Don't you hate...

When you send an a query through a e-mail query form set up on a companies website and they don't ******** respond!.

I mean, whats the point of having an enquiries link on your website if no bothers to either read them or respond to them. It really, really ****** me off!.

In my opinion, if you (as a company) have an e-mail enquiry system then you should be providing some kind of response within 2 hours, even if it is just to say we need time to get the information and will respond fully later. I don't find an automated response much use either, but at least that acknowledge receipt of the enquiry.

<end rant>

I agree, it also gets up my nose when a company advertises free cattledogs and when you fill in the form there's no reply. Just before Xmas I filled in all the details for a Japan Woodworks Cattledog as I wanted several Japanese chisels and SWMBO wanted 3 Japanese knives, no reply so they missed out on about $500 bucks.

When a company is setting up a website. They would try to make it as user friendly as possible. Things like “About us”, “Contact us”, “Product search”, etc.

But a lot of them don’t work. It is because they probably don’t have the resources or knowledge to take advantage of the internet technology.

Try the “contact us” on some websites see if you can get any replies.

Try XXXXX-XXX

I'm so in agreement with you.

I do it quite regularly - ie I point out where they have problems on their website or something like that and I very rarely get a response or even an acknowledgement.

Examples I have done recently:
<B>Selleys</B> - I tried to find out about their new glue durabond. They have a fancy website that allows you to select what you are trying to stick together and tells you the glue they use. They launched durabond in the shops and on the tv but it wasn't on theri website. I tried the "contact us" page on their website and it gave an error. I then trie dthe "link to the orica corporate site" and that errored too. So I sent them an email to the webmaster.
Selleys response: Delivery failure, username is not unique!!
So I emailed webmaster at orica at got the following response: This email address is only checked on a monthly basis. Any urgent enquiries shoul dbe made via the Contacts Us section of the website.
I never heard any more - but they fixed the website not long after.

<B>melbourne.citysearch.com.au</B>
Sent them an email saying their weather reports were a week old (very confusing). They replied and apologised and said they would look into it. Another week went by and now the link to th eweather just doesn't work. It's been like that for a month now.

<B>Westpac</B>
Sent them an email saying that business online wasn't working and I could onl'y access Business Internet Banking. I didn't get a reply so I sent another email saying it again and that I hadnb't got a reply the first time. They acknowledged there was problem with Business Online and told me how to use Buisness Internet Banking.

These are three of Australia's biggest companies: Orica, Telstra and Westpac. If they can't run their websites, they shouldn't try and make them so fancy.

well I was speaking generically, cos I have been having this problem with a few places lately.

However, I am still waiting on a repsonse from XXXXX-XXX that I sent through there 'contact us' link which sends a e-mail to there sales group.

Call me impatient or unreasonable but it wasn't a partularly difficult request and I still don't have a reply after 26 hours. So thats whats starting to get my goat now.

Other places I never heard back from at all. Obviously they don't get my patronage.

I hate the sites that insist that if you want to give them some feedback you have to fill in all of your information - name, street address, phone number, email address - presumably so they can flog it on to someone else.

Mostly the checking programs only check did you put something in the field not whether it makes sense. I suspect that a lot of junk mail goes to 123 None Of Your Business St :-)

I reckon I have a less than 10% response rate to email requests for product information.

Where supplying details makes sense I always specify that my details are supplied for the purposes of responding to the query and not for other use.

There are companies out there who ARE grateful for your feedback and send lovely responses thanking you for telling them there is a problem.

There are companies who respond promptly and helpfully ( Bluescope Steel take a bow ).

But I agree that there are a lot of companies that wouldn't recognise a sales opportunity if it bit them on the bum.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jackiew

There are companies who respond promptly and helpfully

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I'd nominate Lee Valley as one of the better companies I've dealt with in a long time. While I've only contacted them twice, I got immediate answers and more importantly, the answers were complete and needed no further follow up etc.,

In the few enquiries Ive made to them, Timbecon have been prompt and provided appropriate levels of information. Pity their website is (mostly) not available till early March...

