Ok guys I went to the LHS this evening…
Ive been dealing with this local business for a better part of 12 yrs. Ive been toying with the idea of switching to all acrylics mainly the Vallejo line with a few mixes of some other brands. So I pick up the few lil things I need and I start talking to the guy(Mgr,who’s been there since I first walked through the doors). I decide what the heck I’ll do it. So I grab the color chart brochure he gave me and mark everything I want and how many. Im talking at least 250 lil itty bitty bottles of paint. While he’s in the back checking to make sure he has everything and locating a box…I do some quick mental math roughly about $650[:0] just for the paints…not including the other goodies Ive already set on the counter.
He comes back out lets me know he has everything. I ask him if he can do a lil better on the price since Im buying so much.(Ive never asked before!) He laughed at me…and kept chuckling as he started ringing it up(the other items I had on the counter)…I looked at him and told him “I’m dead serious!”…"I mean dang I probably in just the last 6 yrs my wife and I have easily spent thousands in there without even a twitch. He got this real blank stare and said…“So I take it you dont want the paints?”. No not now…you cant even give me a reason…you cant even tell me your barely making a profit on them. All you do is laugh…and I walked out and got in my truck and left.
Now heres my point…Small businesses need almost all the money they get. Especially in the first 5 yrs(with the failure rate). No one knows this better than me who owns a business in its 4th year. Ive been blessed business is great. I have some great customers who pay on time…and who dont ask for discounts,but hey I give them when and where I can. I would rather lower my profit a bit than loose a customer. If someone asks me to do something and I cant, I dont laugh at them I tell them I cant and very honestly why. Least he could have done. Im not as pi$$ed as I was earlier…but Im still upset. Especially when I came home found the file folder where I keep all of my reciepts from his shop and find out between me and my wife we have spent over 11k in that shop in the last 2yrs. Thats not including my wife whos a GS troop leader buying all of her troop crafting stuff there even if she could get it cheaper elsewhere(with a no discount).
Guys/gals I know Im ranting and Im sorry…I was just shocked and a lil humiliated…What are your thoughts. Realisticly will I do business with this shop again? I dont know I know I wont be in anytime soon. Even though tonight on my rant to my wife I swore Id never go back. Except to get my coffee cup LOL.
What do you think? Have you had a similar experience? Is this why so many modelers are buying via the net.
Thanks for letting me vent and sharing your thoughts. Sorry its so long.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris, some tales are short, some are long, this one is just the right length as it says all that you want it to say. I’m with you, if the guy was only a manager, the least he could have done was to ring the owner & check. I think you’ll go back, but maybe you’ll also see what you can get on line. At least once a month we get someone on here saying ‘another hobby shop is closing down’ now we can see why. shopping, especially for something as specialised as this, is a two way experience. You work up a relationship over time with the staff, comment on things together, and then this. if a barman in your local said, ‘Gee, your wife’s ugly’ you’d probably find another local. There’s only one hobby shop you can use probably, but it will never be the same as it was.
Pete
Thanks glad to know “I wasnt going off the deep end!”…Technically hes the manager he’s actually the son of the owner and runs the place fully…So he did have the authority. I’ll get over it with time but your right Ive already been web/price surfing…just feel kinda like a hypocrite because I always preach and agree on the support your LHS…
Thanks,
Chris
Due to the volume you were to puchase and the fact you knew the guy, he should have cut you a little break. Treating repeat customers is a must in the business world to continue to earn their business. He was about to make a huge sale, knocking a few bucks wouldn’t have hurt him a bit. Now you have learned what I have learned, if you can get a better price do so. I still buy many things at my LHS, but ironically models isn’t one of them unless it happens to be on sale.
“It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.”-R.E.Lee
Chris,
You weren’t going off the deep end - I’d have walked out too if I’d been about to lay down over $650 and got laughed at when I asked for a few bucks off…especially considering the amount of repeat you’ve given the retailer.
Even if it was only $10-20, I’d at least felt fine about asking for the discount.
I’m told that the USA is the customer service capital of the retail world, but what you experienced was “less than satisfactory” in my opinion.
In business, it’s easy to gain a new customer. Keeping them is another matter.
Cheers
LeeTree
Well in his defense…I got an email from him. He stated he tried calling once he closed up but just got a busy signal which is about right because Ive been online most of the night. Im still ticked a lil…but I emailed him back and told him I was very upset(in his email he thought I was joking when I asked for the discount, because I have never asked before). I told him Id love to stop back by so he could apologize but I would have to really consider any future purchases my wife or I make. Either personal or for our GS troop.
If he apologizes and is sincere then I’ll continue to be a customer…between all who will or have read this I wont however go in there and get things like I used to even with his apology.
