On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 10:58:59 -0400, "Locutus"
wrote:


"George Max" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:27:21 -0400, "Frank Arthur"
wrote:


"Tim Taylor" wrote in message
...

"George Max" wrote in message
...
On 17 Oct 2006 09:00:45 -0700, "warbler"
wrote:

So I need a $3.00 part for my jointer or else it is dead. Order it
online from Delta. You would think thing they would not charge $8 for
shipping since the part weights about 1 ounce. Just annoyed and wanted
to complain to someone.


Same here. I ordered from the DeWalt/Delta/Porter Cable parts people.
A simple o-ring, 99 cents. About as much as you paid for shipping. I
don't remember exactly - $8? $10? for shipping. It came in a very
large box considering that it was only an o-ring. Crushed. Of
course. This is UPS after all.

They could have put it in a #10 business envelope and stuck a 37 cent
stamp on it and been to my house in 3 days instead of the 10 it took
UPS.

And on top of that, I ordered a clip for my drum sander from the Delta
repair place. It was shipped from Delta wherever to the repair place. I
picked it up there in person and still had to pay shipping from Delta to
the repair center! How fair is that???.

Depends. How much did Delta pay for shipping the part from Delta
distribution to the Delta repair center?


That's an internal Delta business decision how to get it from Delta
location A to Delta B. That's the cost of doing business. Not the
customers concern.

You don't think that you, the customers, pays for ALL costs of doing
business?



There's a serious customer relations problem here in how they bill
this. When they do it this way they make themselves look as if
they're very nearly giving you the small part for free, it's the
shipping they're really making their money on.

Sometimes perception is the problem.

So when you point out that customer always pays, yes, I agree. The
problem now is how this is presented. The manner of it's billing and
the hard ass attitude of "take or leave it" kills customer loyalty.

My own personal experiences over the past 50 years leave me with a
mental list of places I just won't do business with. Yet there are
others that do the right thing (however that's defined) and get my
business over and over. Those people are the ones that don't leave me
with a feeling that I've been screwed as I walk out the door or
confirm my online deal.

So in the end, in addition to good business sense, it'd pay to also
have good people skills.