Newb Questions: Seyberts tricks me?

N

NervousNovice

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello.

I wanted to buy a cue from Seyberts (http://www.seyberts.com/) and on the screen where I add a cue to the shopping cart, I have an option to purchase a few items along with that cue at 10% off. I thought "Oh! That's great. I need to get a Tip Pik anyway." So I add it along with my cue. The total weighs 4.5 lbs (3 lbs for cue, 1 lbs for shipping to Canada, and 0.5 lbs for Tip Pik).

I didn't notice that weight break down at first. But then I went to the tip tools page and added another tip pik for my friend. I noticed the extra weight was only 0.1 lbs. It turns out the tip pik that goes long with the cue is weighted much heavier. And in my case, the extra weight actually costs more shipping than the 10% off saving.

Oh man. I think I almost got tricked.
 
NervousNovice said:
Oh man. I think I almost got tricked.
Click to expand...


I'm not going to disagree that the increased shipping cost may have been an annoying surprise, but I don't neccessarily agree with calling it a trick. When I used Seybert's for a cue purchase, there's a final page that clearly itemizes each item and the shipping cost (if any) well before you commit to the purchase.

I can't find much tricky about that. :confused:
 
NO, but

that I have noticed a few Billiards websites that 'short change' the customers on details about shipping charges, in other words, they have a 1 size fits all type attitude on shipping charges, when the specific order dictates that the shipping charges should be something else.

I have the perfect example:

I ordered a special patch from a billiards website for $3.50, and on the final order page, it stated shipping charges was to be $4.50 (their standard shipping charge), and the patch came in a $.39 envelope. See something wrong here??????? I paid with Paypal, which is the only way I have to pay for it.

That's not the end of the story. I previously, probably a year ago, had ordered the same patch, along with 2 stickers for about a $6.50 total plus $4.50 shipping charge (their standard shipping charge), paid for by Paypal, and they ended up REFUNDING $3.33 back to my Paypal account.

What I surmised from these experiences is: The website, or company, does not have a computerized inventory system which ties to point of sale, which would give them the necessary information on orders to
CALCULATE what the actual shipping charges would be. Plus, actual shipping rate tables have to be updated quite frequently to stay current on them.

This is just one of the problems that customers can experience with someone going in overnight and establishing a website to sell various items, they skimp or shortcut the necessary programming that would make the website a quality website, maybe because they have a friend of a friend, or someone that has played with computers for years, but is not formally trained to do programming do the website.
 
Snapshot9 said:
that I have noticed a few Billiards websites that 'short change' the customers on details about shipping charges, in other words, they have a 1 size fits all type attitude on shipping charges, when the specific order dictates that the shipping charges should be something else.

I have the perfect example:

I ordered a special patch from a billiards website for $3.50, and on the final order page, it stated shipping charges was to be $4.50 (their standard shipping charge), and the patch came in a $.39 envelope. See something wrong here??????? I paid with Paypal, which is the only way I have to pay for it.

That's not the end of the story. I previously, probably a year ago, had ordered the same patch, along with 2 stickers for about a $6.50 total plus $4.50 shipping charge (their standard shipping charge), paid for by Paypal, and they ended up REFUNDING $3.33 back to my Paypal account.

What I surmised from these experiences is: The website, or company, does not have a computerized inventory system which ties to point of sale, which would give them the necessary information on orders to
CALCULATE what the actual shipping charges would be. Plus, actual shipping rate tables have to be updated quite frequently to stay current on them.

This is just one of the problems that customers can experience with someone going in overnight and establishing a website to sell various items, they skimp or shortcut the necessary programming that would make the website a quality website, maybe because they have a friend of a friend, or someone that has played with computers for years, but is not formally trained to do programming do the website.
Click to expand...
I will have to agree with u. They do need to take an extra step further, but that really is a challenge and would give kudos to anyone who has. I work for a company that ship various size materials. Writing the software to generate the appropriate shipping costs is not the difficult part. Writing the software for items being packed maybe a bit more challenging. There is a some-what human factor: who is packing it, how is it being packed and such. Small companies like the one i work for, do not have automated packing systems simply because they can't afford it. Moreover, the savings factor comes into play. The person who is shipping it out will do what he/she can in their power to save on shipping without compromising the physical product; therefore the price of shipping anything will vary.

