I promised last night to unveil my plans to try and solve my comic retailer's chronic shipping problem. To start with, I have composed a letter that I am going to hand out to every Ron's customer I see. My husband and I are going to canvas the shop and the town looking up everyone we can to help us.
Here is the letter I am handing out tomorrow.
Dear Ron’s Customer:
As you know, the last six weeks out of eight, there have been shipping problems that have caused us as comic book readers to not be able to get our product in a timely fashion. Because of this, I know several of you have had to shuffle your schedule or just do without a book you may have bought if it were presented the day you expected it.
If you are concerned like I am, please send an e-mail or letter to Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. and let them know that you are unhappy. I have at present sent two letters and plan to continue to barrage them with correspondence until the problem is corrected.It is not fair to us that we cannot get our goods in a timely fashion, and it is certainly not fair to Ron’s as a business. Please let your voice be heard.
Contact information for Diamond is:
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc.
1966 Greenspring Drive, Suite 300
Timonium, MD 21093
Phone: (410) 560-7100
E-mail address: service@diamondcomics.com
They will get your letter, call, or e-mail, and they will have no choice but to respond.
If you have any questions, please contact us at HeidiDC@aol.com.
Together we can make a difference.
Thank you!
James and Heidi Meeley
I am going to get as many customers in town to send Diamond letters or e-mails. Between my hubby and myself, we are going to contact all our friends that are readers, and we are going to spend time around the shop tomorrow networking. If my lone voice isn't enough to make Diamond stand up and take notice, we are going to find strength in numbers.
What do you think?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Awesome idea!!!
Sending it to the general address probably won't get you much though because no one will know what to do with it. I'd say either find out who your store's Diamond sales rep is and send it to them, or send it to Steve Geppi himself. Then, you might also want to find out what warehouse your store is serviced out of (It's the same place they send a check to when they pay Diamond) and do a CC to the Warehouse Manager. We had NO luck in bothering the people at Diamond's HQ - our rep and his manager just shrugged their shoulders. But, once I had customers email the Warehouse Manager, I got a phone call and within a half hour he had a solution to my problem. The warehouse people are probably the ones who know what's causing the problem and will probably get your retailer the best results. If your retailer goes onto Diamond's web site, they should be able to find the Warehouse Manager's name, but if they can't then just addressing it "Warehouse Manager" should do the trick.
So, for your great idea to really be the most effective, you should attack both fronts. I know that giving out the phone and email to our customers after the fourth week of late deliveries got us results, and there wasn't another late shipment that wasn't because of a UPS holiday since. I think it will DEFINATELY work, you just have to make sure that the people who can make the changes see the complaints.
Lisa, I really appreciate all your ideas. You have such wonderful information, and it worked well. I am just so sad that you had to go through this as well. What a nightmare for you!
I will re-adjust on the e-mail address soon. I am going to run by my retailer tomorrow and see if they can help me figure out the proper warehouse and personnel.
I am glad you like my idea of a letter/call/e-mail barrage. I am still definitely planning it, as I am sadly thinking that there will be problems again sooner than later.
Your advice and wisdom is invaluable to me. I am so thankful for it. It means the world to me.
I will keep you in the know. Thank you again for this wonderful information.
Post a Comment