Bass Direct

[Ed_S]

3 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

If you've two clocks, and one says 11.43 and one says 11.57, what time is it?

 

Time to ring the speaking clock? 😉 

 

...is that even a thing these days?

[dmccombe7]

I usually check the height of the sun. 😂

Dave

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I usually check the height of the sun. 😂

Dave

I’m sure you mean the angle at which the Sun is to your position on Earth as it rotates through it’s elliptical orbit around it 😂

[dmccombe7]

8 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I’m sure you mean the angle at which the Sun is to your position on Earth as it rotates through it’s elliptical orbit around it 😂

Not in my flat earth world 😂

[BigRedX]

8 hours ago, Wally Gogg said:

How about picking up the phone and speaking to them ? Always helpful . And its not beyond the wit of man to do the conversion yourself if you are that bothered . Just bought a bass from them and decided to go in person . Without going into details , there were problems with the bass that were nothing to do with the guys at BD . 12 hours from finding the problem to picking up new bass , strings , straploks etc . And they did a great deal for me . It's easy to criticise . They will have my business for a long while . The measure of any company is how they deal with it when things go wrong . Hats of to Mark and the chaps from a happy customer .

 

The problem with a telephone conversation is that there is no record of it having taken place unless both parties record it (which has its own separate set of privacy problems). That's the last thing you want when trying to resolve a problem. Form personal experience with BD I would want a full record of everything that has been done for any order over £25.00. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a bass (or have a problem with one resolved) from just a phone call.

 

As someone who runs their own business my position has always been (and most of you on here will probably be sick of me saying this) that if you are not prepared to deal with your customers by a particular means of communication, then DON'T PUBLICISE IT! All my customer's emails get answered within 24 hours of them sending it, and usually a lot sooner; even if all I am able to say to a particularly complicated request, is that I am currently working on it and will be back in touch as soon as I have the required information to answer them in full. I have no sympathy, no time, and no business to give to companies who cannot respond in a timely manner using a method of communication that they have published.

[leroydiamond]

17 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The problem with a telephone conversation is that there is no record of it having taken place unless both parties record it (which has its own separate set of privacy problems). That's the last thing you want when trying to resolve a problem. Form personal experience with BD I would want a full record of everything that has been done for any order over £25.00. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a bass (or have a problem with one resolved) from just a phone call.

 

As someone who runs their own business my position has always been (and most of you on here will probably be sick of me saying this) that if you are not prepared to deal with your customers by a particular means of communication, then DON'T PUBLICISE IT! All my customer's emails get answered within 24 hours of them sending it, and usually a lot sooner; even if all I am able to say to a particularly complicated request, is that I am currently working on it and will be back in touch as soon as I have the required information to answer them in full. I have no sympathy, no time, and no business to give to companies who cannot respond in a timely manner using a method of communication that they have published.

+1. I am currently in the market for a piece of hifi and asked the supplier some questions via ebay regarding the item. Days have gone by and by not replying, they have lost the sale. It gives me a taste as to how issues might be resolved, or indeed not, should there be concerns about the item going forward. 

[Woodinblack]

43 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

As someone who runs their own business my position has always been (and most of you on here will probably be sick of me saying this) that if you are not prepared to deal with your customers by a particular means of communication, then DON'T PUBLICISE IT!

 

100 times this - get so fed up with listening to people say 'oh well if they don't respond to your email, just phone them'. If they don't respond to my communication via a channel they have provided, then they don't want my business, simple as that. Maybe to be sure I will email them again. I will not phone, I will almost never phone.

[Crusoe]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Not in my flat earth world 😂

Flat wound world, surely? 😄

[BassTractor]

33 minutes ago, leroydiamond said:

+1. I am currently in the market for a piece of hifi and asked the supplier some questions via ebay regarding the item. Days have gone by and by not replying, they have lost the sale. It gives me a taste as to how issues might be resolved, or indeed not, should there be concerns about the item going forward. 

Slightly playing the devil's advocate here, maybe the supplier is working hard taking care of their existing customers, and prioritizes that work above answering one of the gazillions of e-mail questions they receive - often of a quite entitled and/or frivolous character or the result of drugs or alcohol, and most of the time not leading to a contract.
In several lines of business, typically selling goods to end-users, you can't do without e-mail, but a certain percentage of "customers" will shoot off mails that shouldn't be answered, or not answered in full.
The business will have to wade and decide, and will unavoidably make mistakes when doing so.

That's not to take BD's side. While Mark has been good with me on every occasion, I read the negative reports with growing sadness-not-anger. BD has a problem, and it stems not only from choices Mark has made, but also from stuff that was mentioned in earlier threads, but that I'm not willing to repeat. People in need of finding out could use BC's search function. Sorry for being cryptic.

[BigRedX]

3 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

Slightly playing the devil's advocate here, maybe the supplier is working hard taking care of their existing customers, and prioritizes that work above answering one of the gazillions of e-mail questions they receive - often of a quite entitled and/or frivolous character or the result of drugs or alcohol, and most of the time not leading to a contract.
In several lines of business, typically selling goods to end-users, you can't do without e-mail, but a certain percentage of "customers" will shoot off mails that shouldn't be answered, or not answered in full.

