Unhelpfull peoples !!

[Skunk]

Who and where is GP Trading? Got contact details?

At the moment Victoria Bike Wreckers are the best I know of.

[moko]

These things do work both ways.I`ve told the story of my experiences with Te Waipounamu bike hire`s Auckland branch here before.Arrived straight from the airport after 12000 miles of air travel.As they`d warned me the XT600 I`d paid for wasn`t ready but they`d sorted me out an F650 for the same price.Bike didnt have rear pegs and I`d intended to carry a pillion for part of my trip,wasnt happy and told the guy so.With hindsight they`d supplied me with a free up-grade and I hadn`t specified that I wanted to carry a passenger,or thought to mention it.Darren told me to go and sit out in the Sun with a bottle of Stella from their fridge and he`d try and sort me out,came back 5 minutes later and he`d phoned the boss in Christchurch who`d straight away told him to give me a GS1100RS,no extra charge.Turned from a shit start to a long-awaited holiday to having the chance of playing with a bike I could never normally afford for a few weeks.Te Waipounamu did good by me and since then I`ve plugged them everywhere,anyone looking for bike hire in N.Z. gets my story trotted out.I dont know if it has ever got them more business but I hope so.
Same as here,bloke who services my bike left a main dealer and set out on his own,I was among his first customers.Bloke knows his stuff and I`ve sent a few people to him,nothing`s ever been said but I dont pay a hell of a lot to get my bike done these days.

[Biff]

I don't agree,the customer is always right up until the point he becomes an ignorant,arrogant fuckhead who starts costing money to service and then he can piss off,and while this happens very rarely,in the past we've have had clients who would blatantly lie to try and get their way and no matter what we did it wasn't good enough sowe would politely tell them there business was no longer required,this meant we could spend more time on other customers who didn't cause us the same grief and profitabilty rose as a result.

I think you'll find that you are at least partially agreeing with me. The customer is always right, even if they are fuckwits. However if a cost analysis shows that is costs more to deal with a customer than you make in profit margin MOST OF THE TIME, then your business plan is fucked. However, you must take the rough with the smooth. But I accept that if you deal with a single arsehole once in a blue moon, you have a right to refuse to deal with them, without insulting them but rising above their idiocy.

And the surveys we've done(a long time ago)showed that adage to be incorrect,if a guy tells five of his mates only one pays sufficent attention,if a woman tells her friends four of them do,so guess who we tended to focus on slightly more.

Centuries of studies by experts from all over the world (including Maslow, Ford, Barnett, Lind, Mason, Marcha,Havard Business School etc ) have shown that this research of yours is generally incorrect. Granted it may be a useful local indicator for a given geographic area, type of industry and cross section of population, but I don't buy your hypothesis as a template to the successful running of business in general. Granted you may interpret your findings differently and base your business model upon a different methodology, and it may well work for you however, I'm talking about the overwhelming majority of the rest of the worlds industries. People talk - fact. Be they male or female, and with the advent of the tinternet, your reputation can take a severe hammering if you treat anybody badly, irrespective of whether or not the customer is endowed with fuckwitedness.

Word of mouth is indeed a key business ingredient and probably the best advertising a business can have.

So we agree - I think.

[vifferman]

I don't agree,the customer is always right up until the point he becomes an ignorant,arrogant fuckhead who starts costing money to service and then he can piss off,and while this happens very rarely,in the past we've have had clients who would blatantly lie to try and get their way and no matter what we did it wasn't good enough sowe would politely tell them there business was no longer required....
Word of mouth is indeed a key business ingredient and probably the best advertising a business can have.

Aye - there's the rub.
Even if a customer is "an ignorant,arrogant fuckhead who starts costing money to service", if you're not very diplomatic (I guess that your "politely telling them their business was no longer required" covers that), the word of mouth they spread about could have a much more negative financial impact than their "time-wasting, lying, cheating ways" would.

The tale of woe that started this thread illustrates this: even if Bucket 'n Bits' owner had a legitimate gripe about Amarzzata (which it appears from what has been described here he did not), if he'd been diplomatic and used "the customer is my paymaster" line, he wouldn't have got the negative rep here that he's ended up with.

So which is better: to get all shitty and aggro because he's communicated badly with the customer, lose a sale, get a reputation as being unhelpful and "meaner than a junkyard dog", or to make a bit of an effort to be civil and helpful, gain a sale, and garner a good reputation? :spudwhat:

Seems like a no-brainer to me...

