Hi Bob,Thanks again for the call this morning - only just had chance to write to you as we have had a string of customers call in. We are out in the sticks a bit & can go for days without anyone calling by the warehouse, but when you are at the most busy, of course everyone comes!It is difficult really to know how best to respond to this, the last thing that I want to do is just spark up a lengthy argument, but also as there are some untruths, as well as partial facts being presented as whole facts, I think I must say something. Please feel free to share as much, or as little of this e-mail with the forum members as you like. Perhaps if I just list out a few facts about who we are & how we operate & leave it at that, people can then make up their own minds.1) How we started & who we are:By profession I am a qualified electronics engineer. After leaving university I spent a couple of years as a self employed audio electronics engineer, before joining the engineering team of a telecommunications manufacturer where I spent 12 years, ending up as senior new product development engineer. In 2003 whist still employed, I tried to buy some AA rechargeable batteries on ebay, but kept getting outbid by 20p etc - at that time there was no-one offering a simple buy-it-now option, everything was auctioned, I thought that I couldn't be the only one with this problem & decided to invest in some batteries to sell. I researched the companies offering a quality AA battery & decided that Vapex offered exactly what I needed. This was a new company, having been set up by a former director of one of China's largest battery producers, at that time he produced only AA rechargeable batteries. I bought 2 boxes of batteries & advertised them on ebay in a simple buy-it-now format, they sold quickly & customer response was excellent, so the proceeds of these 2 boxes were invested into 3 boxes & then 5 boxes, then 8, then 12 and so the business was born. We were at that time the only distributor for Vapex in Europe & worked with them developing a wide range of other battery types, I provided the market research for the products required, they manufactured & things grew. As an engineer at heart, I wanted to do more than just "sell boxes" & so we offered a full customisation service, something that few others were capable of, so whether just a different connector, or a totally custom built battery, this was something we could provide (of course this required a considerable investment in welding / assembly / testing equipment, but as an engineer, having the right tools I believe is essential)In my younger days I was a keen modeller & so there was a natural pull towards the modelling hobby, hence the direction that we took. In early 2006 I was made redundant due to the down-sizing that the company I worked for was going through & so my wife & I decided that we would put all our efforts into Component-Shop, rather than me try to find another engineering position, since then we have continued to grow & apart from my wife & myself, we now employ 4 people full time, plus a couple of part-timers, providing a little employment in an area which doesn't have much. We have also bought a near derelict small warehouse & brought it back into productive use.2) How we operate:From the very beginning I realised that many on-line retailers were missing some important things & so we set out to make our business different:- Adverts should carry as much information as possible, so that the buyer could see exactly what the product was & what it would do, so we have product images, dimensioned drawing, weights, performance figures etc to support each of our products - any performance figures being from our testing, we never just blindly accept a manufacturers figures.- Some people don't like internet sites & prefer a catalogue - our first one appeared mid 2005 & was more of a flyer than a catalogue, we have continued to grow this into the 48 page booklet it now is. This should also contain as much of the facts & figures relating to each product as possible (weights dimensions etc) as well as colour images wherever possible, there should also be guidance notes & more importantly, it should be FREE. Anyone can pick up a catalogue at any of the shows we attend, or just call us (or send us an e-mail) & we will post one.- Also many people don't like to buy mail order, but prefer to see & feel the product first, so we attend as many shows during the year as we can. Of course this also gives opportunity for people to meet us & (time permitting) ask any questions they may have.- Although we initially didn't provide a telephone number, it was quickly realised that this was a mistake & so an 0845 number (later 0843) was provided, this means that people can call us & it would cost no more than a local call from a BT landline. Unfortunately mobile phones charge this number at a higher rate & so we later added a mobile contact number to keep the cost of calling us as low as possible. In order to cope with the volume of calls we receive, Kyje (pronounced Kye) came to work for us, in between answering calls he answers e-mails, passing anything that is too technical for him to manage himself onto me. Unfortunately we still have the problem of only one incoming phone line, so if it is busy, its busy & you can't get through. However, to help out with this situation, we have a system that we keep the call in a queue, or offer you the option to leave a message, then we (usually Kyje) will call you back as soon as possible.3) Current issues posted on the forum.It would be inappropriate to go into too much detail about specific comments, but here are a few facts:A detailed reply was sent to the e-mail from "Ryanb" this bounced with a server error. Please do not think we don't reply, as we do - so far this year 25 e-mails we have sent to people in answer to various questions have bounced back. The oldest, unanswered e-mail on our system is from Wednesday - there are just a couple & answers have been delayed because we are waiting for prices from our suppliers for some special parts. In terms of standard e-mails, there is nothing more than 24 hours old - we have had a busy week, otherwise it would have been more up to date.All correspondence is answered as quickly as we possibly can, but sometimes it can take a little while - for instance on Monday of this week, we returned from the London model engineering show (at about 1am) & there were a huge number of e-mails & telephone messages waiting for answer. The previous Friday my wife & I were away at the show & due to the snow only one of our guys had been able to get into work, so yes, the snow did hamper our ability to communicate.We have huge problems with SPAM & have to have filters in place. At one time one of our competitors launched a SPAM attack on us & over one 24 hour period our system received over 32,000 messages (really!) From time to time I switch off the filters, to check the situation, the last time (early December) we received over 2,000 messages in a 24 hour period. If an e-mail is properly addressed (& doesn't contain words like "viagra" or "payment protection insurance") it should get through. Common mistakes people have made are simple mis-spellings, or missing out the "-" from between component & shop. If you have not received a reply from us, the golden rules are always check that you have got the e-mail address correct, check your own spam filters - especially if you use one of the e-mail authentication programs which sends an automatic response to the sender which must be verified before the message can be delivered - these usually go wrong! Make sure you have given us reasonable time to reply (one chap wrote to us at 4:30pm one Christmas eve & by 10:00am on boxing day was getting quite irate at being ignored!) Try re-sending the message, there are occasional glitches in the system & sometimes messages don't get delivered.Our philosophy has always been to treat others the way we would wish to be treated, I don't claim to be perfect, but I do believe that we get it right most of the time, certainly we do our best to make it happen. The fact that the business has grown the way it has shows that we must be getting something right.Anyway (as always) feel free to send us any questions you may have & we will answer as quickly as possible.On a final note I would like to thank the many people who have read this thread & taken time out of their day to either e-mail, or phone us with messages of support, that means a lot to us, thanks guys.
Best Regards,
Component-Shop.co.uk Ltd
1 Llwyn Bleddyn
Llanllechid
Bangor
LL57 3EF
Tel: 0843 2898528 (Mon - Fri, 10am - 4:30pm)
Calling from a mobile? Call us on 0782 5511877 (Mon - Fri, 10am - 4:30pm)
Fax: 08707 052556
Only address modified.
Bob