Route ‑ Protection & Tracking

Great idea and eventually will very likely be good. In the current version, it caused more problems than it solved. EDIT: I'm still using the app with the hope it works better in the future, it's a great idea.

The integration is done by adding a product to your inventory, which they don't tell you. This means that any dynamic product display could potentially show the the insurance product. We immediately saw it in our dynamic ads, recommended product widgets, also bought widgets, new products, trending products, and in our automated emails. There are some workarounds for parts of this, but not all.

The one claim we had failed because the customer contacted us first and needed immediate help.

The new widget is defaulted to "on" so it's automatically added to the customers bill unless they turn it off. After a few customer complaints about this, we had to disable the app. (There isn't actually a way to disable the app, I added css display: none and put the product out of stock) - EDIT: They fixed the widget so it no longer defaults to the on position.

Support is slow to respond and does not do much to actually solve problems. For an app that would ideally lead the way for our customer support, this was a bad sign. User experience and ultimately reviews mean everything to our business, so is just isn't worth the risk for us. EDIT: Communication has improved and we're working together to address all of my concerns.

Absolute rip off. My customer received her crystal which was damaged in transit at the tip. They claim it is only "cosmetic" because the item is still usable but that would mean any of my crystals technically would never be covered as all of the damage would be "cosmetic." Now my customer has paid for a service and they are being ripped off since Route won't cover it. Personally I feel like this is a big oversight on their part. Not all items damage the same way. Be cautious when downloading this and helping your customers be ripped off. NEW EDIT: as you can see in their answer below they did resolve my orignal issue but that is because I threatened to call the BBB on them, not out of the goodness of their heart. Damage is damage even if it is just a chip so their policies allow them to accept or deny claims at their discretion and I am assuming its usually denied. I cancelled them on my shop because they have changed a lot of their policies including that if a package is marked as stolen customers may have to file a report with the police. I have a lot of black customers and I would NEVER ask them to make contact with the police for something as little and stupid as a lost package when Shipsurance does not require this. I also just had an international customer have their claim denied which I am currently trying to dispute. He thought it was lost in customs so waited to file a claim in the hopes it would arrive and now they have denied him saying he waited too long. With COVID and extended wait times for international shipments it seems like AGAIN they just do not want to pay out for services they have been paid for. Absolutely don't deal with these people. They are a total rip off. Second edit: They will not cover my international shipment that was lost in transit. If I had insured it through Shipsurance for $0.70 I would have not had to pay out over $100 to my customer who spent THEIR OWN money on Route's product.

This review is for both the Route app and one of their sales team members. I received a series of offensive emails from one of the reps. Their lack of professionalism reflects poorly not only on them but more importantly the company and platform. I hope other business owners do not have the same experience.

route only replaced 5 packages for us in the last 6 months, our out of pocket for replacements is still astronomical because route doesn't approve MOST claims. their app has been removed from the google play store and we have received constant customer complaints about their lack of service. this company is a scam and shouldn't be on the app store

It has helped customers feel more secure when ordering knowing their order is covered if lost/stolen

We have been using this service for a couple of months now. Almost every customer selects it at check out. BUT route denies every claim. So disappointing. This was supposed to help customers feel more secure about packages being protected but this app is such a letdown. We will be going back to our old insurance app.

App was great at the beginning as it solves the issue of items being stolen or lost and doesn't cost you anything. However it has become more and more difficult for customers to file claims or even get a response so I reached out for a customer... and waited... and waited... 8 days later they closed the request.... without responding to it!!!! Will be deleting the app and offering my customers shipping insurance a different way from now on.

Route made over $5,000 through my customers over the last 6 months (on top of anything they had to reimburse) but today I deleted the app. Guess 10k a year isn't important enough for them to answer their emails.

Simple setup and immediate results! Fantastic way to increase conversion rates and elevate our customer service offerings. A win - win.

Update: Changing our review from two stars to four. Route reached out with an apology and assured us that they have hired more customer service reps to help process the high number of claims they are receiving due to the pandemic. The errors from our previous claims have been corrected and new claims have been processed in a timely manner. It seems they have addressed their issues and are back to functioning normally.

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Before Covid this insurance was a dream come true for us, they took care of customer claims quickly and efficiently, saving us both time and lost revenue. However, since Covid customer claims are being processed incorrectly resulting in us having to cover the losses ourselves. We are disabling the app for now and hope Route is able to fix their issues and get back to running smoothly again!

5/12/2020

Update: I am updating our review to 4 stars based on Routes follow-up on the issues in our first review.

Part of our issue is that we didn't spend enough time getting to understand the claims process. Customers can file their own claim using the link in the Route confirmation email. Our customer encountered an error in this process. The screen on his mobile device froze and he could not process the claim. We were unaware that we can also process a claim on their behalf using the Route dashboard in Shopify Apps. As is the case with most unhappy customer experiences our anxiety about getting them taken care of quickly created a tense situation. If we had been more aware of our ability to assist in filing the claim we may not have been as frustrated with Routes initial slow response to the issue. Route did respond within a couple business days which I felt was unacceptable and is one of two things they need to fix. The second being the customer experience with filing a claim on their mobile device. I did ask to be made aware of what created this issue and that it has been resolved. I have not heard back.

Overall the Route App is solid. I don't agree with other reviews about the difficulty installing the code. It was easy for us and Route helped to get it completed in a timely basis.

The service itself is very popular. We sell high ticket goods and nearly all customers opt in to Route.

Route quickly paid the claim and initiated an order through Shopify on the customers behalf. They used a credit card on the system so FGI and the customer were made whole.

I would also like to know more about what is required in making a claim. And what Route does with the carrier in return. What happens to the damaged goods? Who pays to ship them back? How does a carrier receive feedback about damaged shipments so they can improve their ship service? But these are not high priority questions.

If Route continues to improve and the service continues to be popular we'll be along term happy customer.

Kevin Sullivan
CEO
Forever Green Indoors

5/2/2020

UPDATE: After escalating the claim to a number of people I received communication from a Route Executive and another individual who were both helpful and apologetic about the delayed responses to our customer. He offered the customer an option for a refund, or a replacement. The customer elected for a replacement and Route purchased the product on his behalf to settle the claim. This was our first experience with a claim, and although not ideal, it seems to have satisfied our customer so we are satisfied as well at this time. I moved the review up to 3 stars. And I will move it up again if we continue to experience positive improvement with the Route team. I now recommend Route again, with the caveat that it would be a good idea to discuss expectations of claim communication. I'm unsure if the issue our customer faced with the mobile app for making claims has been fixed. We'll do what we can to look in to that. It would have likely avoided much of this review.

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5/1/2020

Very disappointed with Route. I had high hopes with the service. Our customers were nearly unanimously selecting to pay for the extra coverage. Our first claim involved an unhappy customer who received a badly damaged product shipped by UPS. The customer was unable to file a claim with route. Repeated attempts to contact sales failed. Unsure if the people who sold us this are even working there now. Had some success with technical support connecting us with a product support person who sent a curt email that Route was experiencing "high volumes of claims due to Covid 19". I am really disappointed in Route and we've disabled it in our cart. If the matter is resolved I'll change this review. At this point I'd give it fewer than one star for the money they collected versus the service they have provided. Avoid this app.