SEMROC PRICES MORE THAN DOUBLE!?!? APRIL FOOLS?!?!

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Thank you for making our annual April Fool's Day post successful!:D

This is the April Fools part folks!

I very seriously doubt that Carl A) raised his prices and B) posted his offer on the $50 coupon as a joke. Both events are real in my opinion. The joke was the April Fools statement above...making light of the situation.

I think Semroc of all places knows just how small the rocketry community is and knows not to do something that would cause that much harm to their reputation.

FC
 
^^Indeed.^^

Otherwise, someone would have to be prescient.

Emoticons are not what anyone would call "ideal."
 
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I am sorry for the delay in responding. Wednesday is food distribution day at the food bank and good weather today made it take longer than usual.

This thread was NOT an April Fool prank. Dave started the thread and happened to include April Fool in the header with the initial post in the early hours of April 1. Sheryl asked me if I had seen the tread 9 hours later. I responded after I had enough information to compose an answer, but that was almost 12 hours after the initial post.

I thanked Dave for a successful April Fool's "post", not prank. Our real April Fool's prank was cancelled at the last minute. We spent much time planning it the weekend before to coincide with the announcement of the release of the Starship Excalibur on April 1. We had a several page "script" of posts about my "lack-of-focus" problem (ADHD to the medical types). Sheryl was going to post, then Bruce, and occasionally some posts by me. It built to the point that Sheryl stormed out with the dogs as hostages, saying she would not return until I had the instructions for the Starship Excalibur finished so she could finally kit it. For avid waiters and watchers, I was supposed to have it ready almost three months ago, but too many "bright shiny objects" kept my attention somewhere else. When Sheryl found out her brother was in his final few days of cancer in Florida, she started booking a ticket to go there for a week or so to be with him and his wife. She stayed here to finish the kitting of the Starship Excalibur, but left as soon as possible after that. It took all the wind out of our plans for our "annual" April Fool's prank. I was not going to post anything on April 1, but Dave drew me out. Seriously, Dave, I thank you for that. I tend to withdraw and think of my problems too often. You reminded me that I should think of others first and then my problems would not seem so big.

I don't post enough (focus problem?) for most people to know whether I am serious or not. One of my Scouts remarked that the only way he could tell if I was serious was to listen for the snoring. Maybe for April Fool's there needs to be a :serious: emoticon. I promise I would not abuse it by using it too often. :lol:

If anyone placed an order because he thought any part of this thread was serious, we will refund his money and he can keep the order.

If anyone placed an order because he thought any part of this thread was not serious, we will refund his money and he can keep the order.

If anyone did not place an order because... Now I have a headache. ... But if we shipped his order, he can probably keep it, since some orders are still slipping out before the order is actually placed.

Disclaimer: 99.37% of this post is serious. I cannot determine how much of the other 2.75% is.
 
I'm confused. Was this an April Fools prank all along? So he didn't see prices he thought went up, didn't buy from someone else, no $50 gift card was sent, and the Semroc folks posting in here knew there was never an issue?

If so, that changes what I saw as being great customer service into something a lot less impressive.

Don't let it bug you, Mushtang... sometimes it's impossible to tell if something is a joke or not...

The point is, Carl and Sheryl and the good folks at Semroc do an amazing job for the rocketry community... and they do it politely and with a smile... I've known this since I went to the National Sport Launch a few years back in Muncie, which was the first national event I ever attended... I dragged my two teenage nephews along with me, since they were working on their 4H rocketry projects at the time... We spent a good amount of time in the Vendor Tent (big circus tent with a TON of different rocketry vendors set up in there... rocketry paradise! After nearly getting clobbered by someone's rocket that went astray and plopped down on the test just above our heads while I was having a conversation with Jim Flis about his (then) new "Mud Wasp" micro-kit (the errant rocket didn't penetrate the canopy, but made a heck of a noise right over our heads when it hit, slid down the tent awning, and promptly dropped into a trash barrel about 3 feet behind Jim under the tent eave... a perfect "hole in one" splashdown that was a million to one shot, that others have discussed in other threads here... :)) At any rate, after talking with Jim and picking up some baffles and stuff, parachutes from Top-Flite, nose cones from Sandman or BMS (can't recall which ATM) and various and sundry other parts, I took the boys over to the Semroc tables/booth...

They needed to pick out a kit for their 4H fair project... I tried giving them a little advice, but you know how teens are... anyway, Carl and Sheryl went through the ENTIRE lineup of Semroc rockets, asked them questions about their experience and knowledge of rocketry and construction of rockets, what the RULES were for the fair projects, and helped them select the RIGHT KITS that they could do a good job on and have the BEST SHOT at winning the fair with... and they spent probably close to 45 minutes doing it! All that for ONE SALE... they guided the boys gently through it, explaining why some of the more complicated and expensive kits might not be the BEST kit for the contest, and why with their experience (limited) and the rules that another simpler, somewhat cheaper kit was a better choice for them, and they'd likely have better luck with it... I was impressed by that too... rather than taking advantage of some wide-eyed kids that didn't know a whole lot but who had money in hand, and of course being boys were drawn to the ultra cool, ultra complex and more expensive kits, rather than take them for their money and talk them into the ultra-cool kit that they'd be hard pressed to get put together right and do a good job and having it looking great for the contest, they instead worked with them to get them what they NEEDED-- what would give them the best chance of winning the contest... which is exactly what Tim (with some construction coaching from his goofy uncle) did-- won the fair contest and went to State Fair (Indiana) with his rocket...

Now, THAT is customer service...

I've heard on many different occassions where someone had a rare goof on their order, damage in shipping, or whatever, and Semroc simply sends them a new order free of charge, and tells them to keep whatever was goofed up for parts or whatever... I've heard of orders getting misplaced in transit and not showing up, Semroc sent a replacement order, and a couple days later the original one shows up, and they tell the customer "keep them both, on us" and don't want payment for the duplicate order... THAT is customer service...

You won't find Semroc gouging on shipping charges, insulting customers while "dealing with their issues", or posting insulting stuff or telling them "you're not the kind of customer we're looking for-- please leave and never come back" type stuff either... THAT is customer service...

If a few April Fools jokes are the worst we have to put up with in turn, well, *I* for one can take that... LOL:)

Later! OL JR :)
 
If anyone placed an order because he thought any part of this thread was serious, we will refund his money and he can keep the order.

If anyone placed an order because he thought any part of this thread was not serious, we will refund his money and he can keep the order.

If anyone did not place an order because... Now I have a headache. ... But if we shipped his order, he can probably keep it, since some orders are still slipping out before the order is actually placed.

Disclaimer: 99.37% of this post is serious. I cannot determine how much of the other 2.75% is.

Okay, I'm tempted to order something just to see what happens!

FC
 
...what service? The stuff I haven't ordered yet isn't here!@!!...


....wait....haven't ordered...isn't here......

*slinks back under rock*
 
Believe me, there has been nothing about this thread being an April Fool's joke. As Carl stated earlier, we had planned a conversation between Carl, Bruce, and myself on our computers about Carl's lack of focus. We were also planning to announce the Starship Excalibur. It was really like a day at Semroc but everything changed when I found out that my brother was going down fast. Finished kitting and sending out as many orders as I could before I left for Florida (I'm with him and his wife now).

Sheryl
 
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