On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:04:05 -0800, Oren wrote:

On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 14:23:12 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

I am proud I am a effective complainer and rarely lose a issue.....

If more people complained loudly customer service would improve
dramatically.......

Just don't complain while you are upset or mad. Take a break, collect
your thoughts, relax and make an honest presentation of the facts.

I've listened to thousands and thousands of complaints. The louder a
person gets, the calmer I get. It brings down the stillness.

I found that tactic to be extremely effective when airlines screw up.
When I was flying to the left coast regularly I managed to snag a free
upgrade to first class on one leg of the flight on almost every trip.
If *anything* went wrong I just asked if they'd comp me an upgrade.
Since something almost always goes wrong somewhere, it became a
regular thing. Others, usually whiny, demanding, liberals, were lucky
to get a seat at all. Once I did have to fly through Chicago to get
from NC to VT but the ORD=BTV connection was 1st class. The FA
apologized for not getting me a 1st class seat on the RDH-ORD leg. ;-)

On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:22:56 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Nov 12, 6:56*pm, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 11/8/2012 4:31 PM, bob haller wrote:



Well it broke on a tuesday, has been well over a week, and latest
prediction is friday, thats 10 days. without hot water what happened
to over nite shipping and warranty calls come first?

I suggest I go along and talk to the actual sears store manager for
monroeville PA, this store is scheduled to close.

So the store manager will shortly be losing his or her job.



I want to be honest with the store manager, you didnt have parts in
stock you are short repair people adding days to calls. If you dont
give a complete refund I have a friend in the media, and Sears will be
featured, not in a good way.....

Since the store manager is shortly going to be unemployed, I doubt
s/he will much care.

Is that what you want?

Sears was bought out by a hedge fund guy who combined them with Kmart
into a holdings company. He has absolutely zero interest in growing
retail operations. He's taking what profits he's getting from them
(Kmart is doing extremely well)

Agree with most of what you're saying with a coupe of
exceptions. I don't believe Kmart is doing extremely well.
It's not doing very well at all. It's just that it's been somewhat
profitable, while Sears is far worse.

You're being kind to Sears. The Store where I lived just closed and
there isn't one in this corner of Atlanta at all (there is one about
20mi. North, but it's a PITA to get to). I did buy a Sears lawn
tractor last Spring because it was a much better deal than anything
else around. We'll see if I can get parts for it for the time I own
it.


And it's not entirely owned by the hedge fund. It's
publically traded and the hedge fund holds just over
50% of it, they do control how it's run.

The Kmart here is a real mess. I rarely go there, even
though it's close. They always have long lines at the
checkouts. I was there last Xmas and the cash register
system, which the cashier told me was 25 years old,
was having serious problems. The system sure looked
at least 25 years old. After waiting in line for 10 mins,
they finally decided they had to reboot the whole system.
And get this. They then have to bring up each register
one at a time, a process that we were told would take
at least a half hour. And then I had to suggest to the
manager, "How about if you give us bags to put our
stuff in and we can leave it and come back later to
pay for it?" Once I did that, most people took the
leave the bag option. I've seen the cash register
problem on a couple other occasions too.

I don't remember the last time I was in a KMart. It must be fifteen
years back.
...

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:17:21 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

gregz wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:22:56 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:



The Kmart here is a real mess. I rarely go there, even
though it's close. They always have long lines at the
checkouts.

The K Mart in our town never has long lines. They can barely get
enough people in there to make a short line. The only reason I ever
go there is to buy something I know is "name brand" quality, not cheap
China crap that most of their merchandise is. The advantage is, the
Wal Mart parking lot will be mobbed, the K Mart lot and store is empty
so quick in and out.


I get my prescriptions at kmart, as well as most of my clothing. Never
really crowded. Also often get pizza in the store store. I don't think
there is any food at my walmart. I learned to like the old walmart, and
quickly learned to hate the new.
BUT, I bought a 120 ahr battery at walmart, and equivalent at kmart cost
$140 vs walmart $90.

Greg

I hate walmart inconsistency. They carry stuff. I shopped at walmart and
all they had were gas containers. Kmart had water, diesel, kerosene, gas.
Stuff you should carry, vs stuff they want to carry.

Walmart has water containers but in the kitchen/home section, not in
the automotive section. ?!?

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:44:53 -0500, z wrote:

On Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:04:05 -0800, Oren wrote:

On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 14:23:12 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

I am proud I am a effective complainer and rarely lose a issue.....

If more people complained loudly customer service would improve
dramatically.......

Just don't complain while you are upset or mad. Take a break, collect
your thoughts, relax and make an honest presentation of the facts.

I've listened to thousands and thousands of complaints. The louder a
person gets, the calmer I get. It brings down the stillness.

