HELP...Unsuitable saddle - how do I get my money back????

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jubileegunner

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Some help please! I bought a horse who's saddle didn't fit which I believe was causing some behavioural issues. I then decided that the best way forward would be to have a saddle made to measure to be sure he would be happy and comfortable. The saddle fitter came and measured my horse then, a few weeks later turns up with the saddle, decides it doesn't fit so goes away and makes some alterations, when he drops off the saddle and tries it on him in the saddle the horse goes ballistic and we run for our lives! Anyway, he leaves the saddle with me and things get no better, I lunge and lead him in the new saddle to try and get him used to it, however he continued to be unhappy with it and so I get some help from a 'pro' to come and sit on him with the new saddle. He lasts 2 minutes before being thrown off. I then call saddler and he comes out weeks later as he is now too busy and says the saddle now doesn't fit him at all and need adjusted again and that it will take 3-4 days.... that was 4 weeks ago. I have gone back to the saddler and basically said I'm not happy with the saddle, its not suitable for my horse and I am concerned if I ride in that saddle I will have an accident. The response has basically been 'tough'... I don't give refunds unless the saddle is faulty. I have tried on several 'traditional' saddles and he seems so much happier and relaxed compared with the new one.

So after the full story my question is, does he have a duty of care to provide me with a saddle fit for purpose and am I entitled to a refund? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you x
 
Speak to your local trading standards they will tell you if you have any rights and what the best action to take.Ive found them very helpful ,they even send template letters stating which section of the law you feel is being questioned. Also send them copy letters of what you send to the saddler if you have no response from him they take over the case . Hope this helps xx
 
jubileegunner said:
Some help please! I bought a horse who's saddle didn't fit which I believe was causing some behavioural issues. I then decided that the best way forward would be to have a saddle made to measure to be sure he would be happy and comfortable. The saddle fitter came and measured my horse then, a few weeks later turns up with the saddle, decides it doesn't fit so goes away and makes some alterations, when he drops off the saddle and tries it on him in the saddle the horse goes ballistic and we run for our lives! Anyway, he leaves the saddle with me and things get no better, I lunge and lead him in the new saddle to try and get him used to it, however he continued to be unhappy with it and so I get some help from a 'pro' to come and sit on him with the new saddle. He lasts 2 minutes before being thrown off. I then call saddler and he comes out weeks later as he is now too busy and says the saddle now doesn't fit him at all and need adjusted again and that it will take 3-4 days.... that was 4 weeks ago. I have gone back to the saddler and basically said I'm not happy with the saddle, its not suitable for my horse and I am concerned if I ride in that saddle I will have an accident. The response has basically been 'tough'... I don't give refunds unless the saddle is faulty. I have tried on several 'traditional' saddles and he seems so much happier and relaxed compared with the new one.

So after the full story my question is, does he have a duty of care to provide me with a saddle fit for purpose and am I entitled to a refund? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you x
Click to expand...

An almost identical thing happened to a friend of mine. Saddler admitted he had used the wrong template to make the saddle, but insisted they would only make a new one at my friend's expense. It meant she lost most of the summer before she was able to ride her new horse.
 
Darcydoo said:
Speak to your local trading standards they will tell you if you have any rights and what the best action to take.Ive found them very helpful ,they even send template letters stating which section of the law you feel is being questioned. Also send them copy letters of what you send to the saddler if you have no response from him they take over the case . Hope this helps xx
Click to expand...

Agreed! They will be able to advise you better & correctly Good luck x
 
I used to live in Staffordshire & there was a master Saddler there who made the most beautiful 'made to measure' saddles (with beautiful price tags ;) ) however I didn't see a single one who properly fitted the horse for which it was made. There was a local 2nd hand saddlery that had a whole wall of his saddles that people were trying to sell.
I know one person (a member on here) tried everything to get her money back on an ill fitting saddle. Problem was the actual making of the saddle was fine (as in leather, stitching etc) so the society of master Saddlers weren't interested & because of this she had little joy with trading standards. He also always used to claim the horse had dramatically changed shape.
I hope you have better luck with your claim!!
 
