Mark,
As typical, you overlook the facts relevant to the discussion. As stated, we started the preorder process when we went the printers. Your argument here is 180 from previous, ie dont publish it until it is right. We expected it to be shorter as well, but were not going to allow a product published that didnt meet our standards. I am 100% sure based on your history that if we had published a faulty product, instead of making sure it was printed correctly, you would have been waving the banner in the attack against us. (Actually, guess you are doing that now, but are just leading yourself)
So let me see if I understand you. You are saying there are only two options: you ask for pre-pays well in advance of shipping or you publish a product that doesn't meet your standards.
I am pleased, then, to tell you about two other options. Option #3 is to not call for pre-pays until you know your product will not be faulty. Option #4 is to use a true pre-order system and only charge when shipping.
Note, by the way, that it doesn't matter the reasons why your last product was so late. Those are irrelevant to my point, which was about what you do in the future, not why you did what you did with past ones.
I appreciate you calling us a joke and accusing us of abusing our customers. With these statements you have lost all credibility with me. It demonstrates your lack of understanding and inability to form relevant, logical reasoning. Chas
You have all the customer relations ability of the swine flu virus, it would seem. First of all, don't use strawmen with me. I never called you a joke, nor did I say you "abused" your customers. Respond to what I say, not to what I say in your fevered dreams.
I think it ironic that in another post you actually have the testicles to claim that you "appreciate customer feedback." Apparently only when it is positive, though.
My original post, which was short, innocuous, and polite, was this:
Leaving that aside, I would like to request that BFP3 not be put up for pre-order until it is very nearly ready to be released. There was a lengthy delay with the last one, longer than I had anticipated. Thanks.
That is a pretty darn simple and clear request. And, by the way, totally reasonable. Your response to that polite request was to call it "absurd." Charming, to the last.
Despite your abusive response, I took the time and effort to explain what I was talking about. And it was a very reasonable post, especially considering the tone of your first response. It was also a constructive post, too. You apparently still don't get that, with my suggestion, I was trying to save you PR problems in the long run. If you want to develop the same PR problems that Critical Hit got for charging customers for products long before they shipped, be my guest. Go right ahead.
Now I am no longer bothering to be polite. Twice--once politely and once civilly--I tried to give you customer feedback. Twice, you in your thin-skinned Sally Sensitive outfit not only rejected my feedback (which is always a company's right, though it is usually silly to do it publicly) but abused me for giving it. I've got it now. You have a psychological inability to accept even the mildest criticism or suggestion that there is some way to improve on something that you have done. You have a fundamental insecurity that causes you to lash out at someone who even dares to offer that feedback. It's not that you disagree with the feedback but that you don't even have the slightest clue as to how a business--especially in an insular field such as this one--deals with responding to feedback.
Hey, you know what? It's your life. Do what you want. Don't expect me or other people to be constructive in the future, though. Or sympathetic if there are problems in the future. One last bit of constructive advice, though, before I depart this particular mortal coil: you might at least think about the strategic possibilities and benefits of learning how to respond nicely to customers. It is ballsy of you, I admit, to be abusive to me at the same time one of your partners is trying to urge me to put up reviews of your product on my web site. Luckily for you, I 1) have a thick skin, and 2) make it a point of making a genuine effort to put aside personal feelings and considerations when reviewing an ASL product. The next customer you insult might not be so principled.
