Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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After clicking on Mountain Magic I didn't try the rest because it opened a 2nd window and wanted to run some dodgy software on my PC. Very naughty MM.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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prog99, phoning isn;t a cheap option if you don;t live in canada, and it isn't necessarily conducive timewise either. Email may not be as personal as the phone but used properly it is invaluable
Honda Kitty, I;d suggest feeding this back to the makers of the board you want to try - nothing like telling them "I was going to buy the board but your 'stockists' were so unhelpful I decided to buy another brand" to get them thinking,...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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prog99, I'm sure they are fab when we get there.... I'm just of the opinion that if you are going to trade on the web you need to do more than put a few cr*p pictures up with a phone number! I have heard that the service industry out there is great and I'm sure I won't be disappointed witht that side of things. I have heard of Rude Boys/Girls before - in fact you may have mentioned them to me... I will check them out - but again I doubt their ability to use/check emails...
nbt, I know what you mean but they haven't done anything bad.... I just can't reach anyone to ask this simple question.... lol
davidof, it's the only one with pop ups....
Anyone spot a gap in the market????
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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To be fair the link given for the Inss of Banff shop is just a "business card" within another, rubbish site. The proper IoB site is here: http://www.banffskirentals.com/
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hyweljenkins, Thank you for that - but the link on Nitro dealer listing was the one I posted - I think I might drop them a line...
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All, what the Banff websites lack, their staff make up for in enthusiasm.
It might not be cheap to call Canada (assuming you're not using BT - get a non-BT phonecard) - but you'll get a much quicker answer. Banff isn't really a big town, they don't need websites (anyone in Canada who does will just head to Calgary or Vancouver and the big stores there....
If you want to try out a specific board, you will either need to ring, or walk, around - most stores only seem to carry a couple of lines (largely cos there are only really a couple of big equipment companies, so you typically won't get a shop selling, e.g. Burton and K2
oh, and they don't use horses to pull the carts, they have elks....
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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hamilton, Agreed and I have no doubt about their customer facing ability... my frustration is at their complete inability to grasp the basics of eCommerce. It's not exactly a new trading stream!
Having great shops in town does not help when attempting to communicate from the other side of the Atlantic and I am certainly not intending to phone them... a) cost and b) timings c) I should not have to princple!!
I do want to try a specific board and all my emails to these people have been to ascertain if they have one I can try before I buy.... very frustrating.
Anyway - cheers for the comments - I just needed to let off steam!
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Honda Kitty, best bet is to call. They are like many small town shops in the UK - they have a web presence, but not much more. If you're with OneTel, you can call Canada for about 3p a minute.
They won't do much eCommerce because shipping from Banff isn't cheap, and there's plenty of large web stores which will ship - e.g. Cupolos, REI, Backcountry, etc, which would seriously undercut their prices.
Oh, just did a quick search on Google for "inns of banff" ski shop
And the first result was:
http://www.banffskirentals.com/
On there they have:
https://secure2.worldweb.com/sforms/iobski/reservations.html
(sorry, just notice Hwyel posted this earlier)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Wear The Fox Hat, The whole point is that I am not prepared to call WTF should I????.... if you have a 'web presence' then a functioning email address goes hand in hand with it.... and that was my point... they would improve their web presence if they took their website down!
I don't want to rent a board - I have one.... I want to buy a second board and I want to know if they have one in stock and if they do 'try before you buy' - a question not answered on their rental info page.
I think I'm going to turn my phone on silent and then sit and wonder why I don't hear it ring....
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Honda Kitty, yes, true. But a ski shop is mainly dealing with real people - face to face, and discussing. You might think the Nitro is the best board, they may have other suggestions for you to try. Now, if they are a busy shop, it is easier to spend 5 minutes on the phone with someone, than sending and receiving a series of emails over a period of days.
Most small shops who do not have a full-time web manager, are like that. Particularly during a busy part of the year.
