This group buy ran into some problems and did not work out. I became involved in this as webmaster for 2 reasons. I received several private communications about its progress. When the buy was canceled, several people posted how they were upset or wouldn't purchase from the vendor because of what they thought were the vendor's policies.
Since I and several other members have purchased from this vendor and were very pleased with our experience, I wanted to know what had happened.
Let me just say that I believe I have done a very fair and I hope impartial "investigation" of the process. Here are my conclusions without going into all the details.
Phillip did an excellent job of attempting to organize this purchase. Especially when you consider the complexity of the task. This was not a simple, "I'll buy 6 drill presses" at such and such a price. The order was very complex. However, at the end of the process it fell apart because of a set of mis-communications between himself and Bill Baumbeck(the owner of AS)
It is NOT the policy of A.S. to require full price and then have the discount applied later. A.S. shows its standard volume discounts on its web page and if the quantities are sufficient, then the discounted price is automatically applied. The problem arises with the extra 5% if the total number of eligible kits hits 500. That is not built into the system since it is not a standard discount. If you ever have used the WoodNet discount, you know the discount does not show up in the cart. The automated system does the credit card check based on what the cart shows, not with the 15% discount. When the order is processed, they manually calculate which items are eligible for the discount, and the CC is only charged for the order minus the extra discount. No harm no foul.
With A.S.'s the problem is a lot more complicated. Because the order required 500 kits that were eligible. But what if some of the kits in the order were out stock? Well, A.S. no longer does back orders, because A.S. is having trouble getting shipments delivered in a reasonable amount of time.
At this point I hope you see that the real problem was mis- communication about how the discount process would have to work. So how could this have been resolved? Well, the simplest, would have been for the two parties to get on the phone and hashed this out. Also, if the a detailed listing of the order had been emailed in advanced to Bill, then any issues would have probably come into the open.
So who is to blame for the miscommunication? No one. It just happens sometimes.
Since I and several other members have purchased from this vendor and were very pleased with our experience, I wanted to know what had happened.
Let me just say that I believe I have done a very fair and I hope impartial "investigation" of the process. Here are my conclusions without going into all the details.
Phillip did an excellent job of attempting to organize this purchase. Especially when you consider the complexity of the task. This was not a simple, "I'll buy 6 drill presses" at such and such a price. The order was very complex. However, at the end of the process it fell apart because of a set of mis-communications between himself and Bill Baumbeck(the owner of AS)
It is NOT the policy of A.S. to require full price and then have the discount applied later. A.S. shows its standard volume discounts on its web page and if the quantities are sufficient, then the discounted price is automatically applied. The problem arises with the extra 5% if the total number of eligible kits hits 500. That is not built into the system since it is not a standard discount. If you ever have used the WoodNet discount, you know the discount does not show up in the cart. The automated system does the credit card check based on what the cart shows, not with the 15% discount. When the order is processed, they manually calculate which items are eligible for the discount, and the CC is only charged for the order minus the extra discount. No harm no foul.
With A.S.'s the problem is a lot more complicated. Because the order required 500 kits that were eligible. But what if some of the kits in the order were out stock? Well, A.S. no longer does back orders, because A.S. is having trouble getting shipments delivered in a reasonable amount of time.
At this point I hope you see that the real problem was mis- communication about how the discount process would have to work. So how could this have been resolved? Well, the simplest, would have been for the two parties to get on the phone and hashed this out. Also, if the a detailed listing of the order had been emailed in advanced to Bill, then any issues would have probably come into the open.
So who is to blame for the miscommunication? No one. It just happens sometimes.
