I worked retail for a several years and that is exactly where I formed my opinion of the retail world. I don't work retail anymore for a reason. Got tired of pretending the world's stupidest person wanting to return a part be bought from a completely different vendor was the smartest dude I ever met.
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You like dealing with the stupid, kudos to you. Just be aware it's there regardless of what retail line you are in.
Right on. I give you credit for recognizing that it wasn't for you.
Those fab shops that can't deal with "the stupid" are smart to stay in their lane too. They'd also be smart to man-up to quality problems and respond to customer demands that come from down-stream. Something tells me that would be rough for these folks who tend to assume the customer is wrong. I'm speaking from experiences at work as a buyer for aerospace components. Some shops get it, the others tend to lose business until they figure it out.
As a hobbyist car-part customer dealing directly with fab shops, I've had very good luck. QA1, Moser, etc. were all prepared to answer my basic questions and I ended up spending lots of money with each.
Going way back, a popular Miata performance part vendor gave me a bunch of crap about their screwed up casting issue on a turbo manifold after I dropped $6000 with them. In their defense it was a brand new design and I was willing to forgive some snags...I just resented having to do their R&D work as I tried to figure out why the damn waste gate wouldn't close. In the end they owned up, addressed the issue and proved that they're good people to work with. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again when I finally get another Miata into my life.
Maybe it's not that hard to treat customers well?
