Quote:
Originally Posted by Leon
I agree Greg. I think, for many, it's more fun to bitch than try to get resolution. While Legendary certainly has some issues that look to be far more important/serious than potentially a few extra dollars on shipping and handling, I feel I must at least put in a good word for Doug and gang concerning shipping charges. The few times I thought mine were out of whack and called Doug (or Legendary otherwise) I have always been taken care of as to what I expected. They have always been very accommodating operationally speaking. I would be remiss if I didn't at least say they have always taken care of my concerns to my satisfaction. I personally like all of the folks I know at Legendary and hope the whole debacle of indictments and court cases will be over with in the near term (even though I know that probably won't happen) and we can get back to the great hobby of collecting our little gems. I also appreciate the fact the authorities are continuing to have an eye on the hobby. Long story short, Legendary/Mastro has always been one of my favorite auction houses and have always bent over backwards to help me. (again, I realize the other issues at hand and if bad stuff took place, well, that will be taken care of too)
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Agreed that Doug always takes care of things when called - all you've said mirrors my experiences with Doug/Legendary. I enjoy their auctions, I respect the huge concerns that some have, and I'll keep bidding.
The issue is not their customer service, and not just Legendary, but rather that almost all auction houses send out invoices with ridiculous shipping charges. I could list several that have sent such invoices, just as blatantly ridiculous, and that I've called and gotten quick resolution. So what? It's still an unnecessary hassle for BOTH sides. Eliminate this problem, save some money on processing complaints, use that money to improve your company...unless the extra shipping is being construed as a revenue area. I'm guessing the lost customers and complaint-processing probably kills such extra revenue.
When you have hard revenue at odds with intangibles such as loss of customers and increased cost of processing complaints, it usually means that at least two different departments are involved, with conflicting goals. I ran into this for 30 years working for large US companies - it's a rampant problem.
If an auction house is using software to do the shipping calculations, and it's coming up with ludicrous estimates, then they should consider replacing their software (not just Legendary, but apparently all of them). Seriously, $19.86 to ship a single 7X9 $210 photo is ridiculous, and such a number, if spit out by a computer program, would have me checking out the code. There could easily be a subroutine to use size, weight, and value to calculate a 'reasonable' number, and if that number varies by more than X% from the calculated actual, add it to an exception report.
Again, not just Legendary. I've gotten tired of calling auction houses over high shipping, and won't be doing it as often (if at all). Instead, I factor the extra shipping into my bidding - in this case, it did not matter because I got what I considered to be a great deal. Also, Legendary shipping is not generally so out-of-line when lots are heavier and more valuable.
Finally, I realize that Legendary has bigger things on their plate, and that the telephone or email is the way to solve the problem at the moment.
Okay, rip my post apart
