Bricklink Seller Customer Service?

[Vestabuyer]

Greetings!

I am new to this forum so if this is a violation to the forum rules please let me know or discard. I just believe that fellow brickheads should be informed.

Just recently I decided to go to my favorite parts depot (bricklink) to see if I could obtain parts for a future project that I am doing. As some of you will know, parts availability in some of the bricklink stores are sporatic at best and so sometimes it is a good thing to contact the store to see if you can "reserve" the parts. One particuliar store (will name it to people who ask) was a bit rude to say the least when all I asked is if the parts could be part of an open inventory for more than the usual seven days.

I am sure some of you guys have a limit on what you can spend per month and I stated this in the following paragraph:

"Greetings!

I would like to request that this invoice be open until the 6th of August as I do really want these parts but am waiting till next month to be able to use my "alotted lego funds." I believe I can keep an invoice open for up to two weeks. Please see my feedback file if you have any doubts and let me know if this is not possible.

Thank you"

I in return received this:

"Buyer does not have enough funds to pay

"Hold Order Open" should not be misconstrued as "Layaway." Also, it states clearly under the option for "Hold Order Open" that you may hold an order open for 7 days not because you are waiting for money, but because you may add additional items. We are uncertain as to why you would think 14 days is acceptable. Please come back when you are prepared to buy, not tie up our inventory."

I believe that it would have been acceptable just to tell me that they could not do it. I did not need to be lectured and have a volume of text thrown at me. In addition to the unessecary tongue lashing, this person proceeded to lock me out of the store until the 6th of August without even leeting me have a chance to apologize for supposedly bothering them. I think IMHO that this person's customer skills need to be improved. If it is any consilation, this person just lost a $13.00 order. Once again, I don't mean to drag the forum down with negativity but I just wanted to let the fellow brickhead buyers in on what they could expect if they buy from this store.

[Fumoffu]

I feel that they could have responded in a more friendly manner even if they say "no". I always been taught that no matter how stupid the customer is you do your best to be friendly. That doesn't mean you give in but you still can say no in a friendly way.

Maybe you got them at a bad time of the day or something. In hindsight they might regret the way they responded.

[Siegfried]

In the guys defence, it may have just been a "boilerplate" response. In my real life job I recieve a lot of EMails, often roughly about the same issue. I don't have the time to write a custom response each time, so I just modify a template and try to explain any follow up questions in that as well to save time. This may be the same case.

To be honest, it doesn't seem that rude to me. Locking you out of the site is a bit over the top though.

[CopMike]

Vestabuyer - I have trouble understanding what really took place ?

* Did you just send a message asking them if the parts XXX could be held for you until 14+ days? Then the answer seems to harsh.

* Did you actually place an order for the parts and telling them "I believe I can keep an invoice open for up to two weeks." thus ignoring their stated terms of business, then I don´t see anything wrong with their answer.

A BL-order is a business contract - they make the offer and you accept it under the terms that are stated. You can´t accept it AND at the same time change the terms. The world doesn´t work that way, sorry.

[Rocketbilly]

Whilst their response at first glance does seem a little harsh, and whilst this has been stated above they probably had a bad day. I'm lucky enough to have not had any problems on Bricklink - in fact, due to problems I was having at the time, I took almost a month to send payment for one order, and whilst the seller understandably got alittle annoyed towards the end they were never impolite, and we did business as normal.

I don't blame you for not spending your money with them, though. I wouldn't like to have that message but if they are amking their living off Bricklink, I suppose they have every right to be anoyed. But they should at least have handled it in a slightly more......mature fashion.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Will/Rocketbilly

[Milan]

If you really did place an order, than his answer is very appropriate.

They hate very much if you place order and stall.

Also, in general, as the store is bigger, the seller is less polite, guess because of the numerous orders he has on daily bases.

[madoka]

I know this may sound harsh, but frankly a few people on BL make their living selling Lego because they have very poor people skills and can't maintain a regular job. There, I said it. These people really just don't understand how to deal with others. A few years back I placed an order for about $1,300 worth of parts at one European store and he charged me about $50 to ship. A few minutes later, I forgot to add some more hats so I updated that order with about another $70 worth of black policemen hats. He added an additional $30 in shipping to this "new order." I asked why he couldn't just package the parts all together, but he absolutely refused to do it. Claimed that since I placed a separate order, that they must be shipped separately. Since I thought his policy was asinine, I cancelled the entire order and he promptly neged me and banned me from his store. That guy lost a $1400 order because he refused to put all the parts in one box. I truly felt he had some psychological hangups that would not allow him to see like a reasonable person.

Now the vast majority of people on BL are quite nice and I spend about $12,000 a year on BL with few hiccups. But there are a handful on there that really are bizarre.

[spade450]

Now the vast majority of people on BL are quite nice and I spend about $12,000 a year on BL with few hiccups.

You spend about $12,000 a year at BL? Can I have you sit down and explain that to my wife? THAT would give her a new perspective on my Lego "budget."

[Eilif]

Locking you out was a bit extreme, but everything else seems to be unremarkable.

This might seem a bit harsh, but consider this... You asked someone to hold product for you. They said no, and told you exactly why, both acording to BL rules, and because they didn't want you to tie up their inventory. Sure they could have been a bit nicer about it, but that's life. I don't know anything about you personally, but the wording of your message could leave the buyer thinking that you are a kid waiting for his allowance, and that's not the ideal customer to extend a layaway to.

I could be way off on all this, but I don't think it's hard to see both sides of this issue.