I agree with those who say the CFO has nothing to do with this. I have never, and I mean ever, waited longer than one (1) week to get an answer from them for ANY of my restricted purchases, ever! And that includes personal buys as well as Internet buys.
It is pretty clear to me that what's happening here is that they never foresaw this deal being so popular. They lacked the right organization, procedures and resources to deal with it.
Now, this is not to put full the blame on them, after all, who would have foreseen with 100% accuracy, that so many people would be buying this gun, good price notwithstanding? I mean, look at all Norinco threads here; there must be tons of people who would never even let themselves be seen in the same room where there’s a Norinco firearm present. However, I believe CanAm should have dealt with the problem a little more openly.
I have worked customer service for over 10 years, and I can tell you from experience that one of the main points which were hammered into me from the beginning, is that you must always maintain the good communication with your customers, and I mean always, even if you have to BS them from time to time. As others have already said here, if they at least knew where they stand, they would not mind the wait at all.
Being honest with the customers, explaining to them that they had no idea this deal would be so popular, and clearly stating that if you order one of these guns you can expect delivery only within two to three months, would have gone a long way towards calming the fervors that this whole thing seems to have aroused. And on top of that, it would have given them the time needed to fulfill other more lucrative orders that they still have to process, while at the same time instilling onto their customers the notion that CanAm is “THE” place to go for good deals on guns.
I’ve had customers tell me that they could easily buy the same products they were buying from us a little cheaper somewhere else, but the experience of dealing with us was so much more pleasant, that they didn’t mind the small difference in price. And the most important part of that pleasantness, was always getting their questions answered and always knowing where their orders where and when they were going to get them.
As it stands right now, though, most people are just thinking: Oh yes, they have good deals, but service is non existent, as is communication, and I can only feel aggravated if I ever place an order with them, irregardless of how good the price might be. So I will just pay a little more for my guns, but get a better service and deal with people that’ll communicate openly with me. I’ll be out of a few more bucks, but the whole experience will be so much more satisfying that I really won’t mind the extra money.
Now, I have spoken with Mark on the phone, and he seems like a very nice guy. CanAm seems like an honest business, which really puts forward very good deals. So I hope they will learn from this experience and come out of this stronger than ever. Believe me, it can be done.
Me, I’m a little disappointed with this order, I’ve been processed for two weeks now and there’s no way anybody is going to tell me that the CFO has still not given their answer, because experience tells me otherwise. That been said, I’m not ready to give up on CanAm; there's still a couple of other guns I’d like to order from them. However, I’ll wait until this whole ordeal is over and order from somebody else in the meantime. Still, I wish them good luck and hope that this experience doesn’t put them down, but rather allows them to learn and grow. Let’s face it; we would all like for these good deals to continue to be available to us, don’t we? Plus, not all other dealers have nice people like CanAm to deal with!
