Great Highlandwear

[Casper]

Ordered a black formal sporran and a pair of hose tops. Tossed them in my shopping cart a couple months back, and left it when the only payment methods available were Western Union or bank transfer. No Recourse = No Order.

Got an email a month or so ago, stating that they saw my order wasn't completed, and that they now offer PayPal.

Placed the order, paid for regular shipping. Ended up arriving courier less than 2 weeks later. Went from Pakistan to Dubai some local courier, and then to my office via FedEx. Didn't even get a customs bill.

Email communiation was fine all along, despite the obvious language barrier. Products were acceptable for what was ordered. Hose tops were a wee bit different than I expected, but still acceptable at 1/2 what others charge for a very similar product.

My experience has been good. I'll likely order again.

[SFCRick]

I have an order with them and I am having a terrible time getting e-mails answered. i keep asking on the status of the order and when they did reply it was always "will ship this week, will ship next week, will ship in six days, will ship in six working days". I just got an e-mail that for the past 3 or so weeks they (Pakistan) has been on Holiday (Ramadan ?). I sent an e-mail today to either ship it or send me my money since the order was made 3 months ago. I take people at their word and expect them to honor their word. If they had told me your order will take a year then fine. If they tell me this week or next week or six days, I expect it on those days to ship. I was told also on todays e-mail that they sent it to their "conflict" department and I will have an answer in 24 hours. I will let you know how things come out.

[bricelythgoe]

My first order with them went like that as well. I ordered a sporran and it took them 3 weeks to ship it (although they sent me a second one for free to make up for that.) Since then, I have had no problems.

[piperdbh]

I've been waiting since 28 May 2009 to post this, and here goes:

On that day I placed an order for a pair of Glenfinnan shoes. I figured I could afford to gamble $35, and if the shoes were bad or didn't fit, I could sell them on ebay and get at least part of the purchase price back. Greathighlandwear's site says that small orders are shipped within 9-12 business days, with made-to-measure items taking up to twice that long. After about 30 business days, with no shoes and no response, I emailed the company. Several days later I received an email stating that GHW no longer carried Glenfinnan shoes, but would give me 50% off another item. I decided on a pair of their buckle brogues and a brown sporran strap, which together, added up to the amount I had already sent via PayPal. To make a long story short, on 8 separtae occasions, either in email or over the phone, I have been promised a tracking number "tomorrow" and the shoes to be shipped "by the end of the week". Today is 29 September 2009. Four months have gone by, and all I have is a bunch of promises, which I prefer to call lies.
Once, Mr. Ahmed told me that the shoes had been shipped to the wrong address and would to be returned to Pakistan and mailed again. A week or so later, he informed that the entire country of Pakistan would be closed for two days for Independence Day, and that he would ship the shoes as soon as the country got back in business. That was 14 August. After that he said that his shoe-making machine was set up to make 50 shoes at a time and it was very difficult to make just two shoes. Then he offered me a free kilt to make up for his being "ashamed" of not keeping his promises. I opted for a free Kenmore doublet instead, and he promised that it would be sent out as soon as it was completed. Two weeks ago when I called again to see where all this plunder was, his story was that the whole country was shutting down for 5 days to celebrate/observe another holiday. He said he could ship the shoes and sporran strap before the holiday, or wait until afterward and ship all three items together. I opted for separate shipping, which he promised would arrive by the end of last week. Today is Tuesday and there's been no delivery form Pakistan. I called him yesterday to find out what's going on, and he "hoped" to be able to send me a tracking number today, which, so far, has yet to happen.
I won't go broke because of this interchange, but I hate to be lied to. By now the 45-day refund window from PayPal has run out, and I'm just out $41. Some of you have had good relations with this company. I have not, and I advise one and all to think very carefully before you place an order with them.

[ForresterModern]

Piperdbh's experience echoes mine with the exception that he actually got to contact "Mr Ahmed" by phone on several occasions, and seems to have gotten some responses, albeit not adequate, to his emails. I got nothing, except another "MR Ahmed" on the live service chat line who could not help me with my order's status. I was lucky to beat the cutoff for the Paypal conplaint/reimbursement filing and have been made whole. Only after that reimbursement did I get any action from GHW (Mr Ahmed himself again) who still wanted to send the items, but I would have to go through the whole transaction again, which I refused. Customer service, while being pleasant enough and not belligerent or offensive, just does not deliver the goods as promised. Although their prices are pretty good I don't think it is worth the hassle of dealing with all the excuses and aggravation. I can buy identifcal if not better quality goods from more reputable vendors here on xmarks or elsewhere in the marketplace, and get much faster delivery or customer service folks who are responsive with generally valid information about order status, delays, availability, etc... issues. The extra cost is worth the peace of mind IMHO.

