Quote from: njee20 on May 29, 2016, 10:00:20 PM

Quote from: scotsoft on May 29, 2016, 03:53:21 PM
Well I say this is the perfect place to vent your frustration Graham.

I disagree, it's stunningly unprofessional. I guess Graham you're still adjusting to being a retailer, but your frequent threads on here and RMWeb lambasting your customers puts me right off your shop.

The customer "would of" have to click the OO section would he? Not "would have"?  What's that phrase about people in glass houses?

In business there is always the possibility a customer has a senior moment or something similar, we are all human.

However, don't complain, treat it as a money making opportunity where you can help them.

I have a senior lawyer friend who deals with new graduate lawyers - who leave university believing the law is Black and White.  He has to explain to them carefully that if the law was Black and White lawyers would never make any money. 

The law is grey and consequently it costs their clients.

the moral is that customers thinking is generally grey and good shops know this.

Get the Popcorn Out 

Quote from: GaryAlan on May 30, 2016, 01:10:46 PM
Get the Popcorn Out 

It does tend to make 'Ben Hur' look like an epic.

Unfortunately some customer service becomes this.

[smg id=40203 type=preview align=center caption="IMG 0009"]

Quote from: Graham Walters on May 30, 2016, 11:36:26 AM
he would also have had to click on at least two links clearly stating "OO" to get where he was.

I thought we'd pointed that that by using a search engine he could have arrived there directly, without clicking anything on your site.

Quote from: njee20 on May 30, 2016, 12:26:31 PM
Not in the least, I thought by telling you the exact item I was making it clear.

This is not Powerhaul livery. That's a normal FL 66, so either the photo is wrong, or the description is wrong. I suggest the former as AFAIK Dapol aren't doing a 'normal' FL 66 any more.

For what little my opinion is worth I just think you desperately need to reevaluate your persona online. You're coming from being a consumer, where it's fine to mouth off publicly on a forum, but you're not now, you're a retailer. You need to change your style and learn what's appropriate. If nothing else Google searches on your shop will start to bring up these threads - you're using your shop name (edit: no you're not, sorry!) as your user name and have all the contact details in your signature...

You may think of this as a friendly 'community', and consider yourself among friends, or whatever, but it's now permanently recorded that you consider your customers stupid. Some on here may do the friendly 'ah yes, morons, the lot of them', but many others will be alienated. You can't afford to alienate your small client base.

I don't wish you to fail, but IMO you desperately need to realise the power of your online image, and it's truly atrocious at the moment.

It would appear that I must have a production mistake then.

This is the engine I have according to the product number on the packing:

http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_59_64_79&product_id=1614

However !

The picture is of the loco I have in stock which is a combination of this:
http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_59_64_79&product_id=1669

and this

http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_59_64_79&product_id=1614

The livery is as in the photo on the site.

Sorry Graham, but I am frankly astonished seeing some of your comments on this thread. I am even more amazed that you are trying to establish a business. As I see it, this is how things stand...

• You are a new start-up shop competing with the likes of Hattons, Rails and Kernow. You are unlikely to compete on price or stock coverage with them. That means you have to find another way to attract custom
• This forum and RMWeb are one of your main avenues to generating customers; raising your profile and tapping into a sizable market
• a key differentiator is customer service and your persona

So far on this forum:

• You have vented about a customer being 'stupid', not knowing if they have misunderstood your website, or if they are a total beginner; or if they have some sort of impairment. They could have just missed something - a few on here have already admitted they have done the same in the past (I too have mistakenly ordered a model in the wrong scale)
• You have complained about RMWeb, not a great move if you are trying to drum up support for your venture (why wind up potential customers?)
• Believe it or not, njee20 is providing some constructive suggestions - are you going to dismiss any other similar comments? Some of your posts may have lead to him deciding not to use your shop - not being nasty, but that is your loss, not his. He is also dead right about Google searches. Do you really want one of the top results from your shop to be a rant thread on this forum about how stupid one of your customers was?
  

By having an active presence on at least two major forums, you could put it to good use - being helpful, providing constructive suggestions - giving the impression that people want to use your business.

No disrespect to some others on this forum, but your should ignore the 'yes I quite understand, people are so dumb' and other such supporting comments and focus on those of us who say 'for goodness sake, tone it down and stop unintentionally sabotaging your business'.

Please take this advice from someone who has their own business; in a market where reputation is absolutely paramount. Don't trash it by needlessly ranting on the web about your customers - you are going to have a hard enough job competing against the big box-shifters.

Quote from: Claude Dreyfus on May 30, 2016, 02:33:09 PM
Sorry Graham, but I am frankly astonished seeing some of your comments on this thread. I am even more amazed that you are trying to establish a business. As I see it, this is how things stand...

