Outsville Order of Tecno-Dud.

OP, you are 100% wrong.

You made TWO bad decisions, each one resulting in a disservice to those you interact with.

FIRST, you should NEVER have committed to your "Client" that you could put a tip on his cue in time, when you DID NOT have it in your possession.

The proper response should have been "I don't have that tip in-stock but I will try to get it in time. In case I can't source it in time, what is your 2nd choice?" Or something to that effect.

That would have been treating your "client" like an actual client.

By not providing full disclosure to your CUSTOMER (not client), you provided a disservice and are blaming this on a 3rd party.

Speaking of 3rd party, that is your next disservice - to Outsville and to everyone on AZ.

Countless THOUSANDS of items shipped on time, your little tip is slightly delayed and you BLAST them on AZ.

Again, YOU created this situation by over committing, when you did not even have the product in stock.

Outsville does NOT deserve the stain you are placing on them.

It is YOU whose reputation should be stained here.

You sold a service and committed to a timeline without having the parts in stock. And you NEVER told your customer (again, not client) until it was too late, thereby guaranteeing their disappointment - in you.

-von

Sounds like a critical order for an important client with time being of the essence.

Is there a reason it took three days to inquire why it had not been shipped?

"... I emailed them because the tracking showed it had not even been shipped. "

"Stuff" flows downhill

I think the OP has been quite mellow and professional especially considering the heat he has taken. Chris knows he has this problem several times a month, he should be prepared to deal with it. I would have overnighted a few tips, definitely waived the shipping, maybe the enter bill.

The customer is mad at Tom for not delivering on time, Tom is Outville's customer and has just as much right to be annoyed. Moreso as it seems likely that Chris dropped the ball twice.

I have owned a double handful of businesses in my life. Not my fault but my responsibility has cost me thousands. I was burned $1500 on one transaction, I honored what my employee running the front desk while I was gone had said. Lost over $700 on another transaction, again, employee's fault. I fired two men that day, poor workmanship. Other burns for various amounts, "stuff" happens! It is the business owner's responsibility to make things as right for the customer as possible.

Even Joe at Cue Components who people on here like to hate filled and doubled my order when I was accidentally shorted. That was just stock to go on my shelves so no big deal. I just wanted the rest of my order. Joe made me whole and went so far above board I have stuck up for him a half-dozen times on here. Seems you get back what you give.

Had the OP posted exactly the same about a supplier that wasn't popular on this board 90% of the posts would not only have supported him but would have attacked the supplier, something Tom hasn't done. If Chris is a businessman he will come to Tom's defense. Tom doesn't deserve any heat for just reporting what happened. Especially since he has a history of reporting the good too.

Hu

I really do apologize that the order was not prosessed on time as we try our best but we do have a few each month that do not print because the stamps app sucks but percentagewise it's 1% or less based on volume..... I usually audit shipping on SUNDAY at the end of the week for unshipped items but that would not have helped at all...

We sent the order with an extra tip to make up for shipping.... We also had major storms here that Thursday that closed roads and took out power.. The storms actually took a tree down that ended up on my Envoy and blocked the driveway so it might have even went Friday as I was a bit busy and am not sure when I reprinted labels..

Either way I just refunded you the entire amount and closed your account..

The Renfro said:

I really do apologize that the order was not prosessed on time as we try our best but we do have a few each month that do not print because the stamps app sucks but percentagewise it's 1% or less based on volume..... I usually audit shipping on SUNDAY at the end of the week for unshipped items but that would not have helped at all...

We sent the order with an extra tip to make up for shipping.... We also had major storms here that Thursday that closed roads and took out power.. The storms actually took a tree down that ended up on my Envoy and blocked the driveway so it might have even went Friday as I was a bit busy and am not sure when I reprinted labels..

Either way I just refunded you the entire amount and closed your account..

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It’s a shame there’s not a solution for a problem you can easily identify. As a business owner, I’m not sure I could accept that any percentage of my customers were not promptly receiving what they expected. Any percentage per month means it happens every month. Isn’t that frustrating for you, having to deal with customers asking where their order is all the time?

My comments above are not supposed to be critical, more curious as to how a known problem goes unfixed. I’m sure there’s a good reason, and it’s probably too complicated to explain here. For example, I have no idea what the stamps app is or if there are better alternatives.

As an international customer (and I guess this would be the critical part), I already have to wait quite a long time for anything ordered from Outsville. It’s kind of concerning that my order might randomly be delayed by another week.

When you say you closed his account, do you mean you settled his account, or do you mean you won’t accept orders from him in the future? It seems kind of harsh to block someone from business for simply and factually relaying their experience (and for letting people know you have a fault in your ordering process). He didn’t seem unnecessarily critical or spiteful, and he has remained calm and collected despite the criticism he has received. And I’m sure he is a lot more sympathetic to your situation now that he knows you were smashed by a storm.

Shuddy said:

It’s a shame there’s not a solution for a problem you can easily identify. As a business owner, I’m not sure I could accept that any percentage of my customers were not promptly receiving what they expected. Any percentage per month means it happens every month. Isn’t that frustrating for you, having to deal with customers asking where their order is all the time?

