ATTN: Tide, gumby, and the moderating team.

[TRS]

Some of my observations on this whole episode:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif One or more members feel that vendors are given a much longer leash than a private seller gets because said vendors pay recurring fees for vendor status and that keeps Tide rolling in the dough. I really don't think those fees are paying for a pair of plane tickets to Tahiti every 6 months.

 

What I do think they are going for is maintaining and upgrading this site, without having to resort to pop-up ads, advertising banners all over every page, and every third post of every thread actually being an automatically inserted ad.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif One or more feel that by being a donating member they should get additional consideration above non-donating members. It's not like when you "donate" a big chunk of change to your alma mater so that you will get on a list for a shot at buying tickets to football games.

 

Here, you should donate because you want to help defray the costs of keeping this site up and running fast and smooth because it has been such a wonderful asset in helping you enjoy your Legacy.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif Some feel that the site admin and moderators need to take an active role in mediating all disputes between vendors and customers.

 

I see it like this: Vendors pay to have access to an audience of enthusiasts who will likely be interested in what they have to offer. Sales are private transactions between vendor and customer. Disputes should be settled directly between the two parties involved. If you cannot reach a reasonable settlement in a reasonable amount of time then go public by posting your version of the story and why you think you were wronged. The other party involved in the dispute may choose to respond, as may others who have had good or bad experiences with whoever you are butting heads with.

 

Moderators need not get involved except to keep the thread on topic and to warn about language, personal attacks, threats, etc. Only if there has been a pattern of similar complaints about a vendor, or it has been reasonably proven that a vendor blatantly and intentionally defrauded a member should action such as banning be taken.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif To be a good member of this community and help out other members, we need to all take the time and actually write a short concise review of each of our vendor experiences and/or rate them with iTrader. This is valuable information to potential customers and can signal when a vender starts to (or always did) give poor customer service. With this particular vendor, according to iTrader, 100% of their customers were happy with them. No history of lying, deception, unkept promises, etc.

 

Be honest but also have realistic expectations as one negative can undo 100 positives. I know when I'm on eBay even if they have a 99% positive rating I'll just skim through all the +'s looking for the one or two -'s just to see what the problem was.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif There is a percentage of companies across the web that will tell you something is in stock just so that they will not loose the sale. I don't think this was the case here.

 

I believe that to this vendor, "in stock" meant that it was available to be immediately shipped out directly to the customer. It would have arrived just as fast whether it shipped from the vendor's address in FL, the manufacturer's warehouse in CA, or some distributor's warehouse in TX. Having a container on the way from the factory in Taiwan that should arrive "any day now" is not "in stock".

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif Only ordering if a vendor replies in the affirmative to "Can you touch it?" won't help much. What if it's sitting right there on their desk, and 3 days later it's still sitting there because they haven't gotten around to finding a box and packing it up and calling in a pickup by whoever. Or Sally does all the shipping but she took this week off so orders just pile up 'til she's back.

 

Maybe asking "When will it be shipped, and where will it be shipped from?" would be better. If they say "Tomorrow, from our shop here in Bismark" and then the UPS tracking shows that it didn't really go out until a week later and was actually picked up in Houston, well then that's just plain deceptive.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif Remember that humans, and especially humans using computers, occasionally make mistakes. Maybe somebody shipped out the last downpipe that was sitting on the shelf back in the warehouse but they didn't update the inventory in the computer (because they forgot or got sidetracked with another phone call, or whatever) so when you call in and somebody else checks the stock on hand the computer says there's still one left.

 

Maybe a shipment of parts came in and somebody was off by one digit when they typed it into the computer to update the inventory so when they go to pick your part off the shelf there's nothing there, even though the inventory says there should be a whole pallet of them. Most people realize that things occasionally go wrong (and for one or two unfortunate souls, more than occasionally ).

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif We all want to pay the least amount we can for the stuff we want. Not that we're going to actually save that money, it just lets us buy more stuff to feed our addiction. But realize that to be able to offer those low prices some vendors operate on a very low overhead. They can't afford to rent a huge warehouse and keep it filled with parts, and hire on a large support staff so the phone can always be answered with a live voice and emails responded to within an hour.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/images/icons/icon2.gif That said, the best thing a vendor can do is keep the customer informed and be honest with them, especially when hiccups occur. Call, or send an email or PM the customer and let them know the situation, what's being doing to remedy it, and what the customer's options are. I think a majority of us will be understanding, as long as we are kept informed and not repeatedly strung along.

 

What really gets people's blood boiling is being ignored. The vendor may really not have any new information to offer on when that part will finally show up, but they should still occasionally contact the customer just so that they don't get that feeling of "Now that they got my money they don't give a crap about me".

[SBT]

^ Thank you! Substantively well-thought out and expressed.

[bosco]

^ Thank you! Substantively well-thought out and expressed.

 

i expected nothing less from Tim.

[whobaru]

That post should be put in the new members thread. Epic imo.

[AKLGT]

wow. that pretty much nails it.

[Guest heightsgtltd]

Interesting post TRS and by and large I agree with you with some points where we diverge.

 

I believe that to this vendor, "in stock" meant that it was available to be immediately shipped out directly to the customer. It would have arrived just as fast whether it shipped from the vendor's address in FL, the manufacturer's warehouse in CA, or some distributor's warehouse in TX. Having a container on the way from the factory in Taiwan that should arrive "any day now" is not "in stock".

 

The vendor in question admitted that he wasn't sure whether or not the item was "in stock." When pressed, he said that he kept some similar items in stock by same manufacturer, but the item that Rage had ordered was not as popular so that particular item IIRC was not. For that matter, if said vendor is sending it himself, he does have a different level of control over the shipping than if it is dropped shipped by the manufacturer directly, who can say that have it but in fact do not.

 

Good communication is essential, but so are transparent business practices. If the vendor in question had been more transparent about the shipping process, Rage would probably not have had the issue that he did. IMHO, Rage was actually quite patient under the circumstances and did not have unrealistic expectations

 

BTW, where did anyone say that those who donate should receive special consideration? Rage's point is that all members have experienced issues like these and there should be a remedy for everyone.

[RaGe]

yeah after reading that, i feel as though a finger is just being pointed at me.

 

in my opinion "in stock" is different from something being drop shipped. but again....... i am putting all of this behind me and just trying to better everyone involved ( member wise ).

[Guest heightsgtltd]

I kind of felt the same thing which is why I posted and to clarify

[AKLGT]

I believe TRS's point about donating members is that because Vendors pay to sell on the site, the policing of such vendors is a little more difficult. Not that donating members aren't important, I've donated here as well as NASIOC and also vendor accounts, but it's a different kind of capacity. And I also don't believe that TRS was trying to point fingers at RaGE only, just that this was the thread he started so obviously his incident will be more open then others. I really don't think he was trying to say that RaGe was impatient, but referring to members as a whole:

 

Most people realize that things occasionally go wrong (and for one or two unfortunate souls, more than occasionally ).