pick up winders obviously too busy....

skaguitar

I'm having a strat built for me and at the beginning of the week after doing some research I had narrowed the pick up winders down to 3...used the contact pages on their websites to enquire about said pick ups and only one has bothered to reply...this seems to be the norm now...treating potential customers with contempt.... it may be that at the same time I'm having similar trouble trying to get a plumber to do a job for me but it seems that customer service is going downhill recently....rant over

stickyfiddle

I don't see "being too busy fulfilling orders of existing actual customers" as being less important than answering messages from new customers instantly. 

They're busy because they make good pickups  

Snags

Depending on how IT-competent the business (and/or their webdev) is, contact forns can be a bit hit and miss anyway on a purely tech front. If it's a small outfit I'd always use the form, wait up to a week, then try another method just in case.

 There's all kinds of stuff can be going on in both a business and an individuals life. If we're talking one man bands then  the fact that you sometimes get help at 10pm is balanced by sometimes having to wait. Hard to remember that when excited about a project though.

Or they just might be crap at comns, of course.

OilCityPickups

skaguitar said:

I'm having a strat built for me and at the beginning of the week after doing some research I had narrowed the pick up winders down to 3...used the contact pages on their websites to enquire about said pick ups and only one has bothered to reply...this seems to be the norm now...treating potential customers with contempt.... it may be that at the same time I'm having similar trouble trying to get a plumber to do a job for me but it seems that customer service is going downhill recently....rant over

As a small pickup winder can I just pop in a comment on this: Oil City gets enquiries via this place, Facebook, Instagram, e mail and the contact form on our website. Like many pickup winders we are a tiny operation, Just three of us, and particularly at this time of year we get swamped with enquiries. In addition to finding time to watch all our communication avenues (the modern world has a lot to answer for) we have to build and dispatch pickups that have been ordered directly from our website, complete often complex and demanding special custom orders ... research and develop new products ,oh, and try to find time to have at least a bit of a 'life' too :-) 
Speaking for ourselves, we try to answer all enquiries as rapidly as we can ... occasionally things slip through the net ... but pickup winders are human too. 

PS Andy, I see your message came into us on Wednesday and I've replied this morning. I really don't think three to four working days is 'treating customers with contempt'.

Sassafras

What part of the guitar is the plumber making?

Moe_Zambeek

There are lots of quality makers these days who will answer your query or have stock to sell. My favourite is still TVJones, maybe not an obvious choice for a Strat but they do make strat sets. My favourite strat pickups are a Fender custom shop set...don’t discount them.

skaguitar

In my humble experience the strange thing is that ‘potential’ customers turn into ‘actual’ customers...without them small business fails...

you see i think 3-4 working days to answer an enquiry is too long in this day and age ...especially when it takes a rant on a forum to prompt a reply...?

i may be old fashioned and expect too much from people so ignore me

Boromedic

Wow, classy reply there mate. Hope life doesn't carry on disappointing you with that attitude.....

Jalapeno

skaguitar said:

In my humble experience the strange thing is that ‘potential’ customers turn into ‘actual’ customers...without them small business fails...

you see i think 3-4 working days to answer an enquiry is too long in this day and age ...especially when it takes a rant on a forum to prompt a reply...?

i may be old fashioned and expect too much from people so ignore me

Get over yourself !

Boromedic said:

Wow, classy reply there mate. Hope life doesn't carry on disappointing you with that attitude.....

Well said !

Shark_Eyes

If it was so urgent it couldn't wait 3 days then maybe you should have picked up the phone.
If they answered the email immediately but then had a long dispatch time you'd probably complain about that instead.
The joy of working with small builders is that you speak to the person building your product, unfortunately that means they're often concentrating on building rather than customer service, I know which I prefer.

dazzajl

skaguitar said:

..............

............you see i think 3-4 working days to answer an enquiry is too long in this day and age ........

