Kirby Allison: Affiliate thread

[Kai]



Hi Kai - sorry for your experience. We try our best. As a small business, we just can't keep everything up-to-date on the website as in-stock vs. out-of-stock. We do try to notify customers as soon as possible to let them know what the ETA is of receiving additional products and then give them the option of cancelling their order or keeping it open. Because we deal with a lot of smaller producers, our supply can be rather inconsistent. On one order there may be a two-week lead time. On our next order an 8-week lead time. Makes it incredibly difficult.

He isn't Wal-Mart Kai.  Small business here. Cut him some slack.  He is a stand-up guy and I have found their customer service to be top notch!

When something is out of stock, and you're given the option of cancelling the order or keeping it open, how long it will take to get the item back in stock makes a difference. If it's 2 weeks, 8 weeks, or 12 months, the amount of time before expected restocking is relevant to whether you keep the order open or cancel it. A general reply of "we don't know when this will be back in stock, do you want to keep the order open or not?" is not top notch customer service.

In general, I expect better customer service from small businesses than I do from WalMart, particularly when the small business is in the luxury goods segment.

 

[New Shoes1]

When something is out of stock, and you're given the option of cancelling the order or keeping it open, how long it will take to get the item back in stock makes a difference. If it's 2 weeks, 8 weeks, or 12 months, the amount of time before expected restocking is relevant to whether you keep the order open or cancel it. A general reply of "we don't know when this will be back in stock, do you want to keep the order open or not?" is not top notch customer service.

In general, I expect better customer service from small businesses than I do from WalMart, particularly when the small business is in the luxury goods segment.

You're being petty.

 

[Kai]



You're being petty.

Really?

You think that a proper response to a question of "when will the item be back in stock?" is "we don't know."

I guess I'm just used to a higher level of customer service than this.

 

[chogall]



Really?

You think that a proper response to a question of "when will the item be back in stock?" is "we don't know."

I guess I'm just used to a higher level of customer service than this.

From my experiences with Hanger Project, they always have very prompt response and fast resolution.

They are resellers so sometimes they really need to wait for responses from their distributors.

 

[New Shoes1]

Really?

You think that a proper response to a question of "when will the item be back in stock?" is "we don't know."

I guess I'm just used to a higher level of customer service than this.

I'm referring to your ranting and raving in this thread regarding a trivial matter. The fact you find the answer you received objectionable and will likely choose to do business elsewhere is your business, and I offer no assessment regarding the same. I do question, however, multiple posts in this thread regarding a relatively trivial manner that most would simply let go.

 

[Kai]

I thought that the whole point of this thread was to give feedback (good and bad) on the goods and services of this vendor.

Vendors should value negative feedback at least as highly as they do positive feedback.

Negative feedback provides two opportunities: 1) The opportunity to address the concerns of an individual customer, which will most likely result in repeat business from that individual. 2) The opportunity to assess a weakness in customer service delivery overall, which will help retain future customers.

This issue could have been resolved pretty simply by a message from the proprietor along these lines:

"Thank you for your patronage. I'm sorry that we didn't meet your expectations. I accessed your order in our system, and checked the ETA on the two items that are on back order. The shoe mitt is expected to be in stock in the next 2-3 weeks. The deer bone, however, will be a bit longer. We don't expect restock on this item for 8-10 weeks. Please contact us at the link below and let us know if you would like to cancel the orders for these items, or if you'd like to maintain your current backorder status.

We appreciate your business. Let us know if you have any further questions."


Regardless of whether the proprietor believes I'm a petty asshole or not, an approach like this one will lead to more sales in the long run.

 

[New Shoes1]

I thought that the whole point of this thread was to give feedback (good and bad) on the goods and services of this vendor.

Vendors should value negative feedback at least as highly as they do positive feedback.

Negative feedback provides two opportunities: 1) The opportunity to address the concerns of an individual customer, which will most likely result in repeat business from that individual. 2) The opportunity to assess a weakness in customer service delivery overall, which will help retain future customers.

This issue could have been resolved pretty simply by a message from the proprietor along these lines:

"Thank you for your patronage. I'm sorry that we didn't meet your expectations. I accessed your order in our system, and checked the ETA on the two items that are on back order. The shoe mitt is expected to be in stock in the next 2-3 weeks. The deer bone, however, will be a bit longer. We don't expect restock on this item for 8-10 weeks. Please contact us at the link below and let us know if you would like to cancel the orders for these items, or if you'd like to maintain your current backorder status.

