Date:         Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:03:14 -0700
Reply-To:     jbrush@AROS.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Brush <jbrush@AROS.NET>
Subject:      an unsolicited opinion
In-Reply-To:  <F1330aImPiZxOASWTgZ000058c5@hotmail.com>

No vendor bashing here, but a comment from experience.

The inspiration for this post is because I visit vendors to buy parts for
my van, and when I have a question, I usually won't order anything until I
get the answer to the inquiry. My shopping cart has product in it, but I
need to know something before getting that last gasket, or whatever. On
the side of the web page is a nice little invitation for me to email the
vendor and ask a question. Its simple, its easy, and it can be done at my
convenience, which is usually late at night when the children are finally
asleep and its my time.

What I do not understand is why any vendor would solicit email questions
and then not answer them, even after a week goes by? If you are busy, I am
okay with that because that means you are succeeding, which can only help
our little community, but if you are not going to answer email questions,
then I think you should remove the link so people will not waste their
time asking questions that get no reply. If it requires a phone call, so
be it, but when an inquiry is solicted, it is assumed that it will be
answered, so no phone call is planned.

FWIW, this happens on a lot of web sites, so it is not isolated to vanagon
vendors by any means, but when I leave an email request on one of those
major website that goes unanswered, and even un-acknowledged, I let them
know that I don't like being ignored, and so I figure the same should go
for anyone else who sells product, and provides a link for questions that
never get answered.

If you haven't got time to answer, or acknowledge, emails, then don't
solicit them.

Not an attempt to flame, upset, or cause anyone undo harm, just a comment
on life in the internet.

Thanks for the BW,

John