Re: Local Business?

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
41

[quote=“yngwie_69”]

Once i was walkin by spero’s and some kid walked out of the store and that old man followed him out down the street a bit and was yellin at this kid, then he pushed him and went back in his store. Maybe he tried to steal.

Another time i saw him staking up on 2L pop at zellers which he then sells at his store for triple the price.[/quote]

Can you blame the guy?? Zellers, Safeway or any of the big stores get the pop for a fraction of what he pays and even sell it for less than he can buy it from a distributor. This is not rare. THere is also something called profit. The small stores have to sell it for more because all they pretty much sell anymore is pop, chips and cigarettes. The large stores can sell this crap at or below cost to draw in the traditional convenience store shopper to spend more money. The little guy loses in the end.

42

The convenience store is pretty much dead unless it’s “Cory and Trevors Convenients Store” and run out of a shed.

Really though, unless you’ve got a great distributor you’re hooped against Wal-Mart, Safeway, Zellers, Save-On etc. where people can buy all their food in one place and save lots of money. Of course people like to get their cigarettes, small bags of chips and cans of pop, but if they can come up with a vending machine that checks I.D. they’re gone.

43

[quote=“herbie_popnecker”]Had one customer today walk in, tell me to make him up such and such a config, 17" LCD etc. How much, I’ll give you the money right now? I had to tell him pay later, I don’t even know what Canon printers I can get!
The one before called all bitchey cause
"I bot de vife a new HaichPee at suture Flop for goddam near a tousand dollars an it won’t hook up to your fokken internet. So ya bedder get down dare and fix the fokken internet right now. And I’m in da hotel an plogged di thing you sold me in and it wont do Internet eye-dor so ya better hop to it if ya want to see me in yore store again"
Didn’t at first cuz ‘da ole lady’ brought in her new HP (wow it was only $300 more than the one I just sold for same config) and it went instantly onto the Net. She took it home and as I needed to grab my toolbox I stopped in to check her house (same block as me). The fokken iddjutt took the ADSL modem and Dlink wireless router with him, and he was plugging it into the phone jack and he couldn’t conenct to the FokkenRetard CH6 wireless signal…
So I just deeply offended two more locals, not having an ADSL modem to ‘lend’ her and daring to make her cough up $25 when it was all my fault.

Excuse me if I’m not a believer in crap like ‘the customer’s always right’.
:laughing:
BTW Thurs I got a call from someone asked "Do you know that Bob guy on the rez who fixes computers way cheaper than you do? Do you know his number?"
I answered her “Matter of fact I do.” CLICK[/quote]

Its this kind of attitude that pushes people away from shopping local, thats the downside to shopping locally with businesses who employ or owners who talk down on other companies freely thinking they can impose their beliefs on the customer. Yes sometimes customers are doofuses and some admit it and most don’t, however my point being is that having this attitude in a small town where everyone at least knows and remembers any given person who runs or works at a particular business is not good because then everyone knows how you really treat your customers and talk down on other companies based on your biased opinion. I mean, hanging up on a customer who needed help? C’Mon…at least be courteous and give the number if you know it THEN go into your spiel about how you can service their machine at a competitive price, for that one customer you dissed and hung up on, she probably went and told 10 of her friends who own computers, who then went and told their 5 or 10 friends, who then decided to switch to another business based on your immaturity.

I myself work in a ‘box business’ in a city consideraby larger than prince rupert, and you make such a big deal on beating companies outside of the city and dropping by customers homes sound like a big deal and such a great service to bash companies you know little about. In a larger city, yes costco or future shop cannot ‘drop in’ on a customers home because they may live where there is no costco or future shop or they live across town, so a plan is implemented to at least call the customer frequently like i do myself to check up occasionally and see how things are going with their new machine. As far as service plans go, with best buy and futureshop not only does the customer have the option to choose in store carry in or on site service plans, guaranteeing them free parts, labour including accessory coverage, but if any repair is needed outside a certain limit (60km) of a future shop or best buy, they do have to pay the repair but are immediately reimbursed by a cheque from the company they purchased from. Granted any warranty or service plan does not cover the removal of viruses or spyware but most companies do that for free anyway aside from the freelancer technician.

My point being, ultimately the customer is right to a certain extent and most customers just need proper education on the equipment they are purchasing, some may not be as intelligent as others are or yourself with computers and are automatically on the defensive because they feel intimidated that they have to buy something they may have never used before to make their life easier.

