Posts Regarding Board Sponsors

[Coopie]

Here's my input, for what it's worth...

If we accept and even encourage members to post about their positive experiences regarding sponsors then what credibility do we have if negative experiences are edited or deleted?

Fact is, in any business nothing runs at 100% perfection. Good businesses strive for customer satisfaction which means, often times, accepting a financial loss for the greater goal of creating good will generating a positive buzz about their practices. If this process is censored so that only rave reviews are posted then the entire reputation of all the sponsors becomes questionable.

Having said that, I will agree with rAJJIN (from a separate post) in which he stated that it is inappropriate to discuss an order on an open forum. He is 100% correct. However, where appropriate, an open and honest discussion should be encouraged - not punished!

The entire point of a "sponsor" is that they have the seal of approval from the Mods. Furthermore, the Mods can serve as diplomats and facilitate the resolution of a problem when issues arrise. Contacting a Mod should be the first escalation if a member is disatisfied with a sponsor's process. Give the Mods time to resolve the problem before posting it openly. But, if this process is followed and the customer is still unhappy then in my opinion, that is something that should be shared openly. Let us members judge the merits of the complaint for ourselves or, better yet, let the sponsor respond and give their side of the story.

This is the only way for members to shop with confidence and to respect the sponsor relationship with our board.

 

[bearpaw992000]

I agree 100%

I agree with U coopie 100% and thats all I was doing in my posts, because so many come to this board and think once a order is placed U will have 100% delivery guarantee and the best customer service around and that is not the case all the time like we R led to beleive. But all my post were deleted.

 

[LMR]

very good point and the honesty should be out there if a sponsor suddenly has multiple problems then the board members need to be aware not having the issue shoved under the rug.

But and i say but because i am on the other end. i am negotiating now with the IBE owners to become a sponsor here. I do have banners on other boards and myself run an entire IBE discussion forum tailored to not just bodybuilding but our products.

that being said im in charge of damage control on the boards. I see what members can do to sponsors if they are not happy. I get complaints on my board and I do let them go. sometimes i feel we needed that verbal spanking if we slacked a little on customer service. I like to leave it out there so the owners can see it and oh shit themselves and go to the warehouse to find out whats going on themselves.

most of the time though you have to delete some of this stuff. bad threads have a habit of spreading like a disease and will bring down a net company very easily over the littlest incident. some people are just whiners and even though you took care of the problem they go on and on and on.

i have seen first hand companies reputable go under over a sudden spread of rumors over one out of hand incident and i have to tell you guys sometimes shit happends. sometimes shipping delays are out of our hands. sometimes we run out of products suddenly or again we get the whiner that is never satisfied.

we have to exercise damage control so it's a fine line leaving up a thread or taking it down. usually the mods know whats going on if problems are come up with a stock shortage or something and can explain on our behalf.

let me give an example of what happened to IBE recently.

Katrina the nastiest hurricane on the lower coast took out louisiana. Guess where IBE's warehouse is. Yep you guessed it...right where katrina hit in louisiana. Not only that but the owners and employee's homes were destroyed and IBE had no internet or phone contact with lines down.

So then it was left up to me to begin a month's long damage control literally from board to board. No one knew really IBE was in louisiana or watched the news enough to know what happened.

IBE had hundreds of out standing orders all of a sudden and guess what the boards started to do... witch hunt IBE calling them scammers and bash them for poor customer service. So the battle was on.

I had to explain in hundreds of emails, pm's, and threads in detail my contact with the owners (which was minimal). Had to explain the warehouse destruction and what Katrina did. I had a lot of help from mods across the boards and board owners. With out there cooperation the damage would have been uncontrolable. IBE almost went down in one month if it wasn't for a combined effort of faithful customers, mods, board owners, and me.

Now they are back full force and even better. So you see, shit happends and most wont understand that. it's a fine line leaving up bad threads on businesses because these boards have a habit of witch hunting or hanging a sponsor to easily.


oh and i almost forgot. let me tell you guys that the united states postal service is one of the worst delivery services you can use. no wonder private companies are popping up all over and utilized more often. I have seen express orders take up to 2 weeks if not longer to get shipped to a guy not even a full state over. The package arrived crushed, torn open and late as hell. Despite IBE shipping it off timely. Come to find out the post office in IBE's home town let it sit in the office for a week or so before even sending it like they are supposed to. Happends to IBE all the freakin time and we catch slack for that. Customers think we're lieing or something and it's the damn post office that screwed it up.

 

[mung]

Slightly off topic from Coopie's original post, but I have to say IBE really went the extra mile during that time. I had placed an order prior to Katrina and I was one who had no idea where they were located. They sent me an email, and I did not email them about the delay on my order, explaining their situation and the product arrived shortly thereafter. That is worth posting about! And as a business owner, I need ALL feedback in order to improve my quality of service....good and bad. Just wanted to share my experience.

