quote:
so couldn't/shouldn't AS flag this to the user as the snipe is set up? Err,.. yes.
I agree. The problem is one of perspective.
AS feel they have a really good system and that we are behaving like ungrateful brats when we complain!
Take me, I've been with AS for several years. I read the problems raised by others about early bids and so manually snipe, if it is really important to me. The rest of my bids are mostly "lets see if I can get this on the cheap" so I let AS do its bit. Win some lose some!
Happy Customer? Yes! No Complaints? Yup. Life is perfect? Well ....... one glitch when AS said that my $2 item was now $140 on the wrong auction, but I reset it and the snipe was placed correctly.
So no complaints then? Oh well, if you must force me to say this - No complaints at all!
So why am I a happy customer and so many of you are not?
Answer, because I regularly read these threads and learn by other's mistakes and problems. I dare say, all the regulars do, for they don't complain either!
So the problem is? AS's management, I'm afraid.
They do not confront problems, they run away and hide from their customers. Occasionally they rush out and say "sorted" "we have seen that", "it only affects .0001% of bids"
They subscribe to the "lets push it under the carpet and nobody will notice" school of management. I suspect that they are at heart "techies" rather than "lets meet the people" types.
One personal example of how it is better to come out in the open. We fitted some automatic lights for one of the largest lorry fleet owners here - a millionaire used to snapping his fingers and getting what he wanted. Our first order! The sensors broke after a month, the replacements broke, the replacements to the replacements went down and so on endlessly!
The manufacturers were Racal, one of the biggest firms in electronics. They said the new ones were fixed - they weren't. In the end the customer was so annoyed,that my engineers wouldn't go and see him, so I had to go in person and replace them!
This went on for months! As they were wired in from a central controller and nobody else did the same sort of design, we were stuck with Racal. They did get it right in the end, but it took nearly a year. I had fitted five or six new sets of sensors by then.
Later he came through with a large order for his works and his house, his son's house and his parents. £000s. I said to him years later "I was really surprised to get that large order from you" His reply is one I commend to AS "You never lied, you said you had a problem, it was evidently a manufacturer who was field testing an unfinished product and it was costing you dear. However you never abandoned us and however disagreable I was, you came back for more. I will give a firm that does not abandon us in adversity my business. I used to trade with your rivals, but they gave up at the first sign of trouble"
I really think AS should come right out - clearly state when there are problems.
e.g. As you go to snipe at ebay maintenance time on Friday
"Warning, the bid you about to place, will go in 40 minutes early - do you wish to continue?"
On this forum - a sticky warning - software problems of the following nature ......
Remedy "......." Notify us through this "quick trouble reporting link here"
OK, it doesn't make the trouble go away, but it makes us all understand the problem and turns us all into helpers rather than "bad mouthers"
What do the rest of you "satisfied" customers think?
Paul
What a total bummer, wish it didn't have to be this way. Ah, well...