Chris
The word I was searching for was ‘rapport’. This guy has dented the rapport you both used to have, sounds like it will take some time for him to panel beat it back into shape, Good Luck!
Pete
a 650 purchase deserves a dicount. Even for a 70$ buy i do get even a 10% discount, with receipt included…quite often ventors tend to forget the receipt ie 18% sales tax, leaving room from price improvement. not legal but good for your pocket in the short run. in the long run the state will claim it from you…lol
Chris, you definitely did not over react on that. I would have been pissed too. I have been frequenting a shop in my area for the last 6 or 7 years after I found it and within a year and many purchases I was getting a discount on every purchase I made there. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1 bottle of paint, I get a discount. I’m like you, I spend thousands a year in there and they know it, but they also like having my business and are smart enough to know I can get it off the internet if I want. Maybe they’ll come around and for that big a purchase it should be a very hefty discount. If not, I’d just get what you have to there and shop somewhere else where your business is appreciated. I even had Internet Hobbies give me a sale price when I forgot to put the code an an online item I purchased once. I called to tell them afterward and the guy said “I saw that and gave you the sale price since you’ve done some business with us before”. Talk about customer service from a company that deals with a lot more customers than your local shop!!! Good luck on dealing with your shop or finding a better one.
This thought occured to me;
‘Daddy’ comes in at the end of the day to check the receipts…
‘Well son, how was business?’
‘Oh, the usual, ‘cept some guy asked for a discount on paint’
‘How much paint/’
Er, about $650 worth’
Guess what ‘daddy’ said…
Pete
Hopefully some managers of the larger hobby shops out there are listening. Service matters. I go to a small hobby shop that specalizes in nothing but plastic. Less than 2 miles away is a huge hobby shop with R/C, Trains, Balsa, Plastic and much more. But all the guys in the big shop only care about R/C, the offer no help/expertise with the plastic and could care less if I buy or not. To me it is worth the extra buck or two to go to a friendly shop, full of only modelers. The owner of the shop doesn’t give discounts but it is understandable, he is selling to a niche market, but I’m sure he wouldn’t laugh at me if I asked for one, especially if I was dropping $650 in his store.
I am totally with you 100% on how you feel. I work at a hobby shop and I’ve seen instances where discounts have been given as a way of saying “thank you” for your patronage. The person could have easily gone to another shop or to the internet to get something perhaps 10% cheaper. In my fantasy land where I own my own hobby shop (siiiigh) I would like to think that I would give out discounts whenever feasible.
But now here’s something I’m dying to know…Did the guy ever give you the apology that you rightfully deserve? What has been the aftermath? Have you or your wife gone back into his shop since then? Between you and me and the rest of the forum, I tend to hold grudges and if it were me I would never set foot in the store again. The day the store owner/manager becomes so flippant towards my role as a customer then that is the day I stop lining their pockets.
Where as no one is ‘entitled to’ a discount, it is just common courtesy to extend one to repeat customers. Doing it for your customer, before they have to ask, is most important if you care about your business. Before I moved to a capitol city, my LHS would give me at least 10% off on everything, even ONE small bottle of paint! I didn’t even realize he was doing it at first. His is not even a big shop, just the best local in a fairly good size college town. His is the kind of shop that carries everything for just about every hobby. It’s hard for him to compete with the mail order and online houses, but that simple gesture alone is what helps keep him in business. Since I have moved I haven’t been to his shop in years, but I know that if I walked in there today, all would be the same.
I want to thank you for reminding me of him, and I owe him a call of thanks. I know he will appreciate it. He’s just that kind of guy.
Perhaps you should anonymously send this site URL to your LHS. See if he laughs then.
It’s all about fairness (and good Karma).
Best wishes, Stinger
Thanks guys. I really needed to feel like I want “flying off the handle” on this one. I dont get mad or upset all that easily but for some reason even though I kept my composure in his shop in my mind I had blown a gasket and was steaming. Heres the latest…I called him up this morning and asked him when he was going to lunch…I dropped by and we decided to go to grab something to eat. Lunch wasnt all that bad and since weve been friends it was nice to just talk about other things than “the hobby”. It was a lil awkward for him I could tell…I did however ask him if he knew how much money I spent in his shop…he had no clue. Well I opened a big manilla envelope I had stuffed in my laptop case and pulled out a couple of stacks of reciepts and a calculator…I told him to add it up, or look at this index card…Which had every years total on it for the last 12! His eyes got huge and I could tell he had no clue which IMHO isnt good because I want to know whos spending the most with my company. As far as the amount…I’ll just put it this way I could have 2 03 Donzi 38ZF’s sitting at the marina instead of 1…Not that I need 2.