[wildrover]

I linked in because I'm always curious about a new vendor, read the entire thread, and have a couple comments. I figure the vendor does check in here, hopefully he'll see this.

The origin of something does not necessarily indicate quality. I have been pleasantly surprised by "Made in China" goods before...rare, but it happens. Likewise, there is a booth at the festivals here which is stocked almost entirely with "Made in Pakistan" goods. To my eye, they're good quality for what they are...badges, jewelry, stoneware, etc...I have a few things that looked good to me. There are quality goods available from Pakistan.

Quality comes from the heart. If you want to make money, make quality...quality in your products, and quality in your customer service. I'd rather buy a product from a guy whose goal is making quality products, than from a guy whose goal is making money. Other than machined parts or refinement only available where there's industrial access, I think it's fair to expect similar quality from any man similarly trained with a needle and thread...and if you don't have that training yet, practice, research, travel and learn and get it.

Plenty of us seem to prefer to buy from "the guy next door"...the people we know, the locals, the people who are building quality, with pride in what they do, who obviously put heart and soul in to making and presenting their own products. Not making things to get a few dollars, but making things that they are proud to sell, that they hope someone will be proud to wear and say "this was made in Pakistan!", not "would you believe this was made in Pakistan?" or "yeah, I couldn't justify that one, so I got this lower-quality one from Pakistan." No...make things you're proud to say you made, that someone would be proud to wear and quick to recommend you. That's how a company stays in business and makes money.

That extends to graphics on a website. Put up what you make. That is important to a guy like me, who would give anybody a chance if I could see their product. If I want what's in those photos, I'll go to the originator of the photograph and buy it...and that isn't the website of the vendor in this thread.

Never, ever do this:

(if you cannot see the picture, or if it's been changed, it's a line of hats taken from another vendor's website, with "Images Copyright c Greathighlandwear.com" posted through the middle)

It's not your product, and it's not your image, and it's certainly not your copyright. This practice tarnishes not only your reputation as a vendor, but every vendor in your country. In America, we have the same trouble with Chinese companies. Don't be like China. Just be Pakistan, that should be good enough for the world. I want to see what you make, not what L&M or other vendors make...you are not them, don't use their images. Use your own.

Sincerely,
Sean

[The Guy in the Kilt at UC]

The item descriptions on the doublets are taken directly from the Highland Clans website too. I had been contemplating a long time about whether to take a gamble on one of them. I just can't afford one from another site.

[Jordan]

I'll put in my tuppence here. Like others on here i saw the arrival of Great Highlandwear and Mr Ahmed posting on here until he was banned (I think) and decided to order from them to see what quality was like. I orderd a Caubeen in black and after several polite emails from me to which they replied "within the week" then after several weeks some heavyer handed emails they send it on the friday and i got it on the monday or tuesday.
The product wasnt as described i know i bought it cheaply but i still expect things to be as described and not badly made like this was. I wouldnt order from them again for the simple reason that i shouldnt have to chase people up to send things ive orderd and for a little more i can find better quality products that are well made and that i'll acctualy use, My caubeen i orderd is sitting gathering dust at home and short of fancy dress i doubt ill ever wear it.

Jordan

[sjrapid]

Just tried the web site, and got a 'Suspicious' warning from Google...
What is the current listing status for greathighlandwear.com?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this website may harm your computer.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 173 pages that we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 2 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time that Google visited this site was on 2009-10-01, and the last time that suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-10-01.

Malicious software is hosted on 2 domain(s), including sexfinish.ru/, last-another-life.ru/.

This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS26496 (PAH).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, greathighlandwear.com did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Caveat, I think!

[NorCalPiper]

Against my advice-My brother went for the buckle brogues. 3 months later they were received. horrible condition and nothing like the add. All the promises of shipping in a day or 2 were made as well. Refund was given though, so I guess thats a plus.