Still no product?...RANT

Re: Still no product?...RANT

Charlie Zureki said:
the owner started with his long, varied explanations...

The purchasing agent...screwed up the orders...
My order got shipped to the wrong place....
The Manufacturer cut off their purchasing credit..
The Sales clerk lost the order...
Etc...etc...
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Let me hazard a guess about the Etc... etc... (as you note-for-note replayed the opening lines to the song & dance I've been entertained with):

There was a death in my family.

Myself or a close family member is battling a serious medical condition.

I've been really busy.

The government is hitting me with taxes/regulations/restrictions... and I wish they'd just get off our backs (being the decent hardworking citizens of this country).

I had some unexpected employee turn-over and I'm left sorting things out.

I had a parting with my partner and I'm left taking up all the slack.

I'm going through a divorce, and I'm taking up all the slack and her attorney is killing me... why can't the damn attorneys just get off our backs and leave us alone.

I'm having a hard time placing the paperwork.

It's all customs fault.

"They" put a lein on me... it's a big misunderstanding, and I trying to get it sorted out... I just need a little time.

I've been out of town a lot on business and just got back.

I've been really busy with my charity work for the children.

The dog ate my homework.

It's this damn economy... I wish "they'd" get off their lazy asses and fix it.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Some ugly stories surfacing here.

I certainly sympathize, though have fortunately not had as poor of an experience as Mark.

I do find it very frustrating in terms of how difficult it can be as a consumer who simply wants a product and is willing to pay NOW. This should be an easy and simple transaction. As in Hammer's case, what particularly irritates me is that it often seems as though when you run into problems, you have to STRONGLY voice your displeasure for them to stop stringing you along and actually take you seriously. That shouldn't be necessary......

This extends well beyond retail markets. Maybe I am just becoming more cynical but it seems as though doing business with many companies is often an exercise in frustration, to the point that we have people writing about GOOD experiences they had because they were so shocked that they actually received good customer service (Mark's company is one that is often positively reviewed in fact).

IMHO this is an issue of companies getting their priorities right, from the TOP down.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

I think there are two issues here - retail/customer facing issues where the dealer is incompetent, uncaring, or financially drowning, and the zero inventory supply chain model.

There's no excuse for bad customer service in the first case - uncaring or poorly managed businesses deserve to die, and folks with good customer service (both Audiopiles, the local shop Metro Sound and Lighting in my case, B&H, others) deserve to keep my business.

The other situation is tougher. I agree with Jeff that I've been frustrated several times recently that the product I want and have cash in hand for is simply not available. It's stuck on the boat from China (6 or 7 weeks transit time sometimes, plus customs), stuck waiting on a component from someone up the supply chain who also has a minimial inventory operation, etc. I guess this is the cost of cheap products - local production and parts inventories cost money, and consumers aren't willing to pay for those things.

Hammer - I'm glad you got to be Paul. There's no need to feel guilty about getting out of a sucky situation alive and intact.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

drew gandy said:
"spent all the money on hookers & booze... and wasted the rest."

Is this a song lyric that I can't seem to place?
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It's from a bumper sticker I saw onna completely used-up Vista Cruiser in a junk yard years ago.

And I misquoted it. As I recall, it read:

I spent all the money, most of it on hookers and booze, and the rest I just wasted.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

W. Mark Hellinger said:
It's from a bumper sticker I saw onna completely used-up Vista Cruiser in a junk yard years ago.

I spent all the money, most of it on hookers and booze, and the rest I just wasted.
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I have seen this in use. It sounds like a Hunter S. Thompsonism.
Most recently was in a discussion about tax breaks, and specifically the $600 Bush tax refund.
"I spent most of mine on....

My thought was, must not be very high class hookers if you get plural, booze, and have enough left to waste with $600.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Milt Hathaway said:
MacFOH.
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Yeah, that $512 was money I didn't exactly have to waste in... 2004? Hell, it's still a lot of money now. The extra couple hundred for a Smaart license was too much at the time, plus running 5 in emulation wasn't very attractive compared to MacFOH. Set my measurement system back years. Wonder what Shaun Wexler's doing nowadays, probably not much in this industry.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Yup, MacFOH was a bummer. And Shaun just packed up and quietly disappeared. Someone on AAPLS had contact with him not to long ago but declined to give any details on him or his whereabouts.

Greg
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Helge Dr. Bentsen said:
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.

- George Best
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That could have been the quote too... it's been 25+ years since I saw that bumper sticker.

