What's up with October Country?

[MTplainsman]

It's past 2 weeks now and my order has not showed up. I spose I should give them a call in the morning just to see if all is still good. I am a patient person and don't mind waiting, but I am just curious if this is there normal for them to be delayed this long?

 

[ETipp]

I hope that is not the case with the order I just put in yesterday. This is not the first negative thing I have seen posted in the last week about October Country. Had I know that, I would have ordered elsewhere.

My tolerance level has become very low when it comes to BS from companies I do business with.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I think your best bet would be to call or email the company directly.

Muzzleloading occupies a relatively small niche in the shooting world, and a lot of the specialty vendors are surprisingly small operations, and they sometimes are family run. A severe illness in the family, for example, can cause a significant setback in business operations.

October Country has a very good reputation. I have not ordered from them recently but I have patronized them in the past, and I’ve also sent them a question or two by email. These were answered in due time. I suspect there are a bunch of people on this forum who will vouch for them.

Two weeks is not excessively long, but if you are concerned, getting in touch with the dealer directly would be the way to go.

Good luck with it, and when your issue is resolved, a follow-up post on this forum would be appreciated. A lot of these smaller vendors are people like us, trying to get by, and negative comments can really do some damage.

Notchy Bob

 

[TScottW99]

Are there new owners? I thought it had been up for sale in the last year or so.

 

[Ames]

Normal for them. I knew this before I placed my most recent order based on past experience. This time it took 6 days just to get a tracking number for the small parts in my order. But I'm okay waiting as I knew this would be 2 weeks.

 

[kenweekley]

I recently placed an order with OctoberCountry on Jan 10th 2023. Confirmation email and tracking number on the 12th. Delivered at the Post Office on the 17th. I can’t complain about the service and the items were not in stock elsewhere.

 

[FishDFly]

It's past 2 weeks now and my order has not showed up. I spose I should give them a call in the morning just to see if all is still good. I am a patient person and don't mind waiting, but I am just curious if this is there normal for them to be delayed this long?

Would have been fair to them, to call, before posting your concerns here.

 

[MTplainsman]

Would have been fair to them, to call, before posting your concerns here.

I think your are correct on this... I failed to do the obvious before posting. I have a bad case of poster's remorse...

 

[MTplainsman]

I didn't know they give tracking info. I only got a conformation email. I am going call a soon as I can and see what's up and post back later.

 

[chorizo]

They got some "back room" staff issues and so recognized during phone call . Same nice people up front to talk to, but slow to ship at times, send the wrong stuff other times.

Last order from last week was completely wrong. Not one item was what I had ordered. A call and they corrected it immediately, but I was still out the shipping to return it.

Use with caution until they sort things out.

 

[FishDFly]

With the stories here about USPS and UPS with deliveries, I would not be too quick with finding fault with a vendor until I checked with them to find out where my order was, especially during the winter and ice storms.

 

[chorizo]

I get notification when it is put into the mail or ups...My post is based upon their ship date, not usps/ups transit.
time.

And my experience is that they sit on orders for 7 to 10 days before I receive ship notification. Takes less than 2 days to receive from North Idaho to South Idaho when shipped. 3 to 5 times longer than shipping to get it shipped.

Deer Creek Products generally ships the same day as order received if not the next. Apples to apples comparison with nothing to do with transit times. I wouldn't be so quick as to put it all on USPS or UPS either.

 

[MTplainsman]

First of all, to any who may think I made this post to smear a company, your wrong... I simply made this post to see from others if a longer wait is average, before I start to pester a business with phone calls. I do kind of regret posting about this before I called now, but what's done is done.

I just got of the phone with OC. As soon as I said hello, the lady asked if she could put me on hold. After not too long I told her I was just making sure my order was in the system just in case it didn't go through. She said that they are a small company with only 4 staff and that had a huge uptick in orders in recent times. I said that's just fine, and I just wanted to check to make sure they received the order. She looked at the order again and said that the hold up on the order was the antler short starter with the brass rod. She said that they have a machinist that makes the brass rods and he is at least a week behind. She said they are hoping get them shipped within the week, but was not sure. I said I understand and thanked her pleasantly and she pleasantly wished me that I had good day. All conversation was was pleasant between us, and I never sounded irritated or impatient.

So the call went well, I found out what was going on with the order, and now I have some insight on their situation. I will continue to be patient, but the only thing I don't understand, is why they wouldn't just send me the rest of my "large" order? IMO, it would be better customer service not to keep the customer waiting because of one small item. The short starter could be sent whenever, but all the items I could really use right now, could be another week or more (that would make 3 weeks to a month!). Not sure what to think about it right now...

 

[chorizo]

@MTplainsman This tracks with my experience. Always nice on the phone, they just have some fulfillment staffing issues for whatever reason and it reflects on how quickly they fulfill their orders.

Call it growth issues or whatever, but they are slow to fill and ship orders. An observation after numerous orders over several months.

 

[Bullit]

@MTplainsman This tracks with my experience. Always nice on the phone, they just have some fulfillment staffing issues for whatever reason and it reflects on how quickly they fulfill their orders.

Call it growth issues or whatever, but they are slow to fill and ship orders. An observation after numerous orders over several months.

An email, text, phone call, very easy to do, and considerate. Communication goes a long way.

 

[Andrewmtnman]

I have used them in the past but am not the kind that is waiting for the arrival. I usually ignore the tracking info, just to busy to bother watching it. I like them for the simple reason they make a lot of stuff themselves and they are a small mom and pop shop. To me a slow American made order beats a Chinese order any day. Just my 2 cents, worth nothing more. I wonder if they have recently changed hands, they have been for sale. Hope they don’t close down

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Maybe delete your original post and ask the moderators to delete the thread. That will help your remorse. I've had the same feeling before myself.

 

[ETipp]

I have used them in the past but am not the kind that is waiting for the arrival. I usually ignore the tracking info, just to busy to bother watching it. I like them for the simple reason they make a lot of stuff themselves and they are a small mom and pop shop. To me a slow American made order beats a Chinese order any day. Just my 2 cents, worth nothing more. I wonder if they have recently changed hands, they have been for sale. Hope they don’t close down

Indeed. They only have 5 employees. They also have had some computer issues going on but they have rectified that.

Also, I have been told that they are swamped right now. They are a couple weeks behind on making some items. Personally, as long as they come through with my order, I'm good with it. Not in a hurry.

 

[TreeMan]

I’ve ordered from them many times. I don’t ever remember having to wait long for my order. I’ve had them make me several brass ramrods. My mother was visiting my uncle that lives in the same town where October country is. I told her to stop in there to pick me something up. Can’t remember what it was. I was daydreaming of going in there and looking around and was jealous if her being able to go. I was imagining the store being like a mom and pops Cabelas with all muzzleloading items. My home in Virginia is a long way from Idaho. My mom called me when she left the store and told me the store was tiny. Pretty much a counter and a storage room and workshop with just a few people working and a very very small show room. I guess most all their sales are mail/internet orders.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I've occasionally waited for a couple of weeks, but in these trying times, I kinda get it. They have plenty of relatively unique items on their website and used to have more. Deer antler powder measures have to be hand-made by someone, ditto for some of their leatherwork items.

Years ago they used to stock a 16 gauge rifle on their website that I was drooling over for a while. Now that I am in a position to sell some gold or silver in order to buy it, they no longer list it. Life is rough.

I've learned painfully to be patient. There was this girl once that... well, best let might-have-beens in the past where they belong.