The Tribulations of Owning a Shop

RC

A few weeks back, we opened the RC NUT shop in Sandbach

Ever since, it’s been quite an experience, especially when it comes to dealing with Agents.

Today got the cake, I got an email from the Agent for “The Hobby Company” that really upset me, I had asked him to put a list of plastic models and paint for me, as he knows better than myself what is selling, worth about £500 plus another £280 or so worth of paint (hey, it’s an £800 order for him visiting me for 20 minutes, and these are very cheap products too, so it’s a nice size order).

I got the list this morning, and I was quite happy with it, so I sent him an email back saying “looks good, will buy in a few weeks (just got done paying a large order to Ripmax)”

And the guy goes mental, sends me an email all pissed off that I told him I would buy it in October (I still might) and that he came over because I said i was going to put an order etc etc etc .. all bitchy and acting as if I had done something wrong or wasted his time, I meet the man ONCE, have since sent him one email (that I NEVER got a reply to), thats it ….

Who the F*** does this guy thinks he is ? I am the customer, not him, he needs to kiss my ass to gain my business, not act as if it’s my privilege to be able to buy from his company, Models Shops go out of business in this country by the dozen per year, so we are very careful, we have a proper business plan, and buy all stock cash, so we dont get into loans and a big overhead .. makes sense .. no ?.

But that seems to be a common problem, like another rep called me a few days back saying “Hi, I am from company X, I am in the vicinity .. mind if I pop in and show you our products ?” now, bare in mind, I never called these people, so I said yes, he came in about 2 hours later, after his presentation, I told him thanks, and informed him I would reviewed his catalogs and if i decided to buy something I’d call

He was all surprised by this, the man actually EXPECTED an order .. now, I dont know him, or his products, I need to research .. do these Agents actually think peer pressure will make you buy ? .. well, it seems YES .. so what is this ? .. are the other Model Shop owners all sucked into buying anything every time these guys some by ?

To be honest, I dont even need them to come by, once the account is set, I do my own orders, I dont need some fancy suit to come in and tell me they think I should buy this months overstock special .. the one that did not sold before and now they trying to flog .. nor I need somebody pressuring me to buy more than I need … yes, I know it’s their job, and they get paid on commission, but sorry .. I got no patience for such behavior.

It’s just, that once again, doing business in the UK continues to surprise me… 🙂

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NullMind

Portuguese born, american accent, living in UK.

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