Thoughts on a builder talking shit on his customers

[Jwar]

So an interesting question arose on TB (for once!!) and it actually has engaged me quite a bit. A builder who does a lot of sales is bitch that people are reselling his sales items for full price or more because he has a 6-8 week wait time. Not only that but he goes on and on about other things that piss him off about his customers, talks about not honoring second hand purchase warranties and makes it seem like you're a dick for selling them in the first place and also talks about black listing customers for various reasons. He does this gripping on his business Facebook page, so everyone can see it.

To me it's hilarious because you're making potential customers think you're fucking nuts.

Do I like when people re-sell things at an exorbitant amount when they got it at a discount? Actually I don't give a fuck. So yes I do like it if I'm being honest.

To me it's your problem if you have wait times. It's your problem if you run multiple sales a year or fuck this guys runs them all the time. It's also your problem that you seem like a complete jack off by being unprofessional and posting shit in such a public format.

SO I just wanted to ask the collective ILF whole their thoughts. Would you be all butt hurt or would you just, I dunno, move on and maybe refine how you do things?

[Chankgeez]

Apparently, he's complaining because that's all he can do about it.

[Jwar]

Apparently, he's complaining because that's all he can do about it.

Well yes and no. He could stop running sales and work on fixing his business model, which is most likely flawed.

I don't understand the you pay me full price now, I'll give you a pedal in 6-8 weeks, which usually equals 6 months.

[D.o.S.]

Link:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/does-t ... p.1250087/

[D.o.S.]

Ok so my big takeaway here is that Jwar is ok with buying pedals linked to scary fundamentalists but not ok with a guy who doesn't like blatant flipping.

Noted.


( )

[Jwar]

Ok so my big takeaway here is that Jwar is ok with buying pedals linked to scary fundamentalists but not ok with a guy who doesn't like blatant flipping.

Noted.

That's a poorly thought out analysis sir.

[D.o.S.]

see added parenthetical. I'm trying to use more emojis in an effort to transfer tone better

[Jwar]

well I mean how do you guys honestly feel? Would you buy from someone that belittles his customers?

Also you're a whore DOS

[Disarm D'arcy]

However questionable in terms of business etiquette, I wouldn't give too much of a fuck.

All I care about is product being interesting and service being decent. If the venting doesn't get in the way of this, I'm good. It goes with thefacebook territory anyway, blurring professional/personal public/private lines. That's why I stay off of it anyways.

[D.o.S.]

So the point of contention from the TB thread seemed to be this.

"I never thought anyone would do it but someone appears to have bought a pedal on sale & has posted it at full price right after receiving it and saying the whole "don't wait 8 weeks" thing, i.e: someone is flipping the pedals. If you plan on ever doing this and we catch it, don't be surprised if your name is flagged and future orders are canceled. You have every right to sell a pedal you own, but we have every right to also try to prevent being taken advantage of"

And I think I'm with the builder here, at least as far as the evidence is available. Should his pedals be cheaper? Arguable (I know fuck all about the company or the pedals), but I think it's totally fair to red-flag "that asshole who's about to resell this for an inflated price" as such and refuse him or her service. Would I have posted about it publicly? Probably not (because, you know, you can't really control the secondary market and it's going to look like whining), but hey -- not my company.


Also/edit:

Would you buy from someone that belittles his customers?

This is kind of a different thing, but I think the answer is no. Depends on the customers and the belittling, though.

[Disarm D'arcy]

Nailed it

[crochambeau]

If I buy X at $150 marked down from $250, and then wait 8 fucking weeks, I think flipping it for a $100 profit is totally justified. I have no idea of the actual numbers involved, mind you.

When I stopped taking money for shit that wasn't built yet, my sales totally nosedived, so, in a way, the moron drama is just another way to wedge your name into the collective conscious of the public. I'm not going to change my tactics just yet, but seriously, if you've got to slap a little lipstick on the pig to sell some ass have at it. I'd prefer to dodge the dunce cap.

That said, moron bitching about the results of his business plan would rub me wrong too, fuck that guy, money denied. I'll build it myself. I don't even know what we're talking about.

[UglyCasanova]

D.o.S. dropping logic bombs. Are they effective? Let's find out.

[tremolo3]

Never heard of those pedals before but now I want to buy one to flip it and make profit out of it.

I wouldn't trust someone who hasn't updated this section of the website though:

© Abominable Electronics 2013

[D.o.S.]

Also worth noting, perhaps. The dude that posted that thread originally posted this later down:

I almost bought one of his pedals last year, but before I did, he hiked his prices by quite a bit. There is very simply a threshold people will not go above. My personal threshold is about $150 these days. Reverb has made it very easy to score deals with the "make offer" button. I have gotten some juicy deals lately with brand new pedals that the makers were willing to haggle on. This is the way to go. Simply too many pedal makers out there all with similar offerings. It's just too easy to find someone else to buy from.

And this is sort of illuminating, to me, about another rather pernicious attitude that's sort of related to this discussion: this post seems to be taking issue with the builder for trying to close what is, essentially, a consumer loophole (of his own design, sure, but that's not really something I care about. Darwin gonna Darwin) that is not dissimilar to one he uses himself.