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Poopdeck

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Point being, the softening of our country has made mom pop beg people to come to their shop because of falsities like the BS about buying local to keep local shops open. If you want to stay open have outstanding customer support and stop begging for the consumer to do you a favor. 

Daves sporting center in Doylestown, PA. Handled the situation as I expected they would with nothing but old fashion customer service. It's a two piece rod that broke about 8 inches up on the top piece. They went to the rack and were going to grab the top section from another but they did not have another of the model. They accepted the rod back and said they would give me a call when it comes in. No store credit, no additional charges, no cancelling or re-ringing the credit card, just a hand shake and a promise to call when it comes in. That's how business should be done. 

I also want to be clear on one point. Had this rod been used for more than 15 minutes I would not have bothered the shop and would have dealt directly with St. Croix. I am a rather easy consumer to satisfy. I'm sure  the shop knows this about me. While in the shop there was another D...wad customer shaking the St. Croix rods. He commented to me that it was user error and then he proceeds to demonstrate to me how to properly hold a rod.  The shop owner was witnessing this and  said, "I'm sure he knows how to use a rod."  I think the D...wad was known to be a rod shaker but an Amazon purchaser. 

As a thank you to Dave, I will soon be purchasing new waders, water boots and no doubt new rods and reels from him. In the past when they did not have a rod I wanted I would order it on line. In the future I will let them order it and then purchase it from them. Fortunatly I work 10 minutes from the shop. Loyalty demands loyalty and I aim to keep up my end with Dave. 

SD, I'm a little shocked that you would charge a 25 dollar fee to replace a defective piece. I would assume the supplier you deal with would want to maintain your business and would provide the section free of charge. If not I would be looking for a new supplier. Customer service applies all the way up the line as well as down the line. Now I would not expect you to eat the cost of a defective piece either so I would gladly pay that price and then never order another blank from that manufacturer. 

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17 minutes ago, Poopdeck said:

SD, I'm a little shocked that you would charge a 25 dollar fee to replace a defective piece. I would assume the supplier you deal with would want to maintain your business and would provide the section free of charge. If not I would be looking for a new supplier. Customer service applies all the way up the line as well as down the line. Now I would not expect you to eat the cost of a defective piece either so I would gladly pay that price and then never order another blank from that manufacturer. 

Thing there is, since I actually do test cast as well as stress test inside with the guide spacing test (blank is fully stress and bent during that test) that shows it's not a defect. Basically that means something happens to it after it left my hands. So I don't work free  since it had to be something that was not a defect/my end. Suppliers won't give free sections once it leaves their factory, that's true of all suppliers no matter which one you use.  Most places will charge a flat rate of $50 no matter what once it leaves their factory. So for me to charge $25 just so I'm not out of pocket for something that I know was not a defect, is better than anywhere I know of.

I know you were not saying that in a negative way. But just letting you know why.

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Among other things, I sell router bits, a left-over from when I was a tool sharpening shop. I have the best selection of router bits in Fairbanks.

I had a customer come in that needed help matching up a custom molding for some new additions in his kitchen. It took a combination of three different bits to get the profile he needed. It was something like a 3/4 inch cove to a 3/4 roman ogee, topped off with a 1/2 bead ( I don't remember for sure any more but you get the idea). It took about a half an hour to match them all up and diagram it for him.

He looked at the prices on my Amana router (high quality) bits, said he could get them all cheaper at Home Depot and left.

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Mark do you have a lot of competition with big box stores/internet sales up there? I'd think in Ak you would not have as much since you are so secluded. If someone (customer) buys from Home Depot...that has to be flow in prob to a main city like Anchorage or somewhere right? You have HD's or other places like that there? I could be totally wrong, just don't know since I have never been there.

