Why I’ll Never Buy Anything From Mountain Laurel Designs
Reading Time: 6 minutes Mountain Laurel Designs (MLD) is a company owned by Ron Bell in Virginia (in the United States). They make lightweight backpacking gear (backpacks, shelters, and accessories). They (and more specifically, Ron) have the worst customer service I have ever encountered (and I used to be a client of both Comcast and Bank of America). They are not deserving of your business.
Here’s what happened.
I decided to buy a bivy from Mountain Laurel Designs. On the MLD website, it stated that there were 8-10 week lead times.
I placed my order on December 28 with the following note included in the order:
“Need product delivered by Friday, February 23. Please cancel the order if this will not be possible. Thank you!”
My payment was processed and I heard nothing back (not that I expected to); to me, this meant my bivy would be delivered by the requested date.
The reason for this request? I was in New Zealand when I made the order and would be in Nepal (where I don’t trust the mail) as of February 27. I was taking two weeks in Australia between New Zealand and Nepal so I requested to have the bivy sent to a friend in Sydney where I could pick it up before Nepal.
Weeks passed and in February I got in touch with my friend in Australia to see if my bivy had arrived. It had not. Since we were growing closer to when I would be leaving Australia for Nepal, I sent the following email to MLD ten days before the delivery deadline:
Hi Ron,
I wanted to confirm that this order was going to be delivered by Friday, February 23 as per the note in the order.
Thank you!
Mac
The response I received?
OK
Thanks
Ron Bell
Chief Happiness Officer / Design Minister
A bit curt, but no worries, Ron is probably a busy man and doesn’t want to waste time with formalities.
By February 19 (four days before my requested delivery date and seven days before my departure from Sydney), I hadn’t received a shipment confirmation and was starting to worry. However, Ron said the bivy would be delivered in time so I supposed that either a) MLD had neglected to send a shipping confirmation or b) the order would be shipping with expedited delivery.
Then, on February 22, I got a shipment confirmation – one day before the bivy was requested to be delivered.
This worried me. I was leaving Sydney in four days and two of those days were the weekend. I called Mountain Laurel Designs.
Ron, the owner, answered the phone and I asked if this shipment had been sent out with expedited or one-day shipping. He told me no. When I explained my situation and that I would not be in the country where the bivy would be received when it arrived his response was, “Oh.”
“Oh”? Really? I waited for more and Ron remained silent.
I explained again in case he hadn’t understood the first time. Ron responded with more monosyllabic answers and by this time I was very unhappy. The owner of this company, a man who has given himself the title of “Chief Happiness Officer” was offering nothing in the way of explanations, solutions, or apologies.
Ron then said to me, “Well it didn’t sound like you were going to be out of the country.”
Frankly, where I am going to be is irrelevant, the fact is that I was led to believe that this order would be delivered on time and it was not.
After once more emphasizing the fact that I would not be present to receive the package and that I would be returning it to him since I had no way of receiving it in Nepal, his response to me was, “Well you can only return it if it falls within our return guidelines.”
Now excuse me, dear reader, but this was unacceptable. “If it falls within [your] return guidelines”? I tell you that an unopened/unused product is going to be returned to you because of your own fault and you have the gall to say something like that?
The phonecall ended shortly thereafter.
When the package arrived in Australia, I had my friend mail it back to Mountain Laurel Designs.
He mailed it on March 16.
On April 3, I still had not received a refund and I sent an email inquiring as to the refund status.
On April 10, I received a response:
“Processing now.
[…]
Transaction Date Apr 09 2018
To me, this looks like my order had not been refunded until I inquired about it, but maybe I’m reading too much into this.
The thing of it is, I really wanted to like MLD. I had never used any of their products before and was excited to give their bivy a try. And so, instead of going on hating Ron and MLD, I decided to give them one more chance.
I wrote and sent an email politely detailing exactly what happened with my order and why I was unhappy/disappointed with MLD. I ended the email with the following:
[…]
I didn’t and don’t want to have the impression of MLD that I do now, so this is your chance to make things right. Otherwise, I cannot see myself doing business with or promoting MLD in the future.”
