BIKEGEARWAREHOUSE concern

[Headbanger]

Please advise what you contribute?

Contribute to what?, Your pocket, Nothing so far.

The point I was making was that raging against a market change isn't the big picture, The big picture is the market has changed (as it always does) and that those companies that can continue to provide what customers want in the face o this shift in the market (whether that be price, service, or a combination of both) have a better chance of surviving, no matter what part of the world they may be in.

Anyway, I'm not interested in being sucked into the market argument again, People will spend their coin where it suits them best, end of story.

[IdunBrokdItAgin]

iI hear what you are saying and can see both sides of the coin. There are some shocking realities and Ive done these to death in previous posts, including;

Wholesalers in big economies such as the US have better buying power and often get better prices off the manufacturers

They operate on very thin margins and high turnover, a far fetched dream for NZ distributors

The exchange rate against $US makes it rather too easy for offshore purchases

Many privately imported goods come in under the radar and dont attract GST on the fob value of the goods, EDR fees, MAF fees, port fees etc and GST on all of those
And then theres also the matter of invoice falsification....

Legitimate distributors have advertising costs to promote the product ( and the parasites effectively feed off the profile created ) They also have compliance costs, infrastructure costs and stocking costs etc. Ad infinitum. They also pay all clearance costs and gst. Hardly a level playing field...........

A jerk ( and I make no apology for saying that ) had the temerity to say ''wanking on''. It really illustrates how much ignorance there is out there about the real cost of running a business in this country.

In a small economy the ratio of business running costs is really not that good against returns, compared to a large economy with infinitely more customers, FACT.

In reality the whole wholesale and retail etiquette thing is seriously under threat, the negative by product being that its going to erode the convenience of popping down to the motorcycle dealer just around the corner. If you need technical help its not going to be on your doorstep.

What will ''Kiwi bleaters '' make of that???

Good response. Makes me see it a little bit more from the NZ bike industry's point of view.

Ta.

[Robert Taylor]

Contribute to what?, Your pocket, Nothing so far.

The point I was making was that raging against a market change isn't the big picture, The big picture is the market has changed (as it always does) and that those companies that can continue to provide what customers want in the face o this shift in the market (whether that be price, service, or a combination of both) have a better chance of surviving, no matter what part of the world they may be in.

Anyway, I'm not interested in being sucked into the market argument again, People will spend their coin where it suits them best, end of story.

You seem to be insinuating that I am a big bad capitalist, which I am not. In my own instance I am adapting to the market ( otherwise you wouldnt survive ) But its still relevant to point out as I have that its not a level playing field out there. That is conveniently overlooked by many and I also make the point that many purchasers care little about the welfare of our own countrymen, more and more who are effectively being pushed into meaningless jobs as a result of the open market. That may be hard to quantify but there has to be more than a grain of truth.
I am not a socialist by any means but Id rather see money going into locals pockets than to the US and Asia. I apologise for caring about our country.

[Robert Taylor]

Good response. Makes me see it a little bit more from the NZ bike industry's point of view.

Ta.

Cheers for that, the whole argument is relative to most industries in NZ.

[Headbanger]

No such thing as a level playing field in any industry.

Meaningless jobs?, All work is worthy.

[Robert Taylor]

No such thing as a level playing field in any industry.

Meaningless jobs?, All work is worthy.

Ho hum, simplistic responses to decent arguments doesnt cut the mustard. Now please get off my window, you are smearing it

[Squiggles]

Ho hum, simplistic responses to decent arguments doesnt cut the mustard. Now please get off my window, you are smearing it

Epic.

[Headbanger]

Ho hum, simplistic responses to decent arguments doesnt cut the mustard. Now please get off my window, you are smearing it

Meh, The thread wasn't about you until you once again made it the case. Perhaps you would be better off answering those pesky customer emails in a timely manner rather then preaching about a local protected market(to suit you) to people more then intelligent enough to make an informed decision on where there money goes.

The bug isn't on your windscreen.

[Robert Taylor]

Meh, The thread wasn't about you until you once again made it the case. Perhaps you would be better off answering those pesky customer emails in a timely manner rather then preaching about a local protected market(to suit you) to people more then intelligent enough to make an informed decision on where there money goes.

The bug isn't on your windscreen.

Who is preaching? Ive seen just as much intelligence on this thread as Ive seen lack of.

[Headbanger]

Lets just pretend I never said I expected timely e-mail responses from NZ retailers and move on.

[Armitage Shanks]

G'day Armitage Shanks

I am very happy to assist, as we do with hundreds of customers a week.

Have you emailed us , or tried to contact us via our live support?

Please send me an email at: geoffrey@bikegearewarehouse.com.au

I will be happy to check on the status of your order and hopefully resolve this for you promptly.

What I can say at the moment is that production times from the USA has increased, due to the economic downturn. Many businesses, even the big ones, over there are still hurting and are climbing out by cutting costs where they can. It's not just the manufacturers, but their materials suppliers as well, it is all a chain. When one is delayed by a week, that can flow down to being a four week delay for us.

I will admit that our Yoshimura orders are taking a bit longer than previously, but by working closely with companies like Yoshimura we are resolving this. Within the next month we have many large shipments due that will ensure that customers will not have to wait for their purchase.

Please send me the email as soon as you can. We aim to get the majority of emails sent to us answered within 1 working day.

Cheers
Geoffrey

Geoffrey, Thanks I got your PM and I'll be in touch next week . This has been an enlightning thread to put it mildy and I can see it from the other side of the fence now.... all good and only one question mate....

When am I gonna get my fucking Pipes ??? .....

In good humour, as you have to have with a missus like mine...ggrrrumph,

[Robert Taylor]

Lets just pretend I never said I expected timely e-mail responses from NZ retailers and move on.

All good! By and large I think I respond in reasonable time, most of the time. Its a little more involved with the techo stuff that we do, as Scott411 eluded.

[firefighter]

A bit of a belated reply but nevertheless....

As a web-only company, leaving customer equiries that long is not on. Remember the company is just online. No showroom or anything.

Cycletreads manages to respond within a couple of hours....and they actually have a shop with customers walking in.....
I am reasonable I do'nt expect the whole world to implode and to be smothered in attention, but to illustrate my point, I still have'nt heard back from them today.........(I'm serious)

I do'nt care how small staff numbers are, that is bloody shite. You ca'nt seriously ask N.Zers to pay shitloads more than the amount they'd pay overseas and to just put up with WORSE service?! There has to be some sort of bonus for spending the extra cash surely? There has to be some sort of meeting in the middle? You must surely agree with that.

I do see how it could take a bit longer for you, as mentioned above giving technical advice etc, which is appreciated! And when enquiring about something techhy you do'nt mind waiting a little longer, as you know there's more information to research etc. But your not just selling clothing and bags, if you were I would think you'd respond a bit quicker.

In no way am I an apologist for shonky service but there is one thing I can relate to, keeping on top of answering e-mails.

Sometimes it will be 4 or 5 days before I can answer e-mails, especially if I have been away at an event for 3 days and it has absolutely trashed me.

Big overseas companies have enough turnover that they have a better ratio of staff to enquiries, or someone dedicated to e-mail. Its simplistic to think that companies in NZ are slack, often its because they have to run on a shoestring and cannot afford the extra cost in staff to answer enquiries more quickly, FACT.