Quote:
Originally Posted by codemonkey
Exactly. It's unfortunate here that it often seems there's no real competition because there's only some amount of cross-over in the stock that the retailers sell. Often when I want something I can only find one place that sells it, and frequently it's a particular retailer that I hate dealing with because of their attitude. One recent case I couldn't even buy it from overseas (without using a freight forwarder which doubled the cost of the item) because I couldn't find anywhere that shipped to Australia.
As pointed out by numerous people above, it's not always the retailer, which is sad. Some of them are doing the best they can but that's still not good enough.
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Lee (codemonkey) I have sent you a pm.
The other issue is that retailers here don't stock the more exotic items, as it just isn't economical to stock specialist items. However, they could do better in obtaining these special items for customers. They have lost sight that sometimes items can be a nuisance to obtain, and even though it may not be economical, they lose sight of the bigger picture in as much as keeping an important client happy. It is hard to gain a loyal client and so easy to lose when you don't respect that client.
I spend many thousands of dollars on discretionary items and I expect superior service, I expect a company to be enthusiastic for my business, right or wrong. It is my money and I have the right to choose where I spend it, they do not have a right to my business, and this seems to be a problem with business today, e.g. "we are the distributor, you have to buy it from us". Wrong! I don't have to buy it at all.
When I was working in business, I treated ever client as important, as you just never know how important that client may become. Even if a client only spent $1000, and if he had a really great experience, he might send another person there who also spends $1000, and so on. It only take a 1000 customers spending a thousand each before you reach a million.
My real beef with Australia companies, including astro retailers isn't about price, it is about service. So many people now accept mediocre service as being great service. If I have to pay more, I actually don't have a problem with that, to a point, but I do expect a superior level of service for paying that extra price.
Cheers Peter