Date:         Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:03:20 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Trashing online vendors
In-Reply-To:  <20070625224701.51C521165C3@hamburg.alientech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Well, Mike, since you insist on airing this on-list, I guess I'll wrap it up
here and be done with it.

>  Ron said: "I'll have to look up your order details
> and email you directly on Monday." I've not heard a
> thing, and it's now well after normal business hours.
> That's fraud, and is deliberately misleading others
> who read this list.

Check your email, Mike ... I did reply.  It may be well after normal
business hours for you, but not for a small business owner.  It's 2 AM and
I'm still working, trying to catch up on some work after spending last week
in Europe scouting out parts. I sent you a reply about somewhere around 11
pm (I didn't hear back from VW about the backordered items until the end of
the day).

First of all, you are absolutely right that there were a few small bits that
were backordered and apparently never arrived from Volkswagen. I'll accept
full responsibility for that. You mentioned 2 items, but in reviewing all of
your orders I actually came up with 4.  They were mainly small hardware bits
that were listed on our site as taking a couple of weeks to ship, but VW
never filled our order.  As I explained in the email I sent you tonight,
backorders on these sorts of obscure parts from VW are unfortunately
commonplace, but this delay was absurdly long.  It seems VW got them back in
stock but never filled our order. By way of apology for the delay, I offered
in my email this evening to GIVE you those parts for FREE.  Imagine my
surprise to then discover that while I was writing that, you were here
bashing me again.

> When a vendor sells by telling the customer something they
> don't deliver, that's fraud. Bus Depot entices people to
> purchase by saying "Usually ships in 1-3 days," but when that
> doesn't happen, wants to say that those words have no meaning
> - they really mean "delivery in 7-10 days. ...Obvious statements
> on every item page supercede ones buried in on a shipping policy one.

Let me point out, yet again, that it says USUALLY. (And not on every item
page, for that matter, only on the ones to which the statement usually
applies). This is not a guarantee that it will happen every single time -
hence the word USUALLY.  In your case, 84% of the parts you have ever
ordered from us have shipped within those 1-3 working days (excluding a few
that listed longer timeframes to begin with). I'd say an 84% rate qualifies
as "usually," wouldn't you?  And with the exception of the small backordered
bits noted above, 100% of the parts you have ever ordered from us have been
delivered within the 7-10 working days that we quote. (Again, had you chosen
faster delivery, it would have been much sooner, but you chose Economy
delivery each time.) So other than a few small backordered bits, we met our
service promise 100 percent of the time.

Speaking of which, the 7-10 business day delivery estimate for Economy
shipping is not "buried on a shipping policy page" as you state. I already
pointed that out but you keep repeating the fallacy.  In fact it is repeated
4 times during the checkout process. When you check out, it says in large
type right there that that if you choose Economy you'll see your order in
approximately 7-10 working days (if in stock).  Then it's repeated at the
final checkout page. Then it's emailed to you.  And it's also linked from
the checkout page a fourth time.

But here's the interesting part ...  I checked my Sent box and discovered
that we also emailed it to you directly back in December, in response to
your inquiry about it!  You emailed to complain about some parts not
shipping immediately, and on December 28 Kaye replied (quoting verbatim here
from the email)...: "To clarify, while orders do generally ship in 1-3
working days (not calendar days) if in stock, this is an estimate and is not
guaranteed. During a holiday weekend, an unusually busy week, etc., it is
possible for it to take longer. Therefore we specify to allow 7-10 working
days to receive orders placed via ground shipping.  However, we do offer
Expedited service for a very small additional cost that will guarantee
delivery in 3 working days if in stock (and placed early enough in the day).
Because the additional cost for this service is generally quite low, it is
probably worth considering in cases where you need date-guaranteed
delivery."

Having received that information in December, you ordered a poptop seal in
June, chose Economy shipping once again, got it within the promised 7-10,
and proceded to gripe here that you had no idea it would take that long.
That's disingenuous. And I frankly don't appreciate being called a fraud.

Not all buyers and sellers are a good match.  It is clear that your
expectations differ from the services that we offer.  You said that you are
uninclined to do business with us again, and quite honestly the feeling is
mutual.  I think it would indeed be best if you deal witth another Vanagon
parts supplier from now on.

This closes the issue as far as I'm concerned. I will not respond further
on-list regarding this order, as it has been dragged out ad-nauseum already.
But of course anyone here is welcome to email me directly at any time, if
ever you have feedback, suggestions, complaints, questions, etc. about any
Bus Depot order.  I've been on this list for many, many years, and those who
have dealt with me will generally confirm that while we're not perfect (who
is?) we do work very hard to serve the Vanagon community. We're an
enthusiast business and while we have the limits of any small business, we
care greatly about what we do.  Yet as Ben correctly pointed out, there is
always room for improvement.  I'll take my lumps when I deserve them (and
sometimes I definitely deserve them!), but I just had to draw the line on
this one. Sorry to offend those who believe that the customer is always
right and the retailer shoud just suck it up no matter what is said about
them.  It's been a really long day and I'm just not in the mood to suck it
up any longer.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program... :-)

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT