How to lose business and alienate customers

[ancientsociety]

Well, I should preface that this is a bit of a rant.

In November, I needed to buy some Old Glory Vikings for a tournament in February. Being a prior customer of Noble Knight and noticing that they had carried the items I needed in the past, I contacted them on the 22nd and asked if they could order them for me. They replied quickly and said that it would take 3-5 weeks to receive. No worries, that would get them to me by the end of December – plenty of time.

On November 30th, I got an email saying there was a server crash and so I contacted them to make sure my order was still on track. No problems, still on order. At the 3 week mark, I wrote just to check in and was again assured that the items were on order, but they did not yet have an ETA and that they are "checking weekly".

Come last week, we hit the 4 week mark. I again wrote inquiring if there was an ETA. I received a reply several days later that Noble Knight has "no idea when they are arriving" and cannot get any sort of ETA from Old Glory.

Today, I wrote Old Glory myself and found out that their production time is usually 2 weeks, so I wrote NK back and called them on it, since Monday will be the 5 week mark. I received an email from another employee…

THE ITEMS HAD NEVER BEEN ORDERED.

Even though their email wants to pass this off on their "server crash", what am I to make of the several emails exchanged since that time constantly reassuring me that the items were on order and that they "check weekly"? There was no "this is what we'll do to make it right", just a *shrug* "sorry". While I'm not out any money, I do feel like a schmuck, like I've been strung along and blown off for weeks now. Had I just given Old Glory my business, I could have already had these in hand weeks ago and been working on them.

Anyway, just wanted to rant/post this cautionary tale.

[kturock]

I've dealt with NKG before. I've found it's like a pawn shop; expect 25% on the dollar for sales and a bit more for trades. Prices are high and barely discounted. They'll have stuff no one else does, but don't expect any bargins. I won't go into detail about a sale/trade I had with them, since they have no way to defend themselves and wouldn't be fair. I no longer have the emails, since they were years ago.
Supposedly, the buyer is the owner.

[MagickalMemories]

I've got no issues with anything said, so far.
I'd just like to remind any future commentators to tread carefully. Like kturock said, they're not here to defend themselves, so it would not be right to take things past a certain point.

Thanks.

Eric.

P.S. Also; moved to discussions.

[Imaginos]

I have never sold anything to Noble Knight. I did send them a list of games and was not happy with the prices they offered compared to what I could get trading it in at a local book store. However, I have been satisfied with all of my purchases from them. Some items I have bought from them, and some I thought were overpriced and did not buy from them.

If you don't like the price they want to sell at, you don't have to buy from them. It's a good rule of thumb to use.