Why advertise if U cant answer customers-all too common

howesy · 10-08-2008, 10:42 AM

Whilst there are some excellent businesses who run great workshops around I find there are a few that just dont get it. Now is it just me or do more than just one or two of these people who advertise on the net or have web sites not even bother to give the common courtesy of a reply. I am sick to death of sending emails to businesses that never get replied to. All it does is make me tell people not to bother with their business as it implies to me that their time is far too stretched to give proper atttention to things.
Recently again I contacted someone and asked advice on getting work done on my V8 ford ( new larger injectors, adj fuel reg and altered pressure, fuel pump, surge tank,Purchase flash tuner and custom tune after all fitted) all together a fair job earning them a fair income and not even a reply after over a month. So come on guys is it just me or do the rest of you get the old hit and miss treatment in emails as well.

P.S. to all those businesses who advertise on the net, have web sites and surf the forums, if you do answer emails your a legend keep up the good work.

4VCLEVO · 10-08-2008, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howesy

Whilst there are some excellent businesses who run great workshops around I find there are a few that just dont get it. Now is it just me or do more than just one or two of these people who advertise on the net or have web sites not even bother to give the common courtesy of a reply. I am sick to death of sending emails to businesses that never get replied to. All it does is make me tell people not to bother with their business as it implies to me that their time is far too stretched to give proper atttention to things.
Recently again I contacted someone and asked advice on getting work done on my V8 ford ( new larger injectors, adj fuel reg and altered pressure, fuel pump, surge tank,Purchase flash tuner and custom tune after all fitted) all together a fair job earning them a fair income and not even a reply after over a month. So come on guys is it just me or do the rest of you get the old hit and miss treatment in emails as well.

P.S. to all those businesses who advertise on the net, have web sites and surf the forums, if you do answer emails your a legend keep up the good work.

I to have had the same problem when ordering parts. I sent emails to all the leading parts wholesalers. I was spending about $1500 and only one company replyed the next day and another replied 2 weeks latter and the rest not at all. I thought they would all reply as it's a fair chunk of money, there loss I supose.

KOUPE76 · 10-08-2008, 01:10 PM

I've had the same problem but found 100% sucess rate when I pick up the phone and speak to someone, even better when you go and talk to them face to face.
At the end of the day alot of business's are to busy to reply to emails so picking up the phone will gain more attention.

Just my 2 cents. :evil3:

b2tf · 10-08-2008, 05:11 PM

I agree absolutely - and I have had a few complaints about site sponsors for this very reason. It is in their best interests to answer as if they have paid the money to sponsor the forum, why dont they use it to their advantage. A lot of the time my "car shopping" is done out of hours so I cant pickup the phone etc.

b2tf · 10-08-2008, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

I agree absolutely - and I have had a few complaints about site sponsors for this very reason. It is in their best interests to answer as if they have paid the money to sponsor the forum, why dont they use it to their advantage. A lot of the time my "car shopping" is done out of hours so I cant pickup the phone etc.

And just for those who question my login times (you know who you are you weak pathetic ignorant idiot), i will let you know that just because i am logged in doesnt actually mean im here. there have been plenty of times when i have been logged in on the work pc and havent actually been there, so get over yourself.

kcej · 12-08-2008, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

And just for those who question my login times (you know who you are you weak pathetic ignorant idiot)

Don't hold back, b2tf, tell him what you really think

redef · 10-08-2008, 05:23 PM

the reason i would say is you get so many time wasters in the auto world. a lot people of just love to burn your time with stuff they cant afford to do. im not saying thats you but we get that all the time at work and you just get over it.

howesy · 10-08-2008, 05:50 PM

the reason i would say is you get so many time wasters in the auto world. a lot people of just love to burn your time with stuff they cant afford to do. im not saying thats you but we get that all the time at work and you just get over it.

No worries there was no offence taken but everyone is different and I am unfortunately one of these people who now out of principle would not only not give those businesses any custom but would actively discourage people from using them and I'm sure there are plenty of others out there who think the same. So if one gives up on emails because of time wasters whats next dont answer the phone, every enquiry is potential business and unfortunately there is no way to tell if people are time wasters or not. Living a reasonable distance from majority of performance shops I need to make some sort of preliminary enquiry before I drive to them to get them because no one will quote on a vehicle until they look to see what they are dealing with.

Having said all that guys I have only had this issue with one sponsor all the others were either sponsors on other sites or ones I looked up on the net after seeing adds in magazines. Never the less it is a fairly wide spread problem, its simple if emails are too difficault to answer due to the work load then stop advertising an email enquiry address its not rocket science. Guess I'll have to strat ringing instead but I remember when I was in business how I used to dread the distraction of phone calls at least you can pick slack time to address emails.

Dauphin · 11-08-2008, 01:20 PM

This sure is a problem and I can your frustration.

It's not just in the car industry but very widespread and there was recently a news report about it, something like 62% of businesses do not respond to internet enquiries.

The best thing to do is indeed phone them or go in person. The internet can be so convenient and yet so frustrating.

Some businesses thrive on the internet as a major source of income and heavily exploit it whereas others are traditionally very stuck in the old phone or face-to-face enquiry way.

**Peuty** · 11-08-2008, 01:25 PM

What's worse is when you go into a workshop, speak to the owner, get told that the job will take a few days to fabricate and wait for a phonecall to tell you it is ready, but that phonecall never comes. Then you ring them again to ask what the go is and the reply you get is, "gee sorry about that, I forgot, I will start it today" but still, over three months later, they still haven't called to say it's ready!

**Stav** · 11-08-2008, 05:45 PM

Last week I received a pm from someone asking me if I knew how to break into a ford wagon because he locked his keys in the car. The guy may be for real but if I divulge that sort of info I feel I am doing the wrong thing.

It is far easier to talk to someone on the phone than by pm. Some days when you have to organise a huge work load for the next day you can forget to reply to every pm. I have found that I will also be moving towards a high rate non refundable deposit. I have a few times bought quite expensive unique products and people change their minds on occasions.I end up with widgets which sit in the garage floor .. Most customers are excellent though. It does go both ways.

fordon · 11-08-2008, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stav

Last week I received a pm from someone asking me if I knew how to break into a ford wagon because he locked his keys in the car. .

What did you tell him ? :brick?

**Stav** · 11-08-2008, 07:52 PM

I just didnt reply. I think I did the right thing.

5.0 ED · 12-08-2008, 01:09 AM

I think part of the problem is too that they end up with so much spam in their inbox that half the time they end up deleting your emails by mistake, or sometimes it gets picked up by the spam filter, have had it happen and heard of plenty of other cases of it too.

kcej · 12-08-2008, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howesy

I am sick to death of sending emails to businesses that never get replied to. All it does is make me tell people not to bother with their business as it implies to me that their time is far too stretched to give proper atttention to things.

I think part of the problem might be that computer illiterate business owners are sold websites with reply email capability by I.T. people who forget that not everyone spends as much time on their computers as we do, checking emails many times a day.
Also, many of these websites would get very few hits in the early days, and even fewer email queries, so even in some businesses where the owner is computer savvy, he gets out of the habit of switching identity to the business email address after a few weeks or months of doing it for nothing, even though he might be checking his personal email address daily.
I have a degree in IT, yet I've worked for a carpet firm (as salesman) where the email account could be unattended for weeks at a time simply because the admin chickee was on holidays and no-one else had password access to the only computer set up for outlook express.
I also think that the more minor players (grass roots small businesses) in the motor industry probably fall behind some industries when it comes to being aware of the possible benefits to them in IT, most exceptions being businesses owned by 'younger' people who have grown up with computers.