Well. There we were. On the first day, Saturday, I sold four platforms. The best start to the boat show ever. And, it did not let up. I think people are definitely ready to go boating. I'm rested from my vacation and I'm focused on making this the best year for Safe Step Swim Platforms ever.
I want to talk about warranties. I have to tell you about a bad experience that I'm having right now and then expand to how that relates to my business.
My wife bought me a new Dell laptop for Christmas. It has all the bells and whistles, including a Blue Ray DVD player. The Blue Ray has never worked. Not from day one. Dell has sent two techs to the house....no success. My wife has spent, conservatively, 80 hours on the phone with techs trying to figure out why it won't work. We wanted our money back. We were very frustrated. Dell said no. Finally, Dell gave up and said that the best they could do was to to give me another computer.
It arrived and the Blue Ray did not work in it either. Still Dell would not refund our money. And now, the warranty has run out and there is nothing apparently that we can do. I will Never buy a Dell ever again.
So what about Contemporary Fiberglass. If you read my testimonials, I think you'll will see that I work hard to make my customers happy. In particular, there is a testimonial from alan. He mentions that there were hiccups that I addressed. What is not spelled out is that there were cracks show up in the platform that were not a result of my labor or materials. Alan had strapped his boat to his trailer around the platform. This put an abnormal amount of stress on the platform and cracked it.
Alan was very nice about how he approached me...so I fixed it at no charge to him. Now I'm not saying that this is how I would approach every instance, but I just tell the story to let you know how important it is to me to stand behind my product. It's about integrity and how you want people to talk about their experience after the check has been paid.
I'm not saying that I have 100% happy customers either. There are a small number of people that I've figured out I can't make them happy....no matter what I do. Through talking to other small business owners, I know that I'm not alone. I don't take it personally. I try my best and treat people right. I've figured out that when I can't make some people happy, it's not about me at that point....it's about them.
So, if you purchase a platform from me and for whatever reason you have trouble....rest assured that if it's something I've done wrong, I'll do what it takes to make it right.
Have a Great year!
Scott
