Do you use email to enquire about parts?

[b2tf]

I've been enquiring about a new exhaust system for my ute lately and 99% of my queries I have sent through email. Out of approximately 10 companies and suppliers I tried, only 1 has actually replied and will therefore be getting my business when the time comes (helps that it's actually my first choice of product too).
I work in a service industry and rely on email to do my job so it really frustrates me when I don't get a reply - for all the person on the other end knows, I have the cash in my hand ready to spend, yet when they dont reply it makes me feel as though they don't need nor want my business.

So I'm just curious as to how many of us use email to do things like query parts, and how many replies do you actually get?

[Peuty]

I don't use email for that exact reason.

The thing you need to remember though, is that most places are a pretty small operation - usually too busy in the workshop or answering phones to check their emails. In some cases, they forget that they even have email!

I always figure that no-one can stand the sound of an unanswered phone, so it will be picked up eventually.

[smasht]

i depened heavily on e-mail for my current fulltime job, my own business and i also use it as a way to enquire about loads of different products. Couple of things i believe:

e-mail is invaluable to a business small or large - when used correctly
e-mail is MUCH cheaper than making loads of calls
SOMETIMES e-mail can be faster but this is certainly not always the case

in this day and age where close to everything is eletronic i dont see why people dont respond / reply / use e-mail to its full advantage.....why have an address if its not going to be used?

Edit:- i must say tho, when it comes to looking for products in the automotive industry i can understand the time restraints - so i do generally do both (e-mail and phone / phone and face to face) when looking for parts / information as its rare that i get a response

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by smasht

in this day and age where close to everything is eletronic i dont see why people dont respond / reply / use e-mail to its full advantage.....why have an address if its not going to be used?

This is my point exactly. Nobody can use the excuse that they dont have/dont know how to use email.

[Bundy]

Originally Posted by b2tf

This is my point exactly. Nobody can use the excuse that they dont have/dont know how to use email.

Yup wish this is the case, but unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that still don't know. These people are smart don't get the wrong idea, but they are from an era that has gone from snail mail, to phone, to fax and now email. These are people that own business and have a computer whiz rock up and set up a webpage and an email account, (just like telstra with the yellow pages except answering a phone is so much easier) and then give simple instuctions, most likely not written down and leave. Coupled with everything else it gets pushed to the side untill they have time to sit down and work it out for themselves, but more then likely not the case.

Yes Email is so effective and cheap when used correctly by both parties if you have to happpen to have access to a computer together, unfortnately computers don't ring to interupt you and let you know that someone wants your services. VIOP is a much better option in my opinion, still dirt cheap, more effective and a quicker way then typing for the majority.

my 2 bits worth.

[BOSHOG]

Originally Posted by b2tf

This is my point exactly. Nobody can use the excuse that they dont have/dont know how to use email.

if they dont know how/dont want to use email, they shouldnt have the option on their website to email them directly

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by smasht

in this day and age where close to everything is eletronic i dont see why people dont respond / reply / use e-mail to its full advantage.....why have an address if its not going to be used?

Usually workshop owners are from the old school, face to face contact is what they are used to, so they don't adapt to change very well. Usually the only reason they have an email address is that they got one when the internet was hooked up.

A Ford dealer I worked for once (6 years ago) still did all their RO's and warranty claims on paper...

[nutter_x]

Aust, as you know I'm in front of the computer 99% of the time with work and obviously that's how we have to communicate.

I'll agree 100% that if companies offer an e-mail account they should treat that with equal measure as any other medium of communication. If you aren't going to utilise a tool to it's full potential why use it at all?

Then again, I'm finding the same issue with trying to find wheels at the moment, so maybe I'm biased.

[Peter B - CV8]

I phone first - that way you can quickly get a feel for what the bloke on the other end is like. I then follow up with an email getting them to confirm the product & pricing (so I don't get any nasty surprises).

[rag top]

I do, and I mainly get a response. If, on the off chance I don't, then they don't want my business and I send them a message forwarding my original advising that I have gone to their competitor as they were not interested in my response. They need feedback otherwise they don't know where to improve.

'cause I work strange hours, I'm unable to get hold of them during normal business hours.

[RATT]

As a dealer, we are making a point of getting to email parts and service enquiries. The "old school" thought of face to face is now virtual face to face.
Whoever doesn't follow will fail I think.

[Boosh Brus]

I prefer emails as I have a record of what was discussed. I don't enquire about products/services unless I am serious so heaps of places have lost my business by not replying to my emails.

[GS608]

phone only really, much quicker than waiting around for a response.

[Lynch'd]

I do like to shoot of an email for price queries as its quick and easy. Quite often it does require a second or third reminder (or even a phone call) to get a response though.

