Western Power Sports, Inc

This individual purchased a pair of pants from a dealership who purchased the pant from a distributor who purchased the pant from the vendor/manufacturer of the pant, non of which was us nor had any connection to WPS We were never a distributor of that brand of clothing The brand of
pant was only distributed by a company called Marshalls We did an asset purchase of some of their inventory before they went out of business and did not acquire the company making it a merger and therefore did not assume any legal responsibility for any business related matters they performed That particular brand of clothing has since also gone out of business This is a very unfortunate event that she experienced and one I certainly sympathized with We offered her a huge discount of our product, a discount we do not offer to anyone, in efforts to aide her in replacing a pant that we had absolutely nothing to do with Below is my original response to her complaint fully detailing the situation and addressing her concerns and explaining our processes and how this truly doesn't involve us in any way I later got her in touch with the head of our snow dept to handle the replacement of the pant at a highly discounted price if she so wished ***, I apologize for my late reply. Seeing that your email came from a government entity, I ignorantly assumed your issue would be of a different nature more related to the realm of HR or taxes. Though I’m not 100% sure how to resolve your issue completely, I am knowledgeable on several of the points you discussed and can certainly explain things a bit better for you. I would like a bit more time to discuss your situation with others w/in the company and see if we can come up with a solution for you if you are willing to give me a little more time. I can certainly understand your frustration purchasing an item with a lifetime warranty and then it being so difficult to warranty the item. It certainly is not our intent to make anything difficult for the consumer but sometimes it’s out of our control and sometimes there is a reason behind the madness…so to speak. Hopefully this clarifies somethings… 1. Why do returns/warranty items need to run back through the local dealership where they were purchased instead of the distributor directly? There are a few different reasons for this. ONE…we are a distributor of many many different products that come from many many different vendors. They are not our own (most of them that is), we are merely the middle man for the dealer. Distributors are a one stop shop for dealerships so they can purchase everything they need for their shop all at once instead of going to each individual vendor/maker of the item. There are other distributors in this industry just like us that carry and distribute the same items that we do. By going back through the dealer for these requests, it can then be linked to the appropriate distributor for processing. It becomes extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, for us to process anything through a vendor for an item we never purchased through them. By directing consumers to return to the store they purchased the item eliminates that issue TWO…some vendors require the process to first go through the dealer and will not accept anything unless this process is following and there is an exact trail of the item. THREE…it is a basic checks and balance system. For accounting it is necessary to be able to link everything together. It becomes very difficult to accept returns or warranty items if we are not able to link it to a purchase. We are audited constantly by many different sources so whether it is by the bank or a tax person, they require everything to be trackable and linked otherwise it is just very poor business practice on the business health aspect of it. FOUR…for liability purposes we are required to be able to associate every item to every dealer whether it was sold, returned, warrantied, etc. 2. WPS and MarshallsThis was an asset purchase only. WPS did not acquire Marshalls but only purchased their inventory. Therefore, WPS would not assume any of the obligations, contracts, agreements, liabilities, etc from Marshalls. Marshalls essentially went out of business. The quote of “will strengthen both companies” was an inaccurate quote by the media because Marshalls no longer exists. 3. ColdwaveThis was not a brand owned by Marshalls. Coldwave was a separate company and Marshalls only distributed their product for them. Marshalls was an exclusive distributor for them though meaning they were the only distributor for that product line but other than that, there is no business connection between the two. Unfortunately, Coldwave also no longer exists and has gone out of business which makes processing a warranty item with them impossible no matter who you go through. With all of that said, I can totally sympathize with your situation and am not telling you that you are out of luck. Again, please give me a bit more time and see if we can come up with a solution for you. In the meantime, can you send me pictures of the pants and specially the problem area? I have no idea if that is really needed but I do know that pictures are usually requested when dealing with these situations but again this is out of my realm. We do pride ourselves on customer service and I apologize you didn’t receive more helpful information the first time. I can’t guarantee any certain result but I can guarantee that I will do everything in my power to help you! Kayce L*** I HR Manager I Western Power Sports Phone (208) 376-I Fax (208) 319-I Email ***@wps-inc.com The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 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