Bad Experience With Smoking Pipes

[gatorlope]

Personally, I’d like to thank Mr. Ireland for joining us and the many senior members for speaking up for the company in question, reassuring us that it is still a company that we can deal with and have a reasonable expectation of a satisfactory outcome. If they do come up with an alternate solution that is satisfactory to both parties, I hope that they will let us know.

 

[tbradsim1]

Harris said it for me, I concur ther ain’t no free lunch, but commend the new man for speaking up, It’s all good. ::

 

[sablebrush52]

I have seen people post actual rants against online stores on here, so I figured a story about my recent experience would be fine, but apparently some people don’t think so.

It happens, but the feeling that most often gets expressed here is, first do what you can to find an amicable settlement on your own before going public with a complaint.
We've had a number of people show up here acting like two year olds throwing a tantrum, and it gets tiresome.
There are a lot of ways to do business. When I was in the jewelry business we made good on the few mistakes we made. Sometimes it cost us some money, but in the long run it really paid off in customer loyalty.
And there were two occasions when I returned payment for freelance matte painting work because the clients kept changing their minds about what they wanted. I didn't call them on it, just returned the money, wished them well, and moved on. Funny thing is that both of them began sending clients to me. No hard feelings and my client base grew and I made back that money many times over.

 

[jguss]

I"m going to take what looks like the minority view. The issues here are pr and qc. Everyone who runs a business knows that bad word of mouth has remarkable tenacity in the marketplace, and the opposite is true for good word of mouth. This thread could easily have been about how the OP ordered something that the company had pictured incorrectly and the company chose to honor it anyway. The posts here would have been overwhelmingly positive and lauded SP for doing something that it didn't have to do and that reflected its stand-up commitment to treating customers right. Instead they chose to save a hundred bucks and endure a thread where people bickered over whether they did the right thing or not. Based on my life experience from a pragmatic point of view their decision makes no sense. I'm not talking right or wrong from an ethical perspective, I'm talking what I think are good business practices, narrowly defined as growing customer numbers, loyalty, spending, and profitability.
As for qc, if this kind of thing happens frequently they have an operational problem that trumps any one customer's experience. If it doesn't, then they ought to be glad someone caught it so it could be fixed; if a hundred bucks is what it costs to get them to focus on improved qc that's a very cheap price to pay. The comparison here with multi-thousand dollar camera equipment is spurious. A hundred bucks is unquestionably trival for just about every company around.

 

[olkofri]

I'm speaking in general when voicing this. I'm not taking shots at the OP, Americaman. (Frankly, I tend to see this forum like a big bar/smoking lounge where we share stories, not run boycot campaigns; thus, I didn't regard his post as a tirade to strong arm SPC into caving in.)
What I find annoying, both as individual citizen and business owner/worker, is the prevalent attitude of many customers who staunchly believe a business MUST warrarant their complete satisfaction: this has resulted in a conceited and tyrannical disposition on their part: they treat businesses as slaves, not as equal partners in a commercial transaction, which is what they really are. Business owners are expected to be shaking in fear of the customer being disatisfied in the very least, lest they embark on a smear campaign far and wide across the Internet. Thus, we have businesses all to willing to go through the indignity of bending over, giving away freebies, running their operations at a loss, and firing employees who tweeted 'hateful' comments in their off-work hours (guess it's expected employees are slaves too, belonging 24/7 to their employers). Ixnay to that!
Pappymac's observation is my rule of doing business. Actually, mine goes further: "The customer isn't always right: sometimes he's a eejit". I have another rule: "I strive to do my best, but in no way do I guarantee customer satisfaction"; I've seen enough cases of customers feigning displeasure to avoid paying.
I'm always willing to negotiate and find ways to make good on a mistake, but I'm not gonna let the customer make me his bitch. If he threatens to take his business elsewhere I encourage him to do so: by walking away he's doing me a favour.

 

[americaman]

Update: I emailed Shane Ireland expressing that I understand their choice and that I am a believer in capitalism. I told him that I consider that a “solution” was already found because no one was hurt. It was just a mistake.
Shane was exceptionally kind and still made me an offer/gesture. If he wants to share it here he can, but don’t worry guys, I’m not getting free pipes or anything unfair. Cheers.

 

[jaytex1969]

Dang. Just when it was getting good...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Nor should we be losing any of our precious bodily fluids when it comes to discussions!

 

[gatorlope]

:rofl:

 

[trouttimes]

Glad to hear everyone walked away understanding and satisfied as best as possible.

 

[jaytex1969]

OK, gang. Let's go stir up shit in the "What are you smoking?" thread. This one's beat...

 

[krizzose]

Goddammit! I came here for OUTRAGE and all I got was level-headed civility. There’s always Yelp

 

[mikethompson]

So this is what happens around here at night. Well my opinion is that... Oh nevermind.
Good morning everyone!

 

[perdurabo]

Americanman, your only mistake was throwing around that “Capitalist” word.

 

[morgansteele]

For the record, the customer is NOT always right.

I'll go one step further. The customer is RARELY right. Customers claim they want service, loyalty, variety, and quality. What do 98% shop based on? Price. And, they want the best price while getting their credit card rewards.

 

[jaytex1969]

Customers claim they want service, loyalty, variety, and quality. What do 98% shop based on? Price.

This reminds me of an old mechanic's shop sign that I find quite accurate. It said,
"CHEAP, QUICK, GOOD. PICK ANY TWO."

 

[gerryp]

CHEAP, QUICK, GOOD. PICK ANY TWO

That's awesome.

 

[alaskanpiper]

"CHEAP, QUICK, GOOD. PICK ANY TWO.

This is awesome. And usually true

 

[brian64]

^ That's easy...I'll take cheap and good.

 

[ashdigger]

Cheap and Quick is the name of my drive through Brothel.