kingston 

Perhaps it's the medium, but that hasn't really come across so far.

What is it that you were not sugar coating exactly? All I took away was a rant about customer service that presumably had nothing to do with Wabi followed by a personal attack on someone who pointed out with an amusing gif your obvious lack of personal experience with the topic being discussed.

stasher1

My "rant" about customer service was in response to these posts:


Apparently scrodzilla thinks it's acceptable to make a customer wait 6 days for a response to an email. Maybe that's acceptable in his world, but that kind of response time doesn't fly in any other industry.

I understand. You're going to back him up because he's a regular and I'm an outsider...but an arrogant prick is an arrogant prick.

TMonk

O rly?

stasher1

Name a customer-driven industry where a 6 day email response time is acceptable.

kingston 

I still don't understand what you were not sugar coating. Had you even heard of wabi before you contributed to this thread? Bought anything from them?

stasher1

Yes, I had heard of Wabi and no, I haven't bought anything from them.

If they can't answer an email within a reasonable time frame, I'd scratch them off my list and move on to another supplier. I buy/sell commercial fitness equipment as a hobby and side-business, and wouldn't tolerate that from any supplier. Why should I, or anyone else, put up with that from a bicycle company?

kingston 

I have bought a lot of stuff from wabi and have exchanged dozens of emails. Their customer service is excellent. The OP confirmed this with his own experience. It's really not helpful to badmouth retailers that you have no personal experience with and then attack everyone on the thread when they point it out.

SquidPuppet

My comment below is just a general comment about all vendors, not Wabi.

If I emailed a vendor with, "Inane and tedious question about trivial subject.", and it took them a while to respond, I'd be OK with that. They have bigger fish to fry.

If I emailed a vendor with, "I want to buy some of your products, please contact me.", and It took them a few days to respond, that would send me shopping elsewhere.

It's been my experience that vendors that are slow on the draw to a potential sale have been a nightmare to deal with if you have an issue after the sale.

TMonk

I agree with that @SquidPuppet. I run an internal Analytical Services business at the company I work for (I'm a chemist on the characterization/QC side), and get some really stupid questions that aren't directly linked to a sale all the time. I'm at a small company so my plate is always overflowing with work as well.

I've developed some canned responses and references, contacts and collaborators within the industry that I can quickly refer people to, so fortunately I can still deal with them in a polite and timely manner. "I wish you luck in your analysis" is something I end a lot of dumb inquiries with .

Still, if you can be polite and take a little time to educate a customer, it can result in some references, trust in your expertise or even direct sales down the road.

Scrodzilla

Where did I say we make our customers wait 6 days for a response? I simply offered you a job.

stasher1

You're 100% correct, you never said you make your customers wait 6 days for a response. You did, however, tell the OP that he's "not going to die if you wait a few more days to hear back from them", after he had already waited three days for a response. This just something you and I are not going to see eye-to-eye on. I am, admittedly, not a very patient person but I don't appreciate being put "on the back burner" because someone doesn't feel like my question is worthy of a timely response. For me, customer service is far more important than price.

As I'm quite sure you know, there are no 8 hour days when you own/run a small business. Sometimes you have to answer seemingly inane questions well after "normal" business hours if you're too busy to get it done during the day. I don't own the company I work for (hell, I'm not even mgt), but I still have emails I have to respond to on my own time. This is just something we have to do on occasion to keep products moving out the door and money flowing in the right direction.

Scrodzilla

I still think you're an ass.

stasher1

Likewise.


At least we're seeing eye-to-eye on something. I guess that's progress, of sorts.

Orchestra

Just a follow up to this thread. Wabi contacted me on Labor day, we figured out what I wanted and placed an order earlier this morning!

Scrodzilla

Wait...so being patient actually worked out? Weird...

kingston 

Did they build you a wheelset with black hubs?

Orchestra

No, we went a different route with their wheel set and black spokes.