John -
Rather an extreme reaction when all I was doing was offering you sound (and
free!) advice. Don't knock it. Ask any successful salesman & he/she will
tell you the same thing.
At 10:33 17/04/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Tony,
> I don't run a company. This is a hobby! I offer my plans to
>people who want them.
You advertise stuff for sale. You have customers. You sell them stuff. You
accept their money. Ergo, you run a business. Maybe not incorporated, but
certainly a business. The IRS will certainly view it as a business
(assuming of course that you're a good boy & tell them about the income);
so will anyone seeing your website & noticing that you charge for stuff.
>When people ask lots of questions, seem
>unsure, or pull a stunt. I don't want to get involved with them.
>I learned from people like YOU! You sent cash in the envelope. You
>did not send the correct amount. I shipped anyway.
You're right - I sent you a $20 bill (or was it 2 tens?), not $18,
anticipating that the extra $2 would cover the additional overseas postage,
as your $18 price already included US postage & didn't specify the extra
for overseas. I can do the sums - you ended up ∗in pocket∗, rather than
∗out of pocket∗ on that deal. Just shows how easy it is for you to
misrepresent a situation by leaving out vital information. Having seen that
happen in your interactions with me, I have no reason to take your version
of your interactions with this other Canadian guy at face value either.
>Then you started
>whining you got robbed.
If you mean I gave you feedback on what I considered to be the low
value-for-money that I had received, that is true. I wouldn't describe that
as whining. Particularly as I didn't ask for a refund - I wrote that one
off to bad experience.
>So now I am very careful who I sell to. Now
>when somebody pulls your stunt! I send the money back.
I notice you didn't bother to offer me a refund though, despite the fact
that I was obviously unhappy with what you had sent me. Perhaps if you had,
we wouldn't have ended up having this conversation.
>In over a year
>and a half I have only had one complaint. That was from YOU! They rest
>are from people who have not bought anything! They want me to cater
>to they long list of questions and conditions. This is a Hobby! I am
>very busy here!
If you don't want the hassle, don't go into business - be it in a small way
or not. You could save yourself all the hassle you are complaining about by
doing what many others, including myself, do - put their plans etc. up on
their websites at no charge, for the benefit of all.
You can't have it both ways.
Best regards,
Tony