[Team No Idea]

Originally Posted by spud31

I read this with some intrest as this sounds like a normal saturday for us.
Very very few people who use non specialist model shops are racers so normally its people trying to but a part for an item they dont know any info for. ill take you through a normal convo,

C: I need a pullstart for my petrol car
ME : Do u know any info make model etc?
C: its a blue subaru
ME: Ok is it tamiya,thunder tiger do they ring a bell?
C: Dunno just want a pullstart
ME: IS it possible to bring car in so we can sell you correct part?
C: Your useless ( followed by barrage of abuse)

This happens every weekend an gets fustrating as we are here to help, so whilst i agree the customer experence people here have had is not good enough, most shops do try but 4 or 5 hours of the above can take its toll

Also on the discounting by online shops on items, this will kill local model shops eventually as some do absolutly silly prices, not just car stuff but model aircraft and heli mostly so they cannot be making any money on the product. This devalues the product and TBH they normally do not give the back up if theres is a problem which leads to the good old LHS to do it for the importer. We cannot survive as an industry without your custom no matter how big or small.

This is a really big problem with Trains and Scalextric especially since the Xmas rush after the James May programs.
A lady who had bought her son a Scalextric set from Amazon couldnt understand why that when it didnt work that we wouldnt repair or replace it. Its not our responsibility.
We are a Hornby service dealer but we cannot xchange items not sold by us when in reality she only saved 5 to 10 pounds.

Just remember if you have to take something back because its blown up or youve broken it be honest if you think its your fault, were not silly an will normall respect an honest person and help them a lot more.

Serman over lol

Just to throw in my 2 pence worth, that sounds like a day in our shop too!
Firstly we have massive problems with discounted motorcycles on the net. We are only a small Kawasaki dealer but we have been here for 30 years and i'd say a good 80% of our customers are loyal, repeat customers . We have to do our best to offer a spot on after sales service at all times to everyone especially as some bigger dealers sell the bikes cheaper (at a loss sometimes depending on how desperate they are) than we can buy them in from Kawasaki! We get the same customers buying bikes elsewhere and then whinging at us if it develops a fault and we can't squeeze it through the workshop instantly, at the end of the day, our customers come first! That said we do our best to get anyones bike sorted asap. Trying to get new customers through the door is very hard especially as we cannot match the prices and in the currect financial climate.

We also get the same thing of people asking for things like spark plugs for their "red bike", not knowing what make or model they have. Again we do our best to sort it out, we cant afford to turn custom away, but here is a limit to how far we would/can go!

I think what im trying to say here is there needs to be a balance The dealer definately needs a certain amout of information to get the correct part for the job however in this case all the chap wanted was turn buckles, it shouldn't be that hard really, if they couldn't help him they could have at least pointed him in the direction of a shop that could in a polite and friendly way.