Carlo Franco Tie Sale

Originally Posted by EL72

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Would anyone care to post that explanation here for the benefit of those thinking of ordering now?

A Message to our Valued Customers,

Recently, we at Carlo Franco have taken a pause to better organize our business, our infrastucture and our plans for future growth. This process has been very beneficial as it allowed us to incorporate and organize the business properly for future growth, obtain badly needed office space and generally overhaul every system, process and procedure from the ground up. Unfortunately that much needed reorganizing was much more complicated and involved than anticipated and as a result we have not been as responsive to our customers as we have been and MUST be. While we complete the move and buildout of our new offices we want to ensure that we take excellent care of our customers. To that end, we would like to announce a few changes that will ensure immediate and personal attention.

Communication: Some of you have already met Audrey Hughes in customer service. Ms. Hughes will be taking over fulltime as our customer service manager and will be a dedicated customer resource. For those accustomed to dealing with other members of the customer service team we would ask you to please go directly to Audrey for all issues. Audrey can be reached at 866.755.9586 or by email to [email protected].

Ordering: We will be physically moving our facilities in the next two weeks. In the interim we have moved inventory and shipping to a less hectic location. Rather than ordering online we'll ask customers to go directly to Audrey for confirmation that your desired item is in stock and can ship today. We want to have 100% order accuracy and very rapid turnaround as we transition to our upgraded facilities and order management system. While we make the move Audrey will be processing all orders offsite to avoid the confusion (and to keep paint, plaster and sawdust off the ties!).

What's Next? Our company has grown quickly over the past 4 years and it was time to recognize that fact. We've been busy incorporating, financing the next stage of our growth and putting in place the systems and personnel that will allow us to run our larger business efficiently yet personally. While we are knocking down walls and installing systems we're putting together our largest collection to date. New products, more variety and the infrastructure to ensure that it goes smoothly. While we were at it we got married and managed to buy a house and sell two! Please accept our apologies if we have not been as responsive and available while cramming two years worth of organizational work into three months. By adding a fulltime customer service manager with final responsibility for ensuring customer satisfaction we think you will see a marked improvement.



Thank You!

Chuck & Jill Franke

So, let me get this right.

Carlo Franco is really...


Chuck Franke

Why do I find that so funny?

Sorta like Cesare Barbieri becoming Charles Barber

Originally Posted by retronotmetro

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I suspect that Chuck and Jill are aiming for a higher standard of service than the past few months of Jantzen-like response time, and I wish them luck.

Jantzen may take a while, but Ricky doesn't take your money until he ships your shirts!!

And for some, there is an appropriate service tradeoff for the types of prices Jantzen charges. I dont see CF in that value class

K

It is really amazing how quickly a trusted merchant can lose trust on a forum like this. I had not ordered a tie recently, but coincedentally wearing one of his today, but I agree that folk who have been waiting ought be rather annoyed by the discounts. My view is that they ought take care of persons who have been inconvenienced first and foremost and then offer discounts for new purchases.

Did they offer any compensation to people with long-standing customer service issues? A discount, a free something or other, etc?

Originally Posted by drizzt3117

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A Message to our Valued Customers,

Recently, we at Carlo Franco have taken a pause to better organize our business, our infrastucture and our plans for future growth. This process has been very beneficial as it allowed us to incorporate and organize the business properly for future growth, obtain badly needed office space and generally overhaul every system, process and procedure from the ground up. Unfortunately that much needed reorganizing was much more complicated and involved than anticipated and as a result we have not been as responsive to our customers as we have been and MUST be. While we complete the move and buildout of our new offices we want to ensure that we take excellent care of our customers. To that end, we would like to announce a few changes that will ensure immediate and personal attention.

Communication: Some of you have already met Audrey Hughes in customer service. Ms. Hughes will be taking over fulltime as our customer service manager and will be a dedicated customer resource. For those accustomed to dealing with other members of the customer service team we would ask you to please go directly to Audrey for all issues. Audrey can be reached at 866.755.9586 or by email to [email protected].

