Internet model businesses?
03-03-2005, 01:34 PM
#1
Internet model businesses?
I don't have a big hobby shop here and tend to order stuff from home. Most of the time, I get excellent delivery, and communication. I bought a small order from an advertiser here ( the name of which shall, for now, go unmentioned) on RCU back in mid Feb., paid thru Paypal, got a 'receipt' from Paypal and an email address for any follow up. To date, no merchandise, and two emails later, no response to either. I noticed their web site gives no address so for all I know they're in some 'off shore' location. Heck, I don't mind if someone emails me and says they have to b/o something, I'll work on something else. If I didn't need the stuff I ordered, I wouldn't have ordered it! This 'company' sells the big ticket item stuff too, will I consider other purchases-don't think so. I might add I paid top $ for delivery also for small items! Is this a problem out there? Should we not buy from companies that do not list an address, or phone no.?
03-03-2005, 03:46 PM
#2
RE: Internet model businesses?
That is a matter of choice. If you have delt with the company before and had satisfactory results, then go ahead.
Personally, I feel that if they don't at least 2 of the following: an email, phone number or snail mail address available, I will do business with someone else. MY reasoning says if there is ONLY one way to contact them, there is a reason for that.
On a brighter note, PayPal has "Buyer's Protection". If you got the buyer's protection, use it. If you didn't get it, but you paid by CC, notify PayPal of what has happened and make it clear that if they can not straighten it out you will do a chargeback to the CC. Then do the charge back if PayPal doesn't come through.
I ALWAYS pay with a CC when mail ordering something - it provides a means of getting my money back if the product never shows up or is not as advertised and the retailer won't do anything.
Personally, I feel that if they don't at least 2 of the following: an email, phone number or snail mail address available, I will do business with someone else. MY reasoning says if there is ONLY one way to contact them, there is a reason for that.
On a brighter note, PayPal has "Buyer's Protection". If you got the buyer's protection, use it. If you didn't get it, but you paid by CC, notify PayPal of what has happened and make it clear that if they can not straighten it out you will do a chargeback to the CC. Then do the charge back if PayPal doesn't come through.
I ALWAYS pay with a CC when mail ordering something - it provides a means of getting my money back if the product never shows up or is not as advertised and the retailer won't do anything.
03-03-2005, 05:16 PM
#3
RE: Internet model businesses?
First time with this company. Neat web site here on RCU though. I would normally not do a first time big order 'til I know how a company delivers. I have a boat and buy stuff at their nationally located stores which are nice, but, their internet business truly sucks! Took close to 4 months to get an order straightened out. Well, another day has passed, no delivery, no response to email. Shoulda stuck with eBay! You are right-no address, no phone, no order!
03-04-2005, 08:28 AM
#4
RE: Internet model businesses?
I presume you paid by CC.
If your CC has been charged, the company IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SHIPPED THE DAY IT WAS CHARGED - that is a federal banking law.
If the CC has been charged, contact the CC and explain what has occured and ask for a "Charge Back" (dispute the charge ). 99.9% of the time the CC will put the money back on your CC immediately. You will have to fill out a form for the CC though.
If your CC has not been charged, tell the company to cancel your order and buy it somewhere else. Be sure to keep a copy of the emails of when you ordered the items and when you told them to cancel the order in case they decide to "wake up" and send you the stuff. That way you can tell the CC (and prove ) when you ordered and cancelled.
If your CC has been charged, the company IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SHIPPED THE DAY IT WAS CHARGED - that is a federal banking law.
If the CC has been charged, contact the CC and explain what has occured and ask for a "Charge Back" (dispute the charge ). 99.9% of the time the CC will put the money back on your CC immediately. You will have to fill out a form for the CC though.
If your CC has not been charged, tell the company to cancel your order and buy it somewhere else. Be sure to keep a copy of the emails of when you ordered the items and when you told them to cancel the order in case they decide to "wake up" and send you the stuff. That way you can tell the CC (and prove ) when you ordered and cancelled.
03-04-2005, 12:42 PM
#5
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 375
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
There's nothing wrong with giving us the name of the company in case you're worried about liability issues. I depend on a lot of info in these forums to make good decisions when ordering stuff. In many instances, I've seen people rip a company for something they did (i.e customer care or product quality problem) and suprisingly the company has someone on RCU who chimes in with an apology or explanation.
