cane and derby holsters

[bc5000]

Before I ordered mine I emailed them and got a response within minutes, both times.

It's the same old story. Once they get your money the communication stops.

I'm thinking about canceling my order and going with psholsters.

[kartoffel]

My status on their website has progressed from 'pending' to 'pre-stage, order in queue for production'.

Same here. Ordered an appendix Pardus on 15 December 2011. Should I be worried? It's only been a little over a month so far. They're still advertising a 6 week lead time.

Sucks that you've been waiting with zero communication since October. If you do hear from 'em, tell them that if you cancel your order I'll cancel my order too. Getting really sick of deadbeat kydex folders.

[PlatoCATM]

Ordered 7/13/11. The order recently went from pending to "Pre-stage: Order in queue for production." Not a pleasant buying experience. I since bought an in-stock Fricke holster and received it in 4 days. I've moved on, but haven't bothered to cancel my order.

[zacii]

I emailed them again last week, requesting order cancellation.

They replied, finally, confirming the cancellation.

When I first ordered in Oct, they never responded. After a couple of weeks I ordered an Archangel, which I received within a week.

I must add that Dale Fricke answered all my emails very promptly. He'll get my business again.

[monkeywrencher]

I ordered and received a Pardus last year. It was so tight that my belt was perpendicular to my jaw by the time I drew the gun. Numerous e-mails trying to remedy the situation I was told they would send me out a new one. After about 6 e-mails which were not responded to , I posted on their Facebook page, which elicited a response.

Their holsters "Look" like Ravens, but the CS isnot up to snuff.

Granted when they do respond, Ian is a very nice guy.

I like him, but I wouldn't recommend their company to a friend...

[trinydex]

I emailed them again last week, requesting order cancellation.

They replied, finally, confirming the cancellation.

When I first ordered in Oct, they never responded. After a couple of weeks I ordered an Archangel, which I received within a week.

I must add that Dale Fricke answered all my emails very promptly. He'll get my business again.

The archangel is that fast to ship???

[bdcheung]

So I contacted Cane and Derby a few days ago asking about lead time. I got their permission to repost the entire email here:

Hi bdcheung,

The lead time depends on the product. Our Pardus Full Cut holsters are holding at about 6 weeks, while the old-style Pardus Appendix Rigs were taking up to 12 weeks to get out to customers. These lead times would occasionally fluctuate, depending on whether we've done a run of a particular holster (like black straight-drop Glock 17s, for example) and happen to have them ready to send to customers. We're pretty backlogged though, so it's been a while since we've been able to 'get ahead.'

We don't like having lead times like that, and we've been working very hard to get our lead times down across the board. New, more streamlined techniques and revisions to the products to ensure quality, consistency, and production speed have all been put into place. Our goal is to bring *all* products down to 4 weeks (or less).

The new PIC system is part of that effort, and we're proud to be able to produce them very quickly. All orders for Pardus Appendix Holsters placed on or after January 6th, 2012 will be for the new PIC System Holster. We have a team dedicated to producing only new orders, keeping lead times at our goal of 4 weeks, while a separate team handles pending orders (prior to Jan 6).

All that being said, I just re-read your question and you were asking about your order specifically, lol. You've got a PIC for your M&P9C in the queue and it ought to be out to you well within our 4-week lead time. I've been battling a cold all week and thought you were asking about lead times in general... sorry about the super-long preamble! I need to cut down on the cold meds, lol...

Hopefully that answers your questions. If you have any additional questions or require more information, please don't hesitate to contact us.

I then responded asking if I could repost the email, to which they replied:

Brian,

Sure, I have no problem with you sharing the information on public forums. We've got nothing to hide, and tell all of our customers the same thing when they ask.

Here's a bit more info you can add, if you'd like.

We're working pretty hard to keep everyone up-to-date, address any and all who contact us, and putting into place whatever it takes to keep customers happy.

Since January 6th, we've implemented this new support-ticket system which has helped to virtually eliminate the "lost email syndrome" that was happening with some customers who tried to contact us. For a while we thought we must've been going through some unprecedented failure in our email system, so we put this into place to eliminate lost communication. All requests via direct email or our contact pages automatically insert the information into a database that routes emails according to the request and schedules follow-ups within our 24-business-hour response period. Email notifications are still sent, of course (that's unavoidable) but all communication is logged, timestamped, and visible to the customer at any time (they just have to log in.)

