Warning purchasing online from Stained Glass Wharehouse.

wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

DO you think you would have had the same treatment at a "brick and mortar" real deal retail store? I think not. Once again, a reason to do business with your local, or one of the local stained glass retailers in your area.

I have a "storefront studio", that is to say, it is not in my home, but a place where I "go to work". We do a pretty good business in a variety of stained glass areas, (beveled, stained, (as in painted), leaded, fused, bent ) we do restoration and new work. and as often as I can, whenever I can, I buy my glass from a retail store near me, in fact I split my business between 2 of them. I don't do big churches with lots of cases of glass of the same color. But I may buy 10-15 sheets at a time in a variety of colors for several different jobs. IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR ME TO SAVE A COUPLE OF DOLLARS, while their business may be marginal in this economy. Between the internet and the imported crap, the retail store is struggling, everywhere, offer your support thru your sales dollar.

I'm off my soapbox now, GOOD MORNING ALL, it's Tuesday!!

-- JK Sinrod

www.MyConeyIslandMemories

Next time you might try a local store...even if you don't have one in your town at least give the nearest one a try. Over time I've heard more and more negative input about many of these interet stores. You're a number and that's about it. Hope you give your nearest retailer a try.

Andy

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:> Just wanted to share my bad experience purchasing supplies from Stained> Glass WhareHouse . In the past I> purchased a several items from them and had not encountered problems> till my last purchase. Ordered several supplies including the Table> foiler. When I received the Table foiler, product was defective and did> not function at all. In fact the package looked as if it was previously> opened, returened and resealed, and resold. I highly suspect that> someone actually was fortunate enough to return the item and was> charged a customary 15% restocking fee and they resold the item to me> even though it was defective. The spring was so streched and deformed> that I suspect someone tried to fix it they cut the spring to half its> size and destroyed it completely. I tried calling customer service by> phone several times . Calling their customer service was a> frustratingly useless, all I could get is the automated message "all> our representatives are busy please stay on the line for next available> agent or leave a voicemail" waited for long periods of time, Left> several voicemail messages but nobody returned the call. Wrote several> emails with no responses. frustrated ! as a last resort I wrote them my> final email thretening to report them to the Better Business Bureau> which I did and post my experience to as many websites as possible.> Obviously that does not bother them since it seems they just do not> care else they would have responded. I solved the problem by calling> the manufacturer and what an amazing diffrerence no questions asked> they were kind enough to ship me at no cost a new table foiler. Now> that is customer service I have nothing but praises for the product .> The product is a great product and I love it but the retailer obvioulsy> is just out for the money and needs lesson in how to treat customers.> They charge a restocking fee and resell a defective item , if you are> fortunate enough to talk to their customer service within allotted 10> days after purchase to get an RMA. Well as I said this is a warning> based on my experience and a few others that had similar experiences as> I found out searching various websites.

I've ordered from these people many times. Never had a problem. Immediate confirmation of the order, what's going to ship, and when, and how for how much $$$. Everything came when they said it would, and in good shape.

They ARE human..they can, I suppose, make mistakes. And being human, I suppose they "could" choose to ignore someone who was being obnoxious and threatening.

I frankly find it, well, amazing that the manufacturer would ship you a replacement item without you sending the "defective" one in first. They had no way to know if you even had bought one, or from where, or how long ago.

Me thinks there is more to this story than you are telling.

Javahut wrote:

I'm in total agreement with you in shop locally and support local merchants . I'm only a hobbyist and make stained glass for myself and not as a business, and when the nearest supplier is miles away ( approx

1.5 - 2 hrs) and it costs more to get there than the product you wish to purchase it's a no brainer to shop online .

That is exactly the story as it happened . I did not embellish or omit anything. I agree they are human and make mistakes and I did give them benifit of making good. I became pissed off after several phone calls and emails that were completely ignored by them (not one response). All I wanted was to exchange the bad for a good one but they completely ignored all my phone calls and emails. If you read my complete story you will find before this incident I did purchase many items in the past from them and yes they did give me confirmation and things were fine and I gave them repeat business , till they shipped me a defective item and totally ignored all my efforts to contact them. That is why I became frustrated and Pissed-off and reported them to the BBB, FTC and my reason for posting. The manufacturer did indeed give me a new product and I did offer to return the defective unit but they did not want it shipped back. The foiler costs about $40 so don't think it was economical for the manufacturer to repair etc. I did offer to send it back. I have nothing but praise for the Table Foiler manufacturer that's the way to keep customers. It's everyones God given right to believe, agree or disagree with my posting, The post was a warning based on my experience and that is all .. It's your perogative to do what you wish and believe what you wish PERIOD. I'm not a malcontent or complainer but I do believe in honesty and integrity which is hard to come by this day and age.

wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

Hey, just a thought, and I might be reaching a little as some retailers don't, ask them if they ship? All of the retailers near me do, they are all an hour away from me, and if I need "one of those" they will send it, mail or UPS. Just a thought, but worth asking them....

I have a lot of customers that live maybe an hour or two away. They'll either call me or send me an email if they need something and I'll send it right out.

Andy

Javahut wrote:

Folks buy online for price, then price, then limited availability locally. Customer service is way way down the list. If your premise that "so many" retailers go out of business because of surly or poor customer service, then by your logic, the ones that are still in business today must all be awesome! Natural selection, not survival of the fittest.

JK Sinrod

I, for one, would LOVE to have the option of buying locally...

hahhahahaaaaaaaaaa the nearest dealer to me is 8 hours away by car..and my helicopter is in the repair shop indefinitely!

it's not always a matter of NOT supporting our local shops... sometimes we MUST purchase goods online or through catalogs.

it is good to know which people can be trusted and which ones you need to beware of.

Thanks,

Arlene

I prefer to shop locally whenever possible, but I also prefer to shop online because I don't have the time to go to a store in person. That usually means finding a local seller who'll ship.

Of course, as glass goes, I live in Portland so shopping locally is a piece of cake, but I actually stopped picking up from Uroboros, less than a mile from here, because it was less expensive in terms of time taken out of my workday to just have it shipped.

I still pick up from Bullseye about once a week, because you can get stuff there in person that you can't get shipped.