hours and hand made quality. We make our items in the same meticulous way we have for 35 years. We have improved efficiency with some technologies, but nothing takes the place of hand cutting and individual sewing machine operators. We typically sell more items each week than we make, we continuously run a backlog.

Vanson race suits have excellent quality, and they have made some of the right moves (like the Hybrid suit) to address competition from off-shore, low cost suits. But their customer communications suck.

Wow! That really sucks! Good to know for me though as I am looking to get a new one piece. I was thinking of heading up there this Saturday to try on a bunch of different sizes if they had them there, and if not to get measured up. I seem to have a long torso. A 48 generally fits me (and did in their Hybrid suit), but in my Teknic 48 (U.S. btw), I end up with it really pulling up on my crotch very uncomfortably when off the bike. I know the suits are made for the riding position, but this is actually a bit too much than what is normal. The size 48 Vanso fit, but I didn't like the solid black color of the one I tried on. I like their 2 zipper front a lot.

Let me know what suits you find that run long. I also have a long torso (6'2, 32" inseam) and the infamous "Mr. StayPuff" Vanson I have is plenty roomy in the waist but just barely long enough to wear. An AGV I tried seemed to fit better.

[union]

I love my vanson suit. It has saved me many times. My next suit will probably be a Vanson.

That being said the customer service does suck. I cant seem to get them to return my emails for a repair job. Its to the point where I dont know if I will have them repair my stuff.

Ive found the best way to deal with them is to be a pest. Call everyday and often.

[smokinjoe]

You have been there 50+ times? Is it possible that the average customer may get a very different experience than you? No one can be expected to make dozens of trips to ANYWHERE let (maybe a local market) alone a leathers manufacturer.

Kind of a backhanded defense of them. Track down the owner and become a fixture in thier factory and you will be fine.

Right. (are you for or against them?)