While I sympathise and agree with your gripe, some web sites do really well.

I'm thinking of Mik for one. Rarely have I had to wait more than two hours for a reply from them and it's usually much less than that.

I think that some companies just have a web "presence" so that If someone tries to look them up they don't draw a blank. They don't really "do" ebusiness.

The other one I love is "we'll have to order it it. It'll be here in a week's time"

Pah. I don't expect shops to stock absolutely everything but when I hear this sort of *****, I'm always reminded of Yamaha Pitmans here in Adelaide. All the Yammy bits came from Melbourne except for a supply of popular bits. Recipe for angst? No, because if you ordered the bit before 5 pm (when the Yamaha closed in Melbourne), it was ALWAYS there the next day.

Of course, the sad question is: how did I become so familiar with ordering Yamaha parts? Tis a long, sad story of a couple of motorcycles that proved that buying cheap isn't always the cheap option.

Cheers
Richard

Two months ago I sent an email enquiry to Leda in Adelaide about their tablesaws and a follow up email 4 weekls later. Still waiting for any reply from them. :mad:

Needless to say they missed out.


Peter.

Try ANZ Bank, they have a contact us to tell us how great we are, it works, gripe site, page unavailable.
I sent a grizzle to the pat on the back page advising that the Ombudsman was becoming involved in a matter of a few seconds (they failed to put about $20k in my account as it would take 5 days to clear, the deposit was cash) and I had a response by phone in a matter of minutes.
My cash turned up but I wrote to the Ombudsman anyway.
Most US companies are good and Northern Machinery (I think, they sell Avenger gear and the Grrripper) in Brisbane must work around the clock as I have had responses in a matter of minutes, even on a Sunday when I have sent emails not expecting results until MOnday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by craigb

I'm thinking of Mik for one. Rarely have I had to wait more than two hours for a reply from them and it's usually much less than that.

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I wonder why I am still waiting for a reply to a pricing request for LV smoother plane that I sent over two weeks ago.

I have given up and will go directly to LV. You try and do the right thing, but .........

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daddles

Of course, the sad question is: how did I become so familiar with ordering Yamaha parts? Tis a long, sad story of a couple of motorcycles that proved that buying cheap isn't always the cheap option.

Cheers
Richard

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LMAO here, Richard it's not just the cheap ones either, every Yamahahahahaha I've ever owned,(SRX, FZR, IT's, YZ's, Xt's, TT and my personal moby dick, the Kenny Roberts rep RZ500) whether new, secondhand, rebuilt, whatever, has blown up most spectacular (read lotsa $$$$$$) fashion all over the countryside. Which is why I am no longer a big fan of the tuning forks brand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by numbat

I wonder why I am still waiting for a reply to a pricing request for LV smoother plane that I sent over two weeks ago.

I have given up and will go directly to LV. You try and do the right thing, but .........

Cheers

---

Have you tried emailing them again?

I can only speak from my experience but I've never had a problem with them.

In any case, maybe you should let them know that your query hadn't been addressed. They seem to a customer focused lot normally.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by numbat

I wonder why I am still waiting for a reply to a pricing request for LV smoother plane that I sent over two weeks ago.

I have given up and will go directly to LV. You try and do the right thing, but .........

Cheers

---

Just order it and add it to the clamp order.:D

Regarding the gripe about Melbourne weather being a week old....I wouldn't have thought that was a problem?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fat Pat

Regarding the gripe about Melbourne weather being a week old....I wouldn't have thought that was a problem?

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You're right normally - it just happened to be the week we had the huge storms, so it was odd to see brilliant sunshine predicted!

