AMFJ

the last few respones were 100% better than the first few "My customers are lucky to have me" responses.

I also never got anything from my requests for a second set of wheels. I would have rather been told to go F myself than nothing.

You may not take actual money from the people complaining, but you did take time---which is more valuable than money will ever be. You can earn more money, you can't get time back.

jmX

I've literally been in a bike shop for 15 minutes and never once saw an employee. I guess I shouldn't have felt entitled to have soembody there to sell me product, but it was the whole reason I drove over there and it wasted my time. They will never get money from me after wasting my time, and upon checking reviews I'm not the only one that has had a negative experience with that LBS. They got a +1 on the negative reviews.

When I emailed PSIMET, I put my wheel purchase on a bit of a hold to see how PSIMET's quote would come out. Again, it ended up wasting my time, as I never got a response to my 2nd email asking for a quote. What's another week without wheels right?

It's not so much that we're entitled to anything, but I had certainly expected a response. Maybe a person needs new wheels so they can ride their bike again and every day waiting for a response sucks. Maybe the person is just impatient. It really doesn't matter. By all accounts on the 41, PSIMET is *the* guy to go to right? Might as well wait a day or two. Or three. Or a week. When we never hear back, the process essentially wasted our time, and we could have just gone with somebody else that could get us back on the road sooner rather than later.

Back to my original comment about the LBS...you're becoming that LBS. Generating that negative buzz. Turning people off of the 'brand' for life. You can say you're doing nothing wrong, but from a business standpoint I think you're soiling your future as it pertains to doing business on this forum. There will always be the vocal grateful people that got a set of the magic wheels, so there is that, but at this rate the tides will turn and the pro's will give way to the con's.

Psimet2001 

First off ...I am finally sitting in front of a computer and typing out quotes....so....there you go.

No I wouldn't. I am not proposing that 6months is acceptable in any way. I am looking at it as more - some people say, "It's not that you weren't quick to reply. It's that I NEVER got a response." To some....a 6 month old reply would be great. I can't stomach it. It's hard enough writing one that's a month old. I don't have a hard fast rule about this, but you have to have goals right? 24hr turnaround on first response has been one of my stretch goal ideas for a long time. I know it's not needed that quickly, but the mechanisms that will allow me to respond in a timely manner will be arrived at by keeping that goal in mind and moving towards it.

My site....my site was put together by a great friend and great programmer who also races on my team. He is perma-banned on here (TimmyQuest). He's grown and matured a lot over the years. By his own admission he's like me when it comes to coding....(Office Space Scene)..."I don't know, maybe I missed a decimal point somewhere." I have a weird feeling that there is a page somewhere within the site where the quote request doesn't actually process correctly (I don't receive it in my inbox and a autoresponse doesn't go out). Every time I test stuff it all seems to work, but I don't test it on all browsers, etc. I am also not that good with Joomla and can't really navigate the back end all that well.

Many times too I have ended up in the spam folder of many a perspective customer. Also....when someone types in their email incorrectly...I get a bounce-back immediately on my autoresponse. I can't follow it up either....I don't have an email address that works. Sucks.

So my apology if you never received it. It basically says - I'm busy...I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. Guess it doesn't help much.

Yeah....I have some plans. There is a "Mega" builder who is semi-local that has been out of work for a while....another that is local that I could teach and doesn't really care too much about $$. She's an engineer that never really used her degree in the business world, and has been able to pursue her passions as she raised her 2 sons. Has been working in shops for years but is more suited towards this kind of work and is more interested in building a business. Perfect scenario....we';re both feeling out the waters

RT

Rob's suppliers are not one man shops run out of their house. As mentioned earlier, he also does not do business from this forum, he merely defends himself against the mob that is invariably whipped up in threads like these. With a veritable plethora of wheelmakers available, many of which you all may have read about in this forum, and you choose to come in here and paint the walls with venom. Seems to me your time could be better used looking for wheels elsewhere.

Regarding the bold stuff - time is important in investing or if you are on your deathbed. We are talking about a set of wheels, people. If you lose sleep over time lost shopping for wheels, I think you're doing ok.

