The feeder is a hobby of mine, not a real business but usually when folks called during the day to order a feeder they are generally prepared after reading the website and the generic email that CVAN73200 received. It is a standard reply form letter that we use with their shipping cost and the total for the feeder and shipping inserted into the "boiler plate" copy that gives the information needed to use PayPal or to call in a credit card. I am sure that some might have found the detailed instructions confusing but the vast majority of the customers did fine with the process for several years. Generally taking credit card info over the phone from a caller took less than a minute including verifying everything which was fine.
But daytime hours are very, very, precious in a large cabinet shop because our over head is tremendous. Our daily rate has to be $100.00 per hour to stay in business so I can't afford the luxury of spending a lot of time answering questions about feeders via phone messages or taking the time to call someone back for a feeder order. We just aren't set up that way. However we do have a lady that handles all of our email including shipping quotes and questions about the feeders and the questions tend to be the same one over and over so she is an expert at answering the questions. We have switched over to a different ordering system that 99% of the customers use, a flat rate shipping charge for each state or group of states so it is rare these days that we get a phone call with a credit card and most of those are left on the voice mail after hours. Most orders, and there are usually twenty or so a week, people just click on the item, add their phone number, and process their PayPal payment and they are done.
So our feeder might not be for everyone. It is a reasonably priced alternative and at $65.00 we simply don't have the extra $130.00 added in our price to do the kind of customer service that some people require. The niche for us is the average Jane or Joe that is looking for a way to eliminate rats and isn't willing to pay $210.00 to get there.
But daytime hours are very, very, precious in a large cabinet shop because our over head is tremendous. Our daily rate has to be $100.00 per hour to stay in business so I can't afford the luxury of spending a lot of time answering questions about feeders via phone messages or taking the time to call someone back for a feeder order. We just aren't set up that way. However we do have a lady that handles all of our email including shipping quotes and questions about the feeders and the questions tend to be the same one over and over so she is an expert at answering the questions. We have switched over to a different ordering system that 99% of the customers use, a flat rate shipping charge for each state or group of states so it is rare these days that we get a phone call with a credit card and most of those are left on the voice mail after hours. Most orders, and there are usually twenty or so a week, people just click on the item, add their phone number, and process their PayPal payment and they are done.
So our feeder might not be for everyone. It is a reasonably priced alternative and at $65.00 we simply don't have the extra $130.00 added in our price to do the kind of customer service that some people require. The niche for us is the average Jane or Joe that is looking for a way to eliminate rats and isn't willing to pay $210.00 to get there.