Just love Melbourne weather, if I didn't I would move.
Nice to have some respite after a couple of days of heat, and can travel to two capital cities in a day not to mention our great snowfields.
Don't forget too, more wineries than you can poke a stick at, and within an hours drive of anywhere.
Wouldn't move for quids :)
32 today and showers tonight, no lawns to water............................again

Well, I'd originally e-mailed carba-tec (perth) on the 15th Feb asking if they could quote me a cash price for a 8" jointer, thicknesser, Drill press, dust extraction and some associated bits and pieces. I'd kinda hoped they might have given me something better than their internet price, given that the 8 inch jointer is on special according to the latest edition of "Autralian Woodsmith". Also since I was offering cash I thought a bit more could be knocked off.

Anyways, about 30 hours after the original query, I get an e-mail asking if someone had responded to my query. I wrote back saying no...

50 hours after the original request I finally get back a total figure. (no individual breakdown). Anyway, I checked the quote against the internet listed price and it looked to be exactly a internet quote, which I could have done myself.

I wrote back querying this and pointing out the sale price on the Jointer.

9 days later I still haven't got a reply. I guess its a case of that's our price, take it or leave it. This was on about $3000 worth of gear. I guess that seems like small change or their margins are too slim on the items Im looking at....

Anyways, since Timbecon site is down I will be in their on Saturday seeing what they can do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doublejay

I'd nominate Lee Valley as one of the better companies I've dealt with in a long time. While I've only contacted them twice, I got immediate answers and more importantly, the answers were complete and needed no further follow up etc.,

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Oh yes - very professional people - pity they could'nt open a branch in Australia.......

I have today written my 6th email to a company in the USA enquiring about a product.

Tomorrow I start two a day, and after than I post the lot here!

Cheers,

P :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bitingmidge

I have today written my 6th email to a company in the USA enquiring about a product.

Tomorrow I start two a day, and after than I post the lot here!

Cheers,

P :(

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Mate, I'm with you all the way - stick it right up 'em (hope it's not LeeValley) - cannot abide organisations like that !!

:eek: Look out ubeaut's got the rant mode switched on......

Don't be too surprised if you don't ever get a response from some businesses, a lot of them have no idea that they even have email facilities and Leda would probably be one as they have lost the only person who had a clue
.
We, and I guess many other businesses, have trouble keeping track of emails. We often receive as many as 600 or more emails a day, much of it spam and most of it dumped upon receipt, however I then at some stage, have to wade through all the junk to see if any genuine emails have been taken out by the spam filter, this alone can take up to 15-20 minutes a day. If we happen to be away for a few days doing demo's or WWW shows etc we can end up with several thousand pieces of crud to wade through upon return (best or worst so far was around five and a half thousand).

There are many, many reasons why it can take a long time to get an answer to an enquiry. I realise it is frustrating, but bear in mind that the bulk of web sites are still completely unmanned and some may only be checked weekly or even monthly, some never at all. Only really big businesses that rely heavily on mail and internet orders to survive will give you an almost immediate response. Lee Valley is a prime example of this, they provide excellent service because they are basically one of the biggest hardware mail order businesses in the world.

I know of a couple of sites that have been take off the web because of the extra burden placed on the businesses that owned them. Often requiring a couple of extra staff and many, many extra hours a week for little increase in sales and usually a drop in productivity. I often have up to 20 or more emails in a day from people all expecting a detailed answer as to why the brush they purchased leaves lines in their polish, or where to buy a lathe and what sort is the best and why dose Fred Nurk use a such and such instead of a so and so. Even a simple answer like "Put this question on the bulletin board" takes time to type and in some instances will generate another half dozen time wasting emails because they can't figure out how to enter the BB, or which link to use to post or why their pictures won't work and often times will email me thinking I am the BB. All these replies take time and easily generate ill will if not replied to.

It seems that almost everyone who sends an email to a business is convinced that there will be someone sitting at a computer at the other end itching to send an instant reply back to them. In reality email for many businesses is an unproductive waste of time. If ever they bring in speak mail or them there telephonie gizmos it will simplify things dramatically.

