Forums | MacLife

I would take a small shop over a chain anyday, they are a lot more personable, and usually know what they are talking about.  I have been known to drive further, spend more money, and wait for something to be ordered rather than buy off the shelf to support a local shop.  Unfortunately the rest of the world does not agree, they give in to the chains and their hype.  They can be decieveing too I've noticed, all the chains around here sell cd's for around $20 while the local shop I go to (which is sadly closing) sells them for around $10.  People never go there though and they all just assume.  Too bad.

Good luck to your wife and her store.

I find that most people who have their own business are more sympathetic and apt to shop at small businesses. I am. People do give in though to the hype. Had a guy come in Friday who told me he bought a ventless gas stove really cheap out of state because when he came into my store earlier we didn't have 'em. He proceeded to ask me if this stove he bought would be covered under his homeowner's insurance. 

I wondered what part of "no we don't sell those things because they are banned in this state and most other states because they are dangerous" he failed to pick up on? He ALSO wanted to know if we sold a device that would vent 'the bad smell it made'

I strongly suggested that he go visit the local building department  and  invest in a hard wired carbon monoxide detector, but I secretly hoped he doesn't.

Too many people buy something at a chain, then come into my store and ask me how to operate it, fix it, or provide a replacement for less than it cost them because a) they bought the wrong thing, b) it doesn't work as advertised, or - my personal favorite -  c) it broke already, it is less than a year old, the store won't honor the warranty, and the manufacturer is MIA.

I'm sure Phydeaux can sympathize.

Except for WalMart and a couple others with nefarious business practices, I'm not anti chain store, or online/mail order, just don't expect customer service from someone you don't do business with.

There used to be a small chain called "Lauriat's Books", but they faded when Barnes and Noble started opening their super shops.

Anyone remember "Paperback Booksmith"?

I remember both of those from when I grew up in New Hampshire.

I'm sure Phydeaux can sympathize.

Yes... he... can.

Did he mention that he actually told two elderly ladies who owned a real estate company to go to his competitors? That was painful.

I'm sure Phydeaux can sympathize.

Yes... he... can.

Did he mention that he actually told two elderly ladies who owned a real estate company to go to his competitors? That was painful.

I remember that story. 

Done it myself. Depending on how I feel about the customer:

If they are previous customers and I simply cannot help them out with their problem, I send them to the nice competitor in thown who probably can.
If they are pains in the butt like I described previously, I send them to the jerk up the street, or just tell them I can't help them and don't know can - which is true in a way, some people just can't be helped or pleased.

It hurts for a moment, but the good ones appreciate the fact that I'm not afraid to send them to the 'good' competitor, and usually come back for return business. The baddies stay away - no grief there.

Regarding bookstores. I seem to remember that a wholesalers-only web site was up a couple years ago so that independent booksellers could buy co-op style, and get their stock at the same prices as the big chains, and also get hard to find stuff. It seemed like an excellent resolution to their problem at the time.

I'm sure Phydeaux can sympathize.

Yes... he... can.

Did he mention that he actually told two elderly ladies who owned a real estate company to go to his competitors? That was painful.

I remember that story. 

No, no; this is a new one. The one in the Rant Room has to do about the lady who lied about calling Gateway and having them check her computer over the phone lines to verify that we didn't fix some issue.

The real estate ladies had an issue with their printer, so I sent Nathan to fix it, and he did, but they called me three days later and said the issue wasn't resolved and that they wanted a free service call, asap, by myself personally.

Long story short, I couldn't do it, next day Nathan calls to try to get the issue resolved and she tells him that she's not going to be doing any further business with us, and returns the repair invoice (for $80 [big service call, they do business an hour away]) with only $20.

But then I faxed her our agreement for the website we were contracted to do. Invalidating the contract on her part (that "not doing any business with you anymore") resulted in us eating her $300 deposit. So that's the good news, I guess. We were looking at larger sums of money due to daily updates, recommendations to clients for wiring households with network cable, etc, but oh well.

And good riddance.

I just wish people weren't so inclined to be lead around by the nose.

We have the same issue with people and their Wal-Mart HPs.

I just wish people weren't so inclined to be lead around by the nose.

We have the same issue with people and their Wal-Mart HPs.

We have the same issue with people and their Wal-Mart inflatable donut pools.

Oh, I buy stuff online (eBay) often, too.  Things like cables that can be bought direct from Hong Kong for significant savings...

A 3 foot optical monster cable for $40 CDN??  HA!  I'll buy one from China for $15 that's just as good, if not better.  Mmmm, woven nylon jacketed 7mm thick optical cables...   


To get back on subject, my dad is a painting contractor with a full "master" certification in painting and wallpapering.  He gets really pissed when some shmoe buys a few buckets of paint, a paintbrush and a how-to book and thinks they can do just as good a job as he can...  Same thing for those college painting companies.  In an effort to save a few bucks, people will accept inferior quality, bad customer service and all sorts of other nuisances.  Ah well. 

I just wish people weren't so inclined to be lead around by the nose.

We have the same issue with people and their Wal-Mart HPs.

We have the same issue with people and their Wal-Mart inflatable donut pools.

You've got to be kidding me.

Not the wading pools. These with the inflatable ring around the top: http://www.intexcorp.com/products/agp/default.htm

Unlike the ones we get from Intex, the chain store versions are cheaper, and also underfiltered and underpowered, but customers expect us be able to make them 'work'. At no extra cost, natch. We no longer carry that brand, because the average consumer can't understand why the pool we sell is better than the one WalMart sells, and I suspect you have the same dilemma with the HP printers. They were a good little backyard pool for us to sell until WalMart and their nefarious tactics jumped in. 2 years ago Intex insisted to us and our distributor that they would NEVER undersell to the chains. 2 months later, people would see our pools and tell us (quite smugly, I assure you) that they got 'the exact same'  at Wally World for 20% less. Then they were getting them for the price we got wholesale!