I had exactly the same experience with a lady in the East Midlands who sells silhouette saddles. Supposed to be made to measure, but it appeared to have been made for a completely different horse. I ended up paying another saddle to write a detailed report on it and why/ how it didn't fit. Luckily the lady then gave me my money back in full. So well worth persisting, for me forking out £40 does seem a bit counterintuitive but I felt it was worth it to get the lump sum back .
 
glamourpuss said:
I used to live in Staffordshire & there was a master Saddler there who made the most beautiful 'made to measure' saddles (with beautiful price tags ;) ) however I didn't see a single one who properly fitted the horse for which it was made. There was a local 2nd hand saddlery that had a whole wall of his saddles that people were trying to sell.
I know one person (a member on here) tried everything to get her money back on



an ill fitting saddle. Problem was the actual making of the saddle was fine (as in leather, stitching etc) so the society of master Saddlers weren't interested & because of this she had little joy with trading standards. He also always used to claim the horse had dramatically changed shape.
I hope you have better luck with your claim!!
Click to expand...
ooooh now you have my attention...who could this person be?????
 
glamourpuss said:
I used to live in Staffordshire & there was a master Saddler there who made the most beautiful 'made to measure' saddles (with beautiful price tags ;) ) however I didn't see a single one who properly fitted the horse for which it was made. There was a local 2nd hand saddlery that had a whole wall of his saddles that people were trying to sell.
I know one person (a member on here) tried everything to get her money back on an ill fitting saddle. Problem was the actual making of the saddle was fine (as in leather, stitching etc) so the society of master Saddlers weren't interested & because of this she had little joy with trading standards. He also always used to claim the horse had dramatically changed shape.
I hope you have better luck with your claim!!
Click to expand...

I personally had an experience like this about twenty years ago, in the South; ended up selling my expensive, hardly used 'made to measure' as a secondhand, for a fraction of what I paid.
My guess is this scenario is not all that rare, sadly, since a 'master saddler' is not necessarily any kind of a saddle fitter.
I did speak to the SMS but the moment the chap said 'oh I know X, he's a nice guy' I knew I wasn't getting any joy there.

Actually I'd love to see some stats about numbers of complaints to the SMS and how many have been upheld/dismissed.

edited to add: best of luck with your case OP!
 
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I had a similar issue. I called in a second SMS saddler who confirmed that there was no way the saddle could have ever fitted my horse and that the new re-flocking I had paid for was exaggerating the issues not compensating.

I explained and detailed all of the issues and the saddlers finding in an email to the old saddler and asked for a full refund on the purchase price of the saddle, I lost out on the cost of the additional adjustments I had paid for but I got a full refund onto my bank card when I dropped the saddle off at the shop.

Originally I was going to go down the route of chasing the governing body but I found out my saddler wasn't even qualified! She'd only done a two day BETA 'introduction to saddle fitting' course nearly ten years before and her business had now resigned from BETA membership.

Having spoken to a lot of other people that have had similar issues with the same saddler she is very happy to give a full refund before trading standards are involved... apparently she's been like this for the past 10 years at least!
 
I had the same problem. Mad to measure saddle didn't fit. I complained to society of master saddlers. They said I wasn't the first to complain about him. I put it all down in writing including an ultimatum letter to saddler. You know where I got ? Nowhere!! Ended up selling saddle and buying a thorowgood. Bloody saddler still working & somehow has managed to get a decent reputation! I'm trying to put a stop to that!! Where abouts are you? I'm in Northumberland, I hop it's not the same saddler - he comes up from Shropshire.
 
I purchased a saddle from someone who comes very highly recommended on here.

It wasnt a M2M, however couldnt have fitted my horse on the fitting, or ever at all. Bye bye £1000.

Unfortuatly it wasnt picked up until a few months later that it didnt fit, so couldnt do anything about it. Apart from warn people on here about the saddler via PM.
 
If you paid on credit card or visa debit it may be worth taking it up with your bank as they are jointly liable with the saddler for provision of the goods. Not sure of the ins and outs where bespoke goods are concerned but it sounds like the saddle is not fit for purpose. You would reclaim from the bank, then they reclaim from the saddler. Worth a go I think.
 
Made to measure is a whole minefield. If you can buy from stock, away from the saddle fitters premises, then you legally have 7 days to try the saddle (you usually have to pay in full up front), this is changing to 14 days. You can then send back within that time for any reason at all. You can't do this with M2M/custom saddles so you get into legal wrangling about whether the saddle fitted or not. Make sure you put everything in writing, and notifiy of any problems as soon as possible. You can't phone up after 6 months and say that the saddle has never fitted.
 
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