Best,
Mac
It’s not the fact that I didn’t receive the bivy in time or that I’m out $60 US for shipping to and from Australia that upsets me; it’s the way that Ron handled the situation. This was me trying to keep faith with MLD by offering one last opportunity to simply apologize (or at the very least acknowledge) what happened.
What did I receive in reply to my email? Crickets.
My peace offering was ignored.
But who knows? Maybe Ron’s entire family had just perished in a bus accident in Guatemala. Maybe he had a beloved guinea pig that he had to eat on a backpacking trip after being caught in a storm. Maybe he’s just a prick.
I suppose there could still be some explanation for everything that I’m overlooking, but the odds of that are getting smaller.
Needless to say, I will most certainly not purchase anything from MLD in the future, and I encourage you to think twice before giving your business to a company that finds it acceptable to treat customers this way.
Yup. Another encounter here that was unsatisfactory. He is a rude man.
Someone just sent me this article because I used to work for MLD. It lasted a miserable three months until I quit. Can confirm – Ron is “just a prick”.
Didn’t realize this was WordPress and thay my photo would show up. Whatever. I’m ok owning it!
Lol, finally someone said it, I’m thinking this for years now.
To weigh in further, I recently bought one of their pyramid tents, it’s a lovely piece of gear, but it doesn’t pitch properly. One of the ridge lines bows, no matter what. When I posted this on MLDs Facebook group looking for help, the group were fantastic, even Ron helped out with advice. However, more and more started to say they were having identical issues.. I got some good advice, went off to the mountains and it saved my trip. I came back to find out the entire thread had been deleted by Ron. I then post again to thank whoever it was that gave me the hot tip, only for Ron to delete the post again.
So sad, and insecure. Good businesses are grown through engagement with your customers, not through needlessly alienating them. If there’s an issue, be honest and address it. I’ll now never by from him again. So needless.
Because of this Article I wanted to see for myself. His wait time for tarps, tents, packs & bivys were as long as 12 weeks. I’ve order four packs, 2 tarps, 1 Trailstar tent tarp thing, 2 Bivys , and an inner tent. Everything arrived in less than 12 weeks and the workmanship and quality has been excellent so far. He’s a man of few words and perhaps customer service isn’t his bailiwick but When I had zipper issue on the PCT he was responsive and helpful. Got my replacement zipper pulls quickly and made the repair. Can’t please all of the people all of the time I suppose.
I was considering the purchase of MLD’s Duo Mid; but after reading your appalling account of your experience, I am rescinding my decision and going with a Durson X-Mid! So glad I happened upon your blog. Thank you for sharing.
Mountain Dew?
Just tried getting a hold of customer service again (3rd time) with no human response (besides the auto response). It’s been about a month since the first email. Trying to return a tent and crickets… I’m out of $700 and now no tent (since I sent it back). I would not ever buy anything again from this company!
I did receive my product, but… Long and retrospective wait times, no communication on delays/progress. No notification of delivery.
Based on the comments here and the feedback from others, this seems to be entirely within Ron’s character.
With the number of complaints I see here, and the common thread being absolutely awful communication, rude interactions, and an inability to follow through, I have zero sympathy. If he cannot handle the entire workload himself, he needs to hire someone to help out. To leave a customers email unanswered for two and a half months is bulls***. To ignore people requesting refunds is tantamount to fraud.
Haven’t bought anything from them, and after my experience communicating with Ron, I’m never going to. His responses, as Mac noted, are monosyllabic and do not do anything to address the questions I asked. After the first two emails like this, I got a bad feeling, so I googled “mountain laurel designs company review” and found this article, plus all of the comments down here. Glad I did because he sounds like a nightmare.
I am going through a similar issue. 10 weeks and no reply to my email simply asking for a follow up on my order. I was already charged for it via paypal. I just want to make sure my order was not forgotten.
Well, after reading your post. I have absolutely no qualms ordering & promoting the AliExpress version of the Trailstar to friends & people online. I support cottage manufacturers but not guys like Ron.
Dude does sound like a prick.
I cant even get an update on my order. Its been over 8 weeks. Yet Ron is actively on facebook and twitter.
Hi Mac, I was doing some Google homework about MLD backpacks and I am now forever thankful for your story. I will not be ordering anything from MLD internationally. Phew!