I do completely understand businesses who don't respond to emails though as I tend to find with our enquiries at work, upwards of 50% of those that come via email are simply wasting your time. They are either simply tyre kickers who have no real intention of spending money or people who just want a written quote so they can use it to negotiate with someone else. Those who make the effort to make a phone call however are generally seriously interested in buying something and I will always give priority to these people. I am also far happier to negotiate a price with someone over the phone.

[LowEL2XR8]

I email heaps of places with genuine interest but hardly ever get a reply. Email is now a legitimate form of communication equal with phone calls and better in my opinion.

Business's that don't reply lose my money.

Same goes with forums. Would like to be able to get all the info asking questions in a forum from a sponsor than have to ring up or go in. With 3 kids under 2 years old its hard to find any time to ring or go anywhere during business hours.

[Airmon]

I don't like email, it take impersonal to a whole new level! I like to be able to speak to someone especially when I'm trying to order a part. I find it useful if I'm up late at night looking for a part, I can send off an email and check it the next chance I get before I forget about it, Or if I just want a rough idea on what a part is going to cost, but its not urgent. But most of the time the reply takes a while or never comes at all. I suppose email would be the last thing a business checks, if they are having a busy day its pretty easy to slip their mind.

Although with a few places, if I'm just calling as a general enquiry into a price or a part, in person or on the phone you tend to get (by some places) almost bullied into buying something. Carsales is a good example of that.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by b2tf

I work in a service industry and rely on email to do my job so it really frustrates me when I don't get a reply - for all the person on the other end knows, I have the cash in my hand ready to spend, yet when they dont reply it makes me feel as though they don't need nor want my business.

Without mentioning names, this is typical of a few of our site sponsors where, on a few occasions, I've wanted to inquire on pricing/availability etc

I now use the phone for this very reason.

I accept they get busy and more often than not, are from the old school

[SM1DY]

Of all the times I've enquired about parts or services for my car, I've used e-mail. I prefer it because I'm always with my laptop so its seems the most convinient method. Since I've had the Falcon, I have made in excess of 30 inquiries about parts or sevices and I have received 1 reply, NOT impressed!!!

[flappist]

Am I right in reading that there are a number of people, all of whom are generation Y, are confused that they send emails to a parts supplier and get ignored, not by one but by ALL of them?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the parts suppliers think of emails in the same you that your generation thinks of verbal communication, that is, something that you know how to do but could not be bothered?

I have a simple view on this; if you text me I will ignore you on purpose, if you spam email me, as in just do a random enquiry, I will ignore you on purpose, if you call and then email I will assist you in any way I can.

The reason.....

Too many idiots send off copied emails to everyone and their dog about crap and expect a large amount of time to be spent so they can choose the cheapest price and then not buy it anyway.
I deal with people, not machines and the reality is; If you do not wish to contact or do business as a human being then I do not want anything to do with you.

Gen Y will arc up I am sure and curse and swear and threaten to take their business elsewhere....

BUT

As stated above EVERYONE ignores them so where are they going to go.....

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by flappist

Am I right in reading that there are a number of people, all of whom are generation Y, are confused that they send emails to a parts supplier and get ignored, not by one but by ALL of them?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the parts suppliers think of emails in the same you that your generation thinks of verbal communication, that is, something that you know how to do but could not be bothered?

I have a simple view on this; if you text me I will ignore you on purpose, if you spam email me, as in just do a random enquiry, I will ignore you on purpose, if you call and then email I will assist you in any way I can.

The reason.....

Too many idiots send off copied emails to everyone and their dog about crap and expect a large amount of time to be spent so they can choose the cheapest price and then not buy it anyway.
I deal with people, not machines and the reality is; If you do not wish to contact or do business as a human being then I do not want anything to do with you.

Gen Y will arc up I am sure and curse and swear and threaten to take their business elsewhere....

BUT

As stated above EVERYONE ignores them so where are they going to go.....

Agreed.

[LowEL2XR8]

Originally Posted by flappist

I have a simple view on this; if you text me I will ignore you on purpose, if you spam email me, as in just do a random enquiry, I will ignore you on purpose, if you call and then email I will assist you in any way I can.

And miss out on business on the geniune people. :

You can pretty much tell when the email is personal or just a dreamer.

I add all my details of my car and and exactly what parts I am after and the money I have to spend and still get ignored. When I write an email I never forget anything as I have time to write it out.

When I do call or go in I always come back thinking damn I forgot to ask and I'm not going to drive all the way back to ask or ring up again 2 seconds later.

[Gobes32]

Originally Posted by flappist

I deal with people, not machines and the reality is; If you do not wish to contact or do business as a human being then I do not want anything to do with you.

Gen Y will arc up I am sure and curse and swear and threaten to take their business elsewhere....

