New Life Games LLC
General NLG Chat => Rants and Raves (SEE DESCRIPTION BEFORE ENTERING!) => Topic started by: Rane420 on September 02, 2016, 10:03:04 AM
-
I haven't received much feed back on my last post but that might be due to the insane length or people understandably not wanting to weigh in on something where they only have my side. So, I thought I'd take a different approach.
1. How often is it acceptable to reach out for updates?
I usually limit to once a week unless I was given a date something would be completed and haven't heard anything once the date has passed, that may mean I reach out again in a few days or a few weeks, depending on what was agreed upon.
2. What is a reasonable time to expect to hear back when a voicemail or email is sent?
To me I consider anything within 48 hours good service and a week to be acceptable.
3. At what point are you committed to a purchase, is it acceptable to shop around and ask for quotes?
I sometimes feel like the expectation is that if the vendor you speak to has the part you are looking for, offense is taken if a sale is not made on the same call. In most of my other purchases in life there is not a problem shopping around and exploring all options
4. Once you've expressed a desire to place an order, how long should you allow for the order to complete?
Unless a different date was agreed upon, my expectation is that the order will leave the vendors facility in a weeks time.
5. Once a ship date has been agreed upon, are you committed to the purchase if the agreed upon date is missed?
As long as I feel the communication is good, that too many dates haven't been missed, and my timeline allows it, I'm pretty flexible. I don't even mind reaching out for an update, but if a date was promised and I receive no update or a new ETA, I feel as though it is acceptable to explore other options.
I appreciate any and all feedback. I want to be a considerate and courteous customer and make sure that my expectations are not out of line with what others have.
-
I'm a homeowner level buyer. First off your dealings were happening at the beginning of the most busiest holiday's of the year. Christmas and New Years. There is going to be delays in shipping ,and communications. Then you throw in a personal issue. I purchase a lot of parts from several vendors. NLG, Ebay, and websites. Most of my pricing info is already posted and I shop around without asking for quotes on parts. Your parts may have been hard to come by? That's why you're asking for a quote? If you're asking for quotes for a coin mech then I think that is too much to ask for. Looking at the vendors angle , you have people asking for quotes and are dead ends. Lot of time energy is put into a quote for several people a day and only one follows through with a purchase. As far as updates on a quote, ask with a friendly reminder after 1 week of waiting. Wherever you buy from they may get busy or your quote is on someone else's computer that was out sick for a few days. Have an alternate contact if possibly. Once you get a quote you should be prepared to make a yes or no decision. Your quote should show all the info already. Price of parts, shipping cost and wether or not if it is in stock items or not. In the beginning you did not have the funds to make a purchase but you made several connections with the vendor. You did not have a set date when you would have the funds to make a definite purchase. In the vendors eyes you could be 2-3 months away from having the funds due to the fact you had to sell a machine first. I think you should have the funds in hand before you start asking for hard quotes. Remember many vendors have large accounts. They supply parts to casino's. I have had very good service with most of my purchases. Some small bumps but overall all good.
-
Thank you, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to receive. I will definitely want to be more prepared when asking for a quote and ready to move forward once it is given. That may have eliminated much of the problems that followed. At the time, I was looking to get my bluebird 2 up and running and was missing a LOT of the parts needed (I had bought the cabinet without a button panel, MPU, video monitors, etc...). I had reached out to see how realistic my goal was and whether I could afford to go down the path of getting it completed. I should have held off on my inquiries until the machine I had was siold, but my impatience to know where I stood won out.
-
Depending on the vendor (god only knows who it is) even if you had money in hand HE or she would of still gave you a run around. Funny how in every other business you treat the customer right. But this business the customer has to suck the vendor off.
All I have to say is to have patience. I do now.
-
After 20 years of dealing with various vendors-It is what it is. Sometimes Many folks have parts that Aren't vendors and visit this site. Sometimes it feels like you are trying to make deals with the maffia. :angry_kitty: :money: :cheers:
-
Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees a difference between day to day purchases and slot based ones. I know that I'm a small fish and my orders are not going to hit a vendors top priority. I'm fine with that. Honestly, I think I was more surprised when I saw how personally the vendor had taken my going to another vendor. I had thought that what was a large order for me ($800-$1000) would have been such a drop in his bucket that I was doing right by him to quit harassing him during a hard time. I've never read a situation as wrong as this one and was floored when I reached out again and saw the response I received. I've followed numerous threads related to this vendor at both ends of the spectrum. I had seen only the positive side myself would have never expected I would have given cause for my relationship to change with him. Given that so many have had a long and great relationship with him, my assumption has been that there must be something that I'm missing or doing incorrectly. I could even understand if he had responded saying that he had put a lot work into the order that didn't work out and he'd prefer I work with another vendor. I'd have still been surprised and yes even a little hurt, but I could wrap my mind around it and respect his position. However, it seems that my actions had been truly offensive to him, so before I committed the same offense to another I wanted to get a feel for the proper etiquette. We are too small of a group for me to want to burn any more bridges. I appreciate all the help this group has provided. I value the help this vendor has given me and am sad to see that our relationship ended the way it did.