Buy Local........ if you can...........

[Tony T]

Sorry this is off topic, but it's a lesson for every Aussie retailer.
I went to buy 2 laptops yesterday. That's a reasonable sale, I would have thought and with the market being so competitive at the moment, I thought they'd be falling over themselves to sell me something.
I walked out of the first 5 stores without finding someone to serve me!!  The worst was one store that had the 2 blokes in the relative section chatting happily to each other while I wandered up and down.
I finally got someone to serve me in one of JB HiFi stores after I virtually had to jump in front of him to stop him. He had one model that he wanted to sell me and wouldn't listen to any suggestions of buying something different.
Finally found a bloke in Radio Rentals that gave me great service. And because of that, I paid a fair bit more for the same thing.
You here these big stores talking about how we need to support local etc, and then we get such poor service.
A letter to Gerry Harvey might be in order................. 

Rant over........ who goin' riding this weekend? 

[GMC]

Trouble is a business can only be as good as the people it employs.
A few bad employees in a business can bring the whole thing down as I think most of us tend to steer clear of any business that gives us a bad run.

I was in a Dick Smith a while back trying to pay for some items at the counter only the 2 guys behind the counter were deep into a social conversation and didn’t want to be interrupted until they finished.
They seemed to have superhuman abilities too as my ‘withering stare’ seemed to have no effect on them.
A year or so later that particular Dick Smith outlet closed down.
I wonder if Dick knows that even though he doesn’t own the stores anymore that some stores are giving him a bad name.

[Nathan S]

I've been trying to buy two SDG seats for moderns. Ballards advertises them, but have none in stock and hold zero hope of getting them in anytime soon.

Can't find any other Aussie source of them, so I've gotta buy from the USA.

Next time I see Gerry Harvey whinging about people sending money overseas, I think I'm going to punch the television.

[T250K]

Long story, but I'll keep it short.     We have a 1986 Saab 900 Turbo, bought ' new secondhand ' in '87.     No mechanical issues at all until early last year, then the seal in the water pump quit.     I phoned the local Saab distributor, no pump in stock, car too old, but estimated cost in Perth was $250.      The engine in these things is in backwards and it's a two day job to find the water pump, longer still to remove it, so I figured I would replace some of the related 25 year old stuff while I was at it.      Emailed a list of all parts required to Perth, requested a quote and waited 3 weeks.      No response, so checked on the Net, selected two suppliers of Saab parts in Sydney, emailed both of them the same parts list and request for quotes.      Waited two weeks.      Phoned one of them.     Yes, he remembered my email but he didn't have a spare parts guy at the moment, and he was busy.      I remember that was a Tuesday because he promised to get back to me ' by friday,' and I counted down the days.    Friday came and went.

The job wasn't urgent but I was seriously pissed off by now, so back onto the net, selected one of the heap of Saab parts suppliers in the U.S., emailed one of them the famous spare parts list.     Their email was in when I fired up the computer next morning.      A choice of SIX water pumps, all of them from OEM suppliers to Saab, prices ranged from $46 to $72.     All other parts were available.      Resolved a couple of minor questions, all emails were answered almost instantly.      Placed an order.

Received one fine German manufactured water pump, five water hoses including the monster which is about a metre long running down the side of the block, six vee belts, a genuine Saab pressure cap, and two special and expensive urethane bushes for the Alternator mounting.       Shipping time ten days, from Arizona to country W.A.

The cost ?      $226 including $14 internal shipping to an ' on shipper ' in the U.S.      $ 34 less than the bare pump in Perth, plus that saga began in February 2011 and I still have not heard from any of the suppliers in Australia.      I reckon Geoff has a point right about employees, it's getting tougher to find good ones but whose fault is that ?      Govt. training schemes and a fair percentage of management need a shake also, am thinking that this generally slack attitude to service in our fine Country is going to cost us bigtime eventually.  .

[Tim754]

And Saab has ceased to be......

[AdamN]

I went into a well known motorcycle repair shop who do wheel repairs near Granville the other day enquiring about spoke nipples. Walked up to the counter to see the young bloke working away on a bike. I figured he was in the middle of something tricky so gave him a bit, then I watched him stand up, grab a spanner and sit on the wheelie chair and face his back to me and continue working away. Not a word has been said yet, not be with you in a second or anything!. So I grab the latest AMCN mag on the counter and have time to flick through reasonably slowly, all the while keeping a eye out on young punk. Was probably there for nearly 10mins when old man walks in, and bugger me didn't young punk jump up and fuss over me . Turns out they couldn't help me, and turns out that they will not see one red cent from me ever again. The old bloke is rude and arrogant, and the young bloke is just an asshat .

Adam

[firko]

I went into a well known motorcycle repair shop who do wheel repairs near Granville

That's a part of Chivo's "charm". They do my wheels purely because he does a good job, not for his happy smile or disposition.