I’d agree with that on the surface. But then a lot depends on the nature of your enquiry. If it’s a long way from “yes we’re open on Saturday and that product costs £xx”, then some time to gather the information you need is totally reasonable. As would be a “got your enquiry, we’ll take a look and come back to you”. 

I also know that in my small business, life and demand can very easily get in the way of everyone being dealt with how I’d ideally like. 

Choosing a small business over off the shelf from a box shifter is a night and day decision. You are almost becoming part of the family for the duration of the deal. You might not always see it but you are cared about an awful lot more. 

skaguitar

I won’t be drawn into an argument on this...but what I expect as a potential paying customer differs from what you may expect... I got over myself many years ago

Elwood

If your old fashioned, is it not better to pick up the phone?

I've spoken to Ash and had 3 sets of pickups from him. If you have a query then it's a great way to go into detail. The only downside is it takes him away from actually making pickups!

I once emailed Gibson, they never got back to me. If 3 days is contempt, how do Gibson feel about me!?

Sassafras

They've received your enquiry and will revert.

dazzajl

skaguitar said:

I won’t be drawn into an argument on this...but what I expect as a potential paying customer differs from what you may expect... I got over myself many years ago

I would never presume to tell you what you should expect and I’m not even disagreeing with you. Only chipping in my personal view, as a small business owner myself. Which naturally, is worth exactly what you paid for it

skaguitar

dazzajl said:

skaguitar said:

I won’t be drawn into an argument on this...but what I expect as a potential paying customer differs from what you may expect... I got over myself many years ago

I would never presume to tell you what you should expect and I’m not even disagreeing with you. Only chipping in my personal view, as a small business owner myself. Which naturally, is worth exactly what you paid for it

My reply wasn’t aimed at you ....it was a general reply to the thread

Wazmeister

Shark_Eyes said:

If it was so urgent it couldn't wait 3 days then maybe you should have picked up the phone.
If they answered the email immediately but then had a long dispatch time you'd probably complain about that instead.
The joy of working with small builders is that you speak to the person building your product, unfortunately that means they're often concentrating on building rather than customer service, I know which I prefer.

Nope, Im with @skaguitar here...

Like it or not, this is the modern world (still adore that song) and if you snooze, you lose imho.

Its not about the buyer, its about the seller. I cant comment on the specifics here, but I know with my small business (and even when I sell in the Forum here), you have to move and respond quick... or the gas, moment, momentum (whatever) is lost.

OilCityPickups

Shark_Eyes said:

If it was so urgent it couldn't wait 3 days then maybe you should have picked up the phone.

In the workshop my phone is always on my belt, and I normally work in a headset ... if anyone has an urgent request I'd recommend using the phone ... old fashioned it may be ... but you will always get to talk to me personally. Phoning means you can tell me exactly what you want, all about your instrument, and your amp rig (that matters too) and we can thrash out a spec that fits you. Admittedly phone calls are time consuming ... sometimes a complex one can last an hour, but we have a very high satisfaction rate due to homing in on what a customer really needs. 
Sometimes I get emails and contact form queries that run to several pages, and require a lot of thought ... for those sorts of inquiries it's always better to speak to me in person.

dazzajl

skaguitar said:

dazzajl said:

skaguitar said:

I won’t be drawn into an argument on this...but what I expect as a potential paying customer differs from what you may expect... I got over myself many years ago

I would never presume to tell you what you should expect and I’m not even disagreeing with you. Only chipping in my personal view, as a small business owner myself. Which naturally, is worth exactly what you paid for it

My reply wasn’t aimed at you ....it was a general reply to the thread

How dare you!!

I feel I deserve my own reply

soma1975

Weird that you wouldn't be drawn into an argument on this but you WOULD create a thread about it. Maybe just do a blog next time with the comments turned off if you just want an echo chamber. 

skaguitar

soma1975 said:

Weird that you wouldn't be drawn into an argument on this but you WOULD create a thread about it. Maybe just do a blog next time with the comments turned off if you just want an echo chamber. 

Lol ....good idea ...thanks