Just bought a solo CUBEN DCF GROUND CLOTH for my tent. Great product, BUT the description and specs had 2 different measurements. Left a good review but it was modified to leave out the descrepency. After the fact, he modified the two to match. Don’t much care for that kind of stuff and am not inclined to believe other reviews.
Similar experience – I left a positive review pointing out the pros and cons of one of their products and recommending it warmly provided you were aware of its quirks. They edited out all the cons and only published the pros.
Fun fact: this is illegal.
I also will not be doing any future business with MDL. For me it was a small, but irritating issue. I recently I placed an order for one of their smallest, least expensive accessories. Before I did, I sent a note to Ron inquiring as to whether the item would work for my intended purposes? I never heard back. I took a chance and ordered anyway. Yes, I did know I would have to pay return shipping. The item came, and no it would not work. I was charged $6 shipping on the order. I didn’t think much of that until the package arrived and I noted that it had been sent via 1st class mail and only weighed 0.5 ounces. It basically cost me a stamp to return the gear, so there was a 10 fold mark-up on the original shipping from MDL. Not cool.
this is super similar to my experience with MLD. my wife tried to purchase an eVent bivy from Ron and received no update after 12 weeks. she sent an email stating that she needed the product within the next 4 weeks or would need the order cancelled as we were leaving the country. Ron replied: “ok.” and nothing else. Whatever, dude.
So we bought a bivy elsewhere and sent him an email to confirm that we no longer needed the product. He never replied but reversed the transaction. And that’s the last interaction I hope to have with Ron Bell or MLD.
This is so similar to my experience with MLD on a recent order. Ron invited me to never place another order with MLD after I canceled a less than $100 order and asked for a refund. I nearly went into shock after the email Ron sent me telling me “you own it” and initially telling me that he wouldn’t refund my money because the order was due to be shipped the next day! Caveat emptor!
In my experience, MLD has odd customer service at best.
I’ve bought two Cricket shelters and a Prophet pack. The shelters (shaped tarps) are outstanding. They have no zippers or closures or anything to jam or break, and set up tight, and quickly. The pack likewise was light, simple, and sturdy. I no longer have any of these not because there was any problem, but because I’ve been living inside/outside the U.S. and simply haven’t had a place to store them or the ability to carry them between continents.
First Cricket: There was a note note on the web site to inquire about order status only after 10 weeks had gone by. After 12 weeks I had no product so I inquired. My shelter was shipped within a day or two. Then about a week later I got a second one. I contacted MLD my email and Ron said simply to send it back. No offer to pay for shipping. No nothing. I sent it just to get rid of it. Cost me about $15. I should have kept it and sold it.
Second Cricket: I returned to the U.S. with a Cricket already on order, with an estimated date when I would have an address to deliver to. Ron contacted me the day before I guessed that I’d have an address, which took me a day longer than I’d expected, but I got it sorted out, the shelter shipped, and I got it in a couple of days.
In both cases, and with the pack (which I had no ordering or shipping problems with) there was no tracking information, something that is pretty much “bog standard” these days, as they say, so if your order vanishes then I guess it’s your word against theirs. Guess who would win that one?
One thing I absolutely don’t understand is why this company does not manufacture at least some stock ahead of time as a buffer, and just ship what they have when they get orders rather than manufacturing products only as orders are received. Really goofy.
I happen to like the products that I have bought from MLD and will probably buy the same things again, if I do any more backpacking, but only because no one else makes the equivalent products.
It is sad that in a very small “community” of great quality gear manufacturers this happens. I have spoken/emailed to a number of the other companies you have recommended and had amazing responses from them. Quick, courteous to the point I thought they were about to go grab a 6-pack of beer and come over with samples. It makes it fun to be buying gear (not to mention hat it makes we want to buy their gear). As for MLD, I was looking at their gear but with other great choices out there, my short list of companies is a bit shorter now.
Oh, and thanks for getting back on the CDT after what may be the longest zero day on record ;-) I really missed my weekly CDT fix from you.
You’re right about other companies, I generally am blown away by how responsive gear manufacturers are to their customers. Too bad MLD doesn’t seem to care.
And now that you’ve put the pressure on, I will try to keep the CDT posts coming until we finish up ;)