I do have to admit.... it does suck doing the "one size fits all" pricing scale for shipping.
 
NervousNovice said:
Hello.

I wanted to buy a cue from Seyberts (http://www.seyberts.com/) and on the screen where I add a cue to the shopping cart, I have an option to purchase a few items along with that cue at 10% off. I thought "Oh! That's great. I need to get a Tip Pik anyway." So I add it along with my cue. The total weighs 4.5 lbs (3 lbs for cue, 1 lbs for shipping to Canada, and 0.5 lbs for Tip Pik).

I didn't notice that weight break down at first. But then I went to the tip tools page and added another tip pik for my friend. I noticed the extra weight was only 0.1 lbs. It turns out the tip pik that goes long with the cue is weighted much heavier. And in my case, the extra weight actually costs more shipping than the 10% off saving.

Oh man. I think I almost got tricked.
Click to expand...

It's not trickery, it's the program.

The shipping cost is only estimated, so something like the tip pik is NOT going to add significantly to your shipping cost.

-Roger
 
Not only that but a lot of those carts and shipping quotes aren't handled by the billiard supply store, they are generic programs. The true shipping cost is almost always different than the quoted one, which kind of sucks but that's the way it's generated.
 
Shipping is the new rip-off online and mail order. There are people that sell a $5.00 at the store item for $2.00 but charge triple shipping costs. Ebay has a ton of people making all the profit on over charging for shipping. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Shipping is the new rip-off online and mail order. There are people that sell a $5.00 at the store item for $2.00 but charge triple shipping costs. Ebay has a ton of people making all the profit on over charging for shipping. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

That might be true but it's not in this case.

Seyberts is an outstanding billiards company, they do not trick their customers and cheat them with bogus shipping charges. Period. End of story.

-Roger
 
If you're in Canada and looking for a cue, try askacues on ebay or cuestore.ca. The first one has better prices, and the seller has great feedback rating.
 
Seyberts is an excellent and HONEST billiard supply company---they don't trick anyone. All of the shipping costs are up front BEFORE you pay for them. Nothing's hidden. If you don't like what you see, don't buy it.

And by the way, when Seyberts says "10% off" they mean off the suggested retail price, which is shown, along with the discounted price.
When you put the item in your cart the price already reflects the 10% savings.

No smoke and mirrors here.

Seyberts is awesome! Superior customer service!

Rick P.
 
The packaging method and the induced shipping cost are certainly variables that are sometimes beyond their control. However, the weight of an item should be fixed. If a tip pik weights 1 lbs all the way, then let it be. But it does not make sense to have a discounted tip pik weighting 1 lbs and a regulard priced tip pik weighting 0.1 lbs.

As a customer, when I see a tip pik at 10% off, I would expect by purchasing that instead of a regulard priced tip pik, I would be saving some $, or at least won't be spending more $$. This is clearly not the case here with Seyberts.

I have heard that Seyberts is a large store with reputation. Maybe it is not a trick, but it is misleading.
 
Email Seyberts. Explain the situation so they can fix your order. If they have a problem with the way their billing software is written (the weight of the item), they need to know so it can be fixed. Have heard nothing but good about them so was surprised to read about your problem.
Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
 
I've order 2 cues from them last week. Since then, I've been calling then every single day to follow up on my cues arrival. They ALWAYS respond to my phonecalls and e-mails. So try e-mailing them and ask about the exact weight. The weight you see on your page might be an estimate.
 