BUT

As stated above EVERYONE ignores them so where are they going to go.....

And I presume your parents never used to answer the phone and would only reply to mail and telegrams? It's a generational thing and you shouldn't waste your energy fighting it. I personally bought my new Territory by e mail and found it to be a pleasant experience, however, some people will never do things the way I do them and that's fine.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

And I presume your parents never used to answer the phone and would only reply to mail and telegrams? It's a generational thing and you shouldn't waste your energy fighting it. I personally bought my new Territory by e mail and found it to be a pleasant experience, however, some people will never do things the way I do them and that's fine.

No, actually I grew up working in a small business and we had in the 1960's something that was almost unheard of. A telephone with a second line and an extension.

As far as missing the genuine business, for every genuine email there are zillions of crap emails that would have to be processed so any profit made would be long gone.

Now as I stated earlier, some think I am doing the wrong thing but then the core of this thread is that NOBODY is responding to emails so maybe, just maybe, emails are not the way to do business.

Possibly 20 years from now when gen Y are running businesses (or more likely working for gen Z still paying off their phone bill, plasma on 20 years interest free and FG falcon on 20 years with a 40% residual) email or some other new technology will be the lingua franca but not yet.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by flappist

No, actually I grew up working in a small business and we had in the 1960's something that was almost unheard of. A telephone with a second line and an extension.

As far as missing the genuine business, for every genuine email there are zillions of crap emails that would have to be processed so any profit made would be long gone.

Now as I stated earlier, some think I am doing the wrong thing but then the core of this thread is that NOBODY is responding to emails so maybe, just maybe, emails are not the way to do business.

Possibly 20 years from now when gen Y are running businesses (or more likely working for gen Z still paying off their phone bill, plasma on 20 years interest free and FG falcon on 20 years with a 40% residual) email or some other new technology will be the lingua franca but not yet.

Yet again we have another reply loaded from your good self with sarcasm and a general "if you dont agree with me you are wrong and I will prove you to be an idiot" tone to it. Flappist I know you sometimes have good points but sometimes you need to consider that other people do have an opinion which differs from yours - and they're not wrong because of it.

Call me Gen Y, call me whatever you like but I prefer email because I know what I said and when I said/sent it. It's easier for me to keep a record of all of this on my laptop and look back and say "yep there's the quote from xxxx to supply xxxxxxx" - as opposed to digging through a pile of post it notes from phonecalls or having to call again.

I buy stuff from Ebay too, I suppose I'm being a yuppie by doing so as opposed to getting into the car driving to the shop and buying it in person. Forget the fact that it's easier, available 24 hours a day and quite often cheaper, nope it's still just me (and people like me) being a Gen Y who is, coincidentally, paying off an FG falcon (silly me for buying something I want).

Yes email gets spammed but tyre kickers own phones too so I fail to see that as a legitimate excuse. If I send an email saying "dear xxxx, could you please quote me to supply xxxxxx part, I am looking to purchase within the next xxxxx weeks", is that spam? Or is that me asking a supplier for a price, and giving them info on my intended purchase time and supplying my contact details including a phone number, which I always do?

Perhaps if some of the businesses I came across that didn't bother to reply didn't adopt the flappist way of thinking, they would have my business as opposed to being just another company who misses out on a paying customer.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by b2tf

Yet again we have another reply loaded from your good self with sarcasm and a general "if you dont agree with me you are wrong and I will prove you to be an idiot" tone to it. Flappist I know you sometimes have good points but sometimes you need to consider that other people do have an opinion which differs from yours - and they're not wrong because of it.

Call me Gen Y, call me whatever you like but I prefer email because I know what I said and when I said/sent it. It's easier for me to keep a record of all of this on my laptop and look back and say "yep there's the quote from xxxx to supply xxxxxxx" - as opposed to digging through a pile of post it notes from phonecalls or having to call again.

I buy stuff from Ebay too, I suppose I'm being a yuppie by doing so as opposed to getting into the car driving to the shop and buying it in person. Forget the fact that it's easier, available 24 hours a day and quite often cheaper, nope it's still just me (and people like me) being a Gen Y who is, coincidentally, paying off an FG falcon (silly me for buying something I want).

Yes email gets spammed but tyre kickers own phones too so I fail to see that as a legitimate excuse. If I send an email saying "dear xxxx, could you please quote me to supply xxxxxx part, I am looking to purchase within the next xxxxx weeks", is that spam? Or is that me asking a supplier for a price, and giving them info on my intended purchase time and supplying my contact details including a phone number, which I always do?

Perhaps if some of the businesses I came across that didn't bother to reply didn't adopt the flappist way of thinking, they would have my business as opposed to being just another company who misses out on a paying customer.

