Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 12:19:46 -0500
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject: Re: Your Comments, complaints, etc. (O.T.S.)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I just read the comments, both postive and negative, posted to the list
about The Bus Depot in my absence. As you know, I'm usually very quick to
respond "on the record" to all comments, but in this case I wasn't here. If
you couldn't care less about The Bus Depot, I won't take any offense if you
hit the "delete" key now. :-)
As a whole, the new online database website, with secure ordering, is now
fully functional, and has been for most of the month. Everything is running
pretty well at this point, but there were some difficult periods while I was
in Europe. What really took me by surprise (and might have affected my trip
plans, had I anticipated it) was the expected drop in phone call volume
coinciding with the new website ordering system, never happened. Instead,
call volume stayed incredibly high, plus a ton of people ordered via the new
web site, so instead of being less swamped, Jerry and the crew were more
swamped. For the most part, they handled things well, as near as I can tell,
but there were two problems.
First, we had to switch website service providers mid-month when we
converted our website database to a more advanced (SQL Server/Cold Fusion)
format, which our previous provider doesn't support. In the transfer to the
new server (now long since completed), some website orders were misdirected
by our web host, and reached us late. This was not supposed to happen, and
I do apologize to anyone whose order was delayed as a result. I think most
of those problems were solved while I was gone. If yours wasn't, please
give me Monday to get my sh*t together, and then let me know on Tuesday and
I'll make sure you are satisfied ASAP. (I am aware of a backorder on a
couple of Wasserboxer exhaust pipes, which is a supply problem and will not
be solved by Tuesday.) Also, two of our incoming lines went down for a
while due to a phone company line problem that took several days to fix, so
for a while there were only two lines coming in. This, too, was remedied
long before I arrived home.
Your comments are never ignored and always appreciated. In response to your
comments, I will be adding more phone lines next week, and also more people
to answer them as soon as humanly possible. We will also be adding another
7000 or so parts to the already 10,000-plus that are on the website, and
improving the applications listings on the parts that are already there.
Also, while I was gone, we switched to a new computer software program which
will allow us to enter more orders at once, thereby reducing your time on
the phone. Still, your best bet is to check pricing and order via the
website rather than calling, since it is fast and free. Jerry will be
devoting full time to processing these orders quickly, and all server
changes etc. are now completed so there will be no delays. Responses to
price quote requests, etc., however, may be a bit slow for another week or
so.
Between the new website, new software, additional phone lines, new
employees, etc., I am doing everything I can to respond to your needs.
Sometimes temporary inconviences occur when these new systems are installed,
but in the long run they are good for everyone. The new website database is
a perfect example of that, and it's only in it's first version. If it ever
seems that I am less than 100 percent responsive to your needs, please
understand that it's never from lack of caring about my customers. We all
are really doing our best to service the Vanagon community in the way that
we'd like to be treated ourselves as Vanagon owners (and we all are Vanagon
owners). While we're not perfect, I think we try harder than just about
anyone else servicing the Vanagon community, and at much better prices to
boot. As fast as we're growing, we're still pretty new at this. As we keep
doing it, we'll keep improving. Please consider it from this perspective,
and do continue to offer your suggestions and feedback. Comments can be
directed to sales@busdepot.com if you'd prefer to keep them off-list.
Thanks,
Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
http://www.busdepot.com
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