I've bought 4 or 5 cues from Seyberts, none of them online. Use the 800#. That way you know your both on the same page.
Justin Nuder
 
There's a lot that goes into shipping a package besides the actual product. We use a "one size fits most" type of system based on dollar amount and not weight. Our "handling" charges are not reflected in the cost of the item so we have to charge for the box and the person to verify the order, box it up, shipping, and then customer service. I'm not saying that I agree with the system, but charging the actual shipping cost doesn't cut it.

Call Seyberts and have a civil conversation with them. They may give you a credit on your next purchase. Worst thing they could say is no.
 
NervousNovice said:
Hello.

I wanted to buy a cue from Seyberts (http://www.seyberts.com/) and on the screen where I add a cue to the shopping cart, I have an option to purchase a few items along with that cue at 10% off. I thought "Oh! That's great. I need to get a Tip Pik anyway." So I add it along with my cue. The total weighs 4.5 lbs (3 lbs for cue, 1 lbs for shipping to Canada, and 0.5 lbs for Tip Pik).

I didn't notice that weight break down at first. But then I went to the tip tools page and added another tip pik for my friend. I noticed the extra weight was only 0.1 lbs. It turns out the tip pik that goes long with the cue is weighted much heavier. And in my case, the extra weight actually costs more shipping than the 10% off saving.

Oh man. I think I almost got tricked.
Click to expand...
The possibility that Seybert's was trying to "trick" anyone is virtually non-existent in my estimation. It was probably a clerical oversight or a problem with the software doing the shopping cart.
Call or email Sid or Rick at Seybert's they'll straighten it out.
 
Hi guys,
When I first set up the savings on extra items when purchased with a cue, I originally intended to offer just the colors of chalk.

So, I had made the new table in the database to handle the chalk and wrote the scripts to make it all work. Then I came up with the idea of just offering just blue chalk and add some of the more popular tip tools and shaft cleaning supplies that would go nicely with a new cue purchase.

Proud of my neat new idea, I loaded a variety of tip and shaft tools to the database. Unfortunately I did not think about the weight difference because chalk, no matter what the color, would weight the same. So I had the weight set just for the chalk… period.

When I changed it to the different items as the afterthought, I forgot about the weight differences.

I have now updated the table to include a field for the proper weight for each item that we enter in the “extra items” when purchased with a cue. The change is now reflected on our website.

I have found over the past few years that most of our “tricks” have a direct correlation to my stupidity.

I apologize for any inconvenience that this might have caused.

Sid Kreis
Seybert’s Billiard Supply
702 East Chicago Road
Coldwater, MI 49036
www.seyberts.com
Phone: 517-279-7585
Toll Free: 877-314-2837
Fax: 517-279-8765
 
NervousNovice said:
The packaging method and the induced shipping cost are certainly variables that are sometimes beyond their control. However, the weight of an item should be fixed. If a tip pik weights 1 lbs all the way, then let it be. But it does not make sense to have a discounted tip pik weighting 1 lbs and a regulard priced tip pik weighting 0.1 lbs.

As a customer, when I see a tip pik at 10% off, I would expect by purchasing that instead of a regulard priced tip pik, I would be saving some $, or at least won't be spending more $$. This is clearly not the case here with Seyberts.

I have heard that Seyberts is a large store with reputation. Maybe it is not a trick, but it is misleading.
Click to expand...


The thing that's bugging me about this thread you started is that you weren't "tricked" out of anything. You noticed an increase in shipping costs that seemed odd and you decided not to go forward with your purchase. No money spent, no money lost. Fair enough.

What really isn't fair or helpful to anyone is starting a thread assuming that it was a deliberate "trick" without making any attempt to even ask Seybert's what the deal was before you came to your conclusions.


Edit - I really should learn to write faster!
 
Funny and Honest

sid said:
I have found over the past few years that most of our “tricks” have a direct correlation to my stupidity.
Click to expand...

Very funny and Very Honest! I read it and just started to laugh. After reading this post - Seyberts is the first place I am going to look for any accessories I need.

BVal
 
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