Why don't people get it??????

[cammeddrz]

I am head of sales for a company that manufactures motorcycle parts, we have 2800 dealers, spanning 29 different countries

so a customer will place an order through a dealer, the dealer then places an order through me, we ship the product to the dealer, who then gives it to the customer.

so the dealer has a customer who buys from them, and gets a receipt

and the dealer is the "customer" to me

dealers generate Purchase orders, with reference numbers that the end customer never sees. these then get given to me as a way of referencing the order between me, and them.....not between them and the end customer!!!!

Dealers also often forget to place the order to us, or wait until they get more orders from other customers, so that they can put them on the same PO, etc. so most of the time, something on the dealer's end is what is holding it up...not on my end

I frequently get customers calling me to check on their order. they give me their name, I say "i apologize, but I don't have ___________ in my system" and they say "you should, I ordered through: (insert dealer's name)...."

i then proceed to explain to them the same things that i just mentioned. they say: "oh well mine are the red ones with the blue....."

i then explain that "it is our policy to not divulge order information to anyone but our original customer"

they then always reply "buh, buh, i am the customer"

and i then try to explain that they aren't my customer. and therefore i can't divulge any information.

yet no matter what, it never seems like they understand why i can't divulge someone else's (in this case, the dealer) information.

its a privacy thing, why don't people get it??

but mostly customers have already called their dealer, the dealer has already updated them on why their made-to-order custom-colored item wasn't delivered the next day, they don't believe the parts guy, and they are calling to check his story. and if even his story is remotely different than what i tell them, i.e. if he heard from the other parts associate who placed the order with us (usually the manager, not the guy who even talks to customers), and he mis-relays anything. the customer calls the dealer back, says "_______ says you are lying..." (even though we never say that), then the dealer calls me and says "WTF why are you telling my customers i'm lying?..."

or even so that dealer has so many orders with similar things, i don't even know which one is intended for "steve smith"......they never give me that info.

so the customer says "buh, buh, i have a recipt number, can't you find it that way?..."

so then i say "you have a receipt number from them...not me, that number means nothing in my system..."

seriously, why do people then rip me a new one for not telling them something that A) policy doesn't allow me to do, and B) i couldn't find it if i wanted to.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

because customer

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It's partly because the society we currently live in is focused on the "Just In Time" mentality and everyone wants it NOW. It's partly also the fault of the schools and parents who don't want to hurt kids "self esteem" so they eliminate consequences and hand over everything imaginable. Plus we live in the age of Ebay and Amazon where you can spend 23 seconds ordering something online and it shows up at your door in 2-3 days. I could go on...

 

[Dune Runner]

Im wondering who you work for and how the hell they know where the dealer is ordering the parts from. I take it that you don't sell to the public?
People nowadays fell they are entitled to everything right now.

 

[BLOODBANE]

Yeah, but can you give me info on my order?......
Im just razzing ya. I can understand your dilemma. Maybe you need to invest in the new delivery drones and then they could have it in about 30 mins. I grew up in a time when you ate multiple boxes of cereal, save the box tops, sent the tops and your money, then in about 10 weeks or so, you got what you ordered/saved for. We (consumer) have gotten so spoiled with tracking, overnight delivery, and have became so impatient, that we dont care the reason. We want it now, Dammit!

 

[wildbill23c]

Sounds very typical with today's I want it now society. They don't understand that not everything magically appears at the tap of a magic wand. People seem to think that "the customer is always right" mentality will help them get their way. In reality though, the customer isn't always right, and quite often don't even have a clue what they are complaining about, the just thought it sounded cool to be an idiot.

Anyhow, many people think that everything just magically appears on the shelf wherever it is they shop, they have no clue how many steps are involved behind the scenes for that item to get to that shelf. Hell, we have people who don't have a clue where their ground beef came from other than the store refrigeration case.