Yes a business should answer their emails in as timely a fashion as possible, but not all will. Some will be still labouring under the burden of this weeks lot late into next week. It is now just after midnight and I am halfway through Mondays lot and most of the urgent or important ones from the last 2 days. By 2 am I might be able to get to the idiot ones from Monday and Tuesday and if I take the day off tomorrow I might just be able to catch up with the rest of todays and tomorrows

Try walking in the other mans shoes for a few miles before you heap criticism on him. It really isn't easy unless you are willing to throw a lot of money and staff at it. I have often considered shutting down my email completely. If I could find a way of charging $1 for every email I answered in the last 6 years I reckon I would almost have enough money to retire on.


OK rant mode off. Think I'll go to bed instead of answering more b..... emails.


Cheers - Neil :rolleyes:

Have to agree with Neil 100% on this one.

I have been following this thread and would agree that some companies give lousy email service but I find they are often not too sharp at any form of service.

I have found that people often believe that because email is instant that it somehow makes it so much easier and simpler to respond. Well often it doesn't! We get requests for quotes where somebody emails you a file from some cheap CAD package or even send jpeg file and say how many for 1, 5, 10 100, 1000 of these. Often the request is short of detail but before you can convert/confirm anything they ring and say but I sent it through last night where is the quote. The reality is that the poor bugger trying to respond is still trying to work out what they want.

Things are much the same when people ask for stuff with missing part numbers or inadequate descriptions. I usually try to get people to pickup the phone first if unsure about something because most companies still employ people and often they know what they are talking about or can sort out any misunderstanding much quicker than via print. Look at some of the dummy spits on this bulletin board and you see how people can read all sorts of prejudices into whatever others write.


I love you all
Geoff

LeeValley and Hare & Forbes don't seem to have a problem replying promptly.

Geoff, Crawling to Neil will get you everywhere. ;)

HH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HappyHammer

LeeValley and Hare & Forbes don't seem to have a problem replying promptly.

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Did you read Neil's post?

I have to admit I got half way through, went cross eyed and skipped to Geoff's post but at the end of the day I'm just passing on my experience, next time I'll be more verbose and include full context for the more anal members of the forum:p

BTW, following Geoffs lead crawling to Neil will get you everywhere too:D

HH.

How amazing. I made some changes to my bulk order this afternoon. 5 minutes later I received an email from Heather-Ann saying it has been done.

What was Heather doing over there at 9.52pm? :eek:

OK, so do I risk upsetting him up there by sending an email asking if Cedar Traditional Wax is back in stock yet or just hope he happens to read this post. :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

How amazing. I made some changes to my bulk order this afternoon. 5 minutes later I received an email from Heather-Ann saying it has been done.

What was Heather doing over there at 9.52pm? :eek:

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Didn't you read Neils email? There must be something regarding your post in there it's so long, although as previously admitted I didn't read it all.:p :D :D

HH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HappyHammer

as previously admitted I didn't read it all.

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Short attention span huh?

Short what? sorry I didn't get the rest....

HH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

How amazing. I made some changes to my bulk order this afternoon. 5 minutes later I received an email from Heather-Ann saying it has been done.

What was Heather doing over there at 9.52pm? :eek:

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Heather Ann was sitting there on Rob Lee's instructions just in case those crazy Aussies wanted to add to their orders. He's financing his Carribean holiday out of this order. :D

Well,

My mystery company Replied!, I was asking for freight costs on a $24.00 TS hood.

After seven emails, my original was answered (I had subsequently sent messages to the "sales","technical" and "general" addresses in order to elicit a response):

Quote:

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The shipping charges for the TSGUARD-DH would be UPS EXPRESS - $65.70, UPS EXPEDITED $65.15.


Shipping policy for overseas shipments from (our company)
In order to provide the most reliable service all shipments are made by UPS. This will be either by UPS "Expedited Service" or UPS "Express Service". We use UPS service because shipments by UPS are typically faster and may be tracked through the UPS tracking system. We cannot ship by Mail services (i.e. Parcel Post) since these shipments cannot be tracked and we have no recourse for lost or damaged packages.