If you are seriously interested in buying a board then even at BT rip-off rates, it's maybe going to cost you £1 to make the call. (I just got my bill in from OneTel, and last month I spent 1 hour on the phone to the US/Canada, for a total cost of £2)
Try to see it from their point of view - right now where do they make the money? It's from the people coming into their shop. That's where the real money is. Anyone can send out an email to a load of shops asking about stock levels, you can even spam shops in one mass mailing, but to actually take the time to call shows that you really have an interest in making a deal.
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it depends on whether you see things from the point of view of the shop or the customer
Foxy's put forward the shop point of view, and a very good point it is
HK's a customer. Just not a customer of a shop that doesn;t answer replies.
IMHO (as a professional web developer), better to have no site at all than a site that is ignored. Or even stick up a page saying "look, we;re small, we don;t want to put up our prices so we can employ someone to look after the website, just call us". At least then the customer *knows* what is happening. Ignoring enquiries *from whatever medium* is poor customer service and deserves to be recognised as such
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You know it makes sense.
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I guess the point is that if you are predominantly a face-to-face retailer - turn off your crappy website as it builds up false expectations.
Or at least have a basic page with contact details and say - we don't have an online presence - please phone us as we are unable to respond promptly to emails.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Wear The Fox Hat, You're completely missing my point - which is one made with my Marketing /Comms/ Sales hat on.
You should not open yourself up for trading on the web unless you are in a positon to manage that function. Doing it badly gives an impression of incompetence. You do not need a full time web manager to answer a simple email with a question about your service.
Why do you think have they advertised their email addresses? I'm at a loss!
I fully appreciate the face to face buying support. I am indeed looking for comments and expert assistance before I make a final purchase. Which is WHY I want to know if they have a 'try before you buy' service so that I CAN get that type of support and advice!.... otherwise I'd just buy direct online!
I do not want to engage in a dialogue by email - a 'yes or no' would suffice.
Hope that's a bit clearer!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Honda Kitty wrote: |
You should not open yourself up for trading on the web unless you are in a positon to manage that function. |
Which they have done! The trading they provide online is RENTAL. They don't sell on the web (mainly because for them it would be pointless, as explained above). So, their "trading on the web" is covered by having on-line pricing, and a reservation form.
If you notice at the top of their web pages, they show their phone & fax numbers. If your question just requires a simple yes or no answer, then a phone call is not going to cost you more than a few pence, and you will get a far quicker answer than waiting for an email.
Also, I realise you have your definition of what "web presence" should be, but perhaps the shop has a different definition, and perhaps it fulfills that definition well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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(BT call costs to Canada: 16p per minute 6am-6pm, 9p per minute weekends and evenings)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Honda Kitty wrote: |
I don't want to 'rent' and therefore "RENTAL" is irrelevant.
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But how well does their website (notice what it's called: Banff Ski RENTALS) cover trading of rental skis and boards? I'd have to say it covers it very well.
Just because the site doesn't have what you are looking for on it doesn't make it a bad site!
Well, have a great trip!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Oh, I just got an email from Bactrax...
----- Original Message -----
From: WTFH
To: snowtips@telusplanet.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 14.01
Subject: Nitro Snowboards
Hi there,
Do you stock Nitro Black Widow - 147 or 145 and is it possible to demo one before buying?
Thanks,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reply:
No we do not we only rent Nitro Naturals, Punishers, & Magnums - we do not sell new boards only rent and sell used later.
SNOWTIPS-BACTRAX
Colleen
==============================
it took them under 2 hours to get back to me, which I consider a reasonable response time! (oh, and perhaps their comment about only renting, not selling, may explain why they only cover rentals on their website)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Update... just got a reply from Banff Ski Rentals (who were sent the same message at the same time as Bactrax...
HI,
Unfortunately we do not carry the Nitro Black Widow board at all. Try www.mountainmagic.com as I believe they are the only other shop in town that deals with Nitro. Hope this helps!
Andrea
Andrea Challinor
Ski Shop Manager
Inns of Banff Ski Shop
achallinor@bestofbanff.com
_________________________________________________________________
P.O. Box 1070, 600 Banff Avenue, Banff, Alberta, Canada, T1L 1H8 Telephone: 403-762-4581 Fax: (403) 762-2434
Banff Caribou Properties Ltd. - A 100% Locally Owned Company - www.bestofbanff.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that's about 3.5 hours for the reply. Again, not too shoddy, IMHO.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 21-02-06 22:34; edited 1 time in total
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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This is one of the more retarded threads on this board. Wear The Fox Hat, you have been very restrained
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Arno, I do my best.
