SmartPak: An Ode to Customer Service & Horse Welfare

It's widely known how AHH-MAZING the customer service is at SmartPak.

If you've ordered anything from their quality selection of products and for whatever reason it didn't work out or you had questions, you can attest to the amazingness of the SmartPak employees.

If you've never ordered from them -- you're missing out! -- but I'm sure you've heard your barn friends talk, tweet and post rave reviews. 

However, a recent interaction with the SmartPak team went above and beyond anything I could have expected.

A week into owning my new Thoroughbred hunter, The Wow Factor, he was shod at my barn. And with how horses go, within a day of getting his new kicks, he pulled his front right shoe. We are doing a little bit of a correction (TB feet, amiright?) and his shoes are a little wider than his hoof currently. Add that to his not-so-graceful self and I knew bell boots may be something to consider. 

So I ordered these from SmartPak.

Heavy Duty Bell Boots by SmartPak

Wow wore these for a few days. And I mean a few days - I first put the bell boots on the evening of Friday April 8, and by Sunday morning April 10 they rubbed the back of his pastern to the point his left front swelled.

Upon a further look, his left front fetlock and slightly above was swollen and he was a little sensitive to the touch where the bell boots rested on his leg. After removing the bell boots I noticed some rubbing & irritation to the rear of his pastern. He was lame for about a day and has been fine since no longer wearing the bell boots.

I didn't think much of it after I had determined the cause of the swelling. A few days later I get an email from SmartPak asking me to review my purchase.

​Here's what I posted on April 26:

Ok, I'm all for reviewing a product honest and truthfully. If you don't like it, say you don't like it, but avoid being mean and degrading. 

These bell boots were, as the product name implies, heavy duty. I loved the velcro on/off for ease. They seemed like a good quality product, that unfortunately didn't work for my horse. I spoke with a few of my barn mates who mentioned their horses didn't like the velcro and some that have worn them for quite a while with no issues.

I wrote this to give my honest opinion and I believe I did so with grace and tact. I said what I didn't like about them and why, but also praised them for appearing to be good quality and value. I wrote this without discourse or attitude or expecting anything.

Like I said earlier, Wow hasn't had an issue *knock on wood* since no longer wearing the bell boots.

Fast forward a few days to April 29. I get another email from SmartPak.

Along with this note came a laundry list of questions about Wow (breed, age, weight), info about the incident, his health prior to and since the incident, his nutrition and any supplements he's fed, etc., etc. 

I of course was more than happy to help. I answered all of their questions in as much detail as I could. 

About 20 minutes after I sent in my answers, I get this reply. 

I was quite taken aback by this. I was not upset that they caused an incident, did not call to complain, nor did I write a scathing review. 

The last thing I was expecting was to get money back for the bell boots.

Aaaaannnd, Jessica was so nice and addressed Wow by name, wished him well and told me to give him an extra pat when I saw him next!

In my mind, and I hope in yours, this interaction with SmartPak just takes them, their business, their staff and their customer service to a whole new level! I'm a SmartPak customer for life!

This couldn't be more true!

Happy riding,