03-04-2005, 01:18 PM
#6
RE: Internet model businesses?
Your point is well made. There are perhaps several issues here and I was in my cranky mood when I started this! For example, I buy a lot off stuff from eBay and usually look at the the no. of transactions someone has made before bidding on something. Often times I will send a question and the response, or many times, the lack of response is an indicator of intent or condition of something. I have made offers on stuff in the RCU classifieds only to have a "It's been sold" response, though no indication of any activity within the listing. I imagine there are a lot of 'one man show' businesses on the net and maybe the guy's on vacation, or something, therefore, no immediate response to email. Indeed, I have noticed someone participates in threads here who has the name of this company in his signature-though don't know what his connection is. Guess the point is, why does a legitimate business not want to give a location/address, phone number or something (maybe the owner works out of his garage in a residential neighborhood)? Maybe there should be some kind of business rating system here. I'll wait a bit to see if I get any resolution. In the mean time, I guess, Caveat Emptor!
03-04-2005, 01:38 PM
#7
My Feedback: (12)
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Columbia,
SC
Posts: 8,044
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
ORIGINAL: wsmalley
I don't have a big hobby shop here and tend to order stuff from home. Most of the time, I get excellent delivery, and communication. I bought a small order from an advertiser here ( the name of which shall, for now, go unmentioned) on RCU back in mid Feb., paid thru Paypal, got a 'receipt' from Paypal and an email address for any follow up. To date, no merchandise, and two emails later, no response to either.
I don't have a big hobby shop here and tend to order stuff from home. Most of the time, I get excellent delivery, and communication. I bought a small order from an advertiser here ( the name of which shall, for now, go unmentioned) on RCU back in mid Feb., paid thru Paypal, got a 'receipt' from Paypal and an email address for any follow up. To date, no merchandise, and two emails later, no response to either.
One thing about the lack of email responses, if you've got spam filtering, the responses may be getting lost. This happened to me with one of the infamous online vendors. I emailed asking for a shipping price. A week later I found their answer, it was in the spam folder.
03-04-2005, 05:46 PM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Toronto,
ON, CANADA
Posts: 1,243
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
ORIGINAL: wsmalley
Your point is well made. There are perhaps several issues here and I was in my cranky mood when I started this! For example, I buy a lot off stuff from eBay and usually look at the the no. of transactions someone has made before bidding on something. Often times I will send a question and the response, or many times, the lack of response is an indicator of intent or condition of something. I have made offers on stuff in the RCU classifieds only to have a "It's been sold" response, though no indication of any activity within the listing. I imagine there are a lot of 'one man show' businesses on the net and maybe the guy's on vacation, or something, therefore, no immediate response to email. Indeed, I have noticed someone participates in threads here who has the name of this company in his signature-though don't know what his connection is. Guess the point is, why does a legitimate business not want to give a location/address, phone number or something (maybe the owner works out of his garage in a residential neighborhood)? Maybe there should be some kind of business rating system here. I'll wait a bit to see if I get any resolution. In the mean time, I guess, Caveat Emptor!
Your point is well made. There are perhaps several issues here and I was in my cranky mood when I started this! For example, I buy a lot off stuff from eBay and usually look at the the no. of transactions someone has made before bidding on something. Often times I will send a question and the response, or many times, the lack of response is an indicator of intent or condition of something. I have made offers on stuff in the RCU classifieds only to have a "It's been sold" response, though no indication of any activity within the listing. I imagine there are a lot of 'one man show' businesses on the net and maybe the guy's on vacation, or something, therefore, no immediate response to email. Indeed, I have noticed someone participates in threads here who has the name of this company in his signature-though don't know what his connection is. Guess the point is, why does a legitimate business not want to give a location/address, phone number or something (maybe the owner works out of his garage in a residential neighborhood)? Maybe there should be some kind of business rating system here. I'll wait a bit to see if I get any resolution. In the mean time, I guess, Caveat Emptor!
Sure enough, it was a house. I knocked on the door to make sure it was the right guy. Yep, he ran XXXX Models. Boy, you should have seen the look on his face when I asked. I didn't get the part but yes, it's possible the guy is working out of his basement: avoids store costs, storage costs, maybe even the tax man ! !
03-04-2005, 08:10 PM
#9
RE: Internet model businesses?
