Rant: People who don't or are slow to respond

[nagamitsu]

Not indicating anyone here, you guys are safe. In this day and age, with email on phones and everyone having a computer, why do people not respond or take days to respond?

Especially if is something I paid for and ordered, or trying to buy something from someone. Was waiting to hear back about a part that someone may have, got the warning it would take a few days to check if they had it in stock. Sent a quick email asking if they've had any luck. No response.

I hate one way conversations lol, trying to give them my money!

Tim

[jasonec]

I would crush their ego to a dust so fine it's very existence would be a matter of conjecture among theoretical physicists.
Either that, or ask for my money back....
Who was it, BTW?

[nagamitsu]

Not really a specific person, several in a sense! Parts ordered/paid, just no confirmation that they have been sent. I'll follow up via email on that one to find out.

But the other part I am seeking, is the part for the jukebox. I have emails out to several people/companies who potentially could have the part. One of which indicates on their site they are parting out three of the same jukeboxes. That's the one that said it would take a few days (already gone by) to check, it's just nice to get even a short reply back like "sorry, no luck yet" or "still working on it".

Other companies I have emailed, no response at all, they could at least respond "no sorry". Won't name names, these are companies who supply juke and arcade parts as a business.

Tim

[FiftyQuid]

My Dad never replies. Not to text messages or to emails. I always have to ask him if he got my messages and he says yes. I finally had to explain to him that text messages and emails are like the telephone. If you pick up the phone and say "Hello" and all you get in return is dead air then the call never happened!

[jasonec]

That explains it......
Chances are that all jukebox suppliers are of the geriatric variety.

[762762]

I agree people asking for stuff not emailing back making appointments then canceling at last min 5 times this person knows who he is but that's why I don't rush anymore but sorry to here you are getting the run around

[scbadboy]

I can definitely be guilty of this sometimes. It's more of a technology thing for me though I depends on my site to do too much of the work and sometimes it doesn't do what it's supposed to.

[teamatomics]

I try my best to respond to people quickly but my slowest response is in message forums, because I sometimes don't check in various forums, and messages end up sitting there for a while from members who are on the said
forum daily.

Now, that being said, if I am selling something, I think it's courtesy and respect to check back quickly with buyers, because as a buyer, who is
buying online, in our semi blind internet age, it makes us VERY jittery when online sellers go...missing...or suddenly respond more slowly. Sure, sometimes it's busy, but as someone mentioned, a quick "working on it"
means the world when we're buying from someone we don't know, or a business that's not in driving distance.

I love this forum because I know almost everyone I'm buying from
or selling to, and never had a problem here.

I remember when email first exploded, (before cell phones exploded) we can all remember there was this demographic (usually older) who preferred a land line phone instead of email. Now it's shifted a bit, and I find some people are still using e-mail instead of cell phones/texting. Holy shit I love texting!! It's like instant email I can carry in my pocket.

So now, as you can imagine, I try to get people to stop emailing me and text me instead, it's easier, faster, you can send pics, and if you're driving, you can instantly read the message at the next stop instead of missing a stupid phone call because cells while driving are illegal. Not only that, there's no need for annoying voicemail with a text, because they've already texted you the message, love it!!

[Waterborn]

That explains it......
Chances are that all jukebox suppliers are of the geriatric variety.

Bob Roberts is the exception to this "rule". Even though he is firmly planted in the 80's, he is always responsive with a confirmation email letting you know items were shipped and checks received (he still requires checks for payment, seriously OLD SCHOOL).

With that said, I hear you on the frustrations of waiting for a reply, particularly on a part or game that you really want.

[jasonec]

Bob Roberts is awesome! Period.

[machine.slave]

I'm pretty guilty of this myself, but to be honest I...

- have a day job
- am on the road at LEAST 3 hours per day
- am raising 2 kids under 2
- build everything by hand, from scratch, by myself
- am literally swamped with back orders
- ship everything myself

I'm also active (as much as I can be) on 4 forums and help maintain 2 of them, and run a web store so I get PM's, emails, text messages and even phone calls from so many customers it's hard to keep track of it all sometimes.

But I can't complain, I'm doing what I love.

If only I could get rid of this pesky day job..

[ken_cinder]

I work midnights, and over the weekend, refuse to pay for a data plan on my phone as I find the very idea of using the internet on my phone asinine(not to mention wasting money) and I have 4 kids...I'm likely someone who takes a couple days to respond.

[nagamitsu]

I can understand a lot of things factoring in to late replies, but if running a business, communication/email should be important when it comes to making money.

Well, I have gotten a bit further on the jukebox part, although going to cost me a small fortune with shipping added into the mix. At least this is one guy/business, out of the 5-6 I contacted, that I've gotten somewhere with.

Still no word on where my arcade parts are, I assume they are in the mail, but who knows.

Tim

[jasonec]

You know what's evil? Tracking numbers. You get a tracking number, and BOOM! - your whole day is spent checking it online. I'm ashamed to admit that I made a shell script yesterday that uses the wget command to auto-check my tracking number every few minutes and email me if new information is added. And you know what? That's not even good enough.....the last page I was on before coming here was the freakin' tracking site.

[scbadboy]

I'm just glad its not from my site. I generally ship within 2 days and paypal takes care of alerting the customer with a tracking number (sometimes)