I found that tactic to be extremely effective when airlines screw up.
When I was flying to the left coast regularly I managed to snag a free
upgrade to first class on one leg of the flight on almost every trip.
If *anything* went wrong I just asked if they'd comp me an upgrade.
Since something almost always goes wrong somewhere, it became a
regular thing. Others, usually whiny, demanding, liberals, were lucky
to get a seat at all. Once I did have to fly through Chicago to get
from NC to VT but the ORD=BTV connection was 1st class. The FA
apologized for not getting me a 1st class seat on the RDH-ORD leg. ;-)


What I learned about complaints and the people that complain, is that
I may think the complaint is trivial. But to that person it may be the
MOST important thing in their life at that moment. Listen and give
advice or direction as long as the person was respectful.

wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:17:21 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

gregz wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:22:56 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:



The Kmart here is a real mess. I rarely go there, even
though it's close. They always have long lines at the
checkouts.

The K Mart in our town never has long lines. They can barely get
enough people in there to make a short line. The only reason I ever
go there is to buy something I know is "name brand" quality, not cheap
China crap that most of their merchandise is. The advantage is, the
Wal Mart parking lot will be mobbed, the K Mart lot and store is empty
so quick in and out.


I get my prescriptions at kmart, as well as most of my clothing. Never
really crowded. Also often get pizza in the store store. I don't think
there is any food at my walmart. I learned to like the old walmart, and
quickly learned to hate the new.
BUT, I bought a 120 ahr battery at walmart, and equivalent at kmart cost
$140 vs walmart $90.

Greg

I hate walmart inconsistency. They carry stuff. I shopped at walmart and
all they had were gas containers. Kmart had water, diesel, kerosene, gas.
Stuff you should carry, vs stuff they want to carry.

Walmart has water containers but in the kitchen/home section, not in
the automotive section. ?!?

Ok, but I did ask someone there.

If for some reason I need to go in and get cleaner, I need to go 1/2 mile
to other end in groceries, instead of hardware. No sense.

Let's see. Bought bed at sears this year and got glasses. Top rated in
eyeglasses. Has nice bed section you can actually lay in many beds to test.
Some stores you can't do this. Good price with sale prices. I just don't
want o loose sears.

A few years ago my kmart burnt down. I was really surprised they rebuilt,
but was probably insurance covered. With walmart, SAMs, target, Costco,
kmart suffers, as well as our mall. Mist malls are suffering. Still got two
two of the best stores, sears and macy's, for looking around. Oh, penny's
too, but I just don't go there anymore.

Greg

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 05:56:55 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:57:44 -0500, wrote:

On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:28:43 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:27:34 -0500, wrote:



What I dislike most about the big "W" is they will target a product
and guarantee nobody will undersell them - so soon the only place to
buy it is at the big "W". A short time later, they find they are
loosing too much money on it - or the supplier finds they cannot
afford to supply it at the price the big "W" will pay them for it - so
it is no longer supplied - and it is no longer available in the
genereal markrtplace.

The suppliers make dumb decisions too.
Vlasic pickles
http://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know

versus Snapper mower
http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man...id-no-wal-mart
Yup, but when Walmart has effectively killed your market, it's hard
to say no.

Everyone's used to buying, say, Vlasic pickles for $.79 when the
realistic price is $139, and it's hard to build a market outside of
Walmart at even a bargan $129 - what's a company going to do???


I don't blame Wal Mart, all Vlasic had to do was say "no" and refuse
to sell at a lower price.

A few years back, one of our biggest customers was Frigidaire. They
use similar tactics on their suppliers. The parts we made for them
were seasonal. After year one, we were asked for a 10% price
reduction. Their logic was that over the year, we found better and
faster ways to make their parts. There is some truth to that and we
wee able to reduce the price and maintain profits. A couple of years
later, they sent a letter and asked for a 25% reduction, a rebate for
the previous year, and longer terms. We said "no thanks, where do you
want the tools sent?".

One of our competitors happily snatched the job from us at the reduced
price. Years later, we are still making a profit, they filed
bankruptcy. The Frigidaire business is long gone as they moved the
plant to Mexico the following year.

More recently, we make a product for a customer that potentially sells
to Wal Mart. We sell it for 1.10. WM said they would buy it at 85¢.
Again, we said no. Would have been a big order, but with no profit
and we would have had to skimp on material.
Yup -" we're only loosing 2 cents on each part we sell, so we'll
make up for it on volume"

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:17:32 -0500, Jim Elbrecht
wrote:

bob haller wrote:

-snip-

1/3 of all suppliers to wall mart go bankrupt in a matter of years.

Either 2/3 make more money than they ever dreamed of-- or that's just
a bull**** number you pulled out of thin air.

I do note that you don't say how many years-- so perhaps 90% of your
1/3 haven't gone bankrupt yet, but they will? [and it will be
Walmart's fault?]

Walmart may be a bully, but if they were driving one in 3 businesses
to bankruptcy, then why would any business sign on with them? And
if they did-- isn't that what the whole free market is about?

Jim
I worked for a company that didn't sell through WalMart - but did
sell to the government. Same situation - sell for less than the next
guy - to get the big deals. They figured ig they sold 10,000 computers
to the government the volume buying would reduce the cost to, let's
say for argument's sake, $600 instead of the current $650. They sold
the computers to the government for the GST program at $625 (numbers
not accurate - but you get the idea) and only sold 3000, so the volume
savings did not come to nearly what they were counting on - so they
started buying cheaper parts - which raised the failure rate - which
raised their warranty costs (third party outsourced warranty part of
the "production cost".

