Customer service it is not.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I sent a query letter asking for pricing and availability to an online retailer.

I needed six things and I provided the original manufacturer's part numbers.

The answer:
"You can look all of this up on our website"

And people wonder why business goes elsewhere.
I'm not even going to reply.
They just lost an annual guaranteed thousand dollar order.

[David G Baker]

Cliff,
I start with the online websites prior to making a contact with a retailer for the same reason you won't do business with the company you tried to contact. I have had bad luck several times, in fact I am still awaiting an answer from a retailer that I e-mailed around a month ago. It has been so long that I forgot who the company was and what I was shopping for. Guess I didn't need the item anyhow. If I do remember I won't do business with the company that didn't respond.

[Mat Ashton]

I think you should send an email to the manager and owner and let them know who it was and the circumstances. I doubt the managers and owner share the same lazy attitude as the one who emailed you back. If you don't let management know they can't change the culture that is there.

I think you should let us know to - public scrutiny gets most off their backsides to do something.

[Mitchell Andrus]

...On the other hand. If they get more inquiries than they can profitably handle....

Without looking up the products, they have to figure that the profit to be made by spending time on you is on-par with their average. Probably not worth staffing up to handle your inquiry.

Customer service stinks yes, but we have only ourselves to blame.... who put the neighborhood hardware store out of business - the Borg, or us?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Mat said:
I think you should send an email to the manager and owner and let them know who it was and the circumstances.

Yah maybe except, I am not being paid to supervise those employees. That’s their boss’s job and if he or she won’t do it then why should I do it for free?


Mitchell said:
more inquiries than they can profitably handle
Very possibly you are correct. If they are shaving costs by also having no staff or inventory on hand relying on JIT then I can make the choice of working a little harder or finding some one a little hungrier.

[Mike Henderson]

I had a similar experience with a veneer company. I sent them an e-mail asking for their recommendation for a particular problem I had (which of their products I should buy). Their response was to order from their web site. Not that the answer to my question would be found on their web site - just order from our web site. It was just a "Go away" note. They would have been better not to answer at all.

As you can imagine, I did not order anything from them and won't in the future.

Mike

[Jason Roehl]

Which will keep the price of your purchases down more--to spend $100-200k/year on a few staff to maintain a website loaded with pertinent info, or to spend 10 times that on a group of staff that merely acts like human computer terminals, looking up that information for you?

It sounds to me like you cold-contacted them, with an unspoken standard in mind that if they did not meet, you would not do business with them. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you have to spend a bunch of extra time tracking down the one company that does meet that standard, is that more cost effective on your end than just spending the few extra minutes on the first company's website in the first place?

It won't be until many, many more people start voting with their customer service expectations over price that we see a change in our current system. And, in the current economy, price is likely to remain king for some time.

[Ben Davis]

It sounds to me like you cold-contacted them, with an unspoken standard in mind that if they did not meet, you would not do business with them. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you have to spend a bunch of extra time tracking down the one company that does meet that standard, is that more cost effective on your end than just spending the few extra minutes on the first company's website in the first place?



You got it! And the answer is yes... it is worth the time IMO. No buyers remorse, no wondering if you can talk with someone, no other real issues that you don't think can be settled fairly.

Anyone ever delt with Lee-Valley or Lie-Nielson??? Perfect example of TO do.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It sounds to me like you cold-contacted them,

I hardly consider a query for pricing and availability of stated items to be a thing subject to such an expression as "cold contact." Such language connotes an unsolicited communication. They advertised. That is the solicitation.




with an unspoken standard in mind that if they did not meet, you would not do business with them. Not at all. I sent more than one query to more than one vendor.
The response I got from that one told me that my business wasn't worth the effort. Which is fine by me. There are other fish on the beach.

[Lee Schierer]

Mat said:

Yah maybe except, I am not being paid to supervise those employees. That’s their boss’s job and if he or she won’t do it then why should I do it for free?



I would call and speak to the owner, tell him who you are and what you intended to order and the response you got from his employee. If he doesn't offer you an apology and a discount off your order I would be surprised. If not you can always tell him you won't be ordering from him again due to the attitude and hang up.

[Stephen Tashiro]

So little patience here. Nowadays, you must pursue contacting a company until you pass the point of frustration and enter the realm of the absurd, where you can begin to enjoy the experience. It wasn't a wood working company, but my latest experience was this: http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Jerry_s_Artarama (tashirosgt's review).