Scrap...
You should never post about a problem, without first contacting the vendor privately, and allowing them time to fix it.
It doesn't matter who you are, or how good your products are, problems slip through. To me, the real test of a vendor is how they respond to problems. Dr Zooch has an excellent reputation not only for his products, but also for his customer service.
Now, that said, imagine if someone knows nothing about Dr Zooch, and comes looking for information, and the first thing he finds is your post. That's going to cast Dr Zooch in an undeserved negative light, and it's an uphill battle for Dr Zooch to fix it, from there.
You've said your dad owns a restaurant. Ask him sometime what the impact would be on his business if I were to have a problem with my food, and go start posting about the problem on forums where potential customers read, without ever having told your dad, or his staff, of the problem, and giving them the opportunity to fix it.
-Kevin
GREAT points!
I'm sorta going through it now... needed a pair of new rear tractor tires, $535 each for US made Titans. Talked to the lady when I was checking prices, took a day to convince my Dad that it made more sense to buy 8 ply US tires instead of 6 ply Indian tires or 10 ply Chinese tires that were $50 each less, because who knows what the quality is on Chinese stuff (not good from experience, IMHO). Ordered them, had to wait a week for delivery. Were supposed to be in Thursday evening, but weren't. Found out Friday that they were on the front of the 18 wheeler trailer and wouldn't be delivered by the trucking company until Monday. Had a blowout on the pickup going to get them after the bus route Monday evening, got there 5 minutes before closing. Saleslady didn't order the inner tubes, and only had one on hand. I noticed on the way home she overcharged me by $40 a tire, and since I confirmed the price when I ordered them, I called her back the next day to ask about it. Said she'd "call me back" and over 2 days play phone tag until I FINALLY get the refund for the overcharge. Tire guy had family problems and couldn't come out til Tuesday evening, and I had to run 15 miles to another location to get the tube on Tuesday. Tire guy installs the tires and I start cutting hay that needed to be cut two weeks ago, quality going to pot. Started cutting and two hours into the job, the left rear goes flat. My brother and I air it up three times to limp it the 1/2 mile to the shop at the other end of the farm. I let the tire guy know, he gets a different tube from his supplier and comes out at 6:30pm to fix it. Thought maybe the tube was pinched during installation-- turns out to be a faulty tube (failed glue joint from the factory). Called the saleslady who says she'll talk to the company and call me back (this after the like tenth time she said she'd call me back and has only actually called back ONCE and that was about 15 minutes after I'd called her the second time THAT PARTICULAR DAY after giving her a day or two to find out whatever and 'call me back'.) SO, now after calling her Friday morning about the faulty tube, requesting a $50 refund on the tube and seeing if they'll reimburse me for the $37 service call to replace the faulty tube, she's waiting to hear from her 'distributor' because she's got more faulty tubes there and other guys wanting their money back as well, and she hasn't "heard back from him" and "I'll call you back."
What an odyssey! You'd think with a nearly $1200 sale that they'd be a BIT more interested in customer service!
Funny how that works... Dr. Zooch sells terrific, fun, interesting, innovative, skill building kits with good parts for about $25 each (for most of them-- compare that with the prices for Estes "buy-n-fly" stuff which is almost always MUCH higher priced!) and if you have a problem will bend over backwards to make it right and get you what you need to get going again. Some of these tractor/equipment dealerships will leave you hanging on a several hundred or thousand dollar sale with thousands of dollars of crop or jobs hanging in the balance at risk from weather and such without breaking a sweat...
Reminds me of the time I was in Dyersville, IA at the National Farm Toy Show... I wanted to tour the Spec-Cast factory and Ertl plants. I was a little late (closing time, actually) and wanted to buy a rare 1/8 scale toy tractor for a project I've had in mind... I flew up in front of the offices and jumped out of the truck as an elderly old gentleman plainly dressed in slacks and a sweater vest was stepping out and locking the door. I asked if I missed them, and he said yes, but offered to help me, and asked what I needed. I told him, not expecting anything but "sorry, try again Monday" but he said, "well, let's see what we can do-- follow me to the Spec-Cast plant office down the road". He got in his ~1986 Ford van and I got in my 92 Ford pickup (this was in 98 or 99, BTW) and followed him to the other plant. He opened up the office, we went in, and looked around, but no 1/8 scale models. He said they might have some set aside in the plant for QC inspections, and he'd sell me one of those if I could live without the box, which of course I could... he told me how a lot of "collectors" want the box because it brings more when they sell it. He opened up the factory and we went inside, and climbed up to the attic area above the offices, where there was a large number of cast tractors. After about ten minutes of searching, we found exactly what I was after, and we returned to the office building/company store so I could pay him. After thanking him profusely for his time and trouble (it was now pushing 5:20 pm or so!) I told him my name and shook hands. "Hi... I'm
JOSEPH ERTL III!!!!" I was FLOORED! I visited another couple minutes, and told him, "Ya know Mr. Ertl, last year we bought a $10,000 tractor from our local dealer for the farm. I have to tell you, we got better service on this $100 toy tractor I just bought than we did on the $10,000 REAL one we bought last year... you spent a LOT more time and effort than they did to get us what we needed and get me fixed up, and
I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!" He smiled and shook my hand and said, "that's what we're in business for" and locked up, and I thanked him again for his time as he got in the van to drive home.
Now THAT is customer service! It's rare, and when you get guys that provide that rare kind of customer service, like Joe Ertl III, Wes at Dr. Zooch, Carl and Sheryl at SEMROC, and Tim Van Milligan and crew at Apogee (to name a few of the outstanding vendors that I
personally have experience with, which is SURELY an incomplete list and not denigrating or ignoring anyone else!) I for one like to support them wholeheartedly to the extent that I can, and providing a bit of "free word of mouth advertising" whenever I can. We need all the great vendors we can get!
Yall take it easy! OL JR