Grove Gear Contact

[Raymo]

I ordered wheels and brakes from Grove via AC Spruce on 11 June and have been charged but are still on back-order.

Given the disappointments above, I may have to cancel and order elsewhere. Haven't yet ordered the nose wheel and it will likely not be from Grove.

[N546RV]

Well speak of the devil...Gail just called to let me know that my gear legs will be shipping out today.

[rbibb]

Not defending the lack of communication I can offer that small manufacturers often suffer delays of unknown magnitude. Reticence to communicate if often because the best answer they can give is "I don't know" which is perceived as worse (at least in their perspective).

Having owned a machine/fabrication shop I can't tell you how often outside suppliers screwed up our schedule. Material deliveries, heat treaters, platers, etc. often got slammed and our schedule suffered. Sometimes it was the bounty of good fortune, sometimes a key employee got sick. Not good excuse but real reasons nonetheless.

Most small business are very single threaded in their processes. Not by design but if they had the resources to not be so they wouldn't be small businesses.

Doesn't help I know but offers perspective. Ever consider how small the actual market Grove addresses? Wonder we can even get such high quality stuff at the prices we pay.

My perspective, anyway.

[Wiley]

I have Grove gear. Although I purchased them 4-5 yrs ago, they were delivered on time and I had very good customer service.

[Raymo]

I also received a call from Grove last Friday saying my order had not made it to them from AC Spruce but she located it and would be shipping that day, along with sending a tracking number, which I haven't yet received.

She mentioned that they monitor VAF for this type of thing so my faith has been restored. I am not yet ready to install gear but wanted to be ready when the time comes.

[SuperCubDriver]

Today I received my gear legs after the usual delay with customs here. They were very well crated and protected while transported.
From the last posts I can see that Grove did improve their communication with customers and I believe this is more important to us than delays which can happen.

[YvesCH]

I have / had the same problem. I have ordered and paid a airfoiled RV8 gear but never got a confirmation. So after 5 unanswered mails i called them and Gail said that they have never received the money but they have a credit entry with exact the amount of money I had to pay - but without a name. After sending my bank confirmation they told me that they will ship it immediately.

Vans was already holding back my QB Kit which was ready and they only waited for the gear. Unfortunately over a month (and several mails) nothing happened. I called again and they told me that the production will take some time and that they will send me the gear directly to me instead of shipping it to Vans.. I think also this is very disappointing because I did not want Vans to wait and if Grove would have said something everything would have been ok.

It is also strange that my mails until the payment were all answered in 24hrs and after the payment I have never ever received a answer to a mail.

Cheers Yves

[meloosifah]

Just my opinion, but there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for poor communication in this day and age. If the product is not available, a vendor has an obligation to explain why, and then it is THEIR responsibility to follow up with the purchaser. Having followed this thread, I would NEVER order from Grove. I have owned 3 sets of their gear and love the product but would never deal with them after this. There are too many unavoidable headaches in life - no need to look for more.

There is simply no excuse for stating that the product "will ship tomorrow" week after week. If you don't have it, just explain. This is not the first time that Grove has done this.

Again, my two cents.

Grove, if you are reading this, you had better listen because you are losing loyal customers simply by being stupid. It's not enough to have a good product...you have to have good customer service.

[N546RV]

Just to keep everyone updated, my gear legs arrived today and they are beautiful. I'm tempted to just hang these on my living room wall as modern art.

[YvesCH]

I have also a update. I was just informed that mine are ready to be shipped as well. I am very happy!