I know Norm. It just some years they seems to just come out of the woodwork and it does gets irritating especially when the vendors are also causing problems. I go through this every few years. Just the with Covid it just seems worst this time around, plus as I get older it bothers me more.
I move from an area that had the nickname Poor Dog and it had it for a reason as they wouldn't even give a poor dog a biscuit. Have you ever heard the term "It a dog eat dog world"? I have seen pack of neighbor dogs turn on one, kill it and then eat it as they were so hungry. It is a sight I don't want to see again.
I was trying to get some info from vendor recently, email them and got no response for two weeks so I emailed again. Finally I got a phone a week later. The rep started right off by saying he had been calling everyday for three weeks and I would not answer the phone. Well I got VOIP phone setup that records every phone call number coming and going; there was no such calls. I told him that he had already lost the sell of three rolls of saw chain to my Oregon supplier. That was well over a $1000 if I had brought from him but instead cost me a little $1300 for the better chain. IF he was calling he could instead emailed the info or even just mailed it.
It bad enough customer try to jerk me around but when a vendor does it is worst. I now looking for a new vendor to replace them. They just don't know it that I am but should be able figure it out by the sales drop. The sales had already dropped in half due to after market belt problems but it looks to be under $1000 or less this year as I replace them. But of course a big corporation don't care about the small customer that help build their company over the years.
A few years ago I had a main after market supplier that supposedly closed down to do annual inventory the next thing I knew they had completely shutdown. That left me in a severe bind as I orders awaiting for them to re-open during my busy season here. It took nearly six months to find reliable replacement vendors. I ended up with a couple OEM distributors which which was actually a good thing.
When to the whipper snippers here if it is curve shaft model they are pretty well scrap everytime due to repair costs. It about the same for the cheaper four cycle models. Only the Stihl 4 mix and the Shindaiwa ones are worth fixing due to oiling problem of the cheaper units.
VOIP = Voice Over Internet Protocol