 

[massmonster32]

Excellent point waiting 6 months ( well you always recieve ) but for a 7-10 shipment time frame is unacceptable. People should be made aware of the problems delays if someone is consistantly having them. There are some excellent sponsers on this board though so censorship should not be a problem. But people should be allowed however to post experiences good or not. MM

 

[Big A]

The problem you have is that usually, complaints are made by people that have just registered and have 1 or 2 posts. How often do you see complaints from members that are known?
As such, the complaints do not have credibility, especially when that is the first time the sponsor and the mods know there's a problem - the complainer usually doesn't contact the sponsor or the mods first like he should.
Who is to say that the complainer is not just a competitor trying to cause trouble for a sponsor?

This is the reason why complaints should be followed through the proper channels. If then an issue is not resolved, then the sponsor is removed. That has happened in the past with some.

But if you do not follow the proper procedure and you just complain in the open board, your post will be erased as it has no credibility.

 

[Steak Helmet]

The problem you have is that usually, complaints are made by people that have just registered and have 1 or 2 posts. How often do you see complaints from members that are known?
As such, the complaints do not have credibility, especially when that is the first time the sponsor and the mods know there's a problem - the complainer usually doesn't contact the sponsor or the mods first like he should.
Who is to say that the complainer is not just a competitor trying to cause trouble for a sponsor?

This is the reason why complaints should be followed through the proper channels. If then an issue is not resolved, then the sponsor is removed. That has happened in the past with some.

But if you do not follow the proper procedure and you just complain in the open board, your post will be erased as it has no credibility.

it seems newbies are causing the issues...I am sure they have not done their homework on how to successfully receive a pack on their end...so some work people read more and learn how to protect yourself before ordering.

 

[Coopie]

The problem you have is that usually, complaints are made by people that have just registered and have 1 or 2 posts. How often do you see complaints from members that are known?
As such, the complaints do not have credibility, especially when that is the first time the sponsor and the mods know there's a problem - the complainer usually doesn't contact the sponsor or the mods first like he should.
Who is to say that the complainer is not just a competitor trying to cause trouble for a sponsor?

This is the reason why complaints should be followed through the proper channels. If then an issue is not resolved, then the sponsor is removed. That has happened in the past with some.

But if you do not follow the proper procedure and you just complain in the open board, your post will be erased as it has no credibility.

I agree 100% - that's why I stated that the first course of action should be proper communication with the sponsor. Then, if the issue is still not resolved, look to the mods for help. As a final step, however, I think that open communication is the best option.

 

[bigbadasian]

Reply

|--[\\\]>--------- if the board puts up a biz. as a sponsor, you know that they are backed by the mod staff 100%. now can we promise that a particular person/persons will NEVER go south...NO, we cant. but before they can advertise, they are tested and proven to be trustworthy. I have had many emails asking me if i back so and so, and that is exactly what members should do before ordering, check with mods and do some research to see what their track records are. If an issue arrises, take it up off the boards with mods. 90% of the time, when mods work on the issue, it usually gets resolved in a matter of time.

As far as openly voicing opinions about the source, my vote is to keep it OFF THE BOARDS. its just not smart talking about biz. practices good or bad in the open.

 

[STEVO 47]

The problem you have is that usually, complaints are made by people that have just registered and have 1 or 2 posts. How often do you see complaints from members that are known?
As such, the complaints do not have credibility, especially when that is the first time the sponsor and the mods know there's a problem - the complainer usually doesn't contact the sponsor or the mods first like he should.
Who is to say that the complainer is not just a competitor trying to cause trouble for a sponsor?

This is the reason why complaints should be followed through the proper channels. If then an issue is not resolved, then the sponsor is removed. That has happened in the past with some.

But if you do not follow the proper procedure and you just complain in the open board, your post will be erased as it has no credibility.

It is a little bold when first two posts are of a complaint about a sponcor
instead of joining in on some of the discusions or at least contribute
info. they're here for one reason only. And then to sit there and bitch.

 

[TooPowerful4u]

I agree its mostly the newbies having problems. I have used a few of the board sponsors myself, and have never had less than stellar service. Marssel i used a long time ago before he was even advertised here, and he took care of me big time (pack caught, no seizure letter) and i still got my order 100%. Not to mention everything in perfect condition and packaged really well.

Newbies are impatient and dont understand how things work. When was the last time one of the well known peeps on here complained? You dont take up your problem on the board anyway, you email the source and give them a chance to handle it.. and im almost positive it will be taken care of. Big A is extremly reputable and holds a high standard for his board... i would find it impossible to believe he would allow anything but the best on his board.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Very good points. Everyone has to realize that a lot goes on behind the scenes with the mods when REASONABLE problems occur and a member lets us know. I've personally seen BigA really, and I mean REALLY, go out of his way. He doesn't have to do that. Even to the point of taking matters into his own hands. So you have a customer (you) and a service provider but you also have a hands-on ambassador between you both to see that things get taken care of. Where are you going to find that elsewhere? Most seisures wind up with "Oh well... your cards got seized. Sucks to be you!"

A post that is just a rant, especially when it's your 1st or 2nd post, isn't going to attract anyones attention except that it may get deleted. Now I see the board is filled with threads that are all sponsor related and not informational. This doesn't go well for anyone. Try to remember that you're not ordering wristwatches here... I was getting impatient with an order myself only to find that 100% was going to be resent and THEN a week later a seisure letter was in my box. I felt pretty stupid. I'm glad now that I didn't post anything in the open (and I never would).