We appreciate your business. Let us know if you have any further questions."


Regardless of whether the proprietor believes I'm a petty asshole or not, an approach like this one will lead to more sales in the long run.

I agree with everything you said. One difference, though, is that small vendors like HP often have trouble getting straight answers regarding when their orders will be filled, which leaves them in the unenviable position of not being able to answer the same questions from their customers. I'm pretty sure I bought the last deer bone back in October, so HP is clearly having issues getting this back in stock. Similarly, HP and other small vendors had trouble getting Renovateur and other Saphir products back in stock recently. I just keep this in mind when doing business with HP and similar SF affilliates, who I enjoy supporting in their endeavors.

 

[Flyswatter]

I had a similar experience to Kai's recently. I didn't feel it was necessary or a big enough deal to share in this thread at the time, but figure it's pertinent now.

I ordered a suit hanger, some cedar closet accessories, and 2 pairs of medium Epic shoe trees from Hanger Project on March 17. The order arrived promptly but the shoe trees were not included. I contacted customer service and I was informed that the Epic trees in size medium were on backorder. I was a bit miffed that 1) the website did not indicate the backordered status of the trees, and 2) that I actually had to initiate contact with customer service to find out why 2 items I had paid for were not included in the shipment instead of them informing me up front. A simple email at the time the order was shipped would have sufficed.

I wasn't too bothered, as shoe trees are relatively inexpensive items and I didn't exactly need them urgently. I was told they would be in stock mid April. Mid April came and went, so I contacted customer service again and was informed the trees would be restocked by the end of April. Now they say mid May, but I'm not holding my breath. I realize the restock date for the shoe trees is out of HP's hands, but communication and customer service could definitely have been better. That said, this experience will not deter me from purchasing from HP again in the future.

 

[stevent]

Same thing with saphir sprays though it is understandable that they are hard to import. Would have been nice just to get an ETA or no idea waiting for customs instead of ignores to multiple people asking about them

 

[kirbya]

I understand but you're presuming that we have ETA's and are just withholding. In both of these cases, we never receive ETA's. The Saphir Sprays were assays "next month" and with AbbeyHorn we can't get a commitment. Their lead time has gone from a few weeks to three to four months. It's been impossible for us.

 

[kirbya]

The funny thing is that "we don't know" is actually the most honest answer. To make up an ETA when the manufacturer will not give us one or has consistently been incorrect would actually be the most misleading response. Funny. It's the cost of doing business with small suppliers.

But I do appreciate feedback -- both the good and the bad.

 

[Flyswatter]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I had a similar experience to Kai's recently. I didn't feel it was necessary or a big enough deal to share in this thread at the time, but figure it's pertinent now.

I ordered a suit hanger, some cedar closet accessories, and 2 pairs of medium Epic shoe trees from Hanger Project on March 17. The order arrived promptly but the shoe trees were not included. I contacted customer service and I was informed that the Epic trees in size medium were on backorder. I was a bit miffed that 1) the website did not indicate the backordered status of the trees, and 2) that I actually had to initiate contact with customer service to find out why 2 items I had paid for were not included in the shipment instead of them informing me up front. A simple email at the time the order was shipped would have sufficed.

I wasn't too bothered, as shoe trees are relatively inexpensive items and I didn't exactly need them urgently. I was told they would be in stock mid April. Mid April came and went, so I contacted customer service again and was informed the trees would be restocked by the end of April. Now they say mid May, but I'm not holding my breath. I realize the restock date for the shoe trees is out of HP's hands, but communication and customer service could definitely have been better. That said, this experience will not deter me from purchasing from HP again in the future.

Don't know if it's a mere coincidence or if posting in this thread had something to do with it, but I just received a shipping confirmation for my two pairs of Epic shoe trees. Cool.

 

[Kai]

I just placed another order.

We'll see how things go this time around.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Dun, dun, dun...

 

[Flyswatter]

So after an almost 2 month wait for the much-lauded EPIC cedar shoe trees to be restocked in the size I needed, they finally arrived today. The quality is nice, but they are way too small for my shoes. I followed the advice of the sizing guide and ordered 2 sets of medium trees for my 10.5D Allen Edmonds Park Avenues and Fifth Avenues. They are ridiculously too small though, much too small to do their job of helping to prevent wrinkles and creases in the leather and help the shoes keep their shape. There is no tension at all when these are inserted in the shoe. Here's a pic showing how small the trees are compared to the shoes:

Oh well, guess these are going back, and my search for shoe trees continues.