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Fish - ordering awesome gear?

Original Post
Murdo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 30

Has anyone else had problems ordering gear from fish? I'm not knocking the company (quality products for a great price); just wondering if im an isolated incident or not.

Tim Stich · · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,520

Define "problems" if you could.

FrankPS · · Atascadero, CA · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 276
John McNamee · · Littleton, CO · Joined Jul 2002 · Points: 1,690

I've always have great service from Russ and has always meet my drop dead date.

Have you contacted him?

Murdo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 30

"problem" - ordered and paid for gear (haulbag and daisy's)....4 months later, no gear.

contacted russ (he is very polite and forthcoming, if somewhat slow in responding), but i still have no eta on the gear except for an offer of a refund. i'd rather have the gear. Fish products are GREAT!

so, i guess im not the only one.

Scott O · · Anchorage · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 70

I've ordered from Fish before. It's great gear and costs less than most comparable offerings. You just have to plan well in advance of when you'd like the stuff. He worked with me for my drop dead date, and I got an awesome ledge out of it.

Gregger Man · · Broomfield, CO · Joined Aug 2004 · Points: 1,759

+1 for Fish.
Running a small business where you make things from scratch is different than running a retail outlet.
It's tough to be patient sometimes, but I've been on the other side of that coin with guitar customers waiting on an order.

NC Rock Climber · · The Oven, AKA Phoenix · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 60

My Fish experience was not exactly fast, but Russ was always upfront about when I could expect the product.

Fish is a one (or two or three?) man show, and you can tell. That is both bad and good. Sometimes things don't go as fast as planned. However, the guy that responds to your e-mail is the guy responsible, not some customer service rep repeating what they have been told to say. Each pice is sewn by someone who actually cares about quality. Russ is a climber that understands how his equipment will be used. The haul bag and duffles he made for me are awesome and I am sure they will last a lifetime. Fish is US owned, climber owned and everything is made by hand. The prices are great. After the sale, Russ stands behind his products.

In short, Fish stuff is awesome and I would buy from Russ again without hesitation.

Gregger Man · · Broomfield, CO · Joined Aug 2004 · Points: 1,759

Murdo -
For the benefit of those who won't click on the thread but will nevertheless see its title you could edit it to say

"Fish - ordering troubles? Nope. Fish rocks."

I should start a group: Eldo Prancers Who Like Russ, Anyway.

Nathan Scherneck · · Portland, OR · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 2,370

I was happy with the turnaround on my order last year.

Murdo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 30

thanks for the input everyone. and yes "Gregger man" you are right.

anyway - just to be completely clear i love the Fish gear i have borrowed from friends, small businesses, and quality products.

I am a novice buyer of Fish gear and was thrown for a bit of a loop. It is not backcountry.com. HOWEVER, id just like to reiterate that Russ was very forthright, and offered to absolutely get the order out ASAP if i had a trip planned (drop dead date).

In short - BUY MORE FISH!

Steve Williams · · The state of confusion · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 235

Big bump for Russ, da chief FISH!!!!

Michael Pang · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 35

i ordered a Fish One Night Stand once and it was ONE YEAR before it was finally made and shipped out to me (fabric and material shortage). it wasn't really a big deal, though, as i had made it clear to russ that i didn't need it in a hurry. he also maintained good contact throughout and answered my emails promptly. the best part is, when the ledge finally made it to my doorstep i opened the box and found he had thrown in a pair of adjustable daisies and a pair of wall ladders, as well as a handful of rivet hangers, to make up for the "ungodly delay." (his words, not mine)

cheers, russ!

michael s · · Denver, CO · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 80

anyone know if these guys (Russ) are around currently? Such a shadowy organization!

Murdo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 30

He's a climber so sometimes he goes climbing for a while. I think he also has a life apart from the gear business which probably keeps him busy. Keep trying. Russ makes bomber gear for a fraction of what you would pay elsewhere....and it looks cooler. I love my Fish gear almost as much as I love my aliens and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to support a small business that makes it in the good 'ol USofA. In short, BUY MORE FISH!

John McNamee · · Littleton, CO · Joined Jul 2002 · Points: 1,690

Have you tried to contact him via email?

The last thing I would call Russ's operation is shadowy! He stands by his gear far longer than any of the name brands and in my experience has never missed a drop dead date. The stuff is built to withstand the rigors of big walls rather than look pretty in catalogs, saving money and weight at the same time.

Billcoe · · Pacific Northwet · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 930

I've been climbing for over 40 years now. 2 points:

A) Russ has been climbing for more years than me.

B) Guess what- he still is getting out AND his products are only made to order.

So if you match A = B points above, it seems obvious to all except for a dense moose that if Russ is out climbing you won't be hearing from him any time soon. That's the way it is and if you want the quality he produces then you will wait. For anyone with intelligence, his stuff is very very good and worth the wait. As reference to how this idea operates in another sphere, please go see the "Soup Nazi" episode from Seinfeld. Just calm down and eventually you'll get your damned soup....errrstuff. LOL

The story I like about Russ goes like this. Not that you will believe him to be any less of a jackass, but here ya go: Russ was getting a large back order of Portaledges when his fly material which he had ordered months and been promised to him much sooner, finally shows up. Russ unrolls a bit of it and take it into the shower. It fails his full pressure test. He works out a return, but they assure him there is no replacement material near and they will be making some, as good as Russ wants, when they can. Now, realize that Russ could have made flys with substandard material and a rare climber getting caught in a rainstorm would have suffered, or died. But Russ waits till he gets the next roll in, getting stacks of "Wheres my ledge man" E-mails. Months later it gets there, passes the Russ quality check, and he makes flys and ledges fly out the door. He'll run laps to drop ship them right into the valley Post Office for you to meet your drop dead date even though you told him, April 30th and then your buddy said, I have April 12th off on and need to be back by the 30th so lets go. I actually had something close to this occur, Russ worked his ass off to fix my time frame error, but I was so jacked by the stress of it all that I bought a used A5 ledge i tripped over. When I sauntered over to the Post Office on th app0ointed day Russ indicated (coincided with day 2 in the valley for me) there was the Fish box that contained my fly....nice. Except I had 2 ledges then:-) One sweet Fish, which is much nicer than an A5, and the A5.

Now, had he made flys with "Officially good" material and just kicked it out the door, few would have known or been effected. But he chose not to do that. He wanted perfect, and that's what I own now...in the basement ...next to my used A5.

And we thank him and hope that he's getting a few good laps in right now. Sorry you have to wait till he gets back in cell phone range, but that's how Russ and Sooze roll.

michael s · · Denver, CO · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 80

The "shadowy" was tongue in cheek, which doesn't come across very well on the internet unfortunately.

I know he makes good gear dawg. His blog mentions something about being gone until "late February" and I am wondering if anyone has any actual information regarding this.

Billcoe · · Pacific Northwet · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 930

Ahhhahhh, I get it. [quote]which doesn't come across very well on the internet unfortunately. [/quote] True!! Sounded genuine I misunderstood.

I don't know where he is, sorry.

Mark R · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65

Website seems to have been down since yesterday evening. Good because I'm not allowed to buy anything for a few months but I hope this just means they're on break and not gone permanently. Would like to order some gear this summer.

john strand · · southern colo · Joined May 2008 · Points: 1,640

Check the blog ? ordering info is there.

You gonna buy FISH ?or you gonna buy junk ?

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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