07-11-2013, 11:46 AM
I think this goes to the dilemma of brick-and-mortar hobby stores. They can't maintain a big stock of full-price hobby items on display anyhow, because the web stores will beat them on price no matter what. On top of that, the web stores presumably have a better pick of staff -- I've dealt with jerks at web store A, but that was fine, I simply switched to web store B, which doesn't have jerks, or at least jerks who've caused me problems. (Example of jerk at web store A: I order an item the site says is in stock. They turn around and say sorry it's not in stock after all and send the rest of the order. Then two days later they say hey wow, it was in stock, and we just found it! We're sending it on at an extra UPS charge!! I'd have to call and get the UPS charge reversed -- did this two or three times with Store A, sorry, once they mischarged my credit card on top of that, and Store B got all my business. If Trainworld, Caboose Hobbies, and Klein all have the same merchandise at roughly the same discounted price, I can pick and choose the one that doesn't screw up.)
My normal brick and mortar LHS has ticked me off for other reasons: they screw up orders, too, but on top of that, they deal with Walthers (of course), and their orders go in on credit. If for one reason or another they're over their credit limit, Walthers won't send the order until they make their next payment. If I send Walthers an order directly, it's on a prepaid charge off the web, and I'm not rolling the dice on whether they're going to send my LHS the order right away or not. I used to tolerate this problem now and then at the LHS to give them the business -- the problem is that they have a dozen or so employees, and some of them just screw up routinely. So I'm adding the possibility of LHS screwup on an order to Walthers's store credit policies, and it's just gotten to be too iffy on something I want in a reasonable time, gotten right.
I do want to support this LHS, since I can get good custom painting done through them, but I've gotten more and more frustrated -- the guy needs to understand this is the 21st century. I laid down the law to him a month or two ago about the screw-ups who work there, and he did fire someone (whether at my instigation or not I don't know), which may have the others more focused. I hope so, but I'm not sending them routine orders that I can get from Walthers faster and more accurately off the web now.
My normal brick and mortar LHS has ticked me off for other reasons: they screw up orders, too, but on top of that, they deal with Walthers (of course), and their orders go in on credit. If for one reason or another they're over their credit limit, Walthers won't send the order until they make their next payment. If I send Walthers an order directly, it's on a prepaid charge off the web, and I'm not rolling the dice on whether they're going to send my LHS the order right away or not. I used to tolerate this problem now and then at the LHS to give them the business -- the problem is that they have a dozen or so employees, and some of them just screw up routinely. So I'm adding the possibility of LHS screwup on an order to Walthers's store credit policies, and it's just gotten to be too iffy on something I want in a reasonable time, gotten right.
I do want to support this LHS, since I can get good custom painting done through them, but I've gotten more and more frustrated -- the guy needs to understand this is the 21st century. I laid down the law to him a month or two ago about the screw-ups who work there, and he did fire someone (whether at my instigation or not I don't know), which may have the others more focused. I hope so, but I'm not sending them routine orders that I can get from Walthers faster and more accurately off the web now.