 

And from the PoV of a business owner every customer is equally important, and you simply never know when an initial enquiry one day will lead to them being you biggest and most important customer a year down the line. That's certainly been the case for me on more than one occasion, and why I ensure that every email gets a reply with in 24 hours and ideally within the hour, even if it's just to say I'm looking into it.

[leroydiamond]

1 hour ago, BassTractor said:

Slightly playing the devil's advocate here, maybe the supplier is working hard taking care of their existing customers, and prioritizes that work above answering one of the gazillions of e-mail questions they receive - often of a quite entitled and/or frivolous character or the result of drugs or alcohol, and most of the time not leading to a contract.
In several lines of business, typically selling goods to end-users, you can't do without e-mail, but a certain percentage of "customers" will shoot off mails that shouldn't be answered, or not answered in full.
The business will have to wade and decide, and will unavoidably make mistakes when doing so.

That's not to take BD's side. While Mark has been good with me on every occasion, I read the negative reports with growing sadness-not-anger. BD has a problem, and it stems not only from choices Mark has made, but also from stuff that was mentioned in earlier threads, but that I'm not willing to repeat. People in need of finding out could use BC's search function. Sorry for being cryptic.

The business I refer to is based in  Germany and if it was not for Brexit, I would be sourcing the item in the UK. Over the years, I have had 100% satisfaction with UK businesses in terms of communication, VFM,  etc.

 

The item i am in the market costs a  significant sum of money, and the questions asked of them are far from rocket science. If they are up to their eyeballs, the least they could do is convey that to potential customers like me, with an automatic response  that my query will be dealt with in due course. That does not even require the press of a button. First impressions can be everything to potential customers.

Edited October 14, 2022 by leroydiamond

[Woodinblack]

57 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

Slightly playing the devil's advocate here, maybe the supplier is working hard taking care of their existing customers, and prioritizes that work above answering one of the gazillions of e-mail questions they receive - often of a quite entitled and/or frivolous character or the result of drugs or alcohol, and most of the time not leading to a contract.

 

Thats fine, they don't want my business, and that is their choice. If they can't handle the email contact level, probably best they remove that as an official contact method from their site.

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, leroydiamond said:

+1. I am currently in the market for a piece of hifi and asked the supplier some questions via ebay regarding the item. Days have gone by and by not replying, they have lost the sale. It gives me a taste as to how issues might be resolved, or indeed not, should there be concerns about the item going forward. 

why via eBay rather than direct? 
I used to work for a eBay based seller... the email portal really isn't easy as you get a deluge of messages for different stages of a sale

[BassTractor]

5 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

And from the PoV of a business owner every customer is equally important, and you simply never know when an initial enquiry one day will lead to them being you biggest and most important customer a year down the line. That's certainly been the case for me on more than one occasion, and why I ensure that every email gets a reply with in 24 hours and ideally within the hour, even if it's just to say I'm looking into it.

Nah.
95% of customers are OK, and they will get their answers either in the shop, by phone or by e-mail, and everything is fine and dandy.
The last 5% though can ruin your whole business unless you're careful. I'm still talking about everyday consumers  -  not B2B or similar.
In a local hi-fi shop the percentage of tyre kickers was so high (my estimate is roughly 25%) that the shop owner had to wisely wade; in my own line of work (mostly high-end sea kayaks, but locally we also catered for beginners), the percentage of loss-generating customers was felt to be well below 5%.

Sfunny you should mention this about an initial enquiry possibly leading to them one day being your biggest and most important customer, as your words are nearly verbatim what I said to my wife before starting our last firm. I wanted to also cater for people who only asked for information, cater for undecisive types who use literally 40 of your hours before maybe buying ... the works.

BUT: not cater to everyone all of the time.
Some examples then from the kayaking firm:
- a boarding school harshly demands we set up an offer for 15 cheap kayaks as well as a maintenance plan and budget. It's obvious to me the school wants to use my firm and my time so the school is better prepared when talking to the next firm, who sell enormous amounts of cheap kayaks cheaply. No go.
- a customer living close to my brand colleague in Sweden (who can deliver the same kayak well under my Norwegian cost price) phoning me in the early hours on a Sunday and demands I spend several hours on giving her all the info she wants in Norwegian before she heads off to Sweden where that shop is open on Sundays. No go. (Or rather: Go that once, but I never repeated it.)
- an anonymous, quite entitled, e-mail of which the full text literally (but in Norwegian) is:
"<Competitor's boat> vs. <your boat>. Advantages and disadvantages. Discuss." No go. Pick up the phone and call me, and we'll analyse your needs, and after that, if I think you're best off with the competitor's boat (if I can without having seen you paddle), then I'll send you to that competitor.
- most regular enquiries, including time consumers and people just after info: Go.

It's not as if we hated customers. I only wish to express that the coin has different sides, not just the side of the customer-to-be, who can also sometimes act quite entitledly.