Being narrow minded about the situation or sales to drive your business while putting down other companies isn’t going to help people support local business, in fact, it’ll drive them away, making people like me feel happy that i didn’t shop local for parts or full machines when it came time to buy one. I would gladly pay a couple extra dollars to buy from a place where the sales reps or owners value my time and purchase at their store than someone that bashes every known company to gain 1 sale.

What it really comes down to, like it was said before, is the customer experience based on the service they received and knowing they are leaving with a product they can use knowing if any problems arise, they are not going to be put down for their lack of intelligence on a web forum or talked about after leaving the shop. Word does get around. Faster than you think.

44

Nice try corporate lackey. If you work for Future Shop you’re with the chain that deleted service since day one when the Persians first opened it. Matter of fact your PG store had a 2 week waiting list at Christmas and the people at the desk were offering that you could “jump the cue for only $50”.
The majority of tech staff know little more than how to use a restore disk to wipe everything and reset it to factory config, and in no case have I or anyone else in the PG area heard of ‘in home service’.
The computer sales people in PG are a little more knowledgeable, as unlike the ones in Metrotown they don’t sell washing machines from 10 - noon, tv’s from noon - 3 and cellphones from 3-6 and have to run to someone else to get an answer for every question.
Now that you’re carrying the Mac duo-processor, you have ONE line of desktops that aren’t complete crap. I especially like your old Cicero line for people too cheap to even buy an e-machine.
And guess what, I have an agreement where I sometimes get stuff from your store and resell it and you ‘warranty’ it.
But don’t think the big box’s don’t have a place. If I know what I want, and you have it, I always buy it from your store. For the price and no other reason, with my $5000 store card.
But now that your American corporate masters want to boost their image, don’t try to play the service card when you’re with an outfit historically known for bad service. Most of us hear that line from Dell who’ve managed to convince stupid Yanks that a nine year old in Bangalore is the “gold standard” for service.
You’re working for a group of shareholders who’ve successfully marketed the concept that the “unter-menschen” have the right to own a computer, that the ones who CAN use one properly are under the obligation to share the knowledge, and we have to do it at the lowest price. In other words driven wages down to Wendy’s levels and the value of tech certifications down to equal a FoodSafe diploma.
I actually do a fair trade in teaching seniors computer skills and they appreciate it and understand the concept of learning and that you want something you pay for it. If I lived closer to UNBC I would have got my teaching degree and been happy teaching young people.
However the 21 - 45 year old adults that are stupid, who demand shit and treat me and my staff like White Niggers get billed dearly. When they buy a lawn mower from Sears, they don’t expect Sears to send a kid to mow the lawn for free. When they buy a computer they expect you to teach photography and printing at their house on a Sunday, for free.
S’cuse me if you don’t like the attitude but don’t bitch. These are the ones I send to you. Enjoy!
BTW those Canon printers I got from Staples for $29 less than Future Shop which worked out to $34 less than wholesale. Thx for instilling the thought that I should sell for less than I buy for just to ‘earn customer loyalty’, as Future Shop was the first place to adopt loss leaders in Vancouver.

45

addendum: one nice thing about being a huge corporate face -
Yesterday a guy walked in, dropped a computer on the desk and told me he’d talked to a tech already and all the details were in the envelope, and walked out. I opened the envelope and there was a note that the comp had spyware and viruses and rebooted when windows started. There was a $20 bill inside it.
Now there’s no fucking way anyone would have the gall to try that at a chain store. But his and phoning for the numbers of ‘someone cheaper’ are daily occurrences here. As are calls to the company phone where they try to talk the tech into coming to their home an working “under the table”.*

That’s how when our town was thinking about a motto for the welcome sign I suggested “Fort St. James, short on brains, long on gall”

*the young east Indian kid did one. Agreed with the customer that shop rates were way out of line and billed him 22 hours labour at only $20 to recover files and re&re XP. The customer was happy he didn’t deal with rip artists like us.
The kid brought it to the shop, remitted the flat fees posted on our wall of $75 and $25 to the till and brought in 2 large pizzas and a two-four for all of us. Then we all laughed at the moron who cut off his nose to spite his face.

46

What store?

47

[quote=“fingahz”]

Once i was walkin by spero’s and some kid walked out of the store and that old man followed him out down the street a bit and was yellin at this kid, then he pushed him and went back in his store. Maybe he tried to steal.

Another time i saw him staking up on 2L pop at zellers which he then sells at his store for triple the price.