[Draco]

Who and where is GP Trading? Got contact details?

G.P. Trading (Mt Maunganui)
Ph: 07-574 6688
www.gptrading.co.nz
Email: gary@gptrading.co.nz

Happy Shopping

[Deano]

I really do think it is irresponsible to rag a business on the internet, there is no right of reply & the content is slanted to someone’s feelings.

He then started abusing Amarzzata, describing him as a lying, slimy, cheating shifaced cunt (and much more).

Is there much difference here ? And Mr Buckets and Bits could sign on and have right of reply. Amarzzata was confident it would get back to him.

I still conclude: Don't rag someone's livelyhood on the internet. You are not judge & jury.

No, but we are all witnesses.

[Wellyman]

Well if anybody needs parts i could have a look for you at my work (Atomic Motorcycle Wreckers) Happy to send emails to my boss to ask him. send me a PM if anybody is looking for parts stilll.

[Skunk]

G.P. Trading (Mt Maunganui)
Ph: 07-574 6688
www.gptrading.co.nz
Email: gary@gptrading.co.nz

Happy Shopping

Cheers for that.

[Krusti]

G.P. Trading (Mt Maunganui)
Ph: 07-574 6688
www.gptrading.co.nz
Email: gary@gptrading.co.nz

Happy Shopping

There you go...Internet word of mouth, slanging works both ways. I have just made a parts enquiry through a Bussiness that I never knew existed till reading this. Thanks guys!

[Kickaha]

Centuries of studies by experts from all over the world (including Maslow, Ford, Barnett, Lind, Mason, Marcha,Havard Business School etc ) have shown that this research of yours is generally incorrect.

Huh,experts! what would they know

Well it was along time a ago in a land far far away, oppps sorry wrong story

This was done in NZ about 15 years ago,however we weren't given any data on how and where it was done,but I would be interested in seeing the studies you've quoted above.

So we agree - I think.

errrrrr I'll get back to you on that

The tale of woe that started this thread illustrates this: even if Bucket 'n Bits' owner had a legitimate gripe about Amarzzata (which it appears from what has been described here he did not), if he'd been diplomatic and used "the customer is my paymaster" line, he wouldn't have got the negative rep here that he's ended up with.

And even if he had legitimate gripe about Amarzzata he had no reason to take it out on Pete376403 when he arrived to pick up the part

[NordieBoy]

Is there much difference here ? And Mr Buckets and Bits could sign on and have right of reply. Amarzzata was confident it would get back to him.

Some people don't have the time or inclination to use the internet any more than they have to.

[NordieBoy]

I've dealt with B&B a couple of times and had no problems at all.

Would deal more but he dosn't have dirt-bike bits and my road bikes don't need anything.

[Coldkiwi]

I think what should be remembered for any business is that there's a good way and a bad way to deal with problem customers (assuming you are a problem amarzzata!). The BAD way to deal with them seems to be what has been reported about B&B. The GOOD way to deal with them if they're just too much hard work (we have some clients like that) is to be professsional, polite, vaguely helpful but very very expensive! That way, they can decide to take their custom elsewhere but not have a bad taste in their mouth (after all, most people except regular (and therefore good) clients are ringing to compare prices anyway). Deciding that someone is a bad client after you've quoted them a price and then shafting them for more fee's without clearing it first and explaining why is no way to behave.

As for people 'being in a bad mood' I think thats a crock of manure. Your business should live or die by its normal practices but B&B don't seem to have that many defenders saying 'what?? how unusual! that doesn't sound like the Buckets and Bits I know'... whereas if someone had a gripe about Vic Wreckers, i'd be in there straight away saying that very thing because everytime I use them, I end up satisfied (and if they're too expensive, I'll use someone else but i'll certainly try them again)

[Amarzzata]

Well if anybody needs parts i could have a look for you at my work (Atomic Motorcycle Wreckers) Happy to send emails to my boss to ask him. send me a PM if anybody is looking for parts stilll.

thanx for the offer, but my fuel tank is already under work, so i dont need an other one anymore !

[gav]

One thing puzzles me about that deal, was Pete going to pay when he picked the parts up? I thought B&B would charge Amarzatta via a credit card? Why didnt B&B just charge Amarzatta direct?