[rocketrob]

Let me start by saying the intent of what I wrote was not an attempt to hurt anyone's feelings or start up such a big rowe.
I only said what I did sort of "playing devils' advocate and hopefully explain why oliver didn't get quite the reception he though he'd get.

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

Rocketrob, i disagree. The points about needing the regular customers spending big bucks to survive is true and all well and good but just because he is a new customer looking for a small part thats not exactly common doesnt mean the staff have to treat him like that, yes he may not be important to there business but it still gives them no right to treat him like that.

I hear what you're saying, but at the same time I've heard these sorts of rants on discussion boards before. And thus I have a feeling that his sentiments were overblown, possibly or not, but I was just weighing in own 2-cents worth.

Originally Posted by Michael.

and like he said, he not only won't be recommending the shop to his friends/relatives, he will be advising them 'to keep away' - which is fair in my opinion. That will surely lose the shop a few potential 'larger spenders'
Plus, I believe he was contemplating buying a kit after building his car anyway. I doubt he will purchase that from the shop in question

Well, honestly, since he'd already been involved in the hobby previously and was now supposedly "re-testing the waters to gauge his own potential continued interest - and thus should have had some semblance of understand whether he would or he woulnd't it's my feelings that he chose this route to get off on the cheap.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, yet at the same time I doubt there's any expectation that he'll be plunging back in anytime soon.

Originally Posted by Spoolio

Bloody hell mate, do you live in Royston Vasey by any chance? If so and I'm passing and want to buy some Polo's from the newsagents (who will have never seen me before, will never see me again and are selling me something of small value), are they likely to say "this is a local shop for local people, we'll have none of your kind here".
I think you are totally missing the point. Business' exist to make a profit out of customers yes BUT, if this chap was the only person at the counter - and didn't have a queue of people behind him waving £20's in the air wanting stuff "off the shelf" - what is so hard about having a rummage for a bit of non-standard stuff. In that situation ANY money they can take is better than none, its not a waste of time if they are just sat on their arses looking out of the window anyway is it?

As I alluded to before, it wrote this not intending on offending anyone, no I don't live in Royston Vasey, and I wasn't trying to pick a fight or have one picked with me.

My only point was and is that hobby shops, as a general rule, struggle to get by - and if they aren't selling items of consequence, with a greater margin of profit, they oftentimes end up closing their doors since the profit margin on little bits is just that (little scraps that don't pay the rent let alone pay the wages of someone to man the counter).

I guess it takes me back to the day long ago when I first forayed into this hobby and attempted to do something similar to Oliver and I remember the rather cool reception I received at the local hobby shop on my initial visit. Those cool feelings changed little by little over time as I kept returning, but never really changed until I watzed in and laid my money on the counter for a new kit months later. Suddenly I was the hobby shop guy's pal.
So I asked him one day what changed, and he said, "before you were nickel and dimeing me to death. Now you're a customer of mine. Before you were a customer of someone else because you didn't buy your car here, and all you were looking for was to get my time and expertise for little or nothing." Going on to explain that it's sort of like buying a real car at a dealership or a used car lot. If you go for service; driving up in your car you got somewhere else you get one level of service, whereas if you bought the car at that dealership you get the royal treatment.

That's all I'm saying. I'm not justifying rude behavior or anything, but jsut trying to say that there's two ways of looking at things.