I told him I didnt think he knew, and told him how much I would be spending with him in the future which is $0 and paid my bill which included his lunch(least I could do…Kinda a Im still mad but were still friends deal) and left. I then went to Hobbytown and took a look at thier acrylic line…and asked about a discount if I made a large purchase…he said sure anything over $200 I’ll be more than happy to give you a 15% discount[:)].
I returned home with some new goodies and 3 messages on my machine. I apologized for dropping the bomb in his lap and then walking out and told him were still friends personally and I wont smear his name all over town like others might do but I wont recommend him either. And if your the only one that has a must have kit…I’ll do without it or scour the net to find it but I wont
spend another dime in your shop. I then told him if he valued our personal friendship it was best if he just let this go…so we can move on.
I dont feel good about my decision or how I handled it(Kinda made me feel like some dang HS kid) but I think in the long run I did the right thing. I looked out for me!
Thanks,
Chris
I think your local store could do with a course in customer care! After all the business you’ve put their way it would’nt have hurt them to show a token of appreciation-but to laugh? They do not deserve your custom sir.
Wheather you shop there again, only you will decide. But I think giving them a piece of you mind would be quite appropriate if you return there. [^]
thoughts on customer service at my LHS. He gives a discount to the local modeling club members (which I am not a part of). But I have never asked for a discount, and the last time I was in there for a good buy ($150) he gave me the same discount just because I have been fairly regular and have bought quite a bit there in the last 6 months since I’ve been shopping there. That is customer service!
Now some other observations about this hobby shop: ok here in north-central SK we have (as far as I know) 3 hobby shops. one in Saskatoon (pop. 200,000) one in Prince Albert (pop. 45,000) and one in Birch Hills (pop. 1500). I live in Kinistino which is about 45 minutes away from Prince albert and Birch Hills is in the middle of the 2.(saskatoon is 100 miles the other way) this is a very low pop. area (rural farmland) and I never could understand how the area could support 2 HS, until I talked to Murray Kish from Saskatoon. He said the one in Saskatoon mainly deals in r/c and has poor customer service for other hobbies, so all the modelers from Saskatoon go to Birch Hills and P.A. because they have superior customer service. for instance: every time I ask if he has a certain model and he says no, he instantly follows it up with “can I order it for you?” and he usually says it might be a few weeks because there has to be a good amount of orders for the companies from other modelers to make it pay but it always comes in almost instantly. that shows you how much demand that guy has for ordering.
This is a really unfortunate situation for everyone involved. As a customer and former retail manager I can see the problem from both sides. The behavior of the manager in your LHS is inexcusable, and the store deserves to lose your business.
I hadn’t heard the saying that LeeTree wrote about the U.S. being the customer service capital of the world. I agree that this is how it should be but it is rarely the case. I’m afraid, in my experience, the quality of customer service depends greatly on the quality of employee training, which is often dismally bad. Besides, U.S. employees have been developing a pattern of behavior for at least the last few years that can be summed up in this way: “Why should I expend extra effort to make every customer happy if I’m only earning minimum wage?”
There’s a sign hanging above my workbench where I work. It says simply,
The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
We give discounts to alot of our customers, especially regulars. There are certain shops in my area where I have no qualms about asking for a bit off, and there are some that I don’t even have to ask as everything is sold to me at cost. Are they great shops? Not really. But I will go back there everytime I get the chance. Short term, they aren’t making as much money off of me as they would Joe Baggadonuts off the street. However, they have a customer for life, and word travels fast. It takes years to build a solid customer base, but only one bad experience from a single customer to bring it all down. As the saying goes, bad news travels faster than good news.
You’re not in the wrong at all, Chris. In your shoes, I would have done the same. As you already know, a store has to be sensitive to the needs or desires of the customer, and must be flexible enough to work with them. That’s one of the main reasons that everything is going to on-line: no customer interaction. In a cyber business, there’s no storefront, no walk-in customers, and nothing is done face-to-face. There are no people skills required to open a store like that. Today, I’ve seen a steady decline in the social interaction skills of kids, as well as adults. That’s why ebay and stores like that are so popular, and why it’s driving the local hobby shops out of business, if, like your example, they aren’t doing it to themselves.
Hey Chris,
Like all the others, I think you had every right to be upset. Maybe the manager thought because of your personal friendship that you were joking, but where business is involved, he should have made sure before thinking of it as a joke. At the very least, the phrase “Are you serious?” should have come from him to find out if you were joking. Then when he found out you weren’t, ANY kind of explanation or even a simple “Im sorry, but I cant do that” would have been better then getting laughed at. But he forgot the most basic rule of sales. You have to keep the customer happy in order to get their money. Most people dont like to be laughed at. He made a poor choice and now you get the chance to meet new people and make new friends at all the wonderful new places you will find to shop [:)]