Tyler Vanderkolk

Archery Country

Austin, Texas

It’s our job to be the best we can be behind the counter. That all begins with good communication and making notes of specific customer needs so our team can be fully aware. The customer communicates what they want, and if we don’t follow through on our end and take accurate notes, there is the potential for problems to arise. I’d love to say we don’t screw up, but we’re human beings and occasionally do. When we do, it’s usually at a time when we’re juggling a bunch of customers simultaneously.

When a customer is truly upset and articulates that, I can usually jump on the phone with them and put out the fire almost immediately. If I admit we dropped the ball and are willing to make it right — sometimes that means refunding them for our services performed — they understand that mistakes happen and we are genuinely out to do the best we possibly can. 

One example of this occurred in January 2025. A gentleman had ordered a bow from us, and he felt that it was taking too long to ship. It wasn’t our fault. It was a special-order left-handed bow from one of the large bow manufacturers, and our hands were tied. The customer came into the store and requested his down payment back.

I was out of town at the ATA Show, and my main manager was hunting in Arizona. No one at the store during that time had access to money. The customer and his wife became angry and accused us of stealing their money. Once I was aware of the situation, I called the customer from the ATA Show floor to get things cleared up. I explained that my employees don’t have access to money, but that I could mail him a check that day. Then, he realized that my employees weren’t lying and that he’d get his down payment back. Again, 99 percent of the time, issues can be resolved by practicing good communication.

Jason Williams

Midwest Archery

Springfield, Missouri

This has happened to us on occasion during the busy season, and we’ve had slight mixups. The bowstring category has the most room for mistakes to be made. All it takes is a small typo or an e-mail from the bowstring company requesting more info that we miss. Small details can get you in trouble with bowstrings, but the issues fortunately aren’t too frequent.

We have several people working and doing the same thing, and with lots of customers through the door, we make sure to take very thorough notes. On our order form, we have a section for strings, a section for bows, a section for parts, and so on. Making thorough notes keeps all of us on the same page so we know exactly what’s going on when the customer comes in to pick up their new item or their bow or arrows that were in for service work.

When we make a mistake, we own up to it and make it right. We do what it takes to make sure they’re happy when they walk out the door. We might give them a free upgrade on something, or get them into a different brand if they’re in a pinch and need something immediately. A small gift certificate or a discount are also good options to show the customer that we’re sorry and value their trust.

Josh Johnson

Yarak Archery

Pittsboro, North Carolina

Last summer, we had a mixup with a customer who drove over 2 hours to reach our store. He brought in his bow and ordered a bowstring just before deer season. I had a handful of part-timers helping me out during the busy season. Essentially, we had presumably tuned the customer’s bow after the bowstring was installed. However, when the customer came in to pick up his bow, I quickly realized that the bow was not tuned.

So, I handed it off to one of my technicians. During the tuning process, the tech accidentally derailed the bowstring, which damaged the serving. I asked the customer to go grab some lunch and explained that we had an issue to work through with his bow that would take 45 minutes. He was understanding, but his girlfriend wasn’t happy. Anyway, we re-served the string and finished tuning the bow, and we ate the $130 that the bowstring would have cost the customer. We acknowledged our mistake, made it right, and the customer left us a good review that day. He’s also been back a couple of times since then.

I’m sure we’ll let other people down in the future, but we aim to keep that as the exception and not the rule. 2024 was our first year up and running, and we’re still learning the ins and outs. Our No. 1 priority is customer service. We want our customers to trust us and hang out here and feel like part of the family. That is something I never really got from other shops when I was a customer, and that is a big reason why I opened the store in the first place.