| purpurite |
03-30-2007 05:38 AM |
Generally, companies in the R/C industry have such poor customer support, that when any company goes an extra few inches for a customer, we heap praise on them for "going the extra mile," when in fact, they are just doing what any good business would do.
I certainly have no problem with small, side businesses being run in this industry—it's the norm because of the volume of sales in R/C. What I do have a problem with is companies who are set up to sell a product, and then either can't or won't support their customers "because of their day jobs."
Well, I have been there myself—with a decal business. It was a side project from "work" and I couldn't keep up with the demand for product. I made people mad because I couldn't offer the support that you would expect from any company. Why? Because my 9-5 pays my mortgage and car payments, and buys food for my family, and most of all, because my family and off-hours were more important to me than someone's name decals for a toy race car. I had two choices; to stop taking work as a "business" and do it casually for people when I had time, or stop doing it completely for customers. I chose to not promote my business and take on more work than I could handle, and I pulled away from the side jobs that filled up way too much of my free time.
When people (customers) understand and know that an R/C company is not in it full-time as a 52-week-a-year business, there is a little more understanding and respect for the time and effort it takes to produce any given product (there are plenty in the 12th scale ranks, alone). But if a company is going to purport themselves as a real company with a flashy website to sell their products, with race "teams" or press releases for new products to sell, then they need to act like a REAL company. That means quality products with customer service and support, and timely attention to orders and issues. It's pretty simple. People value their money too much to tolerate bad service and support, especially when there are so many other options.
If a company can't handle that, then getting called out on an internet forum is the least of their problems.
I don't have any problem criticizing a company for poor performance, and equally I'm eager to promote any company that does have an attention to detail, which I believe CRC and BMI both do.
doug
|
