Why Buy Local?

[gdbrown (Geoff)]

Last week I ordered the following telescope bits online:

1. a primary mirror from the US.
2. a red dot finder scope from Hong Kong
3. a mount for the finder scope from Hong Kong (different supplier).
4. a collimation tube and 2 lenses from York Optical Australia.

Items 1 to 3 turned up this week to my local PO in rural South Australia.
Item 4 has not only not been delivered but the supplier has failed to answer three Emails enquiring about the order status.
It's sad that so many Australian suppliers in all fields just don't get it when it comes to customer service and are thereby contributing to their own demise.
It's a world that we live in. Ordinary people can now order goods from anywhere in it and very often take delivery of those goods within a week.
I know where my next online orders for telescope components will be placed and it doesn't start with 'A'.

[Tandum (Robin)]

Geoff,
Welcome to Internet V2. I believe it has been running since 1982 and they just call it V2 to be different.

Item 4 on your list is from a shop front not an Internet shop front. I guess they concentrate on customer satisfaction not on how much bubble rap is in each box.

go figure ...

Eventually we'll get on line services enjoyed elswhere.

robin

[Moon (James)]

I have to say, my local shop here is fantastic. I'm really going to miss it.
The range and service is incredible. They have it all : from Shoestring, Modified Canon DSLRs and all the way through to SBIG, Planewave and Software Bisque and my fav, a 1.5 million dollar 40" f8 OGS RC!!!
http://www.galileo.cc/francais/boutique_fabricants.php

Sure I buy a lot of stuff online, but it's also great to be able walk into the shop and get some advice or check that the parts all fit togther.

Price is another matter. As an example, my local shop has a 5mw green laser pointer for $134. I can the same thing on www.dealextreme.com for $12 USD including shipping. You can't beat that!

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Geoff

to IceInSpace
Why not give them a call? Over the years, we've had many threads like this and the advice is almost always to give them a call.

[gdbrown (Geoff)]

Thanks for your comments people.
I gave them a call as Mike suggested (using my best polite and diplomatic telephone manner ie. masking the rage and withholding the abuse). Two outcomes resulted from the call:
1. I found that the order may in fact be filled within my lifetime (yet to be proven).
2. Their customer service problem is still healthy and flourishing.

I must apologise if I appear to be a little cynical on this matter. I am actually extremely cynical.