Slap in the Face Tropar - Engraving Etc. Forum

From:	Bill (ALBILLBERT)	18 Apr 2006
To:	ALL	1 of 11

3557.1
Any Tropar Dealers go to there website.. and click on the Dealer locater.. type in a bogus name.. but use your real zip code.. ..or town... to my suprise.. I did it 3 days ago.. approx. and got an email tonight.. not very promt.. telling me.. there is a dealer "a full service dealer".. located so far out of my town its not funny... I know of at least 3 dealers in my area that should have been listed... including myself.. and nothing.. check for yourself.. this is not right.. and.. I am just venting... I did send the sales manger a email.. telling him I was very upset not to be even mentioned... Tropar has always been first class in my book.. this hurts.. how much business have they sent to someone out of my area? Bill Hibbert's Inc 142 S. Easton Road Glenside, PA universal m300 laser Dalgrhen Wizzard Vangard 3000 Roland Cam 1 Rubber Stamps Seals & Signs
EDITED: 18 Apr 2006 by DGL

From:	Paul (JACKPETTY)	19 Apr 2006
To:	ALL	2 of 11

3557.2
Bill, I didn't try it to see if I'm where I'm supposed to be but I don't think Tropar would deliberately bypass one of their dealers. It has to be something as simple as a lack of updating or someone didn't put the right info in.....I'm not sure how companies do the locating but maybe they use a locating service. I must say, Tropar has always been outstanding in my book and strives to please me. Just my 2 cents. ;-)

From:	logojohn	19 Apr 2006
To:	Bill (ALBILLBERT)	3 of 11

3557.3 In reply to 3557.1
I suspect it is an innocent mistake in cyberspace programming and not an intentional event. What would they gain by selling the same item to someone outside your area at the same price and making you mad enuf to take your business elsewhere? I really doubt many people will arrive at their site and bring you business. There are at least 2 storefronts within 5 miles of us that sell at Tropar retail prices with FREE engraving but people don't find them. We charge .30 cents per letter and $8 per logo. We can't keep up with the work we get. Last I heard we were one of the biggest customers for this Tropar's location. While there are many online low price sellers and even storefronts off the beaten path, most of our customers still take the simple way out and order from the most convenient, reliable place. This week it killed me* to turn down a 500 piece $9000 order with a short deadline for one of the Tropar products. I didn't even have the time to try and outsource it. They called back 3 times after checking other places still wanting us to do it. Our short sighted absentee owner doesn't care that we could do much more with a second laser that would be half paid for with one order. . . and it isn't even the busy May period yet. quote: *killed me I am disgusted by the business that is passed on for no reason while the people in this forum are working their behind off to get started. .
EDITED: 19 Apr 2006 by LOGOJOHN

From:	Bill (ALBILLBERT)	19 Apr 2006
To:	logojohn	4 of 11

3557.4 In reply to 3557.3
I agree that it was an oversite on there part.. I called my salesman and he explained they took the next higher zip code.. .. silly as it sounds.. that took a poss. customer. (me with a bogus address) 23 miles away.. a good company like tropar.. and.. a map quest search would have handled it fine.. still as i said.. there were at least 3 dealers in my area.. that should have come on there radar.. Hibbert's Inc 142 S. Easton Road Glenside, PA universal m300 laser Dalgrhen Wizzard Vangard 3000 Roland Cam 1 Rubber Stamps Seals & Signs

From:	John (ICTJOHN)	20 Apr 2006
To:	Bill (ALBILLBERT)	5 of 11

3557.5 In reply to 3557.4

Bill,

I tried your suggestion last night of filling out a request for a dealer near me, and got nothing.................yet.

John
http://www.creative-awards.com
creativeawards@msn.com

From:	Bill (ALBILLBERT2000)	20 Apr 2006
To:	John (ICTJOHN)	6 of 11

3557.6 In reply to 3557.5

That was also a problem.. if a customer was looking for a dealer.. a slow response from them also is not good.. I think my request took 2-3 days.. but in all fairness.. I am not sure .. but longer than it should have
let me know if you get listed.. I am also going to check other vendors i deal with..

Bill

updating this post... I just got a call from Tropar's corp.. They did applogize and said.. that the way they did it was in need of change... but that he would look into making sure dealers in good grace are listed...

Hopefully this will help all tropar's dealers.. ... I am still going to check my other vendors.. better to be safe..

Bill

EDITED: 20 Apr 2006 by ALBILLBERT2000

From:	Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS)	20 Apr 2006
To:	ALL	7 of 11

3557.7

At least you guys can get in the website dealer side...I tried to get in with the customer number they gave me and it says it's not valid...so I called and asked about it and they seemed like they didn't know what I was talking about...finally they gave me the same number I was using and when it didn't work said the site must be down...Still can't get on.

Mike

Space Engravers
New Start up
25W Epilog Profile

From:	Cindy (CINDYM)	20 Apr 2006
To:	Bill (ALBILLBERT)	8 of 11

3557.8 In reply to 3557.4

I tried it for RSOwens and was not referred to, even though there are only two shops in my area (I am one of them) who buys from RSO. I've been meaning to call them to check in to this, but haven't found time yet. If suppliers are going to have this referral service, they owe it to their vendors to have the info accurate. Saying 'whoops' isn't a good response when one of us stumbles on to what is going on.

Cindy M

From:	BrianC (INKSQUIRTER)	20 Apr 2006
To:	Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS)	9 of 11

3557.9 In reply to 3557.7

Mike,

Not sure if this applies to you but when I couldn't get on the site I was told to drop the "0" on the front of my number and it worked fine.

HTH,

Brian

From:	Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS)	21 Apr 2006
To:	BrianC (INKSQUIRTER)	10 of 11

3557.10 In reply to 3557.9

Brian,
I tried dropping the 0 and it didn't work...I think I'm just not in the system. When I get some time I'll have to look into it..

Mike

Space Engravers
New Start up
25W Epilog Profile

From:	John (ICTJOHN)	21 Apr 2006
To:	Bill (ALBILLBERT2000)	11 of 11

3557.11 In reply to 3557.6

Bill,

I did receive an e-mail from Tropar this morning, a day and a half later and the good news is......They referred me to ME!

It looks like it is a manual system, when Peter Iliara gets an e-mail message, he looks it up and replies to the message. I would think there would be an easy enough referral system from their data base.
But this is better than nothing for now. At least they show me as a dealer, not like RS Owens who like someone mentioned earlier, they don't show very many dealers, and of course, I'm not one of them. :-(

John
http://www.creative-awards.com
creativeawards@msn.com