Why Buy From…
With the Holiday season in full swing, this is a timely little rant many of you might be interested in reading when you have an hour or so to spare.
Why do I buy my Music gear and accessories primarily from one online reseller?
- Quality and consistency of customer service
- Competitive pricing
- Excellent inventory availability
- Simple, safe, predictable and effective
Let’s look at these items in greater detail.
Customer Service
I like quality, those who know me even a little bit know I expect a certain “reasonable and customary” level of quality in the products and services I buy. When I get a nice level of quality, I am happy. When I get less than that, I go off the chain like a rabid dog. When I get excellent quality, I specifically go out of my way to thank those that have made that possible.
I am almost always informed and directed enough to know what I want when I buy something. I don’t need someone to help me figure that out, so I usually don’t get along really well with sales people (no offense if that’s how you make your living). Most of the time, when I go somewhere like an electronics store, and I ask a simple question like ” Will the iPod Video allow you to hook up more than one accessory at a time?” I get a short pause, a wide eyed stare, pupils dialating in fear, followed by that word “uh…” followed by that other word “well…” and if the person is under the age of 24, that final word “like…”. Uh, well,… like…” is not helpful, it’s not even a sentence. It’s inept.
Q: We’ve all been there, the question is how to get out of there and into somewhere nice?
A: Shop online! Do your research online and receive your items directly at your house. That, to me is about as nice as it gets.
The online reseller I use has excellent customer support. I have dealt with them for over 7 years, and although there are varying levels of experience, each of the reps I have had the pleasure of dealing with handled my issue professionally and with respect.
Things I look for:
- 30 second access to all of the necessary information to solve my problem
- 30 second access to a helpful manager with the authority to override company policy when necessary.
- A cheerful attitude and a willingness to problem solve.
- Finally, resolution, or a satisfactory explanation of why I can’t get the resolution that is expected.
Price
Price is not my primary objective, quality is. Price is important, but my time is more important. Bad products and bad service at a cheap price costs far more than it saves.
The reseller I use has excellent warehousing and inventory control processes. They are very large, they move alot of product. They can offer good competitive pricing. They have a price matching guarantee policy.
Further, they do not have a facility in my state, therefore, there is no state sales tax imposed on my orders.
Shipping is free when I order more than 99 dollars worth of stuff at a time. OK, 8 pairs of sticks and a couple books for my students. Ta Daaa.
Availability
Yesterday I went to Lowe’s looking for “Icicle” Christmas lights so I can make my house look like every other house in the neighborhood. I walked around the decoration aisle for a half hour. Finally I decided on my last resort tactic, I went and found one of the folks who was stocking the shelfs of that aisle and said “excuse me, can I ask you a question?” The answer I received was “That depends”. OK, let’s put both hands in our pocket and forget what we just heard and get through this…
“Do you have Icicle…”
“No”
“So you are out of stock?”
“Yes”
“Do you know when you will get more in?”
“No”
“Awesome! Thanks”
The problem here wasn’t out of stock status, it was no notification, no information, and no possible sale. I made the trip for no reason. I don’t know when to come back to get what I wanted.
My online reseller has a great backorder notification process. If the product is out of stock, it shows an out of stock logo, yet it let’s me buy it anyway. Then they send an e-mail telling me expected ship date. They do not charge me any additional shipping for a split shipment because of a backorder status.
The good news to this part of the story? Lowe’s helped my house be the most unique in the neighborhood, it’s the one with no lights hanging off the garage. And I saved a bunch of money with their solution. So much money, I will probably not buy more stuff from them again.
Simple, Secure, Effective
At this point, the contrasting examples provided so far have made an explanation almost redundnant. I research, I buy across a secure connection, with a reseller that requires multiple points of authentication. It’s too easy. There is a greater security risk buying an item from a local shop while on vacation using your credit card than online with a well established, large, secure vendor.
The only issue we face is “How do I try it before I buy it?” Most folks grin and bear it at the store. Certain items you want to be there to evaluate, the quality of a cymbal the sound of a snare drum, any high ticket item. Other items like sticks and heads, things that “recur” I feel very comfortable clicking them to my door.
Oh yeah, who do I use for my online music purchases? These Guys
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