A little rant

[lduren]

Thanks, I have been watching Ebay for the ideal machine and now I will keep checking Machinery Trader as well. Another TBN member also offered me his machine when he is done with it and if I have a choice (which I do) then I will help out a fellow TBN'er in the process.

Hey Robert, I scanned this thread, have something to say. Being in a family business myself and seeing the inside of another family business that belongs to my Uncle in another state, I can say this: In our family business I have dealt with customers who from time to time have had a negative attitude with dealing with us. It was like they were prejudiced based on a previous experience. It makes me suspect that an employee of ours in teh past sometime took the liberty to be rude to one of our customers for whatever reason. It is just water under the bridge now. I would never be rude to a customer under most circumstances. However an employee who does not own the business can behind our back without us knowing it. That customer thinks so and so business is a mean business with mean people because of that one lousy employee. I would go to the owner and say "I am looking for a excavator for aroun d $75000 and am having trouble finding one. Can you help me?" You do not have to mention the saleman's name. Just tell him that you are in the market for an expensive piece of equipment, and you want help finding one. And let the conversation go from there.

I read your other thread about the family with the disfunctional brother in law. You know that business owners can go in partnership with others, even family members, and some members carry the load while others maybe act important. That sounds like a very complicated arrangement with disfunctional family members ie the bil helping to run the business.

To sum it up, you need to reach out to the owner. You will be at peace wth the fact that at least you tried to do business with them.

just my thoughts on this....

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Hey Robert, I scanned this thread, have something to say. Being in a family business myself and seeing the inside of another family business that belongs to my Uncle in another state, I can say this: In our family business I have dealt with customers who from time to time have had a negative attitude with dealing with us. It was like they were prejudiced based on a previous experience. It makes me suspect that an employee of ours in teh past sometime took the liberty to be rude to one of our customers for whatever reason. It is just water under the bridge now. I would never be rude to a customer under most circumstances. However an employee who does not own the business can behind our back without us knowing it. That customer thinks so and so business is a mean business with mean people because of that one lousy employee. I would go to the owner and say "I am looking for a excavator for aroun d $75000 and am having trouble finding one. Can you help me?" You do not have to mention the saleman's name. Just tell him that you are in the market for an expensive piece of equipment, and you want help finding one. And let the conversation go from there.

I read your other thread about the family with the disfunctional brother in law. You know that business owners can go in partnership with others, even family members, and some members carry the load while others maybe act important. That sounds like a very complicated arrangement with disfunctional family members ie the bil helping to run the business.

To sum it up, you need to reach out to the owner. You will be at peace wth the fact that at least you tried to do business with them.

just my thoughts on this....

Thanks, I do understand the fact employers don't always know what their employees do when no one is around (I deal with it as both an employer and employee) which is why I believe in talking to the owner. It just really rubs me the wrong way when I feel like I was taken advantage of. If it happens once then I can forgive it as an honest mistake, the second time really makes me upset. Both times I was there asking about these machines the salesman I was dealing with discussed them with another employee who I am assuming is another salesman or manager. This other employee contacted the person trading the excavator in as we stood there just to confirm it was actually coming. So there were two people there who knew I was extremely interested in this second machine.

I have not been back over that direction yet but will stop in when I do and talk to the owner if he is there. The salesman has never returned either of my messages after telling me to call him after a couple days. Its hard not to be upset at the dealership as you associate the dealership with the experience but in time that feeling fades away (except in the case of the BIL situation you read about, that feeling will never fade). I don't really know what the dealership can do about it if anything and I don't even know if it matters at this point. Its just frustrating as I am use to people who want to sell machines actually selling me the machine they tell me about.

 

[lduren]

Thanks, I do understand the fact employers don't always know what their employees do when no one is around (I deal with it as both an employer and employee) which is why I believe in talking to the owner. It just really rubs me the wrong way when I feel like I was taken advantage of. If it happens once then I can forgive it as an honest mistake, the second time really makes me upset. Both times I was there asking about these machines the salesman I was dealing with discussed them with another employee who I am assuming is another salesman or manager. This other employee contacted the person trading the excavator in as we stood there just to confirm it was actually coming. So there were two people there who knew I was extremely interested in this second machine.

I have not been back over that direction yet but will stop in when I do and talk to the owner if he is there. The salesman has never returned either of my messages after telling me to call him after a couple days. Its hard not to be upset at the dealership as you associate the dealership with the experience but in time that feeling fades away (except in the case of the BIL situation you read about, that feeling will never fade). I don't really know what the dealership can do about it if anything and I don't even know if it matters at this point. Its just frustrating as I am use to people who want to sell machines actually selling me the machine they tell me about.

I understand what you say, I have to have respect if I am to do lots of business anywhere. I have learned that if you have a bad experience with an organization, any organization, that does not mean that everyone in that organization is bad. There are probably bad apples in any organization, to some degree at least.

 

[forester2]

I have a particular person I always talk to at L & W and feel I get very straight forward information. Have sent numerous friends to talk to the same guy their and they have been very happy with thier experiences.