Bad customer service experience with Fixe Hardware

MaryR wrote:children are dying in Africa and you're bitching about paying full price. Shame on you.

OMG...did you really just say that? I can't even begin to elaborate on the uselessness of that statement pertaining to ANYTHING in this thread.

I hope you've never complained about a single thing in your life. Shame on you if you have.

Oh and also why does it matter if Kenan is white?? White whine? Is it because he's from Boulder? ? Kinda racist don't you think? What if he was another nationality, would you have said the same thing? Shame on you, but I bet you have a "free tibet" sticker that makes it all better.

Sorry for the rant to everyone else, but who drops the race card in a thread about customer service??

MaryR wrote:This post should be titled: BEWARE ENTITLED WHITE WHINE... Kenan, get over yourself. I wonder if you spent less time whining and being a cheep ass if you'd climb harder. Kevin's response is based on answering 1000x emails like yours from people who think every shop is REI, guess what... children are dying in Africa and you're bitching about paying full price. Shame on you.

It's interesting to me how personal this is getting for some people. You're making attacks against me personally for speaking out against bad customer service? Guess what, children are dying in Africa and you're judging people based on how hard they climb. Get over YOUR self. Nobody cares if humans scamper up rocks. Life is about how you treat people.

I don't need my "balls to be cupped", although that's pretty damn funny. I just expect businesses to treat customers respectfully if they want to have a good reputation. You gotta pay the price for your actions somehow. If everybody just cowered down into the corner whenever somebody shit on them, the world would be a different place. Fortunately we can spread the word when we feel like someone handles something inappropriately. And some people notice, some people care, some people remember. This way, the businesses that truly make it are the ones who acknowledge the customer service component. Some of us feel like it's important.

I'd like to say "Thank You" to Keenan for bringing some excitement to the MP forums. It's been far too boring lately.

I often have the fantasy of owning a business in such success that I can tell cheap ass customers to "fuck off". So many petty jack-ass's out there that will scream and yell about $5. I once threw a 10-spot at a rich cunt in the grocery store as she bitched out the cashier about a price match, she actually picked up the bill, walked out to her BMW (NO JOKE!) and left. Congrats to Kevin for apparently owning one of these business'. If anyone can make it in this economy with this kind of customer service they are either very lucky or have the best shit around.

I think it's clear FIXE has lost business based on this behavior and 40% margin or 2% margin NO SALE equals ZERO dollars. Can any of you righteous, I never shop around for a lower price, $15/pound coffee buying hippies do the math?

There's always a a win-win scenario for these types of situations, sellers just have to use some creativity.

MaryR wrote:children are dying in Africa and you're bitching about paying full price.

I think this pretty much sums up Mary's contribution:

MaryR wrote:This post should be titled: BEWARE ENTITLED WHITE WHINE... Kenan, get over yourself. I wonder if you spent less time whining and being a cheep ass if you'd climb harder. Kevin's response is based on answering 1000x emails like yours from people who think every shop is REI, guess what... children are dying in Africa and you're bitching about paying full price. Shame on you.

Uh cheap is not what I would call Kenan. Dude just dropped some serious coin on cams. I am cheap, I never spend more than 35-40 bucks a cam. Pretty sure Kevin screwed up, but it is nothing new, I see it all the time in small time shops. A sense of entitlement is what Kevin seems to have "buy from me because I work hard and am not getting government subs." It is a common attitude in the town I live in that someone who owns their own shop gives crappy customer service and just expects that because they are a small business we should buy from them rather than from a big corporation.

I would rather buy from a small store than REI, but when I get crappy customer service I know that I can turn right around and call REI or BD and talk to someone who will explain a product to me and who actually cares about selling their product.

Sorry Kevin, I respect you as a small business owner but like it or not you have to offer customer service to compete with REI and BD and whoever else. (customer service is a lot different from return policy/discounts)

David Barbour wrote: If he can maintain a decent income AND his self-respect, more power to him.

So by treating his customers who spend hundreds of dollars at his little shop like dog meat he gains self-respect?

Jake Jones wrote: I also think it sucks that the IRS tells me essentially to go fuck my mother every spring

Very clever how you worked the IRS and your mother into this thread. Let's flame on the IRS for a while.

This is getting old (I know I don't have to read it, just like I don't have to look at a car wreck when I drive by :)

"He was rude to me"

"No he wasn't, you entitled whiner."

"Was so."

Jake Jones wrote: LOL. Goddamn it Frank. That shit was supposed to be subtle. It was at the end of the post for cryin' out loud. I'll try harder.

