To Anyone That May Be Interested,
A recent thread was exhibited here in the IAP that was written by a person who was dissatisfied with the response he received from me, Bill Baumbeck, the owner of Arizona Silhouette Inc. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to his 'claims'.
His first contact with us was by email on New Years Eve (if he called – which he claims he did – he left no message on our answering machine):
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Moffitt
To: Arizona Silhouette Inc
Sent:Thursday, December 31, 20098:40 PM
Subject: Re: Order Confirmation No: 18462
I received these products before Christmas and started to turn the Chrome Cigar kit today but the nib was missing from the kit. Can you send me a nib for the Chrome Cigar kit? I'll also be ordering a few more kits in the next few days (I hope) but I'll do that through the website.
Thanks,
Mike
______________________________________________________________________
My response to his inquiry was made on January 2 (January 1 being a holiday)
On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Zencart wrote:
Hello Mike,
We do not stock spare parts for the kits we sell. Sometimes we will have some odds & ends laying around from kits that were damaged in shipment to us. Should a customer contact me about a missing part during the five day inspection period I use those parts or I will cannibalize a kit. You received your order on December 19 and you notified me about the missing nib on December 31.
There was a goldenrod colored paper notice stapled to your receipts that states:
MISSING ITEMS / PARTS
Orders are carefully packed and double-checked for damage or discrepancies. Any errors must be reported to us within five (5) days of receiving your order. This date will be determined by the Priority Mail Delivery Confirmation notification or the UPS delivery confirmation. This includes but is not limited to parts within each pen kit.
I looked through what few cigar parts I do have and I don't have an extra chrome nib.
Bill Baumbeck
Arizona Silhouette Inc.
As you can see I was courteous and business-like. I did try to find a spare nib but I was unable to.
The five day inspection policy we have has been in effect for almost four years. Each order that leaves our facility has one of these notices stapled to the customer's receipts. This policy is also prominently displayed in our Frequently Asked Questions page as well as in the Shipping Terms and Information page. It is important to note that the box located at the top of the second page of the checkout process, indicating that you have read the Shipping Terms & Information page, must be checked or the order will not complete. When that box is checked Arizona Silhouette Inc. has to believe (trust) that you have taken the time to read the information presented. If you didn't then you created your own problems.
____________________________________________________________________________
This third message was the last one we received from Mr. Moffitt. He obviously wasn't pleased with the information he was sent but he obviously didn't make the effort or take the time to read information presented to him or thought my policies didn't apply to him.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Moffitt
Sent:Saturday, January 02, 20102:54 PM
Subject: Re: Order Confirmation No: 18462
Wow Bill. For a $1 missing part you are going to loose ALL of my future business? And at a time during holidays when people are out of town for weeks at a time (which I was) so can't do the "inspection" until they get back. I own my own trophy and engraving business, so I get that you have to have some standards and policies about returns but I also take into account other circumstances, the cost of the items needing replaced, etc. I call it customer service and it is way more important than most other stuff.
So for probably less than a dollar, you will loose my business and cause me to tell the people on the pen making message boards how bad of an experience I had with your company and that they should go to any number of other available places? Doesn't sound like a good business move to me, but if you own the business and aren't just an employee, then I guess that's your choice.
Wishing you had just taken care of this EASY problem,
Mike Moffitt
I find it provocative (although amusing) that my response will 'cause' him to "tell the people on the pen message boards how bad of an experience I had with your company…". Our company has been through this bashing before and we continue to do a great business regardless of the people who try to harm us because of their ignorance of our policies.
____________________________________________________________________________
A little history about us: We now been in business for almost ten years and, in today's business environment, it is impossible to make everyone happy. We could not have lasted this long if we were consistently as bad as some of the responses indicated.
There are also people out there that make it their quest to get everything they can as cheaply as possible. That's fine and understandable but there are those that will commit fraud when dealing with businesses. I used to have customers that were always short of something in their orders. We started double-checking their orders (including the part in pen kits) and they would still come back with "I'm missing this" or "I'm missing that". Those customers are no longer receiving orders from us. And for the record we do keep track of multiple missing parts complaints.
The cost of a missing part means nothing to me. It is the honesty and integrity of the individual that I am dealing with. After ten years I can usually spot the difference between legitimate complaints and "I screwed up a part but I am going to have the supplier send me a new one because the part was 'missing' ;>)". Arizona Silhouette Inc. is not here to underwrite your mistakes or accidents. If you are honest with us we will treat you in the same manner.
On a side note: One respondent to the thread, Frank Fusco (Rifleman1776) of Mountain Home, Arkansas made a comment that he no longer does business with us. Quote: "I used to deal with AS but never again. Without going into details, I would just advise: never carry the snake down the mountain." Frank is absolutely right – never carry the snake down from the mountain. That is why we removed Frank from our customer list in 2006.
Thank you for your time.
Bill Baumbeck
Arizona Silhouette Inc.
