Alleyway Hobo Shacks

DennisB posted:

As a business owner, I would have apologized for the confusion and offered to exchange the unpainted version for the painted one at no additional charge. That is simply goodwill and will keep a customer for life.

Dennis Brennan

Brennan's Model Railroading

And you I would do business with.  The customer is NOT always right, but they are still a customer.  Never run off a potential buyer.

The big mistake here is a false picture of the product. What's so hard about taking a picture of the item that will be sent when it's ordered. Looks like false advertising to me no matter what the description says.

AmeenTrainGuy posted:

As a Web-Developer, there are things that raised red flags when I took a look at the website. Firstly the whole website looks really s***y, the sidebar on the right is not very organized and can be made much better with a bit of space between the categories. Secondly, why on Earth is there a scrolling description? Are they purposely trying to confuse the customer? Then we come to the fine print:

****These come UNFINISHED.......they are easily finished with Craft Store Water Based acrylic paints........ OR they are available PRE FINISHED and Layout Ready for you in our PRE FINISHED CATEGORY on this site ****

Why is there an overuse of ellipsis? Everywhere I look I see them, this should be a professional site and should be written in a better manner. They (store owners) should have put "unfinished" in the title of the page instead of in the fine print. There is a massive gap in between the "Email this page to a friend" component and the "Attention to Detail makes a Layout Great" component which is completely unnecessary. The pictures are not consistent, as in they are not all a certain size, which is the standard when selling items online. Lastly, why is there a picture of a painted version when it specifically says it is not painted? The whole website is poorly designed, and makes it harder for the buyer to use!

Although the website is one issue, the way they replied to the customer was disgusting.  The number one rule when selling things in a business is "The customer is always right" they obviously forgot that and decided to reply in a rude manner. This is especially true in the age of technology where everyone is a critic and their review can cause a negative impact on the business. 

~ Ameen

All points I conveyed to the seller

Ponz

I can't believe this topic isn't taken down by the web master. Puts both parties in a negative light.

On their website there are usually two versions of details. One aged/painted and the other not. It is easy to age/paint these. If you send them back, you will pay more with shipping back and forth. 

Scrapiron Scher posted:

On their website there are usually two versions of details. One aged/painted and the other not. It is easy to age/paint these. If you send them back, you will pay more with shipping back and forth. 

Correct - I ended up painting it.

Ron H posted:

I can't believe this topic isn't taken down by the web master. Puts both parties in a negative light.

On the contrary, this is an incredibly useful thread. The moderators give great leeway for vendors to post large numbers of "new product" announcements -- more that I would prefer, but that is their call, not mine. It is only fair that negative information be permitted as well. Both are very valuable to consumers (which is most of us).

Personally, I would paint/weather them myself - suck it up as a lesson learned and move on. Really not a whole lot of $$ involved.

jim pastorius posted:

Personally, I would paint/weather them myself - suck it up as a lesson learned and move on. Really not a whole lot of $$ involved.

I did.  Here is my result

Wow.  A simple screen-snip of his online order showing what was ordered would have shown the OP he did indeed order the unfinished item.   From there, there are numerous win-win scenarios for both.   Or not - it takes two to tango.

I will say this.  Before I order from a vendor I always check the return policy.   The return policy from this vendor would keep me far away, specifically "No returns are accepted without a Return Goods Authorization Number (RGA) issued at the sole discretion of the seller".  Bold is my emphasis.  Returns should always be at the buyer's discretion not the sellers (imho).  

There will always be customers who have an issue with any business.  Those business's who are successful and highly rated know how to deal with issues professionally.  Several of those owners have responded to this thread.   There's a reason they are all well regarded.   I'm sure the owner of the business being discussed in this thread would gladly give a $20 item to NOT have had this publicity.

-Greg

One other thing that I would have done in this situation is to first suggest that the customer go ahead and paint the model as indicated in my instructions. Now, my kit instructions always assume you have never done anything like this, so they would even tell you what brand of paint, what colors to use, and how to apply them. If he's willing to do this, I'm fairly certain that he'll be happy with the results of his efforts and will have figured out that it's not all that difficult. Additionally, I'm always available by phone should he have any questions along the way.

If the customer was still not comfortable doing that, then, of course, I would exchange the piece for no additional charge as I previously indicated. I may lose a few dollars on a sale but I'll have a customer for life. Generating goodwill is a win win situation for all.

DennisB posted:

One other thing that I would have done in this situation is to first suggest that the customer go ahead and paint the model as indicated in my instructions. Now, my kit instructions always assume you have never done anything like this, so they would even tell you what brand of paint, what colors to use, and how to apply them. If he's willing to do this, I'm fairly certain that he'll be happy with the results of his efforts and will have figured out that it's not all that difficult. Additionally, I'm always available by phone should he have any questions along the way.

If the customer was still not comfortable doing that, then, of course, I would exchange the piece for no additional charge as I previously indicated. I may lose a few dollars on a sale but I'll have a customer for life. Generating goodwill is a win win situation for all.

OK - perhaps  I overreacted.  I'm like that.

Is my photo not appearing above?  It actually turned out to be somewhat enjoyable, albeit it a little frustrating, at first, attempting to blend colors.  What do you think?  Too much green, huh?

Ponz

Made me homesick !!

I saw your finished model . You did a great job which is what prompted my last post!

Too much green? It is a good start; but yea, kinda.

But it is a great base as an old, mossy, exposed wood where there is paint loss, it will work great.(or as a top coat if mossy isn't wanted) It just needs more colors drybrushed over it, light grey, white, bright blue, yellow; like primers and topcoats. Scrap wood is usually painted/finished on one side at least.

It looks like the wood all came from one big pile. But I see the middle shacks as the first two built. Sharing off the same supply pile, shack #2 needing help from a new source pile to complete it. The end shacks built later;maybe sharing supply piles? Maybe not? Add colors to match the woods story.

Hey, you did better than that ad designer

The info was there, but I doubt the store's author ever had commercial art (a web page "mechanic" at best; you need a balance). The use of the info within the program is poor enough to question if it is in fact inept oversight, or intentional. It's hard to judge by one ad. Let the site speak as a whole   

Confirms our (LHS) experience of a few years ago...

Since they do not sell through distributors, and since we had been requested by a few customers to obtain some select items, we established a direct order account and ordered several items in three different scales.  Included were some O gauge kits for background buildings...3-story apartments/porches/stairs in brick, clapboard, etc..  After they had hung on the peg wall (The kits came in a clear sack with a hang tag) for a few months, unsold, I decided to build one of them for my own layout.  I opened the bag, read through the instructions, compared the same with the materials provided and said to myself, 'Self? There's NO WAY this bunch of sticks and plastic parts is adequate to delivering the final product!'  

So, I sent an email, explaining the situation....including the delay in discovery.  (WAY past the 14-day refund period.)

The response that I received was terse.  The kit was no longer made/offered.  The problem was no longer theirs.  They offered no solution.

As the Trains Dept. manager, I was equally incensed...by a manufacturer that accepted no responsibility.  (Anyone else pick up on the hypocrisy of the latter as per the comments received by the OP?  You're right, Mr. Manufacturer, your lack of accepting responsibility is, indeed, a widespread problem we all face in society and commerce.)

Consequently, this manufacturer was notified that he could terminate our account...we were no longer interested in doing any business with them.

I must confess, for as long ago as that incident occurred, and now after reading the OP's experience and the mfr's response, I am thoroughly amazed that they are yet doing business....at all.  So, perhaps our horrid experiences are far rarer than the successful transactions, and they persevere.

But we're done.....finis.

KD