You already do pretty darn good, Jake! I like reading your posts.

Jake Jones wrote: I also think it sucks that the IRS tells me essentially to go fuck my mother every spring and I give away a large chunk of what I make to my beloved government. But I'm still going to pay it, because that's the way it is, and I'd rather be robbed of my money than my freedom. Freedom to walk around outside of a cell that is.

Damn, IRS tells you to fuck your mother? That's harsh!

David Barbour wrote: Perhaps you should re-read the exchange and consider that you might be overreacting.

okay I re-read it... I'm not overreacting and I don't even know how that applies to my question... I'm asking you to clarify your statement on how Kevin gains self respect by treating his customers like crap?

divnamite wrote: Damn, IRS tells you to fuck your mother? That's harsh!

Yeah, must be some kind of new penalty tax, huh?

David Barbour wrote: He retains self-respect because he's not replacing his own personality with superficial customer service jargon.

I get ur point now... thnx.

Since the reading comprehension of lots of posters has been called into question, I'll pick a bone with the misleading thread title. Receiving the product ordered at the agreed-upon price, and then having an offer to pay less than that price rebuffed in somewhat less polite terms than the OP would have liked, is not "horrific."

Of if it is truly "horrific" to the OP, what a strange life! He may be in for a few more disappointments before it's over--better save some extreme adjectives for really serious stuff like a stubbed toe, getting startled when you're reading and someone gets unexpectedly close to you and makes a loud noise--the real life changing events.

So Fixe sells cams to retailers whom mark the cams up somewhere between 20-50% (I'm assuming at least 30% because Mountain Gear is selling them at 25% off and I doubt there taking a loss on them).

Then Fixe sells cams at retail price to consumers (in essence making 20-50% more per cam than selling to retailers) and treats their customers like shit.

Yeah, I can see how there are people defending the company here...

Kenan wrote: I don't need my "balls to be cupped"

Man, I do. Who's going to volunteer?

Dave Bn wrote:So Fixe sells cams to retailers whom mark the cams up somewhere between 20-50% (I'm assuming at least 30% because Mountain Gear is selling them at 25% off and I doubt there taking a loss on them). Then Fixe sells cams at retail price to consumers (in essence making 20-50% more per cam than selling to retailers) and treats their customers like shit. Yeah, I can see how there are people defending the company here...

And least he's staying true to his personality and love of the sport (unbridled sarcasm).

I too long to have a job where I can tell other people to fuck off.

David Barbour wrote: He retains self-respect because he's not replacing his own personality with superficial customer service jargon.

I'm not sure how providing poor customer service is maintaining self respect but in terms of business decisions I would think that publicly flogging a customer who just dropped full retail price on your product would be a poor one. I wouldn't have sent Kenan a free cam or a refund but I would have provided him with a reason to feel good about spending a little extra cash to get his new cams from me. Don't want to help your customers "feel" good about their purchases? Then step aside and let someone else do it for you. There are plenty of top notch businesses out there that are making a fair profit AND providing excellent customer service.

I'm sure a 20% off coupon on his next purchase and a polite explanation of why he couldn't refund his money or send him free gear would have gone a long way in preventing this thread from ever happening. Instead Kevin chose to "retain his self respect" at the expense of damaging his reputation and erasing future sales. Which one of these two reactions do you think will work out better for him in the long run? Which one will "cost" him more?

Keep having pride in "you're people" Kevin. You'll have lots of time to maintain your self righteous indignation while you're swinging that hammer and cutting into MY business after Fixe sees this thread and gives you the ax as their middleman.

And BTW...what, exactly, is it that you personally add to the value of this product?

All Kevin had to say in the first email response was:

"I wish I could, but due to agreements with our retailers we are unable to sell our products below MSRP.

Apologies,
Kevin"

or something of that nature and all would be well, yes?

I'll concede and retract some of my comment; however, a “white whine” is simply an American whine. My point was more that our energy can be better spent trying to do something productive than complaining about not getting a deal. And by productive, I don’t mean smearing a company in an online forum. My final words on this, I’m out!

I love my job! I can and sometime do tell unreasonable people to fuckoff. However, I am well aware of the cost of those words: loss of buisness and so on. IMO if they are your CUSTOMER you need to set your personal feelings about them aside and treat them like a CUSTOMER. Customer service is #1 for me as a consumer, I hate buyers remorse. I will go where I am treated best, cost is secondary. I try to "help" my local shop but when they dont reciprocate, Fuck'em. Its off to the big box I go where they stand behind what ever they sell, Thats the breaks! Buisness should not be expected, it is EARNED!!