Machka 

+1

It's all about communication. Lots of clear communication.

People would rather be told "No", than to be ignored.

One of the most annoying things in this day and age is to send an email to a business ... and get no response at all. The email black hole.


If you're too busy, tell people that. If you're on holiday for the next month, tell people that. If you want to limit the work you do to 2 orders a month, tell people that. If the waiting period is going to be 3 months between placing the order and getting the item, tell people that.

Tell them on your website. Tell them in the automatic response email. Tell them in the voice mail message.

Update your messages on your website, email, and voice mail every couple weeks to keep people informed. Check to make sure the auto-messages are working.


And if you are very busy and want to focus on building the wheels, you might want to consider hiring someone to come in a couple times a week to take care of the emails and website and bookkeeping etc. etc. side of the business ... someone who will respond to each and every email, someone who will create the waitlist spreadsheet, someone who will keep track of things.

2manybikes

Good luck, I know how exciting a little success can be. I know all the problems too. It's tough. Just an idea......If you can send out an auto response that says you are not taking orders right now, might help.

Psimet2001 

Again I am still popping quotes so don't give me grief about being here instead of working on quotes...I am a massive ADD/"Multi-Tasker". Usually having 10-20 windows open on my PC at any given time. Write a sentence...flip windows...

That and my phone text is blowing up over the Superweek Implosion.....errr...."move away from USA Cycling to ABR"

I have tried to think of a lot of techniques. I have enough data to set up a wait time estimator on a quote as well as leadtime on delivery. I track everything. At one point I was going to put a webcamera in front of my build queue, but then realized it would just give material and information to competitors. Still have a system built that we are testing that will let distributors and customers see progress of build online.....but right now I have nothing.

Was never meaning any of my responses to be the "my customers are lucky to have me" kind of responses. I was tying to postulate that people must have been interpreting that no response was a way of me saying that and that's why they were upset. Sorry...was writing responses all day from phone and iPad while waiting in lines and running errands. I get the "wasting time" point of view as well. I've underestimated it.

Agreed. Never has been my intention to piss anyone off. I like building bicycle wheels, and developing the sport. That's the part I am good at. Need to fix the rest.

AMFJ

With the exception of one person, I don't think anyone here is attacking him. They are just giving their experiences with him, or pointing out the painfully obvious. If that is attacking him--that's on him---not on them. You on the other hand are trying to attack everyone for not saying positive things. This same thread comes up every few months. Notice that more and more people over the last year are on the "not getting a response" side than the "he's a great guy" side. It wasn't like that 2 years ago when I started reading this forum.

I don't think any of us requested quotes from Rob on this website. We did it through his COMMERCIAL WEBSITE. You know those things set up to attract customers and sell a product. It even ends with .com You know why? It's a COMMERCIAL WEBSITE. He set it up to SELL A PRODUCT. Think about that. He wants to sell a product, but doesn't respond to customers, and then doesn't expect anyone to say anything negative? Seriously?

Regarding your view that no one's time is important except with investing and deathbed--you are incorrect. They are just wheels, but my bike doesn't operate so well without wheels. I only have so much time to ride my bike. If I'm planning out a build to meet a specific goal that goes to $hit when I can't get a response. If the response is "not taking orders", I move on. No hard feelings. If the response is radio silence, then you are in the weird spot of "will he respond in a day, a week, a month, a year" "what is my cut off time of when I need to go to my back up". No I'm not going to die, but it is still my time. Time is important in everything.


I bet he is a great guy. He seems to do what a lot of people do when things go bad though--he sticks his head in the sand and works/waits for things to get better. That never works. In any industry or for any problem. It just doesn't work. He seems to have gotten that point if you go back and look at the last two or three posts he made.

Psimet2001 

+1 - It's been hard not to do business on this forum, but it's a hard rule that I was shown/forced myself to comply with a long time ago. It's always a fine line. When people go, "Hey....I have XYZ problem...." and I have a solution....I have to bite my tongue. What I try to do is point out competitors that can solve the problem as well. I figure I still get to help someone - what I get a kick out of - and somehow it will come back to me.

