What should be done about a member vendor, who takes too long to ship Options

[HeavyHeavy]

I placed an order with a member vendor here because I thought it would be nice to support one of our guys. I contacted him to ask him how to send payment, etc. and received a reply right away. Then I sent my payment via paypal and waited, and waited...

I received a message after about a month telling me that my items would be sent out "this week". I started sending messages about a week after that to find out the status of my order, but have not received a reply. It has been a few months since I sent my payment and nothing.

I have been told that he is a good vendor and that I will probably receive my parts after a while because it takes a while for him to get around to shipping. I see that he logs in here and some other club sites pretty regularly, but he doesn't reply to my messages and he is apparently not replying to other members either.

It is my opinion that vendors who give this kind of poor customer service should not be allowed to post their produts here. I'd like to hear what others have to say.

It would be a shame for everyone to have to learn the hard way about this vendor's poor customer service.

[sww914]

Your argument makes sense and I'm inclined to agree with you. If you're bad enough even ebay will boot you and It's not a social club like this.

[kconway]

Yep, I think if there is proof and a pattern(not saying I don't believe you but there is always two sides) that the vendor is nonresponsive, then I think he advertisement in the Member Vendors section should be pulled. No sense for others to go through the same experience.

My two centavos...

[Lavanaut]

Funny, I just had a similar experience with a member-vendor on a certain other site. After waiting waaaay too long for a refund, and many empty promises, I finally filed a dispute with PayPal. Not a claim, a dispute...just the first step. Low and behold, the issue was resolved within 48 hours of filing (along with an apology). It sucked to have to get the man involved, I'd hoped to just handle it like reasonable adults. But when that failed and the vendor quit communicating with me? The official approach was effective and I got to quit (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

My take ~ let the Admin team here know. If a vendor gets complaints from members on an even close to a regular basis, I'd like to think that he or she would not be allowed to continue advertising here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)

[TROJANMAN]

The Pond! Throw her into the Pond!

[rick 918-S]

Take it up with the vendor and resolve the issue. And put you name in your posts so we know who you are.

[lotus_65]

i guess i'd warn the vendor first before opening a thread.

then, assuming you have all the dates and pm's, you could lay it out and let the court of public opinion rule.

[blitZ]

I am in the same situation with the same person and have been waiting since February. This person has always been a good vendor, so I'm a bit bewildered at the current scene. I really want the product. I didn't vote, I just wish the communication were there, so this situation would not exist.

[r_towle]

I will state a fact or two.

We dont know who you are.
You have 55 posts, so you are not really super active in "our community"
We dont know the real situation.
The vendor has a real day job.
The vendor may have life issues that are preventing him/her from fixing you problem.

I would say CALL the vendor.
If there is no phone number in the member vendor area, there should be.
All vendors should provide a phone number, physical address, and be responsive, period.

Rich

[purple]

I will state a fact or two.

We dont know who you are.
You have 55 posts, so you are not really super active in "our community"
We dont know the real situation.
The vendor has a real day job.
The vendor may have life issues that are preventing him/her from fixing you problem.

I would say CALL the vendor.
If there is no phone number in the member vendor area, there should be.
All vendors should provide a phone number, physical address, and be responsive, period.

Rich

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

You should talk to Eric Shea or a forum moderator first. Call him, handle it yourself, in private. In fact, I bet I know who you're talking about and I bet I've even told you this in the particular thread too. I hear he's a good guy and doesnt use email the way us computer addicted people do.

Try calling... start the muckraking after the call nets you no result.

[iamchappy]

Sometimes having to wait for the reproduction of a OEM part that is NLA is worth the wait. I believe there is also a border crossing that needs to take place for hassle free shipping. US border customs is a bitch.

[kconway]

I thought this was a generic poll about ANY vendor that doesn't respond after payment, not just vendors N or S of the border. I responded not to hammer a particular individual.

I see a few suggestions about calling said vendor first after talking to an admin. Is that to say the admins have vendors phone numbers to contact them with? I don't see that all of members here listing their phone numbers in their ads or in their profile. But maybe that should be a requirement if your a Member Vendor.

[Richard Casto]

I didn’t vote in the poll because I don’t think those are the only or proper ways to go about this. I personally would handle it this way and in this order…

1. Make a serious and good faith effort to resolve this with the vendor. While you shouldn’t have to do this, use multiple methods to try to reach the vendor. Email, Call, maybe even see if there is a mutual friend or someone else on the forum who personally knows the person can find out what is going on.
2. If you get no satisfaction and you have paid money, try to get a refund. Either directly or via something like your credit car company/PayPal.
3. Let the forum admins know. Especially if this person runs banner ads, etc. It is up to them to decide how to handle this from a forum vendor perspective.
4. If you get to this point, I personally don’t see anything wrong with posting a factual and non-emotional comment regarding your experience. Be straight and to the point. My goal would not be to give the vendor a hard time, but rather to prevent other people from having a bad experience. Something along the lines of “This vendor seems to have a good track record in the past, but something is not right at the moment. I would be wary of using them until whatever issues have been resolved”. You are obviously going to have to call out the vendor by name, so you should do the same and make sure everyone knows who you are as well. I would make it a point of identifying yourself (signature with your real name and not your forum handle) because anonymous feedback is not good.

