Am I Wrong- Upset Over How Order Handled

I really freakin HATE when a seller offers a discount for a future transaction. It's like an expired coupon- nothin but paper and a worthless promise. He should not force you to do even more commerce with him in order to make things right, and frankly his excuse also sounds contrived. I'd return the mounts for a full refund and if that doesn't work charge the sale back on my CC.

I went back to this company's site today. They are still showing a lot of the regular Lighthouse page sets listed along with the hinge less ones. Just for the heck of it I called, got transferred to some guy in their 'warehouse' who told me to disregard all those listings- they haven't had any of those in stock for months and do not expect to again. I asked him why they had not updated their site to reflect this- he seemed dumbfounded. Said 'well, yeah, we need to do that, I guess..' I never mentioned the prior incident. I told his yes they do indeed need to clean up their website.

This is far too typical anymore. Companies with websites that are never updated to reflect current stock. Anyone else get the idea that a lot of dealers have someone else create their site and maintain it?

My opinion is that if you want to have a website it needs to be maintained by someone in the company. I've maintained a site and it is relatively easy to do.

I concur with sdtom. Many companies, particularly those which existed before the internet, think that throwing a web site up is all there is to it. The truth is that every company needs a web site 'champion'. Someone who goes to meetings, promotes the value of the site, and rallies for the resources needed to maintain it.

Far too many companies publish a site and then pretty much forget about it, thinking they have it covered.
Don

I have visited web sites with far outdated pricing and information that apparently were just abandoned and left out there by dealers. Once years ago I actually placed an order through one of these ghost sites and got a confirmation! Of course I never got my merchandise although my card was not charged, either. One dealer I will name- Michael Crandell has a website accessible with information not updated since 2006. When asking him about it he told me to 'disregard' it. Think I bought anything from him?

Stamps, I would ask that you identify the company. If you stand by your reputation, let them stand by theirs. You may very well help another member here avoid the same hassle and, might I say, injustice.

Probably time for all of us to move on.

Stamps1962, as a career-long marketing guy, I find it unbearable to deal with any business that fails to appreciate basic customer courtesy and appreciation. Recently I've grown serious about my stamping and have found our industry seriously lagging behind customer care standards that a given in most industries. I think our Forum should absolutely name dealers, sellers or members who act unethically, or as your case, treat customers in a shabby unprofessional manner.

My only recent customer complaint stems from a rude local dealer who gave me the bum's rush when I stopped into his retail store unannounced to get acquainted. Rather than an interested chat about my stamp interests, the shop owner showed no interest and quickly disengaged and returned to more pressing matters. Like others have already said here...vote with your $$$. I will never return to that particular dealer.

Since I am now getting personal messages I will ID the company: Potomac Supplies, also doing business as Maryland Stamps and Coins. Not as big a player as Subway or even Golden Valley but they still advertise in Linns and maintain a website. I had done business with them in the past and never had anything like this happen, although I had felt they were a but slow in shipping. I am getting the feeling that they do not have and cannot get a lot of the stuff on their site. In the unlikely event I would ever want to order from them I will call first to confirm. It seems clear they do not or cannot update their site easily. I strongly suspect some inexperienced person filled my order but I am also disappointed by how they chose to rectify it.

I had no intent for this to become a major discussion and I agree perhaps this has been flogged for all it's worth. Thanks to all.

-IBFS

a good listen for all of us

It has been duely flogged, but I want to add to the discussion. Kudos for mentioning Potomac Supplies. Nothing wrong with a fact. But the earlier statement those pages have been gone for months tells me false advertising being used to generate highly profitable sales orders. The margin on a pack of mounts is small, but the margin by tacking on $8 shipping when shipping likely costs $2-3 is maybe 100 times the former. So of course it would be reasonable to expect the close out pages have been there for months, and will be there for many more.

A complaint to the BBB is justified. And the credit card cancellation is worthwhile too. A few minutes for your effort, a good lesson for the seller.

The mounts have been opened and used- they turned out to be a good fit for another project I am working on. At least I salvaged that much out of this. They ran an immediate refund on Paypal for the pages and as narrated, gave me a $5.95 credit- which I do not quite follow. I do not feel justified at this time in pursuing draconian measures with them but feel it was worthwhile posting about it so others can be aware and be aware to double check if they see what looks like a good price on supplies on their site- there is a good chance they do not have it and cannot get it.

Did you say Draco?

One followup. I find I need some Hawid mounts for a remounting project ad thought I could use the credit they offered to apply toward them- at least i'd be using up the credit. They currently re listing strip packages of Hawid at over $12 per package with a retail price listed of over $15. Yeah, sure. Oh yes, they only offer seven sizes.

Not sure what happened to this company but I won't be surprised to see them leave the field in the near future.