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Note that a DC guard weighs two-thirds of stuff all; for that less than that money, Lee Valley will ship an LA Jack, and some other stuff via air freight and I only have to send one email and get three back!!

This is turning into a fan club meeting isn't it?

No, I'm not ordering the bit from Them.

Cheers,

P

OK Termite - I read the post. Cedar Trad is back on the shelf for the moment. Can't see an email or order anywhere in the files for it, but found this answer to an email from you dated 4th and 5th November 2003. It illustrates some of our email problems 15 mth ago which were simple compared to now.

Hope you don't mind me using it.

Cheers - Neil :D

PS if you want Cedar Trad let me know...... Memory like a sieve, me. https://www.ubeaut.biz/suicide.gif
___________________________

Email sent by: [email protected] 06/11/2003 9:14am

G'day Bill - Sorry for the delay but, had to go to Melb for a few days and returned Tuesday to 347 emails, and am only now getting to your second one.

Firstly - The book will be a few days coming as we are out of them and waiting on a new lot from the printer. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow.

Secondly - The cane chair. If you would like some info feel free to call me, my Ph no is 03 5221 8775. This is much cheaper and easier for me than the time lost on putting info into emails especially when there are so many.

Cheers - Neil Ellis

Hi Redback, Your gripe has come to my notice and as you e-mailed us in the early course of your enquiry, I have looked into the way the enquiry was handled here. Whilst you listed a slew of machinery, you also asked for some customising of a standard machine (Fit a mobile base to a buzzer) The e-order desk referred your enquiry up the line for assistance with the quote, and he e-mailed you to keep you informed. He rode the fellow who was supposed to be doing the quote and whilst he was pretty busy (I was on leave and so the work load was a fair bit higher on that person), he was a little tardy on providing the e-desk with the quote. It did eventually come to fruition, and the e-desk responded to your enquiry.
Traffic times are : Your e-enquiry 9:52am 15 Feb, our "interim reply" 4:19pm 16 Feb,our final reply with quote with a suggestion to make the deal better for you 1:21pm 17th February.
We thought about your needs and request. It took a little time, we kept you posted, we'd love you to come into the store so we can show you what our machines are like.
Look forward to doing business !

Carbatec-WA,

I can understand when you are busy and understaffed, fair enough. I also can understand the post from Ubeaut regarding the amount of e-mail they have to wade through.

The fact is though, I have very little time to shop. I work full time and because of WA's ridiculous restrictions on trading hours I have very little opportunity to visit the store personally as it is a fair distance from my home. Hence I prefer to perform a certain amount of business via writing and e-mail is my preferred option.

But my post on page 2 still stands.

I e-mailed a reply to your quote on 17/2/2004 3.36 requesting some information re-delivery, available stock and the actual quote itself (ie, I wanted the sale price on the jointer not the full price).

No response has been received on this.

To give the benefit of the doubt, I followed this up on 28/02/2005 at 9.32am.

No reply was received.

It was at this stage I then made my decision and concluded my business with another supplier. I am perfectly happy with my decision at this stage.

Your business was not the intended target of this initial post, because at least you did respond to my inital e-mail enquiries.

regards

RB

Redback,
I don't want to draw this out on the Forum, but our logs do not show any inward traffic from you on the 17th. After we responded, we have no further contact from you.
So lost in cyberspace. Sorry.
Any problems in dealings with us in the future, and we do hope there might be dealings with us in the future, happy to take a phone call from you.
We are here Mon-Sat (1pm close Sat)
BW
Geoff

no worries, I have just replied to your e-mail.

Good to hear from you, unfortunately a little too late...

As I said in my e-mail, I will continue to frequent your store as needed, because I do understand that no-one is perfect and UBeauts post puts additional light on this area.

RB