Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 10:48:20 -0400
Reply-To: Jerry De Baun <jerryd@ZIPLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Jerry De Baun <jerryd@ZIPLINK.NET>
Subject: The Bus Depot & Ron in Europe
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
To: type2@type2.com; vintagebus@type2.com; vanagon@vanagon.com
Subject: The Bus Depot & Ron's Trip to Europe
List Members,
Ron wants me to tell everyone that he, Evon & Baby Haley are having a
fantastic time in Europe! They are traveling in a Eurovan 2.4L Diesel,
converted to a camper by a company in the Netherlands for use as a rental.
Ron says the performance is very similar to the 1.9L Vanagon Westy, cruises
effortlessly and is very economical in Europe where fuel is much more
expen$ive than here. While enjoying the sights, Ron has found time to
discover a number of parts which are either rare or non-existent in the USA.
So we will have a container of parts arriving here in mid-November. We will
publish information about the new items soon after Ron's return at the end
of this month.
We would also like to say that the new web site has been an overwhelming
success during the first three weeks. Literally. The number of orders has
exceeded what Ron & I expected to see at the outset. And the volume of
incoming calls does not seem to have diminished. Unfortunately, these
factors, plus the "fun" of switching web hosts at the same time, which
required re-routing all email traffic during the first ten days or so, left
us with far more than the rest of us could handle without Ron. We are very
sorry for our inability to respond to the initial web orders as quickly as
we'd have wished, and we are very concerned about not being able to answer
some of the phone calls coming in. I know that some people are unable to
reach us by phone, and that many of the web orders placed between October
5th and October 12th were processed very slowly. This was partly due to the
re-routing of the messages, and trouble-shooting of some initial "bugs" in
the ordering software. We received only a handful of orders in the first few
days, and then almost 100 the next two days as they were delivered to the
new address! And despite our best intentions, it has been almost impossible
to respond to many of the email messages you have sent.
Ron and the rest of us at The Bus Depot would like to thank you all for your
patience and support while we get caught up on the backlog, and adjust to
the new processes we have in place. I am pleased to say that I am now
processing the web orders within 24 hours of receipt of the order to me. And
we have improved the confirmation receipt and eliminated the bugs we are
aware of. There are three of us working hard to respond to each and every
one of you, by phone and the internet, and to see that all orders are filled
promptly and accurately. When Ron returns on November 2nd, we should find
that we are able to help everyone better than ever. At that time, I will be
able to devote full time just to the web site, web orders and email
feedback. Once again, we appreciate your patience during this time period.
Ron & I are confident that we will all be pleased with the results of these
efforts, and the efficiency they bring to our ability to respond to
everyone.
During the past months we have said that for the most prompt attention and
rush orders you should call us. With the new web site, and the fact that
most parts numbers and prices are all on line, web orders are now the
fastest and surest way to place an order. I am having the entire database
converted to a database software package that should speed up the search
process on part number and key word searches on 10,000 items as well. Those
without web access, or who wish to call are still as welcome as ever, but
there are delays in getting through, and in the ability to quickly respond.
I didn't even mention that we switched accounting and inventory software
this month, did I :)
Thank you,
Jerry, Mari & Dan
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