Honda Kitty, No cheating. Also, I wondered if it had anything to do with your email address... back in the early days of antivirus email software, some US and Canadian ISPs configured their mail servers to reject anything which wasn't from a .com, so if you sent a mail from a .co.uk address, it would get rejected. I haven't seen that happen in years.
But one thing that has been established is that the Nitro website is out of date.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Arno, care to explain why? I can see both sides of the argument - I tend favour Honda Kitty, simply because she has nicer eyes than Wear The Fox Hat
Sorry, that should have been becasue she does have a point - she asked a question of a retailer and didn;t get an answer. IMHO, that's poor service. Can you deny that?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Wear The Fox Hat, If it's to do with their acceptance of emails from foreign email addresses then they should make an effort to address it. It was actually a .org.uk suffix.
If my business (no matter how small) relied on tourism then I'd be inclined to make sure my communication on the web was really effective. I do have strong opinions on Marketing & Communications because it's my job. No Marketing & Communications or Brand strategy that I have produced has ever had a 'don't bother with how you look on the outside as long as you are nice & friendly' campaign....!
These shops rely on 'passing trade' but from where? UK, Europe, Other? if I was the Manager I'd want people to head straight to my shop when they arrived.... because they already had a good impression....
Arno, what is retarded about debating websites in Ski Resorts we are heading to?
As president of the Snowheads debating society & intelligensia, why don't you get the ball rolling for the next one... post something errrr... intellectual for us to discuss when I return - I'll look forward to it.
nbt, Thank you - I'll send you a postcard!
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It seems the complaints are:
1. the website of a rental shop not having details of snowboards for sale
2. a failure to reply to one email. Rather than send another email or phone up in case it got lost somewhere in cyberspace, was misdirected accidentally overlooked we have what had become quite a long thread complaining to people who can do very little to help (despite WTFH's worthy efforts)
3. websites of small, probably owner-operated businesses aren't quite a slick as they might be
anyway, since this thread is so retarded, i am going to stop contributing to it now
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You know it makes sense.
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nbt wrote: |
I tend favour Honda Kitty, simply because she has nicer eyes than Wear The Fox Hat |
I'm really pleased you said that!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Honda Kitty, as you see in my post, it's not a problem (blocking foreign addresses) that I've seen in years, nor is it something the website controls, rather it comes from the ISP. I just suggested that as a possibility.
Given that my emails got swift replies, I suspect that either your emails didn't reach them, or their replies haven't reached you. (this is another advantage of telephoning - if you get through to someone, you know you have, and they can reply to you immediately.)
Also, your comment about a business relying on tourism. Most of their clientelle are from the US and Canada (I'd put a guess at 80%+), and for them, telephone is the most effective long-distance tool (unless you employ full time staff to handle emails, which is a very innefficient use of people in a small ski shop)
I'm just saying that maybe you were a bit hasty to jump to your conclusions in the first post, and that perhaps the shops and their websites are not "shockingly bad", but just that the majority of their customers are served well by them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Arno, Thanks for your contribution.. you seem to have stated the obvious and missed the point at the same time. Please feel to contribute further. I actually have found this thread entertaining and think both Wear The Fox Hat and Honda Kitty have valid points.
I also have issues related to Canadian websites when looking for accommodation in Banff/Whistler... but hey I'm not going to go into that here
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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...and finally, yesterday at 16.34, roughly 25.5 hours after the mail was sent...
From: Mountain Magic [mailto:info@mountainmagic.com]
Sent: 22 February 2006 16:34
To: WTFH
Subject: Re: Nitro Snowboards
We have the Nitro Nyx in a 146cm and 149cm. The Nyx is a true-twin suitable for park slaying. ya heard?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps they haven't heard, but I'm into bank robberies, not park slayings. Yo. Word. Respect
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I know its irresponsible but you could just go for it - and learn to love it
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