*I've got an '02 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I've owned since it was 2 years (40k) old. It's been a good solid car with only minor quirks, nearly all related to computer wobblies, easily fixed by a quick reboot. Over the years I've needed the usual consumables like brake pads and rotors, engine mounts and shocks and have found that the local prices are often 4 or 5 times more expensive than getting them from the USA, including shipping. example....engine mounts... local....$329+$29shipping, USA $66+$33 shipping.  Gas Shock absorbers front and rear....Aust $415 free shipping...USA $114.25 + $68, brake pads front Aust $94+12 shipping..USA $24+$18 shipping...........and so on.

*A month ago I was looking to buy a new Canon 50d camera body. Harvey Norman were first stop as they're close to my house. After 20 minutes waiting to be served I left in disgust. Next was K Mart purely because they were next door. The 15 year old behind the counter was totally lost with about four customers ahead of me. Nobody came to her assistance so I left there too. I then tried the local camera shop and despite the good counter service, he couldn't get within $100 of the price I could get one for online. In the end I decided to stick with my old camera and buy one next May when I go to the Hong Kong Rugby sevens.

*I take my 92 year old mother shopping once a week. She's a perfectly capable, sharp and articulate old girl but when she's in a retail situation the sales person just about always talk to her like she's retarded or even worse, look straight through her and talk to me as if I'm her interpreter.

And Jerry Harvey wonders why we shop overseas via the internet. Fluck him.

[T250K]

Saab has indeed ceased to be, Tim . . . . . . except for ours.       That's why it's important that someone out there shows an interest in selling me Spares.

On firko's line of thought, our local Bunnings is worse than Harvey Norman - one employee doing nothing except greeting and farewelling customers as they come and go, even when the queues at the tills are a mile long, and four more staff standing around socialising among themselves and lining up their root for the weekend.

SERVICE ??      Don't know, don't care.     Lucky buggers  .

[Tim754]

Ts I am actually peeved Saab has gone . A company that said F**k you to the big brothers that told it how they wanted Saab to build their cars, and kept on building them in their own vision of how it should be done. Saab 900 turbo silky smooth, comfortable, easy to drive, fast and fabulous.

[pancho]

 If you look at a recent publication on "Lemons" Those particular machines are predominatly featured.

[T250K]

 Oils ain't just Oils Pancho.     I wasn't keen on the 9000's, and have driven some of the later models produced after General Motors tried to show Saab how to build cars at no cost.     Also, used to  have mates who bought secondhand V6  9 - 3's and they were a disaster.       I was nervous when we bought the first ( secondhand ) 900 Turbo, but it copped some pretty rough country roads and the odd creek crossing for four years and never needed a spanner on it.       We've run up 245,000 kays on this one and the water pump is the first replacement part on it in twenty five years apart from brake pads ( 2 sets front, one rear ) and filters.     Plenty of stories from owners of 900's at 400K  kays without an engine rebuild.      The thing gets blown off bigtime at the lights by grannies in ten year old Elantras, but on the open road it's fast, comfortable and reasonably economical.      Don't honestly know what sort of a modern wonder I'll replace it with when the time comes.       Apologies for the enthusiastic rant, and don't tell Darth Vader  ( black 900 Aero Turbo ) what I've just said, he'll break down tomorrow  .

[Nathan S]

What GM did to Saab is a great example of how to f$%k a brand - they were a niche brand, and GM basically killed all of the nicheness. They burned the existing customer base, without replacing it. And then wondered why they sold so few of them...

Ford's treatment of Volvo wasn't great, but much better than GM's of Saab. So far, the Chinese seem to be showing Volvo a lot more respect than Ford did.

[Curly3]

Buy local isn't possible today.
Unless you're on a Union's legal team.
The Union movement has done a 180.

[lukeb1961]

Buy local is a joke for far, far too many items.  I walked into the local Bing Lee and the guy at the counter refused to move 6 feet down to me - kept waving me up to him. So I walked out and have never been back and never will. They probably lost $5-6k in sales to me since then. I now purchase on-line almost exclusively.

I have now racked-up 1042 items purchased on eBay. I get exactly what I asked for, usually far cheaper and delivered to my door. No vacant stares, no "that's 2 years old, we don't stock those any more" and no "we would have to get one in - probably by February"...  I could have driven 6km to buy something last week - but a chap on the mid north coast shipped me the same item for $3 less (including postage), to my door in 2 days. Now why would I battle the traffic to go up the road to be sneered at by a pimply youth?

Oh and of those 1042 items - ONE went missing. Ever.

Luke

[Simo63]

Ts I am actually peeved Saab has gone . A company that said F**k you to the big brothers that told it how they wanted Saab to build their cars, and kept on building them in their own vision of how it should be done. Saab 900 turbo silky smooth, comfortable, easy to drive, fast and fabulous.

Have you SAAB lovers seen this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PT91JWljQ

Worth a watch.