FEATURE ARTICLE FOR May/June 2008
"Why don't you carry this brand"?
Almost every week we are approached by a vendor trying to get
his or her goods on our sales floor. Some of the brands we have never heard of,
and others are known to us. We consider ourselves Watchdogs of the
appliance industry. Over the years products have come and gone from our floor
due to circumstances beyond our control. Since we do not repair we rely on
outside sources and the consumer to report to us any instances of service,
especially under factory warranty. Here are the guidelines we look at before we
decide to take on a new product.
1 Who is the distributor and/or manufacturer? Do we have a relationship with
them already? Does this product fit our niche.
2 Who is set up as primary servicer in our area? Do we have a relationship with
them already?
3 What is the return policy of the distributor/manufacturer? What will they do
if a product has multiple service calls?
4 Is the rep reliable, will they come into our store and provide us with product
training and literature? How often can we expect them to call on us in a given
month?
5 Have there been any known problems by this manufacturer that have caused us
grief in the past and how serious was it.
6 Does this distributor/manufacturer have a good consumer affairs department?
7 How easy is this product to service.
Once we have determined that the distributor/manufacturer has fulfilled these
requirements and we can trust them to take care of us we will take on the line.
If at any time the distributor/manufacturer does not come through as promised we
pull the line. There have been in the past a few products and one or two
distributors/manufacturers that have fallen into the excessive service area and
refused to take care of the customer by replacing the product under warranty.
When we have to step up and do this, the distributor is put on notice and given
a very short time to take care of the problem. Also if there is a known defect
by the manufacturer and they continue to ship faulty product after knowing that
the replacements have the same issues that product is put on quality hold until
they can assure us that the product is OK to sell. Usually it is too late by
then and our staff will not even show or recommend that product for years.
If the factory service set up by the manufacturer or distributor is lousy we
abandon the product immediately unless we can get someone else, like an
independent servicer, that knows what they are doing. We are very careful not to
sell product to areas where there is no known service for that product. If one
lives in a remote location, this is often an issue with high-end niche pieces.
If the shipper cannot get product to us in a reasonable time frame or there are
too many damage issues we halt orders and try to fix the problem. If distributor
/manufacturer do not comply se stop selling immediately and ask to have any and
all product purchased returned.
These guidelines are put in place to not only protect us but to ultimately
protect the customer from having issues after installation or time of delivery.
We strive for 100% filled orders at time of delivery. It costs too much to make
multiple deliveries if the manufacturer/distributor cannot get product to us in
a reasonable time frame. Sometimes there is a strike at a factory or product is
waiting for a vendor to supply a part to finish manufacturing and we understand
that. What happens is that our sales staff will rotate to something we can get
in the consumer’s time frame that is the same or better quality. The product
that is unavailable subjects itself to being forgotten by our sales staff and
any momentum it had had as a popular product disappears and sometimes never
regains its popularity here.
Believe me, if it is not on our floor then you don’t want it. There is a real
reason that we do not sell it. And that reason has been floating around for
years “Buyer Beware.” Sometimes a product does not get a good review in a
consumer magazine or blogs on the internet. We use our customer’s opinions and
most of the time find that if they do not report a problem to us then the
reports are wrong or somehow convoluted. Many new products do not work the same
as the ones previously owned. Laundry and dishwasher technology has changed so
much in the last 10 years that the consumer must read the use and care books to
understand times, wash temperatures, the proper type of soap, the quantity of
soap, and other additives that can or cannot be used with the new product. Our
sales staff does a great job explaining this to the user but sometimes the
customer forgets what they were told and uses the machine wrong. This leads to
an education service call, which still shows up as service being needed when it
was only education on how to use the machine. These calls are reported with just
as much weight as a repair so the report may be lopsided as to what is really
happening out there. This is why we are the “Watchdogs.” We understand
how to read between the lines in these reports and know whether they are
believable or not.
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