They went through 2.5 million dollars like water through a fire-hose
and were insolvent within 2 years. Went from a small profitable
company to a big money pit.

I've heard that many times. Walmart lowballs, and
the volume is huge. But, to meet the price, not
worth it.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 05:56:55 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:


One of our competitors happily snatched the job from us at the reduced
price. Years later, we are still making a profit, they filed
bankruptcy. The Frigidaire business is long gone as they moved the
plant to Mexico the following year.

More recently, we make a product for a customer that potentially sells
to Wal Mart. We sell it for 1.10. WM said they would buy it at 85¢.
Again, we said no. Would have been a big order, but with no profit
and we would have had to skimp on material.

On 11/15/2012 7:46 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:17:32 -0500, Jim Elbrecht
wrote:

bob haller wrote:

-snip-

1/3 of all suppliers to wall mart go bankrupt in a matter of years.

Either 2/3 make more money than they ever dreamed of-- or that's just
a bull**** number you pulled out of thin air.

I do note that you don't say how many years-- so perhaps 90% of your
1/3 haven't gone bankrupt yet, but they will? [and it will be
Walmart's fault?]

Walmart may be a bully, but if they were driving one in 3 businesses
to bankruptcy, then why would any business sign on with them? And
if they did-- isn't that what the whole free market is about?

Jim
I worked for a company that didn't sell through WalMart - but did
sell to the government. Same situation - sell for less than the next
guy - to get the big deals. They figured ig they sold 10,000 computers
to the government the volume buying would reduce the cost to, let's
say for argument's sake, $600 instead of the current $650. They sold
the computers to the government for the GST program at $625 (numbers
not accurate - but you get the idea) and only sold 3000, so the volume
savings did not come to nearly what they were counting on - so they
started buying cheaper parts - which raised the failure rate - which
raised their warranty costs (third party outsourced warranty part of
the "production cost".

They went through 2.5 million dollars like water through a fire-hose
and were insolvent within 2 years. Went from a small profitable
company to a big money pit.


A perfect example of pay now or pay a lot more later. An idiot I work
with has spent a hundred bucks ten dollars at a time trying to get an
inkjet printer cartridge refilled. I have tried and tried many times to
get through to him about spending money on the cheapest items he can
find which usually fail to do the job they were obtained for. O_o

What's the difference between cheap and stupid? Usually lass than a
dollar. ^_^

TDD

On 11/15/2012 4:52 PM, z wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:17:21 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

gregz wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:22:56 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:



The Kmart here is a real mess. I rarely go there, even
though it's close. They always have long lines at the
checkouts.

The K Mart in our town never has long lines. They can barely get
enough people in there to make a short line. The only reason I ever
go there is to buy something I know is "name brand" quality, not cheap
China crap that most of their merchandise is. The advantage is, the
Wal Mart parking lot will be mobbed, the K Mart lot and store is empty
so quick in and out.


I get my prescriptions at kmart, as well as most of my clothing. Never
really crowded. Also often get pizza in the store store. I don't think
there is any food at my walmart. I learned to like the old walmart, and
quickly learned to hate the new.
BUT, I bought a 120 ahr battery at walmart, and equivalent at kmart cost
$140 vs walmart $90.

Greg

I hate walmart inconsistency. They carry stuff. I shopped at walmart and
all they had were gas containers. Kmart had water, diesel, kerosene, gas.
Stuff you should carry, vs stuff they want to carry.

Walmart has water containers but in the kitchen/home section, not in
the automotive section. ?!?


Walmart may have dumber employees. They're cheaper than smart employees. ^_^

TDD

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:27:41 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 11/15/2012 4:52 PM, z wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:17:21 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

gregz wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:22:56 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:



The Kmart here is a real mess. I rarely go there, even
though it's close. They always have long lines at the
checkouts.

The K Mart in our town never has long lines. They can barely get
enough people in there to make a short line. The only reason I ever
go there is to buy something I know is "name brand" quality, not cheap
China crap that most of their merchandise is. The advantage is, the
Wal Mart parking lot will be mobbed, the K Mart lot and store is empty
so quick in and out.


I get my prescriptions at kmart, as well as most of my clothing. Never
really crowded. Also often get pizza in the store store. I don't think
there is any food at my walmart. I learned to like the old walmart, and
quickly learned to hate the new.
BUT, I bought a 120 ahr battery at walmart, and equivalent at kmart cost
$140 vs walmart $90.

Greg

I hate walmart inconsistency. They carry stuff. I shopped at walmart and
all they had were gas containers. Kmart had water, diesel, kerosene, gas.
Stuff you should carry, vs stuff they want to carry.

Walmart has water containers but in the kitchen/home section, not in
the automotive section. ?!?


Walmart may have dumber employees. They're cheaper than smart employees. ^_^

WallyWorld employees may be cheaper but they're certainly not dumber
than Sears'. They're as dumb as Democrats.