Sports card plus auction

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Posted By: JC 

Did I hit the lottery with them? On most auctions I make 5-20 token bids right away on lots that I would not mind owning. Last night I phoned SCP at 7:30Pacific time to see if I was high on anything. They told me they could not look it up, but if I gave them a lot number they could check.... Then they asked me for my bidder number and I did not have it on me as I was not at my home. The guy (I think Craig) informed me that they were TO BUSY TO LOOK IT UP FOR ME!.. Then I told him if he could give me my password for the computor I would go home and do all my bidding on line... He said he could not help me and to call back maybe in an hour... Well after all that.. I finally told them my name "JC" and I normally support their auctions pretty strong... So please take me off their list and that is it... Then the SCP rep said well hold on I can look it up for you.. But by then, in my mind it was to late.. Is there that many buyers out there to recieve bad customer service? I thought from speaking to other auction companies that there are only 1000 buyers that support auctions year around..

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

JC,

This is how alot of businesses of this type work. YOu find out that alot of people call and inquire just to find things out with no intention of purchasing or making a serious effort. If you have a history with them you will usually get good service because they know it is worthwhile. When I ran a card store you had a fair number of people that always wanted this caard or that card but once you came up with it the price was too high and you were stuck with it. I have no idea what the employee at SPA was doing at the time but with todays technology it is not that hard to get on a computer and check on your own (not blaing you for calling, JC). This society is very lazy, heck people don'tt even get off there arsses to look for jobs.

If you have had good customer service in the past let it go and remember to drop your name first when you call next time.

My two cents,

Lee

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Posted By: leon

JC can speak for himself but if you read his post he said he was not where a computer was....and with the auction closing he needed help.....which he didn't get.....and which is unlike the SCP I have known...and an obvious mistake.....regards

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

I am not blaming JC at all, his phone call was justified but the majority of the inquiries of this nature tend to be a waste of time for the person on the other end. If it was closing day I am sure this person had plenty to do. Of course not saying that customer service is not important because it obviously is, there are just better times than others to get full reception from someone.

Once again, this is not directed towards JC, just a statement in general from past experience.

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Posted By: Hankron

I concur with Lee. A majority of time consuming inquiries involve 'customers' who neither have any serious itention to purchase nor have heard of the words "Thank you for your time." You can blame the seller or auction house for many things, but you can't blame them for this.

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Posted By: leon

Nothing personal here guys. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. They SHOULD have asked who he was...(AND it shouldn't have mattered anyway)....but guess what? In business you take care of who takes care of you....it's a fact of life....like it or not....When my largest 3 customers call they get special treatment. Hopefully, I make my other customers feel they get special treatment also. By not asking who he was SCP might have lost a big poetential/customer. To say companies don't take care of their "best" customers would be naive.....either you get it or you don't...and welcome to capitalism....best regards

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Posted By: JC

Great input, but Leon is right... Why does it matter who is on the other line? I started out buying 20.00 lots in auctions and if they treated me bad I would never return... Let me see, Hager, Festberg, Rosen, Joe Amnesties, Nick Pavletic, to name a few... I have never bought from them since rude service... Most of them are out of business now or no longer running auctions... Wonder why? You always get more with sugar than vinegar and if you can't handle an appetizer you don't desire the main entrée!

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Posted By: Hankron

My recommendation to both sellers and buyers is to simply say email a "Thank you" when someone has put in an effort.

Other than what I offer on eBay, I am not a seller. However, I often have people out of the blue ask me for input on something they own. I have no problem doing this, and doing a bit of research can be enjoyable. But it bugs me to no end when someone has me spend a half hour researching the print they found, and receive no response in return. I don't even know if they received the email. After this happens 3 or so times in a row, I begin to think to myself "Why am I helping these people out, again?"

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Posted By: Hankron

My point being, that the way customers act to sellers does effect the service they receive, and it would be naive to think otherwise.

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Posted By: TBob

about how auction houses or sellers treat you. I too like to see how I am treated by a prospective seller when making an initial purchase with an eye toward the future. More than once I have made a small purchase of a card valued at $30-50 to see how the transaction goes, how the seller handles the transaction, shipping, etc, and if everything works well, go back and make a large purchase. I, too, have refused to bid in auctions, even when there are cards I really want, if the prior service and customer service has been less than professional or even cordial.
I understand the point Lee is making but I wonder how many times auction houses have lost the business of customers like JC because of an arrogant or unfirendly attitude. Yes, it is a business but as Leon indicated, the way you treat your customers has a great impact on future sales.

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Posted By: Hankron

Bob, I do things similarly. I often purchase an item that interests me and, before buying more, see how the transaction works and what the item looks like (authenticity in particular). With sellers who do a good job, I am a loyal customer .... However, I also make a point to be a good customer, and even email folks to tell them if I was particularly impressed with the product or service .... So, it's not an either/or proposition. Both sellers and customers should act well. And I stand my statement (because it is factual) that if some cutomers act poorly (not paying, late paying, bounced checks, asking a cardshop to order stomething then not paying for it, being rude, etc), these customers hold some (not all) of the responsibility if service for everyone is not sterling.

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Posted By: Hankron

Turning things on it's head.

There was a Palo Alto bank who's point was to be as nice as possible to its customers. For example, when the President went on vacation with his wife he returned with crates of exotic fruit and other presents for his customers. The customer just had to stop by the bank and receive their fruit and presents. These type of acts and services were free of charge, because the President wanted the customers to be treated well ... However, if a customer bounced a 2nd check, they were booted out as they were no longer deserving to be a customer.