In general, these things are not black and white, and your previous post seemed. to me. to describe that they are. In case: they may indeed be that way in your line of work, but then I don't get the impression everyday consumers are your main customer base.



 

Edited October 14, 2022 by BassTractor

[leroydiamond]

58 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

why via eBay rather than direct? 
I used to work for a eBay based seller... the email portal really isn't easy as you get a deluge of messages for different stages of a sale

I have no idea how efficient the ebay portal may be, but I have always had prompt responses to enquiries over the years on ebay purchases. I take your point and will communicate directly with the dealer and see what is the outcome is

[BassTractor]

53 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Thats fine, they don't want my business, and that is their choice. If they can't handle the email contact level, probably best they remove that as an official contact method from their site.

What if they handle 95% of the e-mail contact level, and (well-chosen or misguidedly) don't handle the last 5%?
All I'm really saying is that things aren't black and white, and that there's no absolute in an unanswered mail being a sure sign of bad warranty response later.
Of course, if you get no answer, it's your prerogative to not buy there, and I might respond likewise.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

And from the PoV of a business owner every customer is equally important, and you simply never know when an initial enquiry one day will lead to them being you biggest and most important customer a year down the line. That's certainly been the case for me on more than one occasion, and why I ensure that every email gets a reply with in 24 hours and ideally within the hour, even if it's just to say I'm looking into it.

Can i ask what PoV means. I've not come across it. Just curious ?

Dave

[BassTractor]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Can i ask what PoV means. I've not come across it. Just curious ?

Dave

 

Piece of Vhit.
You're welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Point of view)

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Can i ask what PoV means. I've not come across it. Just curious ?

Dave

 

'Point of View'

[dmccombe7]

8 minutes ago, leroydiamond said:

I have no idea how efficient the ebay portal may be, but I have always had prompt responses to enquiries over the years on ebay purchases. I take your point and will communicate directly with the dealer and see what is the outcome is

You are lucky i've had to get ebay to step in on several occasions to get a response.

I do use ebay and Amazon a lot and its probbaly 1-2% of messages i send.

If i email BD i do it directly because of the ebay delays in messaging i've experienced but to be honest i generally go direct to BD website rather than ebay as i've found talking with Mark he will offer me a deal on some occasions.

I do worry that i see some not very good experiences being highlighted tho, whether that would ever put me off buying i very much doubt it as he has a good choice of gear IMO.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

5 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

 

Piece of Vhit.
You're welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Point of view)

I was about to ask what that meant and just caught your comment lower down the page

its obvious when explained 😂

Dave

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, BassTractor said:

What if they handle 95% of the e-mail contact level, and (well-chosen or misguidedly) don't handle the last 5%?

 

Depends on the 95%. If I am in the 95% then I am happy, if I am in the 5% then obviously they don't want my trade and I go somewhere else.

 

My wife runs and online shop, I know timewasters, who generate a large amount of the traffic, so it isn't a linear 95% of traffic you deal with, if you feel that something is not going to pan out (you could be wrong obviously).

 

 

1 hour ago, BassTractor said:

All I'm really saying is that things aren't black and white, and that there's no absolute in an unanswered mail being a sure sign of bad warranty response later.

 

Not saying there is, but it doesn't bode well and there is an element of "If they don't care before I give them money, they sure aren't going to care once they have it"

[BassTractor]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Depends on the 95%. If I am in the 95% then I am happy, if I am in the 5% then obviously they don't want my trade and I go somewhere else.

 

My wife runs and online shop, I know timewasters, who generate a large amount of the traffic, so it isn't a linear 95% of traffic you deal with, if you feel that something is not going to pan out (you could be wrong obviously).

 

 

 

Not saying there is, but it doesn't bode well and there is an element of "If they don't care before I give them money, they sure aren't going to care once they have it"

Yeah, I understand and respect that there's "an element of".
My original response was to someone else's post, one I felt made a more b&w statement, and I did say I was slightly playing the devil's advocate.

IME you're right about the non-linearity. In our firm we chose to cater for many of them, but of course it comes at a cost: reduced revenue. For some firms this is ruining, and they're well-advised to be very mindful.


Again, lest we lose focus, BD do have "a problem".
Maybe they're unaware, maybe they wish to change it, and maybe they live well with it.

[Woodinblack]

24 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

Again, lest we lose focus, BD do have "a problem".
Maybe they're unaware, maybe they wish to change it, and maybe they live well with it.

 

Very much agreed, it is their business, and they seem to be doing fine, big fish in a small pond and all that, and they are a valuable resource to have, but it is their choice how they run it.

[Munurmunuh]

On 09/10/2022 at 20:33, Ricky Rioli said:

Is this what's going to happen to me? Buy a lightweight bass and receive one that isn't? Who knows 🤷

 

But the part-exchange experience really was very pleasant. Very fair, and no messing.

 

As it happened, there were things about the bass that I didn't like, so that I didn't even get round to thinking about the weight before returning it to them.

 

As with the part-exchange discussion, returning the bass and having the reversed transaction was smooth and 100% bs-free.