 

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1 hour ago, Steeldrifter said:

Thing there is, since I actually do test cast as well as stress test inside with the guide spacing test (blank is fully stress and bent during that test) that shows it's not a defect. Basically that means something happens to it after it left my hands. So I don't work free  since it had to be something that was not a defect/my end. Suppliers won't give free sections once it leaves their factory, that's true of all suppliers no matter which one you use.  Most places will charge a flat rate of $50 no matter what once it leaves their factory. So for me to charge $25 just so I'm not out of pocket for something that I know was not a defect, is better than anywhere I know of.

I know you were not saying that in a negative way. But just letting you know why.

Interesting. That emphasizes how far out of whack customer service has gone. Can't begrudge them to much because I guess it's a natural response to all the consumers who do their best to get over on anybody offering good deeds. It's a changing world. 

42 minutes ago, Mark Knapp said:

Among other things, I sell router bits, a left-over from when I was a tool sharpening shop. I have the best selection of router bits in Fairbanks.

I had a customer come in that needed help matching up a custom molding for some new additions in his kitchen. It took a combination of three different bits to get the profile he needed. It was something like a 3/4 inch cove to a 3/4 roman ogee, topped off with a 1/2 bead ( I don't remember for sure any more but you get the idea). It took about a half an hour to match them all up and diagram it for him.

He looked at the prices on my Amana router (high quality) bits, said he could get them all cheaper at Home Depot and left.

I guess rod shakers also shake router bits. 

On a side note, me and wheezy were planning a RV vacation through alaska but we had to put it on indefinite hold until the the COVID19 insanity ends. I'm not going on vacation to closed  shops, reduced service and mask wearing. When non mask wearing life resumes, Your shop will be on my destination list. Wheezy loves shopping the local flavors. 

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41 minutes ago, Poopdeck said:

Interesting. That emphasizes how far out of whack customer service has gone. Can't begrudge them to much because I guess it's a natural response to all the consumers who do their best to get over on anybody offering good deeds. It's a changing world. 

It is man. I like to not flat out think bad of people...I will admit I do a lot, but I at least "try" not too do so. But you would not believe some of the things I have dealt with over the years. Over the past almost 20 yrs I have had people admit to me after saying "it broke first cast: ...that it actually was due to...ready for this? Ceiling fan...vacuum (rod was strung up with fly on it in a rack and wife was vacuuming and sucked the fly in hence broke tip...  Could give ya so many admissions people have made after customers becoming "friends" man. I get what you originally said though bud so don't think I don't get what you said. I guess what I'm saying, sad as it is...when you deal with people on a daily bases, you run into some who you just can't trust, because if you took most at their word...you'd be out of business in short order :(

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1 hour ago, Mark Knapp said:

He looked at the prices on my Amana router (high quality) bits, said he could get them all cheaper at Home Depot and left.

It's too bad that the "old morality" that many of us are familiar with is a thing of the past.  

A few years ago, I needed 2 or 3 "special" stainless steel-looking nails with round heads for a specific piece of molding, the sort you find across doorways. All they (Menards) had was a bag of about 100 of them for $7. I hemmed and hawed for moment but ultimately payed what I thought was minor form of "extortion".  Only to get home to find out that some "rat" had nipped off the corner of the bag of nails...as if to have pushed some through without paying!  I suppose I could have returned the package, complaining that "some were missing", but that's not the way I roll...  If I need any more, or if you would like one, I've got them ready.  : )

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I had an Optometric practice for many years. People would go to other places and get their glasses and then wanted me to fix them when stuff went wrong.

Did it until I found out that when their glass broke they would tell folks it was my fault and I need to replace what was broken.

Finally quit fixing or adjusting glasses that were not from my office.

 

Rick

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16 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Mark do you have a lot of competition with big box stores/internet sales up there? I'd think in Ak you would not have as much since you are so secluded. If someone (customer) buys from Home Depot...that has to be flow in prob to a main city like Anchorage or somewhere right? You have HD's or other places like that there? I could be totally wrong, just don't know since I have never been there.

