I just deleted a big rant I wrote and would like to remind our members how good national 4wd has been to our club. How many door prizes have they donated in the last couple of years? I have lost count. They have supported our club for many years now.
They are in business to make money, if they thought there was money to be made stocking more jeep parts, they would. I've ordered parts from both modern and national, I know it is going to take longer than they say, something always comes up. I am sure for the most part they do their best.
Sure, sometimes the some of the staff at these stores have some attitude, but after a couple of visits you figure out who to talk too and who to ignore. The economy is changing a little, I imagine you are going to see businesses wanting your money make some changes in the way they do business.
It will be good when Northridge comes to Alberta, hopefully they will have a retail outlet not just mail order, i heard that they were looking at Ponoka, seems kind of strange to me, Red deer makes more sense you would think. I will gladly drive for an hour or two to pick up parts I know are in stock. If my rig is down because I need parts now pricing is secondary.
I would be fine with a 100% downpayment as long as is fully refundable if they don't live up to their delivery time (they won't do that of course). When someone takes your money guarantee's delivery in two weeks then two or three months later you are still waiting, that is totally unacceptable. And that's the only negative thing i will say about local stores.
Doorprizes are good, as is support for a club. But you hit the nail on the head when you said that they're in business to make money. They wouldn't have donated those door prizes if they didn't think that it was sound to do over the long term. They made an "investment" in club, looking for a "return" of increased business from the club members. The door prizes are like buying flowers for your date - it'll win you lots of Brownie points, but you can lose all the ground that you just gained if you start acting like a jerk.
Throughout the times I've been into the shop that seems to be in question here, they have yet to give me a good reason to go back. The reasons that I would be loyal to a business are price, availability, being locally owned, and providing good service.
1. Their markup means that unless I get truly HOSED on shipping, it's cheaper to by from a US place. Not always by much, but there's certainly no cost benefit to shopping there.
2. Their in-stock selection is minimal, and the wait times are longer than ordering directly from the US.
3. I think that they're locally owned, so that's one count in their favour.
4. Service. Well, not only have I been given the cold shoulder, but when one of my co-workers went in to look at a set of new wheels for his Dodge 1 ton, they treated him so poorly that he turned on his heel and walked out - vowing not to return.
If they were to get their act together, provide good service, and decrease the wait times (or require less than a 100% deposit), I'd be willing to shop there. Not under the current circumstances. I'll keep ordering my stuff on line, or go up the hill to talk with Drew. Even if he can't always get me the pricing that I'd like to see, or may end up not being to get parts in as fast, he has always invested his time in treating me right.
Topic: who woulda guessed.... (Read 16828 times)