I ordered a D&RGW book from Mc Millan Publications 8/28/2007 and I still have no book. I order a lot from the US and the items are always here in Sweden in around 10 working days.
This is what happened:
I ordered my book and did not hear anything from Mc Millan until September 11. He contacted me by email and told me that my address was incomplete. That is not true.
But I sent him my address once more and got an answer September 12 that the order was on the way. That was not true either.
I waited a looong time for my book but I did not get any. I contacted him several times by email but he did not answer my emails.
I got some help from a friend in the US today that managed to get in contact with him. The order is shipped today, over a month since I sent him my address for the second time. He said that it was mixed up blah blah blah. And that he was traveling and could not answer my emails.
It’s one thing I don’t understand. How can a company take an order, promise to send it and then close the company and start traveling. Is that what they call good costumer support?
I don’t know if you guys have any problems with Mc Millan. But I think it’s importent to tell you all what happened. Maybe Mc Millan is listening and want to learn…
That is a little odd, although if he is the owner or only recipient of the emails, I could see why travelling would throw a monkey wrench into the works. I mean, everyone deserves a short vacation sometimes, even if they’re the only contact in a business. Perhaps that is what he meant by ‘travelling’?
It stinks that you kinda got a runaround on the book, but it sounds like it’s on the way (good thing).
My solution to problems like yours is to order and pay through Amazon.com if possible. I’ve gotten several items direct from a third party but ordered thorugh Amazon. Never had any problems.
Not really your topic per se, but it bugs me a lot that most train vendors always seem to pull the I’m traveling excuse.
Some are legit with train shows and such, but can there really be this much traveling going on? Might be most are retired and “trains” are a secondary source of income.
But even when I’m traveling it’s often still possible to send email, or even make a phone call. Especially in larger urban areas…where most train shows are held.
Ehh just a rant of mine. Just think the traveling excuse is way overused sometimes. [soapbox]
I travel to some pretty small towns here in Canada for my work and unless I am in a remote access camp, have never had any issues with getting or replying to e-mails. I can access my 3 e-mail accounts anywhere by using the web mail function for my ISP e-mail and Gmail is internet based only anyway. So all you need is an internet connection and a computer. I have a laptop, this may not be an option for all but a lot of hotels nowadays have a computer that anyone can use for short times. Or most towns have at least one internet café.
Saying I am traveling and can not respond to e-mail (especially for a month [banghead][:O] ) is inexcusable and an incredibly poor business practice. Makes you wonder how serious they are about the business?
Note to any business: If answering e-mail is an issue (time, access, etc.), do not publish your e-mail address, use other means of communication that you will actually respond to in a timely fashion.
Thanks for the heads up and I hope you really do get your book. Let us know.
Two things: Not everyone is as computer literate as others , so if you’re in Podunk, you may not have access to the Internet. Second, people assume mistakenly that email is fool-proof. This is not the case. Many anti-spam programs will decline email especially from public accounts like yahoo. Companies get lots of emails every day, most of which are pretty useless, so many do not have the time to sort through all the fluff to find the good ones. You can’t blame the companies for this, blame the hundreds of thousands who have access and have little to do but email around the world with no intention of ever buying anything.
I’ve ordered several times from McMillan, with good service every time.
As for traveling, without knowing whether this is a sole proprietorship or not it is hard to make any calls. Sure, someone can answer email when traveling, but they may not be able to do anything about an issue until they return home.
Another factor is international postage. I hate to say it, but it is a fact that mailing to other countries for many American vendors is essentially a special order situation, as postage meters, etc may not be set up to handle international postage and forms without a special trip to the post office. America can be a rather provincial in comparison to many other countries. In Europe mailing to other nations is a daily occurence, but that often isn’t the case here.
At least we can be sure it’s not stuck in boat (surface) mail anymore, as the US Postal Service did away with the option about a year ago.