It’s not too hard to do a search and figure out what and who this is about. I have not used this vendor, but the person seems to have a good history both as a community member and vendor in the past. I would assume that something is going on and that some slack should be given, but at the same time the vendor DOES have a responsibility to his customers. Especially if money has been taken.

[rick 918-S]

Not all the vendors are store fronts. Not all vendors are even a real business. Some have very demanding jobs. Some of our guys and gals make one off parts in their kitchens and garages because they probably needed a part for themselves once an couldn't buy one. So out of the need was the birth of their parts source. The guy your posting about is a good guy. Here's some things you may either not know about him or didn't think of. He lives in a place where cell phones either don't work or when they do they suk. If you have one your paying through your ass for little or no service. The part your waiting for cost less that the tank of gas he has to purchase to drive your part across the border in order to avoid a shipping and customs nightmare. He's slow at getting this done. S#!t happens. Were lucky to have some creative folks willing to spend their spare time making stuff we can't otherwise get. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from trying to make a part or stop making stuff because someone doesn't understand there is no factory in the "vendors" garden shed.

[computers4kids]

It’s not too hard to do a search and figure out what and who this is about. I have not used this vendor, but the person seems to have a good history both as a community member and vendor in the past. I would assume that something is going on and that some slack should be given, but at the same time the vendor DOES have a responsibility to his customers. Especially if money has been taken.

This vendor does have a great track record and has been with the club for a long time. Unfortunately, posting when emotions are runnig high can lead to others posting as well...which is happening in this case. Reputation is everything on this board...let's not jump to conclusions. Your point is well taken "when you have exhausted all the normal channels to resolve and issue"...what should you do?

[Richard Casto]

Not all the vendors are store fronts. Not all vendors are even a real business. Some have very demanding jobs. Some of our guys and gals make one off parts in their kitchens and garages because they probably needed a part for themselves once an couldn't buy one. So out of the need was the birth of their parts source. The guy your posting about is a good guy. Here's some things you may either not know about him or didn't think of. He lives in a place where cell phones either don't work or when they do they suk. If you have one your paying through your ass for little or no service. The part your waiting for cost less that the tank of gas he has to purchase to drive your part across the border in order to avoid a shipping and customs nightmare. He's slow at getting this done. S#!t happens. Were lucky to have some creative folks willing to spend their spare time making stuff we can't otherwise get. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from trying to make a part or stop making stuff because someone doesn't understand there is no factory in the "vendors" garden shed.

Totally understand. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

This is not aimed at anyone vendor, but if the above is the normal situation for a specific vendor, then they need to set those expectations up front. If I was a vendor and that was SOP for me, I would put that in my information. Something along the lines of "you are getting a great deal, but I will say it may take me anywhere from a week to three months to send this to you depending upon my current situation". We probably have a wide variety of "quality of service" with vendors here. So some may raise the bar for others and if you end up at the bottom of the service scale, then you probably should let your customers know what to expect if it is a bit out of the ordinary.

I really shouldn't be posting on this topic as I don't have a dog in the fight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[echocanyons]

You have 55 posts, so you are not really super active in "our community"

I have nothing to say I just thought I had better post becuase I haven't posted in a while, I would hate to be looked upon as not active in the community... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

[SLITS]

Wait till ya party with "this person" to find out what he/she/it is all about. Yeh, he/she/it is sometimes really busy and mail/phone goes unanswered, but that's just the tenor of he/she/its' country .... they're all slow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) The product will come.

Hiya ...he/she/it! Cya in Sept ... God willin' and the creek don't rise.

Oh, I don't vote.

[dbgriffith75]

You have 55 posts, so you are not really super active in "our community"

Bear in mind I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but what does that have to do with anything? Just because he's not "super active in our community" doesn't mean he deserves to get screwed. Or better yet how does the number of posts a member has tell you anything about how active they are here? I've only got 60 posts (61 now) and I've been a member for almost a year- and it's because I only get access to a computer once, maybe twice a week. It doesn't mean I'm not "super active" it just means I only post when I think I've got something worth posting... and when I have the time. More often than not if I have a question I try to dig up the answer in previous threads because I doubt there's very many topics that haven't been discussed at one point or another.

I agree with ya- there's a lot of things we don't know about this situation; and yes there's better ways of handling it. But the number of posts he has shouldn't matter because the bottom line is, he's trying to do business with someone through 914world.com, and he's just trying to get the situation resolved.

Just my two cents... if it's worth that much around here... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[RJMII]

You have 55 posts, so you are not really super active in "our community"

I have nothing to say I just thought I had better post becuase I haven't posted in a while, I would hate to be looked upon as not active in the community... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Hiya ...he/she/it! Cya in Sept ... God willin' and the creek don't rise.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

I'm going to go post in the "Don't have to reply to every post" thread now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)