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Cuddlebug

Cuddlebug

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
2,907
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Have any of you ever had problems with customer service at Bass Equipment? I ordered a pan for a Ferret Nation cage. It cam e quickly but got here damaged. My husband, who is great at customer service and deals with people all of the time, called them to discuss it. The lady he talked to was rude and basically told him that it was not their problem and told him to contact UPS. UPS said that the shipper is the one who should contact them about damage. They were very helpful. My husband called Bass Equipment again. the same lady answered and he gave her the information from UPS about the claim. She Told him she would get back to us on Monday (today). It's already after 5:00 pm and no calls. It seems like crappy customer service to me.
 
I ordered the deeper pans for my cage a while back, one arrived damaged and I contacted the company immediately and also spoke with a woman (do no recall her name) and she said that was why they didn't like to make the deeper pans- they don't ship well and they were already aware of that (but I wasn't made aware of it when ordering). She told me to keep the original packaging and that they'd ship another one & would only need it back if the mail carrier required it (she told me to keep it for at least 2 weeks)...they never required it back so I simply tossed it & i did receive the replacement promptly. No rudeness experienced on my part?
 
I ordered a ferret pan from Bass. The pan is damaged on one corner upon arrival. I sent Bass an e-mail with picture of the damaged pan, then received a replacement one week later.
 
Ordered from them 3-4 times so far and never had a problem.... though I've never received anything damaged enough (a dent or two I can bang out myself) to warrant a replacement.
 
I just received a shipment of MANY pans from them, and a few were damaged. We called, and they said just to take pictures of them, tell them how many are damaged so they can ship out new ones. :)
 
Maybe he caught her at a bad time. She did say she would call us back and has not done so yet, so we will wait and see. One thing I have noticed. They only put one small was of newspaper (one page) in the box and nothing else to protect it. I think since they are having problems, that maybe they should consider better packaging.
 
UPS sucks. Every pan I have ever ordered has arrived damaged. It's always ONE corner completely smashed in. I think they throw the boxes around.
I just straighten them back out with a hammer and they work fine.
 
The replacement came even more banged up. Both had a corner smashed in. we just gave up and banged the corners out with a hammer.
 
I would call UPS and raise royal &^%$ with them. I had to go through this with them, and I feel bad for Bass having to go through this all the time. I loathe UPS. I think their handlers should be boxed and tossed like they do our purchases..
 
I'm going through the same situation with damaged Bass pans. The damage looks minor, but enough to make the pans noisy due to the popping from the bottoms that are now warped or bent. If I clean the pans or chinchillas moving across them, they like to pop back and forth.

The bottom pan is dented inward at its base, not the walls, right at the center of a long side. So the bottom is no longer flat. The cutout pan has two similar dents, parallel to each other some how. So it too has a warped bottom that doesn't lay flat. Boxes looked mostly okay, and had "Do Not Crush" stickers, but nothing like fragile or handle with care.

Once the pans are in the FN cage, lined with fleece, you almost can't tell they are there. Except for the all the popping noises the moment you touch them.

I sent photos to Bass and after a week I got a reply. They were sorry to hear about the damage and offered two choices:
  1. They can file a claim with UPS and try to reship them.
  2. Offer a discount on the current pans if I want to keep them.

Haven't replied back yet. I paid extra for stainless steel, which also put it in a higher shipping cost bracket, to invest in long lasting pans that shouldn't be damaged from the start. The unknown discount probably brings them down to the cost of galvanized pans and doesn't cover that higher shipping. So after paying $124.24 shipped, I'll ask to have them replaced.

Oh, and it was a disappointing experience receiving them. They forgot to put the unit number for my condo, so it was undeliverable. Leaving work at 5pm Friday I discovered they were not delivered. So I had to call UPS sitting in a car 100+ degree weather in a panic as my chins were arriving that Sunday. They were not able to redeliver that day, and the next day would be Monday. So I had to drive out of town to pick up them up between 8:30pm and 9pm. Luckily, it was just exciting to receive the final pieces to complete the cage and wasn't too bothered, except it made it harder to deal with discovering they were damaged after all the running around. The packing slip in the box had my unit it number too, so they had the info.
 
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I order from Bass several times a year and have always been happy with their quality and customer service. I use their cage pans and larger carriers. If you are having trouble I would ask to speak to Dustin Bass directly.
 
One of my pans arrived damaged, too. It was a dent in the bottom, nothing minor. I didn't want to call customer service and just used it that way. It doesn't effect the use of the pan at all. I suppose I could get it out with a hammer or something. I might try that. Hopefully you guys get the issues sorted out and get replacements!
 
Pikaia, or anyone with perfect pans, are the bottoms flat in the cage for the most part? No areas popping in and out with noise? Say if a chin jumps down on it, runs across, or wiping it with pressure to clean? I have fleece under them to dampen the metal on metal noise.
 
Only one of my pans had a slight dent, but it's barely noticeable and it's on the side of the pan, not the bottom. There's no popping up with my pans. I put the plastic pans that came with my FN under the Bass pans to stop them from banging directly on the bars when my chin jumps. That seems to cut down on the noise.
 
Brian, try putting an old towel under the pan. My pans are flat but one chin loved to make it bang and pop. He did it on purpose. The towel solved it. Worth a try.
 
Sometimes the pans do make noise if the chin is jumping down on them, but not much. They are flat for the most part too. The pan that has the dent, it will pop in and out..
 
I have ordered a number of pans from them and have never had issues. I had some custom made and they have it on file so when I needed a new one they knew exactly what size I needed.
 
Good news! They sent me replacement pans after choosing that option over a discount. This time when they arrived, it was clear they made a much better attempt to protect the pans.

The first set each arrived in a thin box with the Bass Equip logo on it that were taped together to make a single box. Inside the pans had some corner shaped cardboard protecting only the lip of the of the pan, so one piece on each side, leaving the base edges vulnerable, which were the damaged areas.

The 2nd set were doubled boxed and much better protected inside. The inner boxes were the original bass equip boxes, inserted inside a generic box that was much stronger and showed no signs of crushing or damage. The pans had almost triple of those corner shaped cardboard guards. Both on top and bottom of pan, plus stapled to make pillars in the center of the pans for extra support. Only minor issues were found at a corner or two, but at the lip and almost fixable by hand.

So this time they laid flat with no popping noises, 98% perfect condition. I also have custom fleece liners under the pans for contact noise. I'm in California, and their facility here doesn't work with the stainless steel option I chose, so these pans probably had a longer journey from their out of state facility. Plus, I was glad my full address was used this time.

I've put the original pans in boxes for storage. They haven't requested them, so maybe they'll be backup I suppose.
 
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