wphamilton

If I may chime in even though I don't have a folding bike, it's interesting to me because I used to do quite a bit of internet retail. I was supplied by wholesalers and competed against wholesale direct sales, and sometimes it was the same wholesaler.

I never minded the competition because there are differences. The wholesale model regarding moving the product is geared towards business to business transactions, very streamlined with little if any resources devoted to projecting the warm fuzzies. The customer knows what he wants, orders and pays on the wholesaler's terms, returns are limited to specific delineated reasons, no after-sale hand-holding. True retail is a different story and it takes a LOT of resources devoted to the different procedures for the wholesaler or distributor. There have been a few to pull it off, but most don't even try.

The customer complaining needs to realize that he's dealing direct and isn't entitled to the treatment he probably expects from retailers. I think that they can quickly become more trouble than they're worth to the direct source and if so I'd have nothing bad to say about the wholesaler firing the customer.

If someone is attempting an actual retail model on the other hand, and the customers reasonably expect retail transactions, then the above doesn't really apply. The customer still isn't "always right" but is entitled to minimum standards of performance, and service begins where those standards end.