Thursday 26 August 2010

eCommerce, what's that?

Finding a more robust hub puller that won't break the bank turned out to be more of a challenge than expected. I found one that looked like it fitted the bill but some of the critical dimensions were missing from the catalogue. So I shot off a quick e-mail to the manufacturer. The next day they kindly sent me a jpeg of the hub puller blue prints. When I checked all the dimensions it definitely fitted the bill so I decided to buy one.

I expected making the purchase to be the simplest step - but I was wrong. I couldn't find anyone online that sold it. I hoped the manufacturer would sell to me direct, but they would only sell through their resellers. I was supplied with a short list of motor factors in the area.

On calling the nearest I was informed that they didn't have the item in stock but they could order it in for me. "How much will it cost?", I enquired. "I don't know but I'll give you the sales rep's mobile number".

The rep was very helpful. He didn't know how much the puller cost either, but he said he'd call me back after he'd phoned the manufacturer to find out. Ten minutes later he called back to tell me the price and said he could have one at my local motor factor in a week.

To summarise this purchase required me to write one e-mail and make three phone calls. Then the sales rep had to make at least two phone calls. And after all that I still have to get in my car next week to go and buy it! The shopping experience doesn't hold up well when compared to Amazon.

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