Hanno Verian
Well-Known Member
Why is it that companies in the equine world think that its acceptable to treat you as if they are doing you a favour by allowing you to buy their product.
I bought a brand new Albion K2 Jump Saddle from a large saddler/countrystore in Wiltshire in April 2016 for £1500, I rode out in it in the pouring rain about three weeks later and then took it into the saddler to have a minor adjustment made, which meant me leaving it with them for a couple of days.
I had a phone call from my saddle-fitter asking me if I had seen that the leather dye had come out of parts of the saddle, she recommended that she take it up with Albion on my behalf, which I agreed to.
So I was without a saddle for ten days whilst they waited for the Albion rep to inspect it, the upshot was that Albion admitted that there was a fault in the leather processing and agreed to replace the saddle and return the old one to me as an "interim" saddle for 12 weeks until they built one to the same spec. I was told how lucky I was that Albion agreed to do this by the store, who seem to have completely missed the point that my contract is with them, not their supplier Albion, and it would be them that I pursued.
July came and went, I chased it up with my saddler, who chased up Albion who admitted that they had "forgotten" about it and as soon as the factory came back from their summer holiday would get onto it. Then they tried to renege on the "new saddle" and wanted the old one back so that they could replace the damaged panels, which I refused. They finally agreed to replace the saddle and told me it would be another 12 weeks.
That takes us up to December, guess what - No saddle and they are all on Christmas holiday!!
Why on earth would a company think that this is acceptable, if I had returned the saddle to have it repaired, I would have been riding out in my dressage saddle for 6 months. My reaction would have been to tell them to shove it, but here's the problem my boy is a full ID with big shoulders and Albion was the only saddle that fitted him, as he is far from the TB shape that 90% of saddles are geared to.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Albion??
I bought a brand new Albion K2 Jump Saddle from a large saddler/countrystore in Wiltshire in April 2016 for £1500, I rode out in it in the pouring rain about three weeks later and then took it into the saddler to have a minor adjustment made, which meant me leaving it with them for a couple of days.
I had a phone call from my saddle-fitter asking me if I had seen that the leather dye had come out of parts of the saddle, she recommended that she take it up with Albion on my behalf, which I agreed to.
So I was without a saddle for ten days whilst they waited for the Albion rep to inspect it, the upshot was that Albion admitted that there was a fault in the leather processing and agreed to replace the saddle and return the old one to me as an "interim" saddle for 12 weeks until they built one to the same spec. I was told how lucky I was that Albion agreed to do this by the store, who seem to have completely missed the point that my contract is with them, not their supplier Albion, and it would be them that I pursued.
July came and went, I chased it up with my saddler, who chased up Albion who admitted that they had "forgotten" about it and as soon as the factory came back from their summer holiday would get onto it. Then they tried to renege on the "new saddle" and wanted the old one back so that they could replace the damaged panels, which I refused. They finally agreed to replace the saddle and told me it would be another 12 weeks.
That takes us up to December, guess what - No saddle and they are all on Christmas holiday!!
Why on earth would a company think that this is acceptable, if I had returned the saddle to have it repaired, I would have been riding out in my dressage saddle for 6 months. My reaction would have been to tell them to shove it, but here's the problem my boy is a full ID with big shoulders and Albion was the only saddle that fitted him, as he is far from the TB shape that 90% of saddles are geared to.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Albion??
