Open Letter to Mac’s

[linechaser32]

Great letter! Sad, but true.

[ford38v8]

I found out how mattresses are always on sale 50% off, without triggering laws against doing just that: The manufacturers make up a batch of mattresses with a "new" pattern, put a price on them of twice an identical mattress having a "closeout" pattern. Of course, only the old "closeout" pattern sells, so, two or six or three months from now, another "new" pattern is introduced, while the previous "New" pattern goes on sale.

Ever try to compare mattresses from one store to another to get the "Low Price Guarantee"? Not only are patterns exclusive to a particular retailer, the model names and firmness ratings are exclusive and proprietary on otherwise identical mattresses! Forget about comparison shopping and low price guarantees!

I used mattresses as an example only. The same shady practices are widely used by competitors (of all sorts of products) who are not~so~strangely cooperative with each other.

Take for example gasoline... The good old gasoline "Price Wars" from many years ago at individual stations were Honest To Goodness Sales, By Cracky! Just ask the independent who was put out of business by the Corporate Oil Companies. The "Supply and Demand" prices of gasoline today is rigged from before the oil comes out of the ground.

Airfare? Our Government even gets into the collusion, and is proud of it.

Potatoes versus corn? Did I say government? Politicians in the pockets of the Agrochemical Lobbies.

Whoo, boy, I bet I hit a few nerves today.

[Eckler's]

Originally Posted by SofaKing

Yesterday, I ordered 4 small parts that I need before reinstalling the drivetrain in my truck. I checked my e-mail inbox because it is a wasteland of almost daily exhortations from you and every other company to stop what I am doing and send you a bunch of money so that I can get a small discount. As usual, all the email offers from you were expired or had too high a minimum order and were therefore useless to me. I placed my order last evening with the knowledge that I was paying 40% more on 2 of the parts that could be obtained elsewhere because elsewhere did not carry the other two parts so any savings would be lost on shipping and fondling charges from two places instead of one. I also placed the order knowing that 25% of the cost of the transaction was shipping and fondling which seems extortionary but there you are. I woke up this morning at 0400 to join the rest of the wage-slaves in the sale of my life to the highest bidder and while checking my inbox to verify my order was received, I found an e-mail offering up to 16% off of anything with no minimum order, today only. Normally, I prefer not to get kicked in the balls before my first cup of coffee. To that end, I would like to kindly request that you adjust the “auto-insult” level of the spamming feature on your email system down from “infuriating” to “mildly vexing” or even “hollow appreciation”. Like all the other junkies, I will still need to avail myself of your services to get my “fix” but maybe I won’t resent you quite as much for pimping me.

Trust me i understand your frustration about the emails. I get the same thing from another company with my cars. I talked with the IT team and this is what they tell me. A lot of times customers have a few different cars they are working on so for each different model car they have they get a separate email. Which makes sense. (Not sure in your case).

In theory it would be a great idea to retro active some of these discounts, but that would be near impossible to do for every customer. I know me personally when i worked in sales if i had a guy call and tell me he missed the email i'd give him the discount as long as the order hadn't shipped. So give us a call you never know what could happen.

I've been in this business a very long time and developed thick skin over those years. I'm on here a lot through out the day looking for tech questions i could answer but you guys are on top of the game. So i post on stuff i personally like. I'm not here to advertise i said that in the very beginning. You'll never see me post a sales link unless i'm ask to be a member.

Most of you know this, if you ever have a problem or issue you'd like for me to look into all you have to do is post here or PM me and i will do everything in my power to resolve the issue.

[done4]

Thank you for your reply. I'm glad to hear you have thick skin, a hell of lot thicker than mine. This discount thing is actually funny in my opinion as it doesn't seem factual and is just another marketing concept, because of the shipping handling charges seems to be a hidden profit center. I may be incorrect in my assumption but when I order two bushings and it's shipped in a 12" X 12" X 6" carton this is ridiculous in my opinion. One would think that common sense would be applied but I guess not. I know your one guy in the company that has the balls to offer some kind of answer so I do appreciate your position.

[rheltzel]

Kudos to Scott for his candid response.

For Scott's benefit, as well as other vendors, here's how I decide where to buy my parts, in order of importance:

1. Offers the best quality parts, even if they cost more than lower quality parts;
2. Has the parts I need, in stock, when I need them;
3. Doesn't try to make a profit on shipping;
4. Offers fast service, maybe not as fast as Amazon, but gets me the parts I need within a few days, not weeks, without paying for special shipping;
5. Has consistently lower prices, without resorting to gimmick discounts or coupons, or other b.s.;
6. Will promptly answer the phone or respond to email inquiries; and,
7. Will accept returns and offer full refunds, including shipping, on all parts returned in new condition or which turn out to be defective in use.

The vendor which consistently meets these criteria gets my loyalty and my business.
In fairness, I won't say which of the various suppliers is my current preferred vendor. I will only say that most of the vendors out there fail on more than one of the factors, and, sadly, it's usually the ones that I think are the most important.

[petehoovie]

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C&G is a 'Class' operation....

[sidevalve8ba]

BTW - California is the highest taxed State in the nation with the worst roads.

I don't know what sales tax is in California but I just read that it is 23% in Greece. No wonder they are in a bad way financially.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by sidevalve8ba

BTW - California is the highest taxed State in the nation with the worst roads.

I don't know what sales tax is in California but I just read that it is 23% in Greece. No wonder they are in a bad way financially.

My friend who is Greek tells me the problem stems for the fact that many Greeks simply refuse to pay tax and there is a large percentage of the country on Government benefits. Hence Greece have borrowed heavily to fund the shortfall .

[ventura]

I bought a rebuilt generator for my 35. I drove the hour and a half to avoid the shipping fee. Only got to drive the 35 less than 50 miles and the generator made horrible noise and quit charging. Called Macs, and was told they would find me another one. Following week am told they have to have it back so they can send it out for repairs. So, on June 22nd I delivered the generator to them to speed up rhe process. I have called 3 times asking about status,and nobody returns my calls. I missed 3 car shows, losing most money on pre paid for Syracuse Nationals. Macs did give me a $25.00 gift certificate. So my car is just sitting.

[adelaide 32]

I find macs are pretty good as are dennis carpenter, snyders, and brattons . I dont know that its a kick in the balls its just how the markets work. I think prices stay the same in north korea if you want to try a different system.