Today’s ‘Back-to-the-Basics’ is more of a rant, but still a good lesson.
The other day I found a great deal on eBay for books that I would really like to get and resell (that’s how good of a deal this is).
The deal was so good I made a commitment to buy 50 of them right then and there. And, since they’re about 2 hours away, I thought I’d take a little day trip to go pick them up so I wouldn’t have to pay shipping (50 hardcover heavy books aren’t cheap to ship).
Well, a problem arose…
The sellers still wanted to charge me shipping. I specifically asked them to send me an invoice without shipping and they sent me another invoice with discounted shipping. So I emailed them back again and never heard back from them.
Don’t Beat Around The Bush!
Then, I asked another question about the shipping and they just say, “Yes, you can come to our store to pick them up.”
What?!! I want to know exactly how much I’ll be paying if I pick them up. I understand if I’ll have to pay tax, but I’d still like to know the total before I go out there. I don’t want any surprises.
To me, it feels like they’re trying to ‘beat around the bush’ so I’ll cancel my order because they’re probably losing money on it. If they’re losing money because they didn’t think someone would buy in bulk then they should still honor the order and use it as a learning experience.
If you own a business, it’s better to do the right thing than to give your customer the run around. Plus, you’ll save your name.
Have you ever had any problems with businesses who gave you the run around? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section.
Now go take action!