What Do Wednesday: Loyalty

Another Wednesday another lovely What Do. Hopefully I don’t drive off anyone this week ;)

I don’t know about you, but I take care of a lot of my to do list driving to and from work in the car, on the phone, making and confirming appts, checking status of accounts and fixing things. Its really the worst.

However, while on the phone today with Smartpak, trying to coordinate payment and shipping for two different horses in two different states, I began to appreciate the cheerful and helpful woman I was speaking to on the other line.

This got me thinking about customer service and how much thankful I am for good customer service when I run across it (not often). I’ve been in the industry for years now, first as a server, then with my old job and part of my duties at my current job. Customer service is key and a lot goes into it.

For me, I appreciate a cheerful voice and a can-do attitude. Smartpak has ALWAYS been that company whenever I have problems (generally billing, getting it to sync up, etc), no matter how slight, they are open 24/7 and always so willing to help.

I have been a loyal customer for years. So many years, it began before  I had my own bank account. That’s over ten years people.

Smartpak started off with providing convenience in feeding supplements and soon evolved into a company that produced high standard brand of supplements at an affordable cost, in addition to a wide range of other supplements. Then, tack & apparel and now they have their own line of blankets with the no questions asked return policy.

For me, this is a win. I have counted on them to supply my horses with the supplements they legitimately need to stay healthy and I have never once encountered an issue. Simply superb company and they have a loyal customer for life.

This got me thinking about tack.

I am not really “brand loyal” to any tack simply because I can’t really afford the good quality brands that are worth remaining loyal to.

When I thought about it though, I do have some affordable favorites I tend to stick with, simply based on the fact that they work, I can afford it and it fits. For breeches, its Kerrits and Smartpak Pipers. For people boots, ariat. For horse boots, Majyk Equipe. For blankets, I prefer Amigo or Rambo. Saddle pads, hands down BOT & thinline half pads. Tack in general, I own mostly HDR tack, with some stubben that I’ve acquired with major discounts. So I suppose you could call me “brand loyal”. However, I have no particular desire to only remain loyal to those brands or products when it boils down to it, because I buy them all from tack stores, they are just what works.

Usually Smartpak.

My question this week is, are you  brand loyal to a certain store, or even, brand of tack? Why? (Like you legit cannot go without the product or company in your life.) Please tell me, what do!