Customer service??

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I agree you make time for your customers and you treat them professionally I never disagreed with that, however customers should be understanding as well.

Now if someone does not have the time and is rude on the top of it absolutely there is no excuse for that kind of behavior, if it is handled in a professional manner a customer should be understanding as well (or is it too much to expect).

For the record I had both happening to me (NO time and rude and NO time and very profesional).

[Brimstone111888]

I agree customers should be understanding, but if you read the transaction that happened between Josh and the breeder, the breeder handled it very unprofessionally.

Josh asked for more pictures and he says no time they are really nice clowns though. That right there just shows he doesn't care and doesn't even make the effort. Josh was very understanding until the point where the breeder said "If I have the snake after the show Ill take some pitures". That is where he went wrong.

In general, I wouldn't expect understanding from customers, I would consider it a bonus if it happens. Businesses are there to please the customer, not vice versa. The opposite happened to Josh. Breeder wants Josh to wait on him.

I am kind of curious as to who the breeder is. If you don't want to post it, I would like a PM. If you don't want to devulge it as all, that is fine. Just curious to see if it was any of the same breeders I dealt with on my search.

[juddb]

Expecting people to drop everything they are doing for YOU is very inconsiderate in my opinion if you cannot wait 24-48 hours for the breeder to make time to take a picture and email it too you I guess you can take your money somewhere else if that is the case however claiming it is bad customer service or as you said a "scumbag" is just plain wrong.

Heres the thing though, the sellar told him flat out that he might sell it at a show during the weekend, so im saying why put it up for sale if you dont know if it will be available in a few days. So he would be waiting 24 -48 hrs for nothing.... So it is bad customer service. All he has to do is say its not for sale. Then if he has it on monday put it back up for sale. This is rediculous. Why offer it for sale if your not going to entertain the buyer.

[rabernet]

It's the seller's option to sell it however he chooses. I'm quite sure that most if not all breeders who were at Daytona had animals at shows that were also on their available pages. If there are no deposits made on that animal, then it's not unprofessional to sell it at a show. No one owns it but the seller. Just because the buyer comes through a show, rather than an e-mail, a sale is a sale.

If the breeder chose not to respond to Josh's initial e-mail until he returned from the show, would Josh be as up in arms about it? And then came back and said - thank you for your interest, but the animal has sold.

If Josh didn't want the seller to sell this animal at the show - he should have put a deposit on it.

Perhaps the breeder should have been a little more polite to Josh, but the facts don't change - he simply did not have time today to post any pictures.

I am getting an animal from Adam. He has been incredibly busy - and I have not seen pictures of animals to choose from. I know his intentions are good, and when he has time, he'll get pictures to me. I don't demand that he takes 5-10 minutes to quickly snap some pictures and get them to me. I find that unreasonable from where I sit.

Sure I'm anxious to pick out my animal, and I'd love to have had pictures yesterday. But I am also understanding of Adam's current time restraints.

[Brimstone111888]

It's the seller's option to sell it however he chooses. I'm quite sure that most if not all breeders who were at Daytona had animals at shows that were also on their available pages. If there are no deposits made on that animal, then it's not unprofessional to sell it at a show. No one owns it but the seller. Just because the buyer comes through a show, rather than an e-mail, a sale is a sale.

If the breeder chose not to respond to Josh's initial e-mail until he returned from the show, would Josh be as up in arms about it? And then came back and said - thank you for your interest, but the animal has sold.

If Josh didn't want the seller to sell this animal at the show - he should have put a deposit on it.

Perhaps the breeder should have been a little more polite to Josh, but the facts don't change - he simply did not have time today to post any pictures.

I am getting an animal from Adam. He has been incredibly busy - and I have not seen pictures of animals to choose from. I know his intentions are good, and when he has time, he'll get pictures to me. I don't demand that he takes 5-10 minutes to quickly snap some pictures and get them to me. I find that unreasonable from where I sit.

Sure I'm anxious to pick out my animal, and I'd love to have had pictures yesterday. But I am also understanding of Adam's current time restraints.

To me what is comes down to is a shot at $4,000(Breeders POV) for 15 minutes worth of work, in an already hectic schedule. You make time. You can be the busiest person in the world, and still have 15 minutes of downtime. Sleeping is downtime in my opinion.

I find it unfathomable that you can have a shot at $4,000 and turn it down, because you didn't want to take 3-4 pictures.

Did anyone demand him to take pictures? No.

[MikeC1212]

I've noticed a trend in this thread, I'll keep that to myself though..

Anyway,

What I am trying to do with my participation in this thread is suggest that there are two sides to every story, and present some reasons that this breeder might not have immediately complied with Josh's request for more pics.

Presenting another side to a story.. sounds like a debate. I don't use that word often, however I use a word that's synonymous. Arguing. Did you just say you're participation in this thread is to come in and argue? Why?