 

[CaptonZap]

You might tell them that if they contact their seller, and have him get the invoice number to you, you MIGHT be able to help them. That puts the onus on them to contact their dealer, and gets you on the tail end of the loop.
Most people don't have enough smarts to understand the economic hierarchy, so the best way to handle them is to route them back down the rabbit hole, and let them bother someone else.
CZ

 

[Road Angels]

dude get used to it when you deal with the public, it been like that long since the internet, I worked parts in several car lines at stealer ships and that was back in the early 70's and it was like that, tell your retailers not to give out your number if your wholesale only, if you've listed your wholesale line on the internet for new wholesale retail bussiness, of course there going to called, cause we lied all the time about the order status in order to keep that customer , and keep them from going else where, also if the in house shop needed it to finish or to get a car in the shop, they would get that customers part and we would call the customer and tell them its been delayed in transit

 

[Snoranger]

Like Ben Afflac said in Mallrats, "the customer is always an A-hole!"

 

[txgocartB3000]

Well let's look at this from a different perspective...

The vendor or the supplier states or provides unrealistic delivery dates just to get the end customers money.

The customer has paid for these parts expecting to get a certain delivery time.

Vendor/supplier have their customers money but the customer has no part and the delivery date comes and goes.

Who wouldn't start asking questions?

Not saying this is the case all the time but I'm sure it happens.

Ray

 

[doorgunner]

On the other hand........back in the old days before the "Economic Collapse"/before my Government made vendors pay outrageous taxes on their INVENTORIES..........causing them to quit stocking most items!!!!!!!!...............

You could walk into any store......tell the salesperson what you wanted.....then they walked thru a pair of double-hinged "Magic Doors".................................

and 1 minute later...................................

they arrived with your new part and placed it on the counter for you to admire as you took CASH out of your wallet to pay for it.

That's how it worked once upon a time!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tmcalavy]

Yup...that was a great time. We always looked forward to goin to town, even for parts...cause it meant you had passed the "fix it up, wear it out, make it do, do without" phase or were somewhere close to that. And buying something new with paper money meant being in town a long time.
People today are consumers first and humans last...and that will eventually lead to actual cannabilism...social cannabilism and Momma Orpah/Daddy Obummer telling us who to hate is just the beginning.

 

[naford]

I hate to tell you this but Reagan was president when the factory I worked at went JIT. Yes it was taxes but also becasue by reducing inventory they reduced the amount of money they had to borrow to buy that inventory. You have to look to the big box stores for downfall. They only stock what sells. That is why if you want hard core home repair parts you might have to go to the box store in the city rather than the suburb.

Getting back to the subject at hand. Being a customer I can see why not knowing where the product you just bought is at is a problem. You have to keep in mind this is custom work and just like kids waiting for a christmas the wait is unbearable.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's partly because the society we currently live in is focused on the "Just In Time" mentality and everyone wants it NOW. It's partly also the fault of the schools and parents who don't want to hurt kids "self esteem" so they eliminate consequences and hand over everything imaginable. Plus we live in the age of Ebay and Amazon where you can spend 23 seconds ordering something online and it shows up at your door in 2-3 days. I could go on...

Just in time is much more effiecent... when it works.

Dealers used to stock EVERYTHING. That was more instant than ordering online. You want it now, you got it now. Now they diag it and have it come back then next day when the parts come in and let somebody else sit on the inventory. Aside from filters and plugs all the local Ford dealer stocks is parts they can't return without paying a restocking fee.

Of course any hiccup in the process and you are screwed...

The industry I am in is a little more intense timewise than most. When the weather works out farmers need to run, we stock quite a bit of inventory for that reason so we are not at the dealer's mercy.

 

[Andy D]

Heh heh, I am on 528e # 4 and 5. The cars are a breeze to maintain,so I stock extra stuff to keep them both in service with minimal disruption. Cheap stuff that the car wont work without. And I can fit the work into my schedule. I went 12 yrs without a breakdown on my first one, by keeping ahead of preventative maintenance. Basically by paying attention to the cars' performance as I drive them.