<VV> Let the Buyer Beware

[corvairs]

Now remember that I am speaking from an unusual point of view - I'm a 
vendor. What would you do if a one-time customer buys a product, doesn't 
know how to use it, calls up and yells at everyone he talks to, is rude 
and abusive (because of his own ignorance?), refuses to accept that a 
"return" policy is not a "refund" policy, returns the parts and they 
look like they've been hammered on and are completely unsaleable to 
someone else then blackmails you because you won't send the money back?

This type of customer makes doing business harder and more costly for 
all the other customers. The example you quote below is often practiced 
by companies with a much greater markup than your average Corvair 
vendor. There is room to absorb unreasonable returns and refunds. But 
let me give you another thing to ponder.

Our business is 31 years old this month. Of the literally hundreds of 
businesses we've dealt with for suppleirs in that time, virtually NONE 
of them are still in business. Of course companies like Federal Mogul 
are still there - but not even close to the same ownership or 
configuaration they were 31 years ago (they've also filed chapter 11 
during the time as well).

Over the years we've give refunds and exchanges to "good" customers who 
send us back parts they have destroyed, didn't buy from us etc etc etc. 
The past 3 or so years of recession it has gotten worse and some of 
those customers have gotten very belligerant if we didn't just grin and 
eat it.

The consumer fantasy world says "The customer is always right".  Is the 
customer who shoplifts always right? Is the customer who buys with a 
rubber check always right? Is the customer who is dishonest, rude and 
abusive to my employees always right?  At the Dallas National many years 
ago a "gentleman" loudly accused us of "cheating him" because we had 
"charged him 120.00 for two sets of door weatherstrips" and didn't put 
them in his package. he actually went up and down the vendor room  
almost at the top of his lungs proclaiming this fact. I had been out of 
the room when he did this, and returned to hear him berating Linda and 
almost reducing her to tears. I very sternly told him he had better get 
his facts straight and that there were much better ways to handle the 
problem. LATER the vendor came back and meekly admitted (in an 
oh-so-quiet a voice) that he had made a mistake - the weatherstrips had 
been left up in his room. Is the customer ALWAYS right? Bullshit. 
(Excuse my candor)

By the way - despite his loud proclaimations, Dallas was a record setter 
for us in sales at the time.

When a vendor screws up we need to make it good. It's our obligation. 
Even though we have little to no control over what our suppliers send 
us, we're still ultimatly responsible (MOST manufacturers will not take 
back merchandise from us). But we're not here to be abused either. If 
that costs me some sales from the few customers who will only feel 
comfortable in dealing with vendors that they can take full advantage 
of, then that's fine. Life is too short.

This market is somewhat unusual because over the past 31 years I've 
gotten to know MANY of you personally. Anyone can post anything they 
want on VV or elsewhere but, fortunatly for all of us, there is a 
reality far beyond the virtual kind. Linda and I appreciate the many 
years of support you have shown us and we will do our best to live up to 
your expectations. Lon

www.corvairunderground.com

UltraMonzaWest@aol.com wrote:

>>When I worked at a parts counter, long long ago and far away, it was  the 
>>store policy that the customer was right, even when they were wrong. I saw  
>>parts 
>>returned or exchanged, knowing full well that they didn't come from our  
>>store. The object of this policy was for the customer to leave the store 
>>with a  
>>positive attitude and would therefore be more likely to return to spend more 
>> 
>>money.