Notice to wholesalers and retailers who read here

[penguins]

and any dare say that ebay is sorted its shipping policy out is on another planet. You still get scammed every day with ebay shipping . when has it cost £3.50 to ship 2 leds in a 20p envelope and with a 5p sticker on and the postage is second class (4 to 5 days shipping) @ 35p ... bollocks ... extra costs involved my ass ..... esp when i can send dyes to the usa for £2.00 with in 5 days arrival (air mail- small packets) and the padded envelope is only 50p

what i meant to say is that is ebay finds it to be a problem, of all the places in the world, a community hobby shop should have all their overhead in the pricing of the unit instead of marking down the unit and charging more for something you see after you've amassed a whole cart of things.

[pokipoki]

Low-listed prices help to draw the crowd, it shows up in google. This strategy is employed everywhere, including brick-n-mortar shops. Those who don't use this strategy eventually do it because the competitor does. When you check-out, it waste people's time and treat would-be-customers like those who failed math.

Be aware of the sleigh of hand or mouth, obvious or not. It's still your responsibility to find the best deal for yourself.

Those who are honest should advertise aggressively. It separates them from the rest, but sometimes shipping issues are not so clear cut.

[Vinas]

Agree with some of the points that Jay makes, and I disagree with a lot too. The small guys are never going to give you the packaged assembly line experience that NewEgg or Amazon gives you. We should expect to pay a little more, and deal with a little headache. This is a nich market. In a way it is like ordering auto parts online. We have to know what we're looking for, and sometimes we pay more because it is a specialized part. Telling the e-tailers to make their own bitspowered part is not really feasible IMHO.

"If you want to know how things should run, look at how Michelle at Swiftech gets stuff done. Lets say my Apogee XT block came with a bent bolt or missing nut .... No questions asked, ...no BS, simply gets the address and phone number and 3 days later you get what you need. Also, Alex (the original owner of Petras) did a fairly good job of getting stuff returned or fixed."

Michelle is good, but they have their processes too. Just pointing out that when they had a bad screw I had to scan and send a copy of the reciept. Not a problem, but you make it seem like they just do stuff no questions asked, which in my experience isn't true. Although it is expected behavior.

Also, being really good at calculus and physics does not make you a good engineer, but it can help ... Take fluid and thermodynamics while you're at it :-)

[jayhall0315]

Agree with some of the points that Jay makes, and I disagree with a lot too. The small guys are never going to give you the packaged assembly line experience that NewEgg or Amazon gives you. We should expect to pay a little more, and deal with a little headache. This is a nich market. In a way it is like ordering auto parts online. We have to know what we're looking for, and sometimes we pay more because it is a specialized part. Telling the e-tailers to make their own bitspowered part is not really feasible IMHO.

Michelle is good, but they have their processes too. Just pointing out that when they had a bad screw I had to scan and send a copy of the reciept. Not a problem, but you make it seem like they just do stuff no questions asked, which in my experience isn't true. Although it is expected behavior.

Also, being really good at calculus and physics does not make you a good engineer, but it can help ... Take fluid and thermodynamics while you're at it :-)

My experience may change tomorrow, but so far I have never been asked to scan or fax in a receipt (not that I recommend that Swiftech allow themselves to be taken advantage of either). The main point is, .... they just plain take care of business, and dont hold up your day, your build or your mental health with a bunch of unnecessary BS.

.....and I was not just required to take alot of thermo, as a faculty member, I now how to teach it as well (and I dont get a say in it, LOL, cause I am low man on the totem pole).

[WrigleyVillain]

Not saying it is better, but I am a big Amazon fan.

Me too. They don't even charge restocking fees. I can try out RAM sticks, for example, and send them back if need be. This is so awesome that I don't unethically take advantage of it but it's hard not to sometimes!

And yes big time kudos to Gabe and Michelle for attentive and overall excellent customer service!

[Elpy]

Gotta mention that I like amazon too because I can get stuff a lot cheaper from there than in Finnish stores. However I will not trust their customer support again <.<. They once had one over 300£ OCZ SSD there for sale for a bit over 100£ and said that shipping dates would be about 1 month away.. A lot of ppl spotted that and many, including me emailed them and asked if the price is really really right because it is so cheap. And the answer was "yes the price is correct".. So we ordered and waited 1 months. Then we got an email saying its delayed. We waited another month... And then happened what we were afraid of. Email saying "this order has been cancelled because the price was incorrect". WTF? Why the didnt they check and correct it when they received a ton of emails about it.. Why give people hope and then cancel it 2months later . That's seriously the first time I've ever been so mad with any customer support.

A lot of ppl saw it coming and I had my doubts too but god damnit still!