Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 20:33:19 -0700
Reply-To: Michael Harrnacker <harrnack@IN-TCH.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Michael Harrnacker <harrnack@IN-TCH.COM>
Subject: Re: The Bus Depot & Ron in Europe
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
At least you have a shipment to complain about!, I've been waiting over
three weeks for a set of brake pads. I doubt very much that web orders are
getting processed in a day, since they've had over 20 days to process mine.
I haven't even received a confirmation or nothing!
Michael B. Harrnacker
89 Weekender "Nameles"
91 Golf "Miami"
http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/vwbus
vanagon@rudi.montech.umt.edu
"Never miss a good chance to shut up."
-----Original Message-----
From: Racer X <akimmons@PDQ.NET>
To: vanagon@VANAGON.COM <vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
Date: Thursday, October 22, 1998 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: The Bus Depot & Ron in Europe
>Well, I just don't know what to think of the Bus Depot now...
>I've been waiting for over 20 minutes on hold to complain about an order
that I
>just received. Hoping to solve the problem before the weekend. Now my
project
>is on hold again for another week.
>
>$320.00 bucks worth of stuff and two of the three items were wrong...And
the
>third item doesn't match one that I ordered a month ago...guess I'll have
to
>send it back too.
>
>I think I'll end up trying one of those other vendors we heard about
earlier in
>the week next time.
>
>Ain't it always the case that when business booms, customer satisfaction
seems
>to go down...
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>Jerry De Baun wrote:
>
>> To: type2@type2.com; vintagebus@type2.com; vanagon@vanagon.com
>> Subject: The Bus Depot & Ron's Trip to Europe
>>
>> List Members,
>>
>> Ron wants me to tell everyone that he, Evon & Baby Haley are having a
>> fantastic time in Europe! They are traveling in a Eurovan 2.4L Diesel,
>> converted to a camper by a company in the Netherlands for use as a
rental.
>> Ron says the performance is very similar to the 1.9L Vanagon Westy,
cruises
>> effortlessly and is very economical in Europe where fuel is much more
>> expen$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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