Tip For Those Running An Online Store

[captainsousie]

If you're selling a pipe, especially a really nice pipe, know your stuff and take pictures so you can post them when you post the sale. Failing that, at least have employees that will find out the information for a customer after he waits for 10 minutes on hold.
A possible holy grail pipe of mine just came up and the company in question has incorrect/missing information in the write-up as well as having no pictures. I called to find out if I could get the information and after waiting on hold for around 10 minutes, I was told by the CSR that I would just have to wait until they got around to posting pictures. Guess I'll have to wait a bit longer and take my money elsewhere.
Piss-poor way of running a business and they are trying to get rid of another customer. People are always running them down around here but I am starting to re-learn it isn't without good reason.

 

[kanaka95]

Sorry to hear that captainsousie.What a bummer.Customer service is what making money is all about.Gotta take care of the customer.Hope your next experience is better.Keep puffin on.

 

[pruss]

That blows, Stig.
Sorry to hear it. There are some folks out there for whom the rudiments of service will always remain aspirational.
-- Pat

 

[captainsousie]

Thanks. Since my choice is get over it or stay pissed off forever, I will get over it soon enough. I know if I wait patiently long enough, this pipe will come up again. It's just annoying. This is the second one of this particular pipe not purchased because of the inability/refusal to answer questions about it...wonder if it's a pipe I'm not meant to find.

 

[foggymountain]

I used to have an online store, not for pipes. Sometimes customers would email and request pictures that I did not want to take. Nothing is more boring than photographing a camera. I posted pictures in the listing but rarely did special requests. I was customer oriented but only willing to spend so much of my life doing stupid stuff. Especially when it was an item I was only going to make a few dollars on.

 

[ssjones]

It sounds like they really weren't very interested in selling that pipe.

 

[captainsousie]

By the way, here's a picture of the pipe in question. It's been all day and this is still the only available pic.

 

[yaddy306]

Another tip for online stores: try shipping outside the USA too.

 

[woodsroad]

My heart goes out to you. This must be just awful.

 

[igloo]

I know that sign and the vendor . :rofl:

 

[dochudson]

NEVER beg someone to take YOUR money..

 

[numbersix]

NEVER beg someone to take YOUR money..

+1
And then they wonder why their business is doing poorly...

 

[sailorjeremy]

Man, than sucks. Some businesses just can't grasp the idea of customer service. Those are the ones that don't stick around very long.

 

[plateauguy]

I bet the owners of the company don't know that their employee is lazy and/or ignorant - or it's a relative they can't get rid of. Still the damage is done. There are other great places to spend your money. Good luck on the pipe hunt.

 

[numbersix]

I bet the owners of the company don't know that their employee is lazy and/or ignorant - or it's a relative they can't get rid of.

I usually attribute this to the management.
I recall many years ago my wife worked at a restaurant as a waitress. This restaurant had impeccable standards and made sure their staff was well trained. Expectations were made very clear.
At the same time, the owners also treated their staff with a lot of respect and so the staff did the same in return - to both the customers and the owners.
To this day my wife praises the management (owners) of this restaurant — they taught her by example how a business should be run.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

At least you can see the pictures of their pipes (that have pictures)... I still can't get past their rollover pop-ups. But, oh well. Pipes must just not an most important part of their sales. However, I do drop a pretty penny every month on tobacco from them. If they didn't have a certain magical tobacconist working for them, I wouldn't even bother visiting their site at all.

 

[portascat]

Can't speak for your personal experience, but I can tell you mine regarding the same online vendor.
And that is nothing but good. They have done me right every time, and the very occasional mistake they have made has been addressed quickly, and by a phone call they generated when made aware of the mistake via email. That is why I do about 90% of my pipe business through them.
Sorry the picture didn't get posted for you on your schedule. Maybe it wasn't meant to be for you.

 

[blendtobac]

We would love to be able to get images up quickly, but our photography department not only has to take pictures of all new products for the websites, but for 30 catalogs a year and advertisements. Sometimes we're going to be faster at putting an item on the site than we are with pictures. I'm sorry that the situation upsets or inconveniences anyone, and if I had a simple solution, we'd implement it.

The reason you had to wait for customer service as long as you did is because they have to walk from their office to the warehouse to look at the pipe. In this instance, though, the pipe had been taken by the photography department to shoot, so our rep couldn't look at it to describe it. I apologize for any problems this may have caused, and we do care about our customers and their satisfaction, but there will always be circumstances that don't turn out the way we'd like.
Russ

 

[captainsousie]

Russ, I appreciate the response. I have this solution to offer.
1. Post the correct name/nomenclature instead of an approximation.

2. Do what Dave Neeb, Pipestud, Marty Pulver, Neatpipes, Al Pascia, The Danish Pipe Shop, Smokers Haven and Smokingpipes do...don't post the pipe until the pictures are ready for the listing and take pictures that actually show the information needed for mid-value pipes.

 

[woodsroad]

OK, I'm trying to work up some outrage here, but I'm not having much luck.