[chz]

What surprises me is all the people stating how "difficult" it is to take good pictures. Anyone with a fairly new digital camera with auto focus knows it takes all of 5 minutes to snap a few pictures, crop them, resize, and email. For 4000 bucks, you think he'd make the time to do this. Poor customer service. The buyer wasn't asking for professional quality pictures, he just wanted a few quick pictures.

[catawhat75]

Wow, I have to say that there really are lots of good points on both sides. The way the seller came across to me, I am not sure if I would push the issue. To me it comes across as I don't have time for you now, and I may not have time for you in the future. Now, as in most emails or posts, you cannot read a person. This is why I prefer to deal with people in person, on the phone or at least know with a great deal of certainty who they are thru a site like this. Do I want a seller to drop everything just for me, expecially when they are not sure if there will be a sale? No. However, when I have dealt with people such as Adam (and some of the other end of the spectrum), I am ALOT more picky on who I will hand my hard earned money too. Customer service is the #1 thing I look for. Having spent my whole adult life working in CS and complaint resolution, I am very tollerant of things coming up. However I will not put up with rude behavior nor will I spend my money where someone seems like they don't care if I buy from them or not.
While he may have been extrordanarily busy and none of us know for sure, I think he could have done things differently. If I were in the same situation, I would have requested a phone number from the potential buyer. He did not know that Josh was really going to go thru with it, but a few minute phone call could have shed more light on things I think. It is the sellers right to take it to the show however.

[kavmon]

i see good points on all sides.

sometimes you just have to shop the breeder a little more.

sometimes you just won't mesh or get along with someone or their way of business.

if you're not getting the level of service you expect for your money, i would shop around.

i've seen/heard of people losing alot bigger deals than 4k! you would be amazed.


vaughn

[jhall1468]

It's the seller's option to sell it however he chooses. I'm quite sure that most if not all breeders who were at Daytona had animals at shows that were also on their available pages. If there are no deposits made on that animal, then it's not unprofessional to sell it at a show. No one owns it but the seller. Just because the buyer comes through a show, rather than an e-mail, a sale is a sale.

True, a sale is a sale, and I don't have ANYTHING against listing animals for sale both online and at shows. But I do take issue with ignoring a potential sale simply because you are "too busy" to be bothered with at least a sense of good service.

If the breeder chose not to respond to Josh's initial e-mail until he returned from the show, would Josh be as up in arms about it? And then came back and said - thank you for your interest, but the animal has sold.

I sincerely doubt it. But that's apples and oranges. If the breeder wasn't going to bother with it anyway, the question I have is why even respond in the first place. If I ask someone to take a few minutes out of their day, and those few moments are worth $4000, I certainly would expect better than, "If it's still available when I have time, I'll let you know."

If Josh didn't want the seller to sell this animal at the show - he should have put a deposit on it.

Oh come on. He was asking for photos to determine if he was certain about the purchase. Don't tell me you would actually but a $400 deposit, on a $4000 purchase, without knowing for sure you wanted it.

If you decided to go out and buy the next generation plasma TV, and the salesman told you there is one in back but he can't be bothered to take you to look at it, are you going to say, "well here, let me put down a deposit on the TV I'm not sure I want."

Customer service is secondary to pre-customer service.

Perhaps the breeder should have been a little more polite to Josh, but the facts don't change - he simply did not have time today to post any pictures.

Well that's debatable, and as others have pointed out, no one knows if the breeder really did or didn't have 15 minutes to snap some photos. For me the logic simply isn't there. If I only have 1 photo of a $4000 product, then my brain is going to say, "you know, I need more photos of this product." So I'd take the 15 minutes out of my day. Best case scenerio? You sell the product. Worst case? You have photos of a product that you should already have multiple photos of in the first place.

Did the breeder have 15 minutes? Probably. But clearly his priorities, as a businessman, differ from mine.

I am getting an animal from Adam. He has been incredibly busy - and I have not seen pictures of animals to choose from. I know his intentions are good, and when he has time, he'll get pictures to me. I don't demand that he takes 5-10 minutes to quickly snap some pictures and get them to me. I find that unreasonable from where I sit.

You should try out the business I was in for years... if the most I got asked for was 5-10 minutes I'd still be doing it for a living . There is DEFINITELY a point where no amount of money is worth the stress of dealing with a pushy customer. However, I often had to take 20-30 minutes out of my days to write bids for projects. That wasn't "unreasonable" it was a cost of doing business.

And obviously the situation is a bit different, because the breeder in question was going to sell off the animal the very next day. That sale was far more urgent, and as such, the timing of the situation was far more limited.

Again, I'm basing my opinion totally on what one person has said. I'm a firm believer in there being three sides to every conflict, I'm making the assumption the poster isn't lying. To be honest, I'm a little stunned by the reaction thus far. To me, the thought of blowing off any amount of money is mind-boggling, given that the total investment for a potential sale, was a few minutes.