Sponsor Forums?

[dan2x38]

Occasionally folks post in sponsors forums for a compliant about one thing or another. The sponsor forums are for them to post regarding their business i.e. sales, new arrivals, etc. They pay extra for this service. Being allowed to post yourselves in their forums is for asking questions on products available or possiblly ordering. This why those forums are not, Read Only.

As a suggestion if you have an issue with a vendor then contact the manager when they are available. If you feel the need to discuss something about a vendor than post it in the appropreate forum. If it is an abusive posting the thread will either be removed and/or locked.

[audioslave_36]

I agree, very good suggestion 

[Brine]

What do they pay? a hundred bucks a year? two hundred? for the money we spend at their stores they can suck up a few complaints.

[apuppet]

i have to agree with Brian , on that point.

complaints can be looked at , in a different view. Perhaps, the vendor can grow, and look at it from the prospect that its negative feedback, BUT perhaps its an chance to grow the business, but addressing some issue.

if customers are saying your staff is rude,or the floor is dirty in the store.  they should view this as a problem that needs to be fixed.  having someone here, posting, "WELL you better not say bad things about the vendor. they dont want to hear things like that."

seriously, its feedbacks from customer that vendor needs to hear. good OR bad.   Im in the IT field, and i WELCOME feedbacks, Good and Bad,  i perfer good. BUT when i get bad feedbacks. i grow to better myself and improve.    without them, you end up making the same mistakes over and over.

There, i said what i have to say.
haha. you guys can ban me now.

[dan2x38]

No one and not me either said to not to say negative things about a vendor! I said the sponsor forums are intended for them to post sales and what is available and other business related issues. We are allowed to post in there to ask questions pricing, availibility, hours, etc. If we want to comment then use the other forums! OR call the manager and complain to them. Sometimes people hide behind a keyboard instead of using the phone or facing someone. Not saying you but some do. We don't go write on there signs posted on their doors or billboards complaining about them...

[Brine]

Perhaps we should start a forum for complaints. Then there would be no doubt that the post should go there.

[dan2x38]

How about a feedback forum? Compliant is such a negative word... OR to be PC an Issue Forum... 

[RoxyDog]

I don't think leaving "feedback" in the sponsors forum is so bad, if it's constructive.  A lot of times it's not.  What about the people who don't really want the vendor to change anything per say, they just want to complain?  There's never been any of those here I'm sure. 

When a sponsor pays his money to us, it helps pay for this site to run a long with all of the other things we try to provide to our members.  $20 a year membership from say 150 people doesn't leave much to pay for the site, the room we have our meetings in, door prizes, food and speakers.  And technically that makes them our customer and as a customer they deserve good service just as you do as their customer. 

I'm sure when a sponsor gives us his hard earned cash he expects that moderators will do their best to not let the site turn into a place where people can just freely bash as they please.  Why would they want to sponsor a site that does that?  Think about it.  Especially when non-members contribute here, and what they do affects those members who enjoy the benefits of the sponsorships and/or discounts.  By this I mean...if we were to let everyone say whatever they wanted around here and there were many threads just bashing our sponsors...when I, or any other Exec went to said sponsors to have them renew, or provide a discount for our membership, or offer donations for our giant auction...that vendor might say, "Oh wait, aren't you the site where you let people just bash the heck out of my store?  Hmm, no thanks, I don't think I'm interested in giving those people a discount, or donating anything to them.  In fact I don't really want to be a part of a site that allows that to happen."  AND I just hate reading bashing threads.     They don't accomplish anything.

As for this statement: "WELL you better not say bad things about the vendor. they dont want to hear things like that."  Err, I don't think we do that do we?  We encourage you to offer constructive criticism, we want you share your experiences good and bad with any vendors, there is just an appropriate way to do it.  And that is for any vendor, not just sponsors.

Do you see where I'm going with this or am I just babbling?   

[kennyman]

Do you see where I'm going with this or am I just babbling?   

The site actually generates money to support club activities? And not the other way around?

[RoxyDog]

When a vendor buys a sponsorship, that money goes towards paying for the site and into the bank to help pay for everything else yes.    Is that what you're asking?

[mseguin]

The reason I am wary of customer complaints on here is that very rarely do they actually constitute feedback. More often they are rants, or general blanket statements with no factual backup. "Store A always has lots of dead fish." What constitute lots of dead fish? Have you compared to another store of the same size. Etc. Most things are about perception. Companies do welcome feedback, but usually in a more private forum, be it phone surveys, online surveys, phone calls to the manager, etc. Posting publicly has too much potential to ruin a store or other sponsor's reputation based on what could be personal bias, lack of knowledge, or any number of factors not directly related to the customer's experience.

[beowulf]

The reason I am wary of customer complaints on here is that very rarely do they actually constitute feedback. More often they are rants, or general blanket statements with no factual backup. "Store A always has lots of dead fish." What constitute lots of dead fish? Have you compared to another store of the same size. Etc. Most things are about perception. Companies do welcome feedback, but usually in a more private forum, be it phone surveys, online surveys, phone calls to the manager, etc. Posting publicly has too much potential to ruin a store or other sponsor's reputation based on what could be personal bias, lack of knowledge, or any number of factors not directly related to the customer's experience.

I would agree.  Better take it to PMs then out in the public.

[Brine]

Well said Matt