Dear Whitworths,
Please give David a holiday. Due to the stresses of work and the demands
of
fussy customers, he has become such a short tempered conceited bastard
that
he is in danger of hurting your business.
Yours sincerely,
Shaun Van Poecke
I was ordering some parts for my cobra cat about 11 days ago. I had the
whitworths marine catalogue at home, have bought from them many times in
past so i thought that would be the way to go. This was my first mail
order
experience though. Reading through their catalogue was reassuring;
apparently they ****p all over the world so i figured they must do ok.
After
my experiences of the last 2 weeks though, i think the mail order
department
must be limited to David.
I compiled a list of all the items I would need. Not one to do things by
half measures, I did it in an excel spreadsheet with part numbers, names,
quantities, unit and total prices, and colors. There were 47 items coming
to a total of about $1200. Not a huge order i guess, but enough that i
felt
i ought to get some level of service. It's not as though I was ordering 2
x
16 gauge screws.
I compiled my list with all the relevant details, contact information,
address, phone number and then faxed it to whitworths. I called up about
10
minutes after i sent it to make sure it got through. I got David. He was
pretty curt, I had a couple of queries (and this is a *regular* couple,
meaning 2, not 3) about a bracket for a signal horn, and a fairlead for a
cleat. I got the impression from talking to him that i was more an
annoyance than anything. I was ready to send payment through that day,
but
he said he would need to confirm my prices and get back to me. No
worries.
I sent the fax through early morning so i figured i would be fine.
Next day at close of business I gave him another call to see if he had
forgotten me or not. After all, this was a pretty straightforward thing;
everything laid out in black and white and here i am ready to pay. This
time i really got a serving. Did I know that this was one of the busiest
times of year? Did i know how many orders he had to get through? No I
didnt. Sorry
The same day, I placed an order with Binks marine. This was my first time
dealing with them, and the first time I've ever even heard of them. It
was
a straightforward order for a gooseneck. Whitworths didnt stock it, and
were unwilling to order it in for me. 3 days later, it arrived by express
courier. Not a bad effort since i live in Mount Isa. Packages take 3-4
days to get here from Townsville sometimes!
the same day this order arrived i called whitworths again. What a
pleasant
surprise; I got David. No he hasnt had a chance to check my prices. No i
shouldnt give him another call in a couple of days, he will call me when
he
has it sorted.
A couple of days later, I realise I forgot to put the boom fitting for my
gooseneck into the order from binks. Slap myself in the forehead, get on
the net and order it same day. The part was worth about $20. I figure
ordering it so late in the year i probably wont get it before christmas.
2 days later I get a call from binks marine. They are terribly sorry, but
my order got delayed slightly. They were unable to ****p it the day after
I
ordered, because they were unable to find the part, but have found it that
day and ****pped same day. Once again they are sorry, and it should be
arriving within 2-3 days. How much markup do they make on a $20 part that
they can afford to call customers like this?
3 days later the part arrives. I'm impressed (again) and wish that binks
stocked as many items as whitworths do.
The next day, about 10 days later now, I get a call from David. He has
priced my parts and sent a fax through to me with the quote. I go to
check
the fax. It is signed, by hand 'looking forward to receiving your
payment'.
How touching. I make payment same day by EFT.
Today I go through the quote, and discover that they have left 2 items off
the quote and supplied me with 1 of something where i ordered 4. I call
up
whitworths again. David answers the phone.
'Hi David, It's Shaun Calling from mount isa here'
'yes'
'do you remember me?'
'I get hundreds of orders here, I cant remember them all'
'You sent me the fax yesterday, 47 items.... mostly for sailboats'
'yes'
'I put the payment through yesterday, but today Ive been going through
your
quote and having a look and i think you might have missed a couple of
items'
'I dont think so'
'do you have the quote in front of you?'
'yes'
'do you have my original order that i sent through with it?'
'yes'
'item 11 on my order, part number 5101 a small block is missing from the
quote'
'that part number no longer exists.'
'I see.... Do you have something you might substitute? It's just a small
block, 5mm rope. The type with 2 holes so you can screw or rivet it to a
deck'
'I dont have time for this sort of stuff, you'll have to have another look
through the catalogue'
'ok. Item number 20, part number 180392, 5mm red spectra cord is also
missing'
'thats a duplicate line. Item 19 also has the same part number'
'item 19 was 5 meters, item 20 was 3 meters of same. Im trying to re-rig
my
catamaran here'
'but they were duplicate items. It looked like you made a mistake'
'There were several other items also duplicated in the same way, and they
were all included in the order.'
'yeah, anything else?'
'item 42, 4 x 100mm nylon cleats was on the order, but you only put 1'
'Yes, i see that. Whoever keyed the order must have made a mistake'
'ok, so what can i do to get the extra stuff?'
'well, it's too late now. I'll call head office to see whether you've
deposited the money or not. For the other items, you'll have to just do
it
by credit card or something as an extra order.'
'ok, so can i check up on the catalogue for those blocks and give you a
call
back in about 5 minutes?'
'no, I'm too busy for that. I'll give you a call'
'will that be today?'
'no, not today. Maybe tomorrow'
end of call
Dear Whitworths,
Please give David a holiday. A long holiday. He sounds old and tired.
About mid 50's, with no particular achievements in his life, which makes
him
very irritable. Give him the next 20-30 years off so he can get out and
go
sailing or something. He needs a break, and so do we.
Dear Binks Marine,
Please stock as many items as whitworths do so i can buy them off you.
And
if you get too busy from all your increased business, please hire
pleasant,
competent people so you can continue getting my business. Dont hire
David.
Yours Sincerely,
Shaun Van Poecke
The day my binks
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