Adventure at the LHS

[pituk]

So , over the weekend I stopped by local lhs to pick-up some paint and decals. The same shop were just last week I bought some older Associated parts , a viper and sprinter body and some rims. A employee walks by and asked if I needed any help and so I tell him I am looking for older rc10 parts to fix up my buggys. He goes in back and comes out with a black nose plate and tells me they also have a gold one. I tell him I will take the gold plate and any white arms. He goes in back and comes out with a gold nose plate and a set of white short arms and says " How many do you want we have a couple boxes in back" . I said thats all I need thanks for looking . I then walk over to the cashier with the nice gold and white parts , pull out the wallet , when the employee walks by and says " Those are probaly worth something on ebay" . The cashier / owner stops and walks over to the computer , comes back in a minute and says " I would be a fool to sell these when I can get more on ebay" I told him I understand and will just take the paint and decals. Strange days indeed.

[RedScampi]

Greed. It's what drives people these days. Sad to see.

[scr8p]

i would've told him....... "you can put this paint and these decals on ebay as well", and left.

[Brandon G]

Tell him you would be a fool to buy anything modern off of his walls when you can get it so much cheaper on ebay.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Depending on the particular laws in that state it could be illegal for them to give them to you
with the intent to sell them and then later refuse. I'm not saying I would've called the cops or a lawyer, just an observation.

[RER40]

I almost hate saying it, but it was a similar conversation that put a stop to all of my support for the local hobby shop (wherever that may be).

I had long been an advocate of the whole "local hobby shop premise" even going back to the days before the Internet, and when (what has turned into the large hobby distributors) companies like Tower and Horizon were the kings of mailorder/catalog sales - cutting prices here and there to lure the buyer, but in the long run robbing sales from the little guy down on the corner. I thought it wrong, that it was hurting the local economy, and that it was hurting the hobby.

Then the Internet came along - with it's added convenience of looking, finding, paying for stuff, and order processing.

I stood my ground and still supported the local hobby shop -- all but refusing to buy elsewhere unless I didn't have a choice on the rarest of hard-to-find parts.

And then the fatefull day came that changed me forever.
I walk into my local hobby shop, cash in hand, ready to order a big pile of pieces and parts (I like having plenty of spares on hand in the pitbox)...
... and when we find everything (online) and my bill is tallied up the guy behind the counter tells me what my tab will be.... and I'm taken aback thinking something might be askew, maybe he'd ordered 10 or something instead of 1 (since I'd pre-priced everything, knowing the "rough" price, and gave him all the part numbers), and he looks me right in the eye and tells me "that's for the special-order shipping surcharge we're now charging EVERYONE."

Needless to say I'm pissed because I know he's not paying any such "surcharge" and I cancel the order - plopping the two cans of Pactra in my hand on the counter, saying, "that's all I need today."

So I go home, get online, order up everything I need, get the package in 3 days (instead of the usual week at the LHS, since they only ever "finalized" orders at the end of each week to save on shipping) and saved myself $30 because shipping was free from the online retailer.


I see the guy at the track a few weeks later, he'd avoided me up till that point, and he asks me point blank. "So where have you been, haven't seen you in a while?"

And I tell him, "I didn't mind waiting a week to get my parts from you that you refused to stock, and I didn't mind paying premium prices for a new item you knew you could charge a premium for because it was the latest hot ticket, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for shipping on stuff I know you're not paying shipping to recieve!"

His reply was, "I have to make a living somehow - and I don't care if it's you or the next guy I'm gonna make my money!"

So a couple months go by and the guy approaches me again saying, "Hey man, sorry about everything. Can we let bygones be bygones? I've got some 'specials' down at the shop and I sure could use your business."

And I look him in the eye and say, "Funny thing, but since I started ordering things for myself I get great customer service, next day delivery, the correct parts the first time/every time, and not a single elitest comment from behind the counter that leaves me feeling like 'you gotta get it here because I'm the only game in town.'"



I know the hobby industry is a tough business. I know margins on some items are tight. But I also know that real big businesses get by because they understand the concept that if it's sitting on the shelf it's dead inventory .... so I'd be telling that hobby shop owner that "he can choke on those 20-YO vintage parts that have been gathering dust since Madonna was hot; there are plenty of places you buy those same bits from on eBay that would appreciate your business a lot more than he showed you for your loyalty."


RANT OFF

[RER40]

Depending on the particular laws in that state it could be illegal for them to give them to you
with the intent to sell them and then later refuse. I'm not saying I would've called the cops or a lawyer, just an observation.

Truth is that IF he had HIS pricetags on the parts, and offered them on the counter to you (with said labels affixed) -
THAT IS the price he HAS to sell them to you for. eBay or no fleaBay. I'd be calling the local BBB - for starters.
That's called "bait and switch" and illegal in any jurisdiction.

[shodog]

I had a similar thing happen to me. shop owner said he could make more on ebay for the parts. I told him to, "go ahead and sell them on ebay. By the time you take a picture, list them, answer all the stupid questions from buyers, track the auctions, send the invoices and wait for payment, pack them up and ship them out, pay your ebay and paypal fees, you will be begging me to buy this old shit." Needless to say, I don't shop there anymore. I don't miss the shop and I cleaned him out of all his good stuff long ago.