Can you blame the guy?? Zellers, Safeway or any of the big stores get the pop for a fraction of what he pays and even sell it for less than he can buy it from a distributor. This is not rare. THere is also something called profit. The small stores have to sell it for more because all they pretty much sell anymore is pop, chips and cigarettes. The large stores can sell this crap at or below cost to draw in the traditional convenience store shopper to spend more money. The little guy loses in the end.[/quote]

You’re, like, the only person I’ve heard say he’s a nice guy. It’s a rule in life: everyone has at least one friend that is a complete asshole but they can’t seem to see it.

48

[quote=“Northern Chick”]

What store?[/quote]

Kaien Printer Essentials… We’ve got a large inventory of Toner, and ink cartridges… As far as ink, we carry almost anything you can think of. Where as ink has universal cartridges for a dozen or more printers/cartridge, Toner is more printer specific. We carry most HP toners compatable, and OEM… and what we dont have in stock, we can have here in 2 days(overnight if its a REAL emergency, but i dont like dealing with that distributer). We also have alot of printers in stock.

49

We shop at Kaien Printer Essentials all the time. The ink works just as good as the branded stuff, and it’s a lot cheaper, not to mention they ALWAYS have it in stock unlike some other places in town.

50

[quote=“poolboy”]

Once i was walkin by spero’s and some kid walked out of the store and that old man followed him out down the street a bit and was yellin at this kid, then he pushed him and went back in his store. Maybe he tried to steal.

Another time i saw him staking up on 2L pop at zellers which he then sells at his store for triple the price.

Can you blame the guy?? Zellers, Safeway or any of the big stores get the pop for a fraction of what he pays and even sell it for less than he can buy it from a distributor. This is not rare. THere is also something called profit. The small stores have to sell it for more because all they pretty much sell anymore is pop, chips and cigarettes. The large stores can sell this crap at or below cost to draw in the traditional convenience store shopper to spend more money. The little guy loses in the end.

You’re, like, the only person I’ve heard say he’s a nice guy. It’s a rule in life: everyone has at least one friend that is a complete asshole but they can’t seem to see it.[/quote]

I’ve grown up with the guy and he has always been good to me so the least that I can do is defend him a little bit. Doesnt excuse him but I thought that what I had to add might give some of you a different outlook.

51

You know we are talkin about they guy from spero’s right, that store by the civic centre?

Not the one by the park whos closed half the year.

52

[quote=“yngwie_69”]You know we are talkin about they guy from spero’s right, that store by the civic centre?

Not the one by the park whos closed half the year.[/quote]

I’m happy to see that you have been paying attention.

53

[quote=“fingahz”]

Once i was walkin by spero’s and some kid walked out of the store and that old man followed him out down the street a bit and was yellin at this kid, then he pushed him and went back in his store. Maybe he tried to steal.

Another time i saw him staking up on 2L pop at zellers which he then sells at his store for triple the price.

Can you blame the guy?? Zellers, Safeway or any of the big stores get the pop for a fraction of what he pays and even sell it for less than he can buy it from a distributor. This is not rare. THere is also something called profit. The small stores have to sell it for more because all they pretty much sell anymore is pop, chips and cigarettes. The large stores can sell this crap at or below cost to draw in the traditional convenience store shopper to spend more money. The little guy loses in the end.

You’re, like, the only person I’ve heard say he’s a nice guy. It’s a rule in life: everyone has at least one friend that is a complete asshole but they can’t seem to see it.

I’ve grown up with the guy and he has always been good to me so the least that I can do is defend him a little bit. Doesnt excuse him but I thought that what I had to add might give some of you a different outlook.[/quote]

I went to school with his kids. They were always really good guys, and I also remember his wife being a nice woman too. I also remember Mr. McCoy being quite surly most of the time, but no worse than anyone else I’d met.