I too usually feel that if someone is worrying about wheels late at night then...we're all lucky. I do understand though that then people can get that wrapped up in feelings about their time and the value of that. I get it and I would rather tell someone "no" than waste their time. Unfortunately I seem to have this innate inability to say "No". I know it and recognize it. Wish my wife had that same inability....

Agreed and thanks.

......but I am taking orders right now. Not building tonight or tomorrow morning to clear up what I can. I need to bring the books up to date as well and get my sales tax paid. So....timing works out. Thankfully I have resorted to drinking Mexican Coke instead of beer lately. Should be enough fuel.

redoak

And just like clock work that smug attitude shines through. bravo.

Did it occur to you that you're 'new inquiries' are nothing more than people screwing around to see if you will actually reply. Did that occur to you?

robotkiller

It seems you are intent on ruining this man's business. He screwed up and has owned up to it, as far as I can tell. Sounds like he's trying to make a plan to fix the problem. He hasn't stolen people's money or delivered a faulty product.

I'm starting a medical practice and the beginning stage of any new business is so tough - especially if you're on your own. I hate poor communication and yet struggle myself sometimes to keep up - even with help. I think it's been made abundantly clear that there was problem and now its time to let it go, IMO. Give him chance to fix the problem. My two cents, anyway.

billydonn

I've been waiting about eight months to complete negotiations for my second set of Psimets... I gave up any hope of hearing back about 7 1/2 months ago and have moved on.

guadzilla

Not the OP - he asked a question, he got an answer. That addresses the other points, about a BF recommendation which is hard to access.

However, 7 pages of this IS getting silly, with people telling him how they want him to run his business ("send a reply, do this, do that").

guadzilla

Ok, now THAT was f'ing funny!

He shoots, he scores! *applause*

guadzilla

That's ALSO a sense of entitlement - that Psimet should run his business and handle his emails in a way that meets your expectations.

What you say makes a lot of sense - that's how I'd do things, were I in a similar situation. But when you tell someone how he should respond to customer inquiries, that IS a sense of entitlement: you feel that your potential consideration to buy from him (whether or not he's agreed to sell to you) entitles you to tell him how to run his business.

Have you considered that, given the fact that he's over blocked, he does NOT need to promote his business? And that he may have a different approach on how he wants to run his business? But repeatedly, people here are telling him what to do even though he isn't asking for advice. If that isn't entitlement, what is?

I want to buy a Specialized, I don't like their in-store-sale model only, I buy elsewhere. Do I start a massive thread telling them how they should run their distribution? No. THAT would be a sense of entitlement, expecting Specialized to modify their business policies to suit me (regardless of whether my advice makes sense or not, unsolicited advice is still unsolicited advice).

He runs his business one way with some benefits and some downsides - if that works for you, buy his wheels. If not, go elsewhere instead of telling him what he should do. Why is this so complicated?

Even though I am a big Psimet fan (obviously), that's what I did this month: got tired of waiting for some wheels I had discussed and got something else. Next time I need wheels, I'll be in touch with him again to see if I can make it work. Some people just make everything personal and get their panties in a wad.

Redoak - you aren't exactly covering yourself in glory, attacking someone who has a proven track record of being a nice guy (even though he may be a bad businessman). What are you, a competing wheel builder? Something's dodgy about you.

canam73

Isn't entitlement a women's issue? Or is that empowerment? I'm confused. Maybe I'll just get Aksiums.

Drag

Real classy.

Velo Vol 

This thread needs a poll.

redoak

Drag, back up and read the Thread.
I'm the 3rd or 4th poster to say the same thing. Others beat me to it.

Velo Vol 

OK, let's settle this once and for all:

(A) One day

(B) One week

(C) One month

(D) One year

Nachoman

why stop at one year?

redoak

real classy.................why are you guys so darn mean?
you bunch of 'meanies'

rjones28 

All options too long. Quit wasting our time.

DropDeadFred

have we resulted to torches and pitchforks yet?

Velo Vol 

Meanie.