We have a new call-logging system in place so that *all* calls are forwarded to the right people, logged, and follow-up call scheduling is enforced so we call anybody who calls us within our 24-business-hour support period. This is internal, but it has improved our responsiveness dramatically and reduced the amount of calls that 'slip through the cracks'. Some customers complained that they can't reach us on the phone when they call - and that's true. We simply don't have the time or resources to have someone sitting in the office all day waiting for the phone to ring - we've got too much work to do. That's why we have our call-back policy in place; when there's a break, we catch up on support emails and phone calls. Our call-logging helps us immensely with this, but I cannot for the life of me understand why customers will call us but never leave a voice-mail.

We have a new order-status system in place. The new order-status system is much more detailed and offers a lot more visibility to the customer. This has been somewhat confusing, even in-house, as we try to consolidate our old system and new status systems, along with our production-line system. We've asked people to bear with us as we go through this 'growing pain' and it smooths itself out with time.

We still don't charge people until their order is literally walking out the door to the post office. This was originally in place to prevent the customer feeling that we're sitting with their money and they'll never see a product. It's a policy that will stay in place for the foreseeable future as we continue to work through our backlog and address new orders.

We've built a good reputation for producing a high-quality product and our excellent customer service. It's extremely disconcerting when we stumble and our reputation suffers because of it, but we're trying our hardest to address every issue and every obstacle as it comes. We ask our customers to be patient and we promise to deliver the best quality product that we can as quickly as we can produce it. We won't outsource to save a few bucks, we won't skimp or cut corners to get the product out faster, and we're *all* working to get everyone their product as fast as possible.

So that's the long and the short of it Brian. I've shared this information with many, many customers and gotten nothing but patience and support, and we sincerely appreciate it. You're welcome to share the information with friends, colleagues, what have you - hopefully it will be received with understanding and support. We're doing the best we can, and we have nothing but appreciation for our customers.

I hope the additional information is helpful as well, and if you need more info or have any questions about our products please don't hesitate to contact us. Have a great evening!

[kartoffel]

Thanks, Brian. For the record, I haven't cancelled my order yet since it hasn't quite been 6 weeks. Just concerned because others in this thread have been waiting MUCH longer.

Apparently, they've changed their appendix holster design and will be contacting outstanding orders to ask if customers want the old style or the new style... so at least I know they'll be contacting before they start cutting kydex..... right?

From http://www.caneandderbynews.com/cate...nd-derby-news/

What does this mean if you’ve already ordered one of our 2011 Pardus Appendix Rigs?
...
All new orders for Pardus Appendix rigs will be for the 2012 PIC with APP mount. And don’t worry if you already ordered and are waiting on a Pardus Appendix Rig: all pending Pardus Appendix Rig orders will be notified via email and given the option of converting their order over to the new PIC holster.

[kartoffel]

Anybody got a link to Cane & Derby's mythical trouble ticket system? I'm logged into my account on their site, looking at my pending order, and for the life of me I can't find it.

Since January 6th, we've implemented this new support-ticket system which has helped to virtually eliminate the "lost email syndrome" that was happening with some customers who tried to contact us.

I am calling bullshit. They've got a phone number, an email address, and a "contact us" form, all of which appear to work just fine... but that is it. No support ticket system. See highlighted text in the quote below:

For a while we thought we must've been going through some unprecedented failure in our email system, so we put this into place to eliminate lost communication. All requests via direct email or our contact pages automatically insert the information into a database that routes emails according to the request and schedules follow-ups within our 24-business-hour response period. Email notifications are still sent, of course (that's unavoidable) but all communication is logged, timestamped, and visible to the customer at any time (they just have to log in.)

Visible, my ass.

[DYNAMIC AMATEUR]

I ordered from Cane and derby July 26, 2011. Sent an email in November requesting guesstimated delivery date. NO REPLY from C&D

Item ordered: Pardus Low Profile Pistol Magazine Carrier.

Current order status: Order in queue for production as of January 25th. 6 months later for a magazine carrier???

Waiting 6 months doesn't piss me off. Waiting 6 months and no response to my email will piss me off.

If you ask me why I didn't send another email, my response will be "it's called customer service, it shouldn't take multiple emails to get a response"