Dealing With Dishonest Customers

[kevinT]

Interested in getting some opinions....

What if you had a customer who bought a set of your pickups. You shipped them to the customer and you used the package tracking service that the carrier offered. You checked their site and delivery of the package was confirmed on a certain day and time. However, the customer says he/she never received the package. And you have a gut feeling that the customer is lying....

What would you do?

[MWJB]

Depends on the quality of the package tracking system. See if the company can provide a timed reference for delivery, get the customer to check it for himself and offer an explanation. Get him to double, double check with neighbours, other members of the household who may have taken delivery.

I see it from both ends in the day job..."I need my money, you MUST have it, my son/mum/lodger definitely posted a WEEK ago...hang on, here they are now...er, they've still got it! I'm posting now, REALLY this time...."

In the UK, even with the mail's Recorded Delivery (no tracking as such, just a signature on delivery - if it's not delivered then it's lost forever!) you can check recipients signature on the web.

If you can't satisfactorily prove to yourself (& him) that the package was delivered it may be best to replace the order & just not deal with him again...if you have suspicions. There could be a genuine explanation & I'd give him the benefit of the doubt...unless he starts with the " don't want it anymore, I want my money back"...routine.

It's always flattering when someone wants to use your service/product, but there are the odd occasions/individuals where you know that rather take on the job, you have to unplug the phone, draw the curtains, kill the lights & lie silently on the floor pretending no one's home until they clear off. :-)

[Dave Kerr]

While your gut feeling may be correct, I'd bite the bullet and reship requiring a signature upon delivery. It's entirely possible that the package was left on the customer's porch and stolen. We've all seen at the old place what can happen when you get on the bad side of a tenacious dissatisfied customer.

[Stan H]

It's always flattering when someone wants to use your service/product, but there are the odd occasions/individuals where you know that rather take on the job, you have to unplug the phone, draw the curtains, kill the lights & lie silently on the floor pretending no one's home until they clear off. :-)

Amen...

Uh, anyways, ALWAYS insure. Then tell them that they'll have to file a claim with the carrier.

[Spence]

In the UK, ParcelForce should be avoided at any cost. Musical instruments will be smashed to matchwood and then delivered to the wrong address. this has happened to me with a proper pop start's guitar. It was insured but they never paid up. They never pay up for anything.

Royal Mail, the parent company of ParcelFarce is better. If a postman loses a registered item he may well be sacked on the spot depending on the severity of the impending claim. Their other service called 'Signed For' isn't worth a wank.

In the next few weeks, Royal Mail's drivers will be provided with machines that beam the signature of receipt via Sputnik to a huge Amstrad computer. Providing the valves have warmed up, you'll be able to see the signature on line the instant it's uploaded.

[Sam Lee Guy]

It just complete nightmare! Put up all prices to cover trouble as it will happen.
Simple fact of life that 90% of people are S#*t.

[Dr. Guitar]

Simple, it was tracked, and signed for. Tell the customer to take it up with the shipping company. Same thing if it shows up damaged.

[Possum]

...

If you shipped UPS tell the guy you have to make a claim first and get your money from your shipper. UPS will also question their driver and send him out to the guy you shipped to, if he is lying he'll get caught. Stall, make your insurance claim first.
You might tell him a lie like you have to make your insurance claim first and mention that the delivery driver will be contacted and asked who accepted the package and that he will be coming by his house to question him. He might suddenly "find" the package if it looks like he's going to get caught.

This is kind of one reason I only do email orders, when I took phone calls I got some real whackos, if you do several emails with someone and get paid via paypal, you generally deal with a better class of people, after all if they never learned how to type and can't put a sentence together rationally, then thats kind of a red flag. Write up a strict warranty covering yourself on all bases. If you didn't insure your package, then you're screwed, bite the bullet and do his order over. Never leave any customer unhappy with you no matter what....

Still, shit does happen, I made a mistake sending some covers to a guy and left off one number in the house number, the driver says he delivered to that house, yet my customer knows those people and no one delivered anything to them, it was a total loss. Wasn't worth doing a claim for even, write it off on your taxes...

[David King]

If I were going to steal a pickup I don't think I would go to the trouble of ordering it on line or over the phone, paying for it, waiting for it and then pretending that I didn't get it. That makes sense only if I wanted to buy one pickup and steal a second one 2 weeks later...