[ROH73]

On the flip side, I just bought a bunch of vintage stuff from my LHS and they gave me a great deal of at least 50% off of the 20 year old sticker price. The owner even said as I paid, "Hey, you should put this stuff on ebay and make a profit." I think he was just happy to get rid of old stock that's just taking up precious space. He'll definitely keep getting my business.

[MelvinsArmy]

i would've told him....... "you can put this paint and these decals on ebay as well", and left.

Ditto. What a jerk. A great way to loose a regular customer.

I've been lucky with the few lhs's that have been around here. I was able to score a brand new gold tub chassis and a few odd old parts from one shop in Jersey City a few years ago. They knew me and gave me a great deal. Also, there used to be a shop in Manhattan. There they had a full option 1/16 r/c Tamiya Tiger tank for like $100 less than anywhere I could find it online. I couldn't believe it. I had been thinking of getting one for quite a while, then when I saw the lhs had such an amazing deal on it, I had to buy it. Both because I really wanted one, and also because I wanted to support a shop that wasn't gouging prices.

[MelvinsArmy]

Now that I think of it, most of my lhs experiences have been pretty good. I can't remember anything bad like this happening to me. Matter of fact, one time I blew up an engine on the only nitro car I ever owned, a 1/8 Ofna buggy. Throttle got stuck, the car took off and in the process blew itself up. I took it back to the shop I got it at (the same one that had the great deal on the tank) and told them what happened. Of course I was kind of pissed when I went in, but they repaired the engine, I think they replaced a few parts, handed it back to me and didn't charge me a dime. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was under warranty or something, but whatever it was, I was pretty stoked about that.

The places I have had bad experiences at are local bicycle shops. I bought a nice used Cannondale off eBay a few years ago. The rear derailer wasn't shifting properly. So, I took it in to a shop. The lady put a screw driver in my rear cog (like she was checking something, yeah right) and said I'd need a whole new freewheel, $90. I said, "no thanks" I knew that sounded fishy. So, I rode to the next shop. There they spent 3 minutes on the bike, got it to shift correctly and charged me $8. Needless to say, I have yet to set foot back in that first shop. I've got a lot of stories like that about bike shops.

[MelvinsArmy]

The more I think about this subject, the more I realize how much I miss the local hobby shops around here. Going in to a shop and walking out with a brand new kit is one of my favorite parts of this hobby. Head home, put the Godfather on the DVD, grab a beer, set up the table and start putting something together. It's just not the same when it comes in a brown box that's been dropped off by UPS. The seeing it on the wall, looking it over, deciding (even though your mind is probably already made up before you walk in) taking it to the counter, paying, and going home with it.

I'm getting all nostalgic now. I'll shut up now, with my three posts in a row of babbling.


Man, I really want to find a local hobby shop and buy a TXT-1. I don't need or want another monster truck, I just want to go buy it, put it together and go drive it around.

Okay, now I'll shut up.

[Halgar]

The places I have had bad experiences at are local bicycle shops. I bought a nice used Cannondale off eBay a few years ago. The rear derailer wasn't shifting properly. So, I took it in to a shop. The lady put a screw driver in my rear cog (like she was checking something, yeah right) and said I'd need a whole new freewheel, $90. I said, "no thanks" I knew that sounded fishy. So, I rode to the next shop. There they spent 3 minutes on the bike, got it to shift correctly and charged me $8. Needless to say, I have yet to set foot back in that first shop. I've got a lot of stories like that about bike shops.

Had a similar experience at a camera shop. My GF bought a top of the line Cannon and it wasn't working right. We took it to a local shop that specialized in Cannon equipment and they asked her where she bought it (Amazon, for several hundred less than this shop ), they handed the camera back and said good luck getting Amazon to fix it for ya. On the recommendation of a friend we took it to a Nikon dealer who said "no problem". they stripped it down to just the body, packaged it up and sent it to back to Cannon with the list of items to repair. It cost us $25 in shipping, that's it! No charge by the dealer, no BS, nothing. Shortly after that, the jerks at the first store posted a huge banner on the front of the shop that said "we're not an internet store" In other words, you come there to buy from them and them only, they're not going to help you otherwise. Good customer service is hard to find these days, regardless of the industry we're talking about.

[Halgar]

Okay, now I'll shut up.

No you won't! You know you got more nostalgia built up that you need to get out! Repeat after me, "My name is Melvin, I'm an addict!"

[MelvinsArmy]

Okay, now I'll shut up.

No you won't! You know you got more nostalgia built up that you need to get out! Repeat after me, "My name is Melvin, I'm an addict!"

You know, I've had things well under control for the past six months or so. Just thinking, "yeah, I like my collection just the way it is, I don't need anything else, I'll just maintain what I've got". Then I read this thread and it makes me want to build and drive a brand new kit. Dang it!

When I get home I think I just need to pull out the Clod and play around with it. Hopefully that will fix the urge. Otherwise, maybe I'll order one of those re-release Frogs I've been thinking about for the past year or so.