How important is vendor integrity to you ?
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I offer up this as an example :
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthrea...76#post8222176
I for one, like to promote good vendors with good business practices.
I like to know that my money, and the people I refer to those businesses will be taken care of.
I've even gone out of my way to help members here on some vendor disputes... to those I helped, you are more than welcome ! I do what I can.
But here is the meat :
How valuable is price in your eyes ? : Would you take a good deal from the "devil" so to speak ?
Do you care about how a business treats all of their customers, or just you ?
Do you prefer a vendor who is active in your "community" so to speak, and supports it not only with great products, but with knowledge and integrity....or do you just want the rock bottom lowest price, no matter what ?
I really wanna know ! Am I alone and crazy on this ?
Before going into teaching high schoolers as a profession, I spent a dozen years in retail management and commission sales in consumer electronics. My specialty was taking care of problems, and I learned from some of the best in the business.
1) The customer isn't always right, but every one of them deserves to be heard.
2) Taking a genuine interest in the customer is, by far, the best way to find a satisfactory solution.
3) Once you let a customer express their feelings, they can calm down - and are usually willing to listen to you AFTER you've listened to them.
4) ASK THE CUSTOMER WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO FOR THEM. Nine times out of ten, they will ask for far less than you were willing to do!
5) Treat every customer like your mother ought to be treated.
6) The customer will remember how you treated them forever.
7) Treat the customer right, and they'll tell a friend. Treat the wrong, and they'll tell EVERYONE.
8) Every dollar spent making a current customer happy is equivalent to $30 in advertising.
9) If you don't care about your customer - they'll return the favor.
10) Nobody ever got fired for treating a customer too well.
My most loyal customers were "problem" customers - they'd had a problem, and I was able to solve it.
Internet businesses are at a real disadvantage for customer service - they often have no personal contact with the customer. They can't interact nearly as effectively as a face-to-face contact, so building rapport and trust is much harder.
Price is king when people are shopping. I worked for a local mom-and-pop consumer electronics store, competing with major chains and Costco. We were a Sony dealer, and Costco carried the same entry-level 27" Sony TV that we did - and I was $20 cheaper, every day. We made less than $10 on that model, but it gave us price credibility instantly AND the opportunity to show customers a better (and far more profitable) model.
As a consumer, price is the easiest factor to understand - especially in the firearms industry. If you go online shopping for a particular item, you can compare pricing quite easily. That's about all most people look at.
I've found online reviews of products to be reasonably accurate, but reviews of online vendors less so. Many vendors trans-ship from manufacturers and/or distributors, and never handle the product themselves. New corporate models have developed because of the internet (like Amazon and Cheaper Than Dirt) and many times all you know is if you order a product on a website, that product should get to you on or about when they say it will. When it doesn't arrive in a satisfactory manner - who's to blame? I've seen online vendors hammered for delivery issues that really weren't their fault.
I prefer to deal with local companies - I want to be able to look them in the eye. In spite of that, I've done a lot of online business over the years. I spent a couple of decades frying R/C model airplanes, and spent thousands of dollars with Tower Hobbies - but they don't trans-ship, so if it wasn't packed properly, they replace it. They are, however, considered to be part of the Great Satan by local hobby shops...
I've been purchasing guns lately (sold off the modeling hobby) and I've bought from three local dealers, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Bud's Gun Shop. Two of the locals have seen the last of my gun money, the third has moved from tied for third choice to first choice. They are offering good customer service with competitive pricing, and they have made an effort to get to know me. They get first shot - if they simply can't get a gun I want, Bud's is my second choice.
The largest local shop is the least likely to get my money. They have poor people skills, abrasive manufacturers' reps working their big events, and are about as impersonal as a New Delhi customer call center. The last two times I've been in there, I had cash and intended to buy - and both times they have talked me out of doing so. They do have the largest inventory in town, and I have purchased from them in the past, but now I just go fondle the inventory and buy elsewhere.
I like to build relationships with people. Lots of folks run down the local Harley dealer - but I've made the effort to get to know them, and they treat me very, very well. I take others to meet them, and they treat them very well, too.
As far as your purchase of bullets - I think you are absolutely in the wrong to continue beating your drum here. The vendor (who was not the shipper) offered to make it right, even though it wasn't his doing. What more do you want?
Are you alone? No. Are you crazy? I don't think so, but am not qualified to testify. Are you being unreasonable? Possibly. Does this thread reflect poorly on you? In my eyes, you appear to be grinding an axe....so, yeah, maybe it does. I don't know you, and you may be a really great guy - but this thread doesn't promote that well. You said you really wanted to know....and that's how I see it. Of course, I could be misinterpreting your post (ah - just like email customer service!) and be totally in the wrong. Try this - read your post out loud, and see if there's a bit of a whine to it. It could just be me!