Guess if a guy delivers and answers his mail, not sure if I care if he sells out of the back of his pickup truck. Tried my third, and probably last, email today before I go public. Figure if he works a day job, I'll give him the weekend to respond. I think internet business is great, usually I can place an order, pay for it, get a receipt, get a tracking no. and have the item(s) in 3 or days-literally without leaving my chair.
03-05-2005, 11:16 AM
#10
RE: Internet model businesses?
O.K. it's Sat morn and I've sent my fourth email to find out whats going on. I made my purchase from-I thought- or through DreamworksRC or Dreamworks Model Products. I back tracked trough my Paypal account and found the payment was actually made to some other person with a lov2...... email address, with item shown as 'Dreamworks'. Three emails to Dreamworks have evoked no response. The 4th, to the person who apparently received the money. Guess I'm totally ignorant as to how these businesses operate.
03-05-2005, 11:24 AM
#11
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Toronto,
ON, CANADA
Posts: 1,243
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
I don't know if this is the same outfit but they have an address/phone listed. Check the url in the top of the pic. Is this the same company you refer to?
03-05-2005, 11:36 AM
#13
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Toronto,
ON, CANADA
Posts: 1,243
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
I guess that, well I don't know then. Phone them. This result is somewhat different from your first post is the only reason I make this comment now. They don't seem to be hiding.
03-05-2005, 12:05 PM
#14
Senior Member
My Feedback: (1)
RE: Internet model businesses?
One thought is that you may be getting too anxious too soon. After 1/2 month of waiting, you are expecting to begin building. Several of these outfits are no-stock on shelves retailers. They simply take your order, then forward on to the manufacturer a sales slip and have them do the actual mailing. The retailer does not stock the item(s) but goes on good faith that the manufacturer does. If sales were slow, the manufacturer may have to crank up the assembly line, then mail out to you. If it is very popular, usually they offer a Back-order to the retailer, and then you receive the same notification. The cashing of your order usually indicates the order may be coming from another source, not off the shelf of the vendor/retailer. The slowness is due to the manufacturer, not the retailer.
Wm.
Wm.
03-05-2005, 12:14 PM
#15
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 375
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
But the bottom line is he placed the order two weeks ago and despite trying to contact them, hasn't heard anything since.
***Edit*** I wanted to add a good customer service experience I had today. In January, I tried to order cowls for a TF Arrow from Fiberglass Specialties. They said they hadn't heard of the kit and told me I could send them the factory ABS cowls and they'd make a mold. I did this and they emailed me every week informing me of their progress. When they messed up on of my cowls making the mold they immediatly sent me a new one. Today, I got an email from them saying they've finished the cowls and have sent them Priority Mail and at no charge. After 25 years in this hobby, that is probably the nicest thing any company has done for me.
***Edit*** I wanted to add a good customer service experience I had today. In January, I tried to order cowls for a TF Arrow from Fiberglass Specialties. They said they hadn't heard of the kit and told me I could send them the factory ABS cowls and they'd make a mold. I did this and they emailed me every week informing me of their progress. When they messed up on of my cowls making the mold they immediatly sent me a new one. Today, I got an email from them saying they've finished the cowls and have sent them Priority Mail and at no charge. After 25 years in this hobby, that is probably the nicest thing any company has done for me.
03-05-2005, 12:33 PM
#16
RE: Internet model businesses?
Let me restate my position. If supplier, seller, or whatever one chooses to call him, can not ship immediately, merely notify the buyer. The presumption when you advertise goods is that you have them to sell and ship- unless you state made to order, or ordered through 3rd party, or some other notification. If you are the seller, and provide contact information as a part of your 'receipt', respond to an inquiry! While, indeed, this company does in fact, list an address and phone no. that was not readily apparent to me- for that, I apologize! Perhaps expecting delivery for items bought Feb 16th through today,March 5th, is expecting to quick a response-again-just let me know!
03-05-2005, 01:46 PM
#18
RE: Internet model businesses?
Your point? My first simple request for a status was weeks ago. Yep, like many, I'm into jets, prop jobs, floatplanes, R/C sailboats, motor boats, UAV stuff and whatever other stuff the mood strikes me. I buy from many sources.
03-06-2005, 01:11 AM
#20
Member
My Feedback: (54)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: jones,
OK
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Internet model businesses?
as an ex-hobby store owner i agree with you, communication with the customer will eliminate most of the problems you are going through now, you have no need to justify your frustrations, you are the customer and you are right