My comments above are not supposed to be critical, more curious as to how a known problem goes unfixed. I’m sure there’s a good reason, and it’s probably too complicated to explain here. For example, I have no idea what the stamps app is or if there are better alternatives.

As an international customer (and I guess this would be the critical part), I already have to wait quite a long time for anything ordered from Outsville. It’s kind of concerning that my order might randomly be delayed by another week.

When you say you closed his account, do you mean you settled his account, or do you mean you won’t accept orders from him in the future? It seems kind of harsh to block someone from business for simply and factually relaying their experience (and for letting people know you have a fault in your ordering process). He didn’t seem unnecessarily critical or spiteful, and he has remained calm and collected despite the criticism he has received. And I’m sure he is a lot more sympathetic to your situation now that he knows you were smashed by a storm.

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Excellent post sir. If someone pays for expedited shipping to leave Monday, and it is shipped Friday, it would seem to me they should have been refunded the express shipping without having to ask, and maybe that was the case, unsure reading the posts. A free tip is a nice gesture towards the issue, although I am sure if OP wanted an extra tip he would have ordered it.

Shuddy said:

....When you say you closed his account, do you mean you settled his account, or do you mean you won’t accept orders from him in the future?....

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RiverCity said:

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I love that episode, although at the end of the episode, the soup Nazi went out of business, lol

The Renfro said:

I really do apologize that the order was not prosessed on time as we try our best but we do have a few each month that do not print because the stamps app sucks but percentagewise it's 1% or less based on volume..... I usually audit shipping on SUNDAY at the end of the week for unshipped items but that would not have helped at all...

We sent the order with an extra tip to make up for shipping.... We also had major storms here that Thursday that closed roads and took out power.. The storms actually took a tree down that ended up on my Envoy and blocked the driveway so it might have even went Friday as I was a bit busy and am not sure when I reprinted labels..

Either way I just refunded you the entire amount and closed your account..

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I would like to see a response from OP to this post now.
Renfro has been on this site for years, and can easilly be PMd or contracted in a number of ways.
Az billiards has over a million unique views a month, so a thread like this, even the headline, not only carries to a massive number of potential customers, but it is archived by Google and stays around forever.
Are these potential customers militant enough to go through the entire thread to find the response from Chris? Most likely not. They read the first post and a few initial responses and then the opinion of formed.

Also, in most major companies, two day shipping is two business days. Op placed an order on Monday and expected it on Wednesday...them should've ordered overnight shipping. In many majors companies I've dealt with across all spectrums of commerce, the order is not processed until Tuesday. So 2 days would've been the end of day on Thursday--and that's with a major multi-hub company.

Chris is a small company and tells us he audits shipping on Sundays. Storms and weather would effect him more than an Amazon or Muellers. But again, some here think anyone dealing in pool must be Amazon sized and able to ship from all quadrants if the continental United States.

Last, why should Chris be pressured into giving out free shipping, or free items to make up for 1% mishaps (a good percentage by the way in the pool business). I never expect anything for free, especially from a grinder of a quality pool product company such as Outsville.

OP, the onus is on you to make an entirely new thread, linked off of here, praising the customer response from Chris. Your tip review is your tip review, but your initial post and intent (without even waiting for Chris to respond or trying to contact him elsewhere) was unfortunate.

Cardigan Kid said:

Amazon sized and able to ship from all quadrants if the continental United States.

Last, why should Chris be pressured into giving out free shipping, or free items to make up for 1% mishaps

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Pays for 2 day shipping on monday, not mailed until Thur or Friday, and you think Tom should pay for the "mishap". How in heck should Tom be charged the expadited shipping charges(and he might not have been for all I know). But your response.

Snooker Theory said:

Pays for 2 day shipping on monday, not mailed until Thur or Friday, and you think Tom should pay for the "mishap". How in heck should Tom be charged the expadited shipping charges(and he might not have been for all I know). But your response.

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I ordered from Adidas, Remington, even more "big companies"...miss ship date...oh well...sometimes item never arrives...their response "we'll ship you a new one".

No freebies.
No discounts.

Oh well. I got what I paid for.

Sometimes the world doesn't stop for each of us. And why expect something for free.

Cardigan Kid said:

I ordered from Adidas, Remington, even more "big companies"...miss ship date...oh well...sometimes item never arrives...their response "we'll ship you a new one".

No freebies.
No discounts.

Oh well. I got what I paid for.

Sometimes the world doesn't stop for each of us. And why expect something for free.

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I respectfully disagree, if you paid for expedited shipping on a product, and the seller has a "mishap" and doesn't send due to some error on their end.

You did NOT get what you paid for, because you paid an extra fee to have your order expedited. This wasn't an item lost in shipping which would be a different story.

Shipping

Cardigan Kid said:

I ordered from Adidas, Remington, even more "big companies"...miss ship date...oh well...sometimes item never arrives...their response "we'll ship you a new one".

No freebies.
No discounts.

Oh well. I got what I paid for.

Sometimes the world doesn't stop for each of us. And why expect something for free.