A recent thread was exhibited here in the IAP that was written by a person who was dissatisfied with the response he received from me, Bill Baumbeck, the owner of Arizona Silhouette Inc. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to his 'claims'.
His first contact with us was by email on New Years Eve (if he called – which he claims he did – he left no message on our answering machine):
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Moffitt
To: Arizona Silhouette Inc
Sent:Thursday, December 31, 20098:40 PM
Subject: Re: Order Confirmation No: 18462
I received these products before Christmas and started to turn the Chrome Cigar kit today but the nib was missing from the kit. Can you send me a nib for the Chrome Cigar kit? I'll also be ordering a few more kits in the next few days (I hope) but I'll do that through the website.
Thanks,
Mike
______________________________________________________________________
My response to his inquiry was made on January 2 (January 1 being a holiday)
On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Zencart wrote:
Hello Mike,
We do not stock spare parts for the kits we sell. Sometimes we will have some odds & ends laying around from kits that were damaged in shipment to us. Should a customer contact me about a missing part during the five day inspection period I use those parts or I will cannibalize a kit. You received your order on December 19 and you notified me about the missing nib on December 31.
There was a goldenrod colored paper notice stapled to your receipts that states:
MISSING ITEMS / PARTS
Orders are carefully packed and double-checked for damage or discrepancies. Any errors must be reported to us within five (5) days of receiving your order. This date will be determined by the Priority Mail Delivery Confirmation notification or the UPS delivery confirmation. This includes but is not limited to parts within each pen kit.
I looked through what few cigar parts I do have and I don't have an extra chrome nib.
Bill Baumbeck
Arizona Silhouette Inc.
As you can see I was courteous and business-like. I did try to find a spare nib but I was unable to.
The five day inspection policy we have has been in effect for almost four years. Each order that leaves our facility has one of these notices stapled to the customer's receipts. This policy is also prominently displayed in our Frequently Asked Questions page as well as in the Shipping Terms and Information page. It is important to note that the box located at the top of the second page of the checkout process, indicating that you have read the Shipping Terms & Information page, must be checked or the order will not complete. When that box is checked Arizona Silhouette Inc. has to believe (trust) that you have taken the time to read the information presented. If you didn't then you created your own problems.
____________________________________________________________________________
This third message was the last one we received from Mr. Moffitt. He obviously wasn't pleased with the information he was sent but he obviously didn't make the effort or take the time to read information presented to him or thought my policies didn't apply to him.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Moffitt
Sent:Saturday, January 02, 20102:54 PM
Subject: Re: Order Confirmation No: 18462
Wow Bill. For a $1 missing part you are going to loose ALL of my future business? And at a time during holidays when people are out of town for weeks at a time (which I was) so can't do the "inspection" until they get back. I own my own trophy and engraving business, so I get that you have to have some standards and policies about returns but I also take into account other circumstances, the cost of the items needing replaced, etc. I call it customer service and it is way more important than most other stuff.
So for probably less than a dollar, you will loose my business and cause me to tell the people on the pen making message boards how bad of an experience I had with your company and that they should go to any number of other available places? Doesn't sound like a good business move to me, but if you own the business and aren't just an employee, then I guess that's your choice.
Wishing you had just taken care of this EASY problem,
Mike Moffitt
I find it provocative (although amusing) that my response will 'cause' him to "tell the people on the pen message boards how bad of an experience I had with your company…". Our company has been through this bashing before and we continue to do a great business regardless of the people who try to harm us because of their ignorance of our policies.
____________________________________________________________________________
A little history about us: We now been in business for almost ten years and, in today's business environment, it is impossible to make everyone happy. We could not have lasted this long if we were consistently as bad as some of the responses indicated.
There are also people out there that make it their quest to get everything they can as cheaply as possible. That's fine and understandable but there are those that will commit fraud when dealing with businesses. I used to have customers that were always short of something in their orders. We started double-checking their orders (including the part in pen kits) and they would still come back with "I'm missing this" or "I'm missing that". Those customers are no longer receiving orders from us. And for the record we do keep track of multiple missing parts complaints.
The cost of a missing part means nothing to me. It is the honesty and integrity of the individual that I am dealing with. After ten years I can usually spot the difference between legitimate complaints and "I screwed up a part but I am going to have the supplier send me a new one because the part was 'missing' ;>)". Arizona Silhouette Inc. is not here to underwrite your mistakes or accidents. If you are honest with us we will treat you in the same manner.
On a side note: One respondent to the thread, Frank Fusco (Rifleman1776) of Mountain Home, Arkansas made a comment that he no longer does business with us. Quote: "I used to deal with AS but never again. Without going into details, I would just advise: never carry the snake down the mountain." Frank is absolutely right – never carry the snake down from the mountain. That is why we removed Frank from our customer list in 2006.
Thank you for your time.
Bill Baumbeck
Arizona Silhouette Inc.
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