dbrockma

After working trying to get a vendor to bite, I have been thinking of something that may help the vendor to customer experience.

It seems to me the vendors would probably spend a lot of time helping people and then they don't get anything in return.

Would there be a way to have a check box (or state in your request) when you would be ready to order? Like a box that says "now', 3-6 months, etc?

Or maybe I should have emailed all the vendors that seemed to carry the stuff I wanted. Maybe a web page or popup with check boxes beside each vendor, a general list of what the vendor carries that emails those vendors with your requests?

The reason for the check boxes is that I have a manual transmission, I have no need for a converter for my car so I would not check those vendors that dealt only with custom converters.

It may let the vendors prioritize the requests that come in and maybe get more return on their time they spend doing quotes.

On the other hand, I suppose everyone would check 'now' just to get a response.

My experience with the vendor system was less than satisfactory, but I still believe in supporting people that support us or our forums.
I have only been a member about a month, and I have received tremendous amounts of help already, and no doubt will be sharing information in the months to come.

JasonD

I know exactly what you are saying. Couple of things here...

You have to understand that things are a bit dry all over right now, due to the economy but also the time of the season. Give it a few weeks and things will pick back up with the vendors.

Yep, everyone would want to say they were buying "now". If they said "3-6 months", few vendors would want to help when they would rather spend the time finding people with cash in hand, ready to buy. Just the nature of things and completely understandable.

Finally, there wouldn't be a way to catalog everything every different vendor has. It would change so often, we wouldn't be able to keep up.

There are three decent ways to go about it...

• Watch the Supporting Vendor section for when sales get posted, or...
• Ask for what you want in the Supporting Vendor section and see if someone replies.
• Check the Supporting Vendor index

Rebelphotog96

I know exactly what you mean as well. And it seems Jason is pretty much right--everything is just slow right now, thanks to the economy I guess. Back several months ago I had no luck with the vendors when clutch shopping, then again with the header shopping in February. However, it was the same ol' thing on every site I went to. Then, I found a vendor that not only was willing to help, but I felt went above and beyond what he needed to, to make sure that I got what I needed, was happy with my purchase, and that it was shipping on time (item had to be drop shipped) as well as advising me on future purchases. I don't think it has to do with them being bad vendors at all, just busy vendors (tax time has to be a killer on them).

I prefer to spend my money with the people that help to keep this site open, however, that's just not always possible. Sometimes, they just don't carry a product, or can't match another person's price. Any time that has happened, none of them seem to be upset by it and have even advised me to purchase elsewhere when this is the case, and never pressured me into buying something I didn't need or would have paid too much for. I respect that and appreciate the opportunity to purchase from honest people with good customer service and not having to search the globe just to find them. Yeah, it can be a pain sometimes, but I'm sure in time a system will be developed to make the whole vendor to customer process work even more smoothly.