I've found out that my energy saving lighting supplier (who's seemingly having a hard time delivering the goods) is actually deep into vintage restored unlimited hydroplanes... and racing said contraptions. Other than possibly race horses and off site company meetings, I can't imagine a bigger money pit... although admittedly, hotties in 2-piece bathing suits are probably more prevalent on the beach than in a horse stall or confrence room... so I guess if you're gonna piss money away in grand style, unlimited hydroplanes is certainly one way to do it in really grand style.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Nah if you want to piss money away in grand style

(just imagine what I said... It is probably worse that what I did say... :)

JR
 
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Re: Still no product?...RANT

JR,

I know we're having a thread derail, but please try not to derail into politics on someone else's thread unless they've already taken it that way. As you have seen, this sort of discussion is just fine in the appropriate forum and in appropriate threads. This one is not quite there.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Bennett Prescott said:
Wonder what Shaun Wexler's doing nowadays,
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I don't know about nowadays, but he did finally pick-up his Crest 10001 from me a few years ago... after I'd stored it for him for seemingly years after the amp shoot-out.

Seems I heard he was playing guitar in some band in Lewiston, ID ... last I heard.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

The shop I used to work for basically got out of the retail business because selling stuff at map usually wasn't worth the time it took to place the order. Being a smaller shop, they couldn't order several skids of stuff to help offset the shipping cost-per-item so you ended up making (one example I remember) $120 on a $1000 item. In my opinion, that's a pretty crappy mark-up. People always thought we were trying to rip them off and that we were just rolling in cash after the sale. Not exactly the case.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Adam Kane said:
The shop I used to work for basically got out of the retail business because selling stuff at map usually wasn't worth the time it took to place the order. Being a smaller shop, they couldn't order several skids of stuff to help offset the shipping cost-per-item so you ended up making (one example I remember) $120 on a $1000 item. In my opinion, that's a pretty crappy mark-up. People always thought we were trying to rip them off and that we were just rolling in cash after the sale. Not exactly the case.
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Hello,

Yes, this sqeezing of profit margins by the customer's "low price" expectations and the Manufacturer's lesser discounts to smaller distributors can make it a low profit venture to distributors.

But, in my example...I never argued about their prices (paid more than other distributors) and I paid in cash ...up-front. A deal is a deal...once accepted, both parties should complete the deal.

In tough economic times, there will be business failures. But, most companies that survive will have done so because they honor their commitments, price their product/service fairly, and respect their customer's business sake.

Hammer
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Charlie Zureki said:
Hello,

Yes, this sqeezing of profit margins by the customer's "low price" expectations and the Manufacturer's lesser discounts to smaller distributors can make it a low profit venture to distributors.

But, in my example...I never argued about their prices (paid more than other distributors) and I paid in cash ...up-front. A deal is a deal...once accepted, both parties should complete the deal.

In tough economic times, there will be business failures. But, most companies that survive will have done so because they honor their commitments, price their product/service fairly, and respect their customer's business sake.

Hammer
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I should have clarified...

The issues regarding communication and delivery of your gear are 100% inexcusable. At some point, you have to man-up and tell the truth... If I were in your shoes, and the guy came to me with the ENTIRE truth as things unfolded, instead of excuse after lame excuse, I would have probably been a little more likely to deal with him in the future. I have zero respect for those who can't just tell the truth.

I agree with your viewpoint on business success/failure. In the case of the shop I mentioned, it was more a case of having enough income from installations/live events that the retail shop wasn't worth keeping around.

My original post was more aimed at the references to banjo depot (and others) that did away with certain discounts. Freight costs have gone up to the extent that, even with their sales volume and buying power, it was simply no longer profitable to sell things below map.
 
Re: Still no product?...RANT

Adam Kane said:
My original post was more aimed at the references to banjo depot (and others) that did away with certain discounts. Freight costs have gone up to the extent that, even with their sales volume and buying power, it was simply no longer profitable to sell things below map.
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The issue is value. Everyone knows you can get stuff cheaper online/mail-order. The help (or lack there of) that I got from GC was not sufficiently valuable to justify the substantially higher cost of shopping there.

I am a free market capitalist. I wold love for every business to be wildly successful, and I don't begrudge GC, at least from an impersonal standpoint, for making changes that improved their profitability. However, they still have to compete for my business, and they better offer me an awful lot for all that extra money. Before anyone accuses me of this, no I don't go look or listen at GC and then order online. If I want to see or touch it, I will buy it from where I did so. I'm at the level now where neither GC nor the other local shop carry what I'm shopping for anyway, at least for fairly big ticket items.

One interesting counterpoint to your experience is that most of the vendors I buy from are pretty small businesses. GC in particular surely has much more purchasing power than Northernsound, the Audiopi(y)les, and a few others. The other local shop around here deals too, and somehow they survive.
 
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