Ordering: We will be physically moving our facilities in the next two weeks. In the interim we have moved inventory and shipping to a less hectic location. Rather than ordering online we'll ask customers to go directly to Audrey for confirmation that your desired item is in stock and can ship today. We want to have 100% order accuracy and very rapid turnaround as we transition to our upgraded facilities and order management system. While we make the move Audrey will be processing all orders offsite to avoid the confusion (and to keep paint, plaster and sawdust off the ties!).

What's Next? Our company has grown quickly over the past 4 years and it was time to recognize that fact. We've been busy incorporating, financing the next stage of our growth and putting in place the systems and personnel that will allow us to run our larger business efficiently yet personally. While we are knocking down walls and installing systems we're putting together our largest collection to date. New products, more variety and the infrastructure to ensure that it goes smoothly. While we were at it we got married and managed to buy a house and sell two! Please accept our apologies if we have not been as responsive and available while cramming two years worth of organizational work into three months. By adding a fulltime customer service manager with final responsibility for ensuring customer satisfaction we think you will see a marked improvement.



Thank You!

Chuck & Jill Franke

I might as well add my CF story here. I ordered my ties in November and received them in December. I dealt with Chuck for this purchase. The only problem was that I requested that the ties be sent to my cousin in Pennsylvania and not to my place in Ontario. Ended up paying $65 in duties and taxes . That was kinda of annoying. Do love the ties though.

Originally Posted by Christofuh

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Sorta like Cesare Barbieri becoming Charles Barber

Or Geraldo Rivera being Jerry Rivers.

Or Raphael Schwartz being Raphael Raffaeli.

I spoke to Chuck directly and got a SF bow-tie, which came promptly. It was a clip on so I sent it back. It took a week, but eventually, Jill cleaned everything up, and sent me the SF tie instead. They are fine in my book.

I hate doing this, but I'll chime in as well. About 18 months ago I ordered a tie from CF. I received the wrong tie. I sent it back, though I ate the shipping. This wasn't yet annoying -- mistakes happen. A couple weeks later I had not yet received the correct tie. I sent an email. I got a response a couple days later saying that they had run out of that particular tie but that they were expecting more in a couple weeks. So I decided to wait.

And wait I did. After several additional emails over the next few months, I still had not received the tie. Each time the excuse was that they had created a new label design and the weaver was taking a long time to get the labels made. Well, I personally don't give a crap about the label on the back of the tie. I wanted the tie. After about five months, my tie finally arrived. I had been promised that I would receive a pair of MOP collar stays in order to accomodate me for all the trouble. The stays did not come, of course. I could have emailed Carlo Franco and demanded the stays, but I had wasted enough of my time already.
In the meantime, Carlo Franco essentially got an interest free loan in the amount of $120 for five months.

Are the ties nice? Yes, they are nice. Personally I think the silks are a little bit overrated. I swear I've seen the same silk used elsewhere. (But maybe I'm wrong). The seven fold construction is good, but I don't think the ties are as good as Kiton or Borrelli. Still, if you are going to pay retail, they are a good value. But the reason I bought the tie was that I wanted to support a small business that was making artisinal products. I expected a level of customer service, and I didn't remotely get it.

I hope that this new business change cures all of CF's customer service problems, but I seriously doubt that it will. There is no excuse for failing to respond to emails, or failing to live up to promises. If you can't live up to the promise, don't make it. What needs to change is not the infrastructure of the business, but the values that underlie it. CF needs to decide once and for all whether it wants to succeed or fail. If it wants to succeed, it can't "put the business on hold" for "other things in life." If life takes priority over your small businsess, that's fine -- but you have to prepare to suffer the consequences. A small business can't have its cake and eat it too, which is why I won't be buying any Carlo Franco products any time soon.

BTW, Chuck is an amiable fellow, and I'm guessing that he's the type of guy I would have been friends with in college. But as a business owner, he's lacking.

Originally Posted by teddieriley

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Or Geraldo Rivera being Jerry Rivers.

Giuseppi Verdi = Joe Green

Carlo Franco = Chuck Franke

Alessio K'Abbuzio = Alexander Kabazz?

Is this morphing into the Appreciation star name thread?

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

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Is this morphing into the Appreciation star name thread?

Doesn't everything?

Originally Posted by edmorel

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Doesn't everything?

Miles Long