I never said or implied I was right or wrong. I just told you what I do.

The general course of the thread seems to show that most others do what I do so whether that is right or wrong is irrelevant, that is the way it is.

Don't take it as a personal attack, you wondered if others found as you did and it seems they do. I was trying to explain possibly why that is.

e-bay is a whole different scenerio, it is web based and e-mail oriented but it is interesting that there are many requests on here for people to go and look at a thing that is advertised on e-bay to make sure it is ok. E-mail is not always the answer although I also use it on e-bay,

I run an IT company and have done so for almost 25 years. I would get maybe 50-100 emails a week requesting prices for items. Two of the juniors downstairs usually answer them if they think there may be a sale but I cannot remember the last time someone actually bought something that way. Almost always they are just fishing to get a quote to use as ammo against the person from whom they ACTUALLY want to buy.

Remember when you want to buy something, you have money, they have what you want. ALWAYS there are more customers with money than the thing you want so it is best to buy the way that gets you what you want rather than dug your heels in and miss out.

Again, this is not right or wrong, it is just reality.......

[Daymoe]

Originally Posted by flappist

Am I right in reading that there are a number of people, all of whom are generation Y, are confused that they send emails to a parts supplier and get ignored, not by one but by ALL of them?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the parts suppliers think of emails in the same you that your generation thinks of verbal communication, that is, something that you know how to do but could not be bothered?

I have a simple view on this; if you text me I will ignore you on purpose, if you spam email me, as in just do a random enquiry, I will ignore you on purpose, if you call and then email I will assist you in any way I can.

The reason.....

Too many idiots send off copied emails to everyone and their dog about crap and expect a large amount of time to be spent so they can choose the cheapest price and then not buy it anyway.
I deal with people, not machines and the reality is; If you do not wish to contact or do business as a human being then I do not want anything to do with you.

Gen Y will arc up I am sure and curse and swear and threaten to take their business elsewhere....

BUT

As stated above EVERYONE ignores them so where are they going to go.....

Its 2009 now, not 1969. I'd expect any business that wants to get as many customers as possible can spare 5 or 10 minutes to reply to ALL their emails with a simple email once a day at the end? You don't have to send off a 100,000 word thesis, a simple reply <100 words would do fine? Yes? No? We don't have that in stock? This is our price on x, etc. Maybe even the apprentice could even do that?

Look, heaps of people own phones too, they can just as easily waste your time.

P.S - stop being so arrogant, when anything comes to any other generation but yours, you go on some nazi crusade trying to put down anyone and anything in your path.

P.P.S - I'm pretty sure I'm "Generation Y" or am I something else? I was born 1991.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Daymoe

Its 2009 now, not 1969. I'd expect any business that wants to get as many customers as possible can spare 5 or 10 minutes to reply to ALL their emails with a simple email once a day at the end? You don't have to send off a 100,000 word thesis, a simple reply <100 words would do fine? Yes? No? We don't have that in stock? This is our price on x, etc. Maybe even the apprentice could even do that?

Look, heaps of people own phones too, they can just as easily waste your time.

P.S - stop being so arrogant, when anything comes to any other generation but yours, you go on some nazi crusade trying to put down anyone and anything in your path.

P.P.S - I'm pretty sure I'm "Generation Y" or am I something else? I was born 1991.

Daymoe, you are DEFINITELY something else..................

[Daymoe]

Originally Posted by flappist

Daymoe, you are DEFINITELY something else..................

Retarded, I know but that doesn't stop me from shouting out my opinion ;)

"There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing." - Oscar Wilde

[Lynch'd]

Originally Posted by Daymoe

Its 2009 now, not 1969. I'd expect any business that wants to get as many customers as possible can spare 5 or 10 minutes to reply to ALL their emails with a simple email once a day at the end? You don't have to send off a 100,000 word thesis, a simple reply <100 words would do fine? Yes? No? We don't have that in stock? This is our price on x, etc. Maybe even the apprentice could even do that?

I'm also Gen Y and couldn't agree more with Flappist's point (for once). I average 100+ email enquirys a day that come through my inbox. I tried for months to respond to each and every one of them but quickly realised I was spending 4+ hours a day just sitting at my computer to get a sales rate of about 5% AT MOST. Compare this to the 10-15 phone calls a day where on average i'd convert 50%+ of them into a sale.

Emails, while an effective means of cummication at times, especially accross international boundaries, in general waste more time than they are worth in sales enquiry sense (IMO).

[Streets]

When looking for parts I will drive around to all the places and look for myself because the dodgy greasemonkeys running these joints will say anything over the phone. Usually they just say "nah we don't have that" because they couldn't give a rat's **** about an obscure part for a 30 year-old XD Falcon and can't be bothered getting off their **** to go and check for it.