Dover selling Wellington bridle with Dover reins?

[BelladonnaLily]

A couple of months ago I found a Wellington bridle on the sale rack at Dover Saddlery. It was bundled with reins (tied together just like bridles that are sold with matching reins) and I bought it. I was in a hurry and excited to find this bridle for such a good price (it was exactly the bridle my daughter had asked for). One reason for not inspecting closer was that we had already looked at this bridle several times in the store. It was for my daughter's young horse that wasn't under saddle yet, so the bridle was put aside. Tonight my daughter took it out to clean it and lo and behold, they are not Wellington reins. Now, I understand that this was my fault for grabbing it without looking close enough...but is it normal for a saddlery to actually put "generic" reins with a high-end bridle and sell them together? Looking back, I probably should have looked closer since normally these bridles aren't sold with reins at all. Anyway, I know as a consumer this was my fault, but I'm just wondering if it would be worth my time at all to call the store. A bit disappointing as closer inspection absolutely reveals the lesser quality of the reins. It was not that great of a bargain with the cheap reins. Although not exactly dishonest of Dover, I do feel it was a little sneaky...

[sublimequine]

I'd bet it was a mistake. Many bridles, when they come from the company to the tack store, literally come in a plastic bag full of bridle pieces. Everything has to be assembled by the tack store employees. If an order of the fancy bridles and the inexpensive bridles came in at the same time, it's quite feasible one of the employees accidentally grabbed the wrong reins while assembling the bridle.

[ImJumpin]

Or a customer switched out the reins. I'd just contact Dover and see if they will swap the reins out for you.

[BelladonnaLily]

Thanks all. I will give them a call today and see what they say. I just didn't think I'd ever seen this before and wondered if I'd sound crazy if I called them.

[Callison]

That might be why it was on the sale rack. I know working in retail that if a piece was missing we would "replace" it with something else and then mark down the price.... now they probably should have stated that on a tag or something.

[villagepacer]

Does the Wellington bridle come with reins regularly? :no:If it doesn't then you got a deal!:D

[BelladonnaLily]

I forgot to update this thread!

Two things...first of all, I was very pleased with how Dover attempted to handle this. When I called the store, there was no hesitation...they said bring it in and we'll switch the reins for you.

So, I brought it in and she pulled another pair. These were a fancy stitched and the ones I had were just the plain laced. The fancy stitched "felt" better, but as I was looking at them, they were stamped Dover too! I pointed this out to the sales girl and we realized that all of the Wellington tack in the store was stamped Dover! So, I probably shouldn't have opened my mouth :lol: because I was getting ready to walk out with a nicer set of reins either way, but the reins that came with them were actually Wellington reins. Evidently Dover stamps them.

So, I did get a good deal after all! Village Pacer, I have no idea how Wellington bridles are usually sold, but I assume without reins. However, when they are bundled with reins on the rack, I assumed (correctly as it turned out) that these were being sold with reins. And I got it for less than $200!

[2LaZ2race]

That makes sense to me. Dover has a very lenient return policy, even if you don't have a receipt they'll take it back. What's to stop someone from getting a Wellington Bridle from somewhere else (or stealing one from somewhere/someone) and trying to return it at Dover. This way they know what they sell.

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

Dover gets alot of companies to make products especially for them apparently. I ordered a pair of Jeffries rubber reins from them one time and they were NOT the same Jeffries reins my friend had(she bought them from her local tack store). And the quality was disgustingly bad, these too were stamped with Dover. I called Dover and they explained how alot of high end companies make similar products especially for them. I definitely felt like something sneaky had been going on. Get a high end company to make a downgraded version of their highly acclaimed product, put you stamp on it and market it the same as the nicer version? Such is life though...