54

[quote=“herbie_popnecker”]Nice try corporate lackey. If you work for Future Shop you’re with the chain that deleted service since day one when the Persians first opened it. Matter of fact your PG store had a 2 week waiting list at Christmas and the people at the desk were offering that you could “jump the cue for only $50”.
The majority of tech staff know little more than how to use a restore disk to wipe everything and reset it to factory config, and in no case have I or anyone else in the PG area heard of ‘in home service’.
The computer sales people in PG are a little more knowledgeable, as unlike the ones in Metrotown they don’t sell washing machines from 10 - noon, tv’s from noon - 3 and cellphones from 3-6 and have to run to someone else to get an answer for every question.
Now that you’re carrying the Mac duo-processor, you have ONE line of desktops that aren’t complete crap. I especially like your old Cicero line for people too cheap to even buy an e-machine.
And guess what, I have an agreement where I sometimes get stuff from your store and resell it and you ‘warranty’ it.
But don’t think the big box’s don’t have a place. If I know what I want, and you have it, I always buy it from your store. For the price and no other reason, with my $5000 store card.
But now that your American corporate masters want to boost their image, don’t try to play the service card when you’re with an outfit historically known for bad service. Most of us hear that line from Dell who’ve managed to convince stupid Yanks that a nine year old in Bangalore is the “gold standard” for service.
You’re working for a group of shareholders who’ve successfully marketed the concept that the “unter-menschen” have the right to own a computer, that the ones who CAN use one properly are under the obligation to share the knowledge, and we have to do it at the lowest price. In other words driven wages down to Wendy’s levels and the value of tech certifications down to equal a FoodSafe diploma.
I actually do a fair trade in teaching seniors computer skills and they appreciate it and understand the concept of learning and that you want something you pay for it. If I lived closer to UNBC I would have got my teaching degree and been happy teaching young people.
However the 21 - 45 year old adults that are stupid, who demand shit and treat me and my staff like White Niggers get billed dearly. When they buy a lawn mower from Sears, they don’t expect Sears to send a kid to mow the lawn for free. When they buy a computer they expect you to teach photography and printing at their house on a Sunday, for free.
S’cuse me if you don’t like the attitude but don’t bitch. These are the ones I send to you. Enjoy!
BTW those Canon printers I got from Staples for $29 less than Future Shop which worked out to $34 less than wholesale. Thx for instilling the thought that I should sell for less than I buy for just to ‘earn customer loyalty’, as Future Shop was the first place to adopt loss leaders in Vancouver.[/quote]

Way to take the flame bait.

:laughing:

55

no shit, huh? But I was in the mood for a good rant.
Large Sicilian special, three Spicy Caesars and no friggin Tums…

56

LOL corporate lackey? you just proved my point, and yes i do work for a corporation and yes i agree with their treatment towards any employee in terms of payment and wages. however, who said i worked for future shop? i have the same feelings towards them as you do when it comes to customer service due to some computer sales associates who pretend they know everything.

i work for best buy, and the biggest difference is that we are non commissioned sales (sucky, yes, but beneficial because it gives the customer the feeling that we are not just trying to sell them something they don’t need cause we dont get a cut), we actually stick to our performance service plan agreement with the customer, i’ve heard so many times that future shop charges people with the service plan a “no charge found fee” which is basically their diagnostic sku renamed to charge the diagnostic fee on the customer when they are entitled to their agreement that was purchased. and we don’t sell ciceros (thankfully). and thankfully my/our supervisors at least make sure that competent people are hired to sell a computer, because anyone can see through a sales associate who is bs’in everybody.

and its not my fault you’re stuck with a dealer/supplier that overcharges you because you are a local business, be that the case or your own choosing. and we don’t ridiculously mark up our prices the way most people think, single units, and laptops are marked up a max of about 100 dollars, as low as 20 dollars. clearance and gone when gone items are marked wellll below cost. and then profit is made on add ons, accessories, store services etc.

thanks for providing me the opportunity to rant with you and reassuring my decision to not buy local.  :mrgreen: :wink:

57

my favorite is when stupid people think that they need a new computer because it is slow… and 80% of the time, they have a decent computer, but the file system is so plugged with virus and spyware, that it renders the computer unusable.  Now where future shop or staple, or who ever… would sell a new computer, the bottom line is, I would much rather fix the one they have already.  For starters, people that dont know about computer always compair prices to dell… Dell sells their own brand of motherboards with bottom line cpu’s or outdated intel blowout cpu’s.  This making it very hard to sell a computer for profit… NOW, you could format this older computer… (if it was locally built, chances are is has comparable specs to that “NEW” dell), and make couple hours of PROFIT… I hope anyone on “hackingthemainframe” isnt going to consitter themselves computer illiterate, and not hate me for this… but let it be a lesson to those new to computers… let someone look at you current system first, before you decide to dish out cash to the big american corporations for that “NEW” peice of crap computer.

58

Do you have ink refill kits for Canon printers and where are you located.

59

We dont carry canon refill kits… but we do carry canon compatables… Located right behind the liqour store.

60

Do you guys do cartridge exchanges?

Like, we say “core charge” in the world of auto parts. Like, you buy a remanufactured water pump from Napa, for $100 plus a $40 core charge. Then, you take the old water pump back to them, and , because it can be refurbished/remanufactred, you get the $40 back.

Does the toner industry work the same way? I bring you an empty toner cartridge, and you give me a refilled one, plus a substantial discount for bringing you a working cartridge that can be refilled and resold?