Something got me thinking

[rwc1969]

about all these you tube sites, forums, online shopping, books, etc. and the people who make em, and profit from them.

Not knowing them personally, I kinda feel like I'm a customer to these places and such. So, I kinda start thinking about customer service or what I'd much rather call "common human decency".

To me "customer service" begins and ends with....well, common human decency. It's how I rate the folks who I buy from. If I have a question I e-mail them, call them, what have you.

I judge the quality of customer service based on the following criteria:

Response time
clarity of response
and whether or not it answered my question or helped.

Sometimes I just write them to say thanks. If they respond back with a short, non-automated, you're welcome or the like that goes a long way in my book.

So, the question is:

Who have you sent e-mails to, called or the like and what was the response?

I send e-mails to all of my "vendors" and people I interact with at some level or another online or wherever and not many respond back.

The ones I can recall offhand who did are

Samuel Thayer at foragersharvest.com

I sent him a simple thank you note for putting out such high quality books and he replied back in short order with a genuine response.

Michael Beug at academic.evergreen.edu

I had a detailed and serious question regarding the edibilty of a certain mushroom and we co-responded back and forth several times on the subject. He took the time to read my long-winded newbie e-mail and responded back without critisism answering an onslaught of questions that would make even the nicest guy say shut up and quit e-mailing me. LOL!

David Fischer at americanmushrooms.com

I was almost 100% sure I had found a species of Hericium and sent him a photo along with a rough description. He responded back shortly with the info I needed to make a positive ID...to species. Very helpful!

I e-mailed Green Deane a thank you for his youtube vids and website but haven't heard back. He does seem to respond to folks on his YouTube channel though.

I've e-mailed several online vendors as to their ferrocerium rods and the like and received zero response back. Very popular sites BTW with supposedly good customer service. Needless to say I never bought a thing from them and I won't mention them by name.

I've emailed or tried to contact several supposed survivalists who make a good chunk of their living thanks to the internet and received zero response as well. I won't name, use their services, or buy from em either.

I'm just curious. I'd like to hear of the folks that have good customer service or common human decency even if the response doesn't guarantee them a sale or publicity. I'd like to hear about the professionals you've interacted with even though they really had nothing to gain from it.

[Batch]

I emailed Green Deane and he responded very promptly several times. Though he knew I was in Florida and may have saw me more as a prospective paying student.

[Sarge47]

Interesting thread RWC, I always like the idea of taking the time to thanking the people who provide great customer service, & I'm quick to complain about those who do not! Positive actions should get positive results as well as vice-versa. Here are some who provide great customer service &, in some cases, got into a nice dialouge with me as well.

The guy (can't remember his name.) who sold me my Mora 2000 off of e-bay, I even e-mailed him the forum site so he could check us out.

The guy (Don't want to remember his name. :innocent:) that runs Safe zone for the added "extras" he added with several Moras my wife ordered from him.

EM Gear. Talked to two different fellows, one being the owner himself, who helped me with several orders.

The list goes on & on. :cool2:

[Winnie]

The one that sticks in my mind the most is a small business I use for bulk purchasing dried goods, it's called Africart. I first contacted them to ask what sell by dates are on the goods I was interested in buying. They were extremely helpful, and once they knew I wanted to store things long term, they ALWAYS send goods with a really long sell by date. I think they send me fresh stock. Good customer service like that gets my repeat business every time.
I'm pretty much of the same opinion though RWC, common courtesy is the core of customer service. And I also agree with you, if I don't get any response from a query, then I go elsewhere.

[your_comforting_company]

SafeZone comes to mind as one really great customer service. They answered all my questions and gave some advice, and after some experimenting with my new "toy" they welcomed the tips and tricks I sent back.

[Aurelius95]

I use craigslist.org quite a bit. I've used to sell a lot of stuff we don't need/want anymore. I've had good experiences dealing with people like you and me.

Recently, I've looked into a weekend class at www.medicinebow.net. I've contacted the owner, and he has been very helpful (concerning the age appropriateness of his class). I would like to take my son this fall/winter. From what I've seen so far, I like it.

[Camp10]

It is always nice when I get an e-mail letting me know my order is coming. I try to do the same when I send out knives. A few great companies I've dealt with lately that others here might use are Admiral steel, USA Knife makers and Safezone.

[BENESSE]

LL Bean, Lands End, Backcountry, Zappos.
Outstanding.