 

Yes, we have a Home Depot and a Lowes right down the street. Everything is right down the street, you can drive across Fairbanks in 20 minutes. We also have a Walmart, a Costco and as I mentioned a Sportsman's Warehouse. I think it's probably the biggest little city in the US. We have two big military bases near here, that's what helps bring in the big box stores, that and all the people in the northern half of Alaska are served by Fairbanks.

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16 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

Interesting. That emphasizes how far out of whack customer service has gone. Can't begrudge them to much because I guess it's a natural response to all the consumers who do their best to get over on anybody offering good deeds. It's a changing world. 

I guess rod shakers also shake router bits. 

On a side note, me and wheezy were planning a RV vacation through alaska but we had to put it on indefinite hold until the the COVID19 insanity ends. I'm not going on vacation to closed  shops, reduced service and mask wearing. When non mask wearing life resumes, Your shop will be on my destination list. Wheezy loves shopping the local flavors. 

Come any time, Alaska is mostly wide open right now, especially Fairbanks, we have no Covid mandates in effect. Your problem will be getting here.

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Is Alaska wide open as in no masks in stores,  open restaurants you can sit in and nobody is trying to take your temperature or shove a swab up your nose? I didn't think those places exist anymore. 

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47 minutes ago, Poopdeck said:

Is Alaska wide open as in no masks in stores,  open restaurants you can sit in and nobody is trying to take your temperature or shove a swab up your nose? I didn't think those places exist anymore. 

The only place it's mandatory to wear a mask is at the airport and the clinics.

We see some people wearing masks but they are mostly tourists. All of the restaurants, and all other businesses, in Fairbanks are open to full capacity (except one tourist trap that needed the tour boats in order to open). I've never seen a testing station and never seen a swabber.

While going through Anchorage (the only thing Anchorage is good for is going through it) I noticed some of the sit down restaurants were closed. One extra fancy restaurant in Sitka is closed for the summer. It's usually only open for the summer.

We've had only 14 total deaths in Alaska. They claim we've been getting about 40 new cases a day across the whole state (I wonder how much of that is true). Most of that is you ferners (You know what a "Ferner" is right, that's someone that ain't from here) coming in from America.😁

We wouldn't even know there was a virus if we didn't turn on the TV. There ya go, another good reason to not turn on the TV.

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We wouldn't know there was a virus either if not for all the masks. I just got my first haircut and beard trim in four months. I had to make an appointment, waited two weeks to get in, had to wait in my car in the parking lot until called to enter, my temperature was taken and then I was  permitted in while wearing a mask  for my standard isssued crew cut. I was permitted to take the mask off for the beard trim but I had to put it right back on. I've never made an appointment for a hair cut in my life. only one person was allowed in at a time so while one barber cut hair the other sat there doing nothing and earning nothing. Those poor bastards will have to work 16 hour days just to earn a days wages. That's the nanny state for you. 

I'm happy for you guys up north and I'm hoping to get up there in 2021. So start getting one of those mammoth tooth specials ready. If you can work it into a purse or a pair of shoes there's a good chance my wife will buy it. 

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4 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

We wouldn't know there was a virus either if not for all the masks. I just got my first haircut and beard trim in four months. I had to make an appointment, waited two weeks to get in, had to wait in my car in the parking lot until called to enter, my temperature was taken and then I was  permitted in while wearing a mask  for my standard isssued crew cut. I was permitted to take the mask off for the beard trim but I had to put it right back on. I've never made an appointment for a hair cut in my life. only one person was allowed in at a time so while one barber cut hair the other sat there doing nothing and earning nothing. Those poor bastards will have to work 16 hour days just to earn a days wages. That's the nanny state for you. 

I'm happy for you guys up north and I'm hoping to get up there in 2021. So start getting one of those mammoth tooth specials ready. If you can work it into a purse or a pair of shoes there's a good chance my wife will buy it. 

Let me know in advance, maybe we can do a day float.

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