Perhaps he got the first one and buggered it with his soldering iron and power drill? I have seen that happen.

[badams]

This may not be true in your case but I've never heard of an honest pickup winder. They lie about their products tone and over charge on every one sold.

[Enzo]

Planning to make lots of friends here, badams?

Check the tracking history. If the driver left it on the porch there will be no signature on record, and it should indicate left on porch or with neighbor. if someone accepted it, then there will be a signature and the name printed. If he is Joe Blow, and the signature says Betty Blow, then it made it there.

And that points out the "adult signature required" option. They will leave it on the porch otherwise. With sig required , they will come back three times then hold it for a week or two for him to go retrieve it. They leave notes on the door to that effect for him.

Insurance covers the package against damage and the SHIPPER losing it. Once it hits the guy's doorstep, the insurance no longer is in effect.

[kevinT]

This may not be true in your case but I've never heard of an honest pickup winder. They lie about their products tone and over charge on every one sold.

Oh no...you just pushed my rant button...

I don't know why you have come on this forum...a forum of pickup makers mind you, and say something like that.

I consider myself an honest pickup maker and i bend over backwards for my customers. I describe my pickup's tone based on what my ears hear as well as the inherent tone that you get from using certain specs (mag, wire type, # of turns, etc) I have no reason to lie and i price my product according to many factors including my time and the custom made, and self-fabracated parts that I use as well as the many hours of research that i have spent differientiating my product.

Lets start off with your acqusation of lying about a pickup's tone. Making pickups is not an exact science. Yes, you can make a pickup with very tight tolerances, however, does this mean it is going to sound the same in every guitar or sound good in every guitar for that matter? Absoulutly NOT. There are many variables that affect tone. We may have two different guitars with the same pickup and amp.....it will sound different every time. Furthmore, what you think is good tone, i may think is crap...as I say "One man's mellow is another man's mud'. I describe my pickups as best i can based on what I hear and the type of pickup that it is. If you put it in your guitar will you hear the same thing?....hopefully so. I have tested my models in different guitars to ensure that they will sound the way that i describe them and they will sound good in most guitars. Will that mean that you will like the tone....NO. And that is why many makers offer liberal return/exchange policies becuase of this. Will the perfect pickup that sounds fabulous in every guitar ever be made?...I doubt it based on the Laws of Tone....(hey there is another buzz word...).

Secondly, I just finished a major rant not too long ago on this forum regarding how I price as well as many other makers price their products. Yes, if you're using Stewmac parts, you can make a pickup fairly cheap. However, many folks here use custom parts that cost quite a bit more. For example, my keeper bars cost double of what they cost on average becuase i have them custom made. They are not stamped chinese parts but machined here in america. In addition, many folks cut there own flatwork and that takes time and skill.

Here are some things that I consider in pricing my product:

• my time is very valuable, and in order for me to make pickups, I have to receive a certain amount to make it worth while. This is called Capitalism and is what the US economy is founded on.
• Many, many hours of research and development that i have spent in creating a quality product that is unique.
• cover overhead costs and the rising prices of pickup parts
• Investment in my equipment.
• Marketing/advertising

The big makers buy their parts in great volumes making the cost per unit is very low. They also sell their product by volume.(many units) That is how they can charge $79 for a pickup and still make a profit. There are many makers that make a living just manufacturing pickups and they have to charge the prices that they do to stay in business.

Maybe you have had a bad expereience with a boutique pickup maker and that is why you have said the things that you did. ...and you have made your opinion and perception of pickup makers clear.

If you learned a bit more about manufacturing, sourcing quality parts, research and development, marketing and everything else that goes into putting a product on the market, i think that you would have a different perception about pickup makers.

[greenfingers]

This may not be true in your case but I've never heard of an honest pickup winder. They lie about their products tone and over charge on every one sold.

Wow is this a growing feeling with more people? Is the reputation of pickup makers that bad. I think like most things in life there are good examples and bad examples of pickups and people who make them. You may even find a honest winder on this forum.

[MWJB]

Don't take Badams too seriously, he likes to play devil's advocate, just spreading his own peculiar brand of "sweeteness & light"...

[kevinT]

Don't take Badams too seriously, he likes to play devil's advocate, just spreading his own peculiar brand of "sweeteness & light"...

yep..I don't....I know it's just someone trash talkin' and someone that doesn't know what they're talking about.

I am just trying to enlighten the poor fella...