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The customer paid a premium price for fast shipping which didn't happen. He has every right to expect the extra costs refunded, paying at most standard shipping rates.

Anything Chris or any business does above the bare minimum is just done for good will. The customer doesn't have a right to expect it but going the extra mile usually pays off for the business. Other than the odd comment about closing the account it seems that Chris has went well above and beyond what he had to do. I do note that his post was in the wee hours of the morning so it might not be as clear as it could be.

Readers of this thread will remember that Outsville took care of business and then some. A few tips and shipping is cheap marketing although I don't think that was Chris's main reason for the way he handled the matter. He has proven to be deserving of the good will the board has for him.

I got a terribly botched order from Atlas. It was so badly botched, about eight out of twelve types of components wrong, I really suspected an angry employee trying to stir grief for the company. Another order for the shelves and to try a new product or two. I called Atlas near the end of a day expecting no problems. I wasn't angry, no big deal. After I got the customer service from hell then I was annoyed. Reported what happened on the cue builders forum mostly as a chuckle.

Everybody told me to talk to one man, he would make things right. Good idea, except that was the man that had been a total jackass. I ate over a hundred dollars of that order and have told the story many a time. Big size doesn't always equal quality service. Most of our suppliers in the pool industry are exceptional, including Atlas usually. I didn't quit doing business with them because of the messed up order, I quit doing business with them because of the messed up customer service. Must have been the end of a bad day for K.

Hu

JazzyJeff87 said:

I’m mostly upset because I’ve heard about this tip from the 626 and was hoping for a review...damn them for not getting it out in time and allowing me to read about its characteristics (an odd thing about the word “its”, in this instance it should have an apostrophe under the normal rules, denoting possession,but the apostrophe only happens in the contraction of “it is”) it be irkin me every time I see it.

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You mean its'?

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

Snooker Theory said:

I respectfully disagree, if you paid for expedited shipping on a product, and the seller has a "mishap" and doesn't send due to some error on their end.

You did NOT get what you paid for, because you paid an extra fee to have your order expedited. This wasn't an item lost in shipping which would be a different story.

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So Chris went above and beyond that of most major retailers and refunded not just shipping but the entire cost of the order. So Tom got his stuff for free. And that's why it warrants a whole new thread, praising Outsville. Not just a simple "oh by the way" post 4 pages deep in a thread that was started on negative intentions.

If he just waited like any normal customer, this would've all been handled normally instead of with a thousand views.

ShootingArts said:

The customer paid a premium price for fast shipping which didn't happen. He has every right to expect the extra costs refunded, paying at most standard shipping rates.

Anything Chris or any business does above the bare minimum is just done for good will. The customer doesn't have a right to expect it but going the extra mile usually pays off for the business. Other than the odd comment about closing the account it seems that Chris has went well above and beyond what he had to do. I do note that his post was in the wee hours of the morning so it might not be as clear as it could be.

Readers of this thread will remember that Outsville took care of business and then some. A few tips and shipping is cheap marketing although I don't think that was Chris's main reason for the way he handled the matter. He has proven to be deserving of the good will the board has for him.

I got a terribly botched order from Atlas. It was so badly botched, about eight out of twelve types of components wrong, I really suspected an angry employee trying to stir grief for the company. Another order for the shelves and to try a new product or two. I called Atlas near the end of a day expecting no problems. I wasn't angry, no big deal. After I got the customer service from hell then I was annoyed. Reported what happened on the cue builders forum mostly as a chuckle.

Everybody told me to talk to one man, he would make things right. Good idea, except that was the man that had been a total jackass. I ate over a hundred dollars of that order and have told the story many a time. Big size doesn't always equal quality service. Most of our suppliers in the pool industry are exceptional, including Atlas usually. I didn't quit doing business with them because of the messed up order, I quit doing business with them because of the messed up customer service. Must have been the end of a bad day for K.

Hu

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Chris has a history of making good. Even when there was a botched batch of his chalk back in 2015, he sent free chalk to everyone who ordered that round.
Chris' customer service is common knowledge on AZ, and a thread like this could've waited for a week to include the resolution...especially when Chris made contact with Tom on the very day Tom contacted him. Instead it feels like a shakedown for a freebie.
And it worked. Tom got his stuff for free.

tashworth19191 said:

If Outsville makes it right and ships the tips, then I will post that as well.

Thanks, Tom

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Outsville was always going to ship the tips. The whole "if Outsville ships the tips, then" language reads as a shakedown. Tom owes Chris a whole new thread, praising Outsville and it's customer service. Basically Chris just paid for it.

Snooker Theory said:

I respectfully disagree, if you paid for expedited shipping on a product, and the seller has a "mishap" and doesn't send due to some error on their end.

You did NOT get what you paid for, because you paid an extra fee to have your order expedited. This wasn't an item lost in shipping which would be a different story.

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So when 2 day shipping is late because of USPS/FedEx/UPS do they offer a refund? Nope. Stop living in a fantasy world. If everyone and everything was perfect there wouldn’t be a need for laws. You’re going to lose your argument every single time, just let it go that you’re wrong.