• You are a new start-up shop competing with the likes of Hattons, Rails and Kernow. You are unlikely to compete on price or stock coverage with them. That means you have to find another way to attract custom
• This forum and RMWeb are one of your main avenues to generating customers; raising your profile and tapping into a sizable market
• a key differentiator is customer service and your persona

So far on this forum:

• You have vented about a customer being 'stupid', not knowing if they have misunderstood your website, or if they are a total beginner; or if they have some sort of impairment. They could have just missed something - a few on here have already admitted they have done the same in the past (I too have mistakenly ordered a model in the wrong scale)
• You have complained about RMWeb, not a great move if you are trying to drum up support for your venture (why wind up potential customers?)
• Believe it or not, njee20 is providing some constructive suggestions - are you going to dismiss any other similar comments? Some of your posts may have lead to him deciding not to use your shop - not being nasty, but that is your loss, not his. He is also dead right about Google searches. Do you really want one of the top results from your shop to be a rant thread on this forum about how stupid one of your customers was?
  

By having an active presence on at least two major forums, you could put it to good use - being helpful, providing constructive suggestions - giving the impression that people want to use your business.

No disrespect to some others on this forum, but your should ignore the 'yes I quite understand, people are so dumb' and other such supporting comments and focus on those of us who say 'for goodness sake, tone it down and stop unintentionally sabotaging your business'.

Please take this advice from someone who has their own business; in a market where reputation is absolutely paramount. Don't trash it by needlessly ranting on the web about your customers - you are going to have a hard enough job competing against the big box-shifters.

Quite the contrary, I take everything people say onboard, and I have in this thread apologised for using the word stupid, there are better and more subtle ways of saying it.

I don't believe that I am in competition with Kernow, Hattons, Rails etc, I cannot be, simply because I do not have the financial clout they do in the market place.
My main business at the moment relies on local people walking through the door, and I am a completely different person then.

I have also taken onboard what both sides have said, and yes the online persona does have to change, perhaps I have reached the "grumpy old man stage" in life.

As regard what has been said about one product, I can only go by what Dapol tell me, I hate to say it but I am not a Wikipaedia where loco's and their liveries lie.
In all honesty I feel as though I should take it off sale and add it to my collection to stop any further hassle, unfortunately as it is a 3 axle bogie, my layout curves may be a little too tight for it.

Quote from: Graham Walters on May 30, 2016, 04:22:31 PM
I have also taken onboard what both sides have said, and yes the online persona does have to change...

Absolutely, and I think you've been completely honest and open all the way along. But you do have to accept that NGF and RMWeb are now "your shop window" to some degree, and what you say here will have an impact on potential customers.

Just have a look at the way DJM and to some degree Ben A. speak on this and the other forum, to name two examples who spring to mind. Both are circumspect in their choice of words, avoid confrontation, and steer clear of divisive topics/conversations.

Quote from: Graham Walters on May 30, 2016, 04:22:31 PM
...perhaps I have reached the "grumpy old man stage" in life.

Possibly, but FAR TOO OFTEN that's used as a justification for being rude. What happened to the "old" Englishman being a retired major or suchlike with a tweed jacket, Jack Russell dog, and impeccable manners?  When did it become okay for the English to be rude just because they're old?

In all honesty, you should use your age and experience as tools. People will trust you if they know you're helpful and can genuinely teach them the best ways to make their modelling more rewarding. Any kind of "take me as you find me" approach simply won't work when you're starting up a small business.

Suggestion: see this forum as a place to show your wares. Show us your crafting, your ideas, your new tools and materials. Find projects and chores (like ballasting for example) that everyone hates and share videos or photos to show how *you* do them. Then link back to the tools and materials you have. I'm starting out in scratchbuilding, and have now bought a variety of materials via web pages created by modellers who impressed me. Just ordered some P38 filler this very afternoon after seeing it used on an etched brass project!

Cheers, NeMo

As a disabled person what ever you sell I rather buy from some other shop your customer care and understanding score to ME nill points and I belong to 9 forum with over 1000s of users

I am sure that many of us have missed the obvious at times and probably are quite embarrassed  as a result - I know I have

QuoteAs regard what has been said about one product, I can only go by what Dapol tell me, I hate to say it but I am not a Wikipaedia where loco's and their liveries lie.
In all honesty I feel as though I should take it off sale and add it to my collection to stop any further hassle, unfortunately as it is a 3 axle bogie, my layout curves may be a little too tight for it.

Sounds like Dapol just put the wrong loco in the box. Seems pretty odd. Just look at the number, google it, that'll tell you which model you have, but it's not the current Powerhaul one.

Quote from: njee20 on May 30, 2016, 05:47:36 PM

QuoteAs regard what has been said about one product, I can only go by what Dapol tell me, I hate to say it but I am not a Wikipaedia where loco's and their liveries lie.
In all honesty I feel as though I should take it off sale and add it to my collection to stop any further hassle, unfortunately as it is a 3 axle bogie, my layout curves may be a little too tight for it.

Sounds like Dapol just put the wrong loco in the box. Seems pretty odd. Just look at the number, google it, that'll tell you which model you have, but it's not the current Powerhaul one.

I've done all that, and contacted Dapol, it would seem that I have what Ford used to refer to as a "Friday afternoon" model

Nothing wrong with it, it's just not the right loco for the box.

Quote from: njee20 on May 30, 2016, 06:12:09 PM
Nothing wrong with it, it's just not the right loco for the box.

Groove, record, stuck - springs to mind!!