Vendor Ethics

[Kilby]

Ok, this has happened to me twice now and I wanted to get the opinion of the board about this.

Should a vendor inform a customer of a new product that is just around the corner when they are placing an order for the current version of that product?

Without naming names, I'll say that this has happened to me twice now. Both times it was pretty bad. To the point where the new product was out within a week of me receiving my original order. The first time it was a frame that had a major update to it. Even though I pre-ordered it before it was available, they still had a "version 2" available by the time I got mine in the mail. The second time was very recently. I placed an order for a gimbal last week which showed up on Monday. I logged onto the same site that I bought it from today and they have the new and improved version flying front and center on their site. The deal breaker with this is that I bought the gimbal knowing full well that I would have to do some mods to make it fit a NEX5, but the new one is actually made to fit it out of the box.

I understand that vendors have stock that they have to move, but there has to be some kind of ethics code here. If I were a vendor, I would try to taper off my stock when I knew a new product was coming, and maybe even reduce the price of my old stock to help push it out the door and make way for the new. This is how it's done in the computer world.

How do you feel about this?

-Terry

 

[Tahoe Ed]

If I were a vendor in that situation, I would offer you the current version at a discount or the new version at the retail price. That is just me being in business and customer service for over 30 years. I think that many e-retailers miss the boat in customer service. Terry, I hope the vendor makes it right for you. If not, I think that you should post them here.

 

[tstrike]

GoPro just did it with the H2. A company I work with got their delivery of Hero HD's the very next day the H2 comes out, and to make the kick to the balls hurt even more, they charge the same price for the new version. Needless to say, the owner of the production company felt a little betrayed by his vendor rep. I think they did send him a new H2 gratis, but it still was kind of cheeseball on GP's account.

 

[Macsgrafs]

Terry I feel your anger my friend. Ed was correct in what he said...off the old version discounted. Even worse though are vendors who are also competitors...selling MR related gear & also using their own MR for filming etc (commercial use), that in my book is the lowest of the low! We have a photographic shop local who sell....yep, cameras, they also do weddings. So they sell you a camera to do weddings with, but you never get any weddings as they have the cream of the crop already.
Terry may I suggest you dont buy from that vendor again, seems obvious from what you have said that they are only interested in your money & F you! I know this is how the world is going, its rip off the people for as much as we can, these sort of businesses will fail when the word gets out & no one shops with them any more.

I am in a similar position at this very moment...do I wait to see if the new DJI gimbal will work with a standalone receiver or go for the AV200...which is about to get an upgrade?

Ross

 

[kloner]

that's unfortunate. most big hobby shops have the coming soon stuff already listed so you can browse whats coming down the pipe like this.

http://www.readyheli.com/Available-Soon_c_4178.html
http://www.espritmodel.com/new-2012-season.aspx

I kinda had the same thing happen coming into the MR's. almost makes ya wish they were third party and didn't have inventory making them make poor service judgement. this is also the largest concentration of part time suppliers i've ever seen. like this is there other job, which is awesome unless your the customer waiting

 

[Dune]

This happened to me with my Macbook.

It was within my 30 days - I returned it.. Couldn't you just do the same? Smaller vendors like those we find in RC have 14 day return policies...but still?

I agree, it would have been good of them to let you know. You have every right to hand it right back and buy the new one.

 

[Kilby]

It turns out that the changes weren't as substantial as I thought, so I'm just going to stick with the one I have already. It would have been nice to know though. They started shipped the new version the day after mine was shipped. I'm sure they knew, but what ever. It's not enough of a change to warrant a fight, and I have a 3 day weekend to get my build wrapped up, so I don't want to delay anything.

 

[Sar]

That's a pretty skeezy way for them to do business. Make sure to let them know that you felt wronged, and buy elsewhere in the future until you find a vendor you feel you can trust. Good luck with your build!