Honeycomb's idea of customer service

[mtr75 653]

Just wanted to share this. I own the Honeycomb Alpha. I was interested in the Bravo, but of course it's sold out. So I went on eBay to discover that people were scalping their pre-orders and jacking the price by as much as 3X. So, thinking that I was being helpful, I wrote to Honeycomb and told them what was going on, and that it would be easy to figure out who was scalping their products and ripping off customers (by looking at the order location).

Here is their response:

"Really Michael?

So, let me ask you, how do you know they ordered from us?  I can tell you they didn't.  They probably ordered from one of our retailers, and we've already told them to seek out such people and cancel their orders.

Besides, if you don't want to pay those inflated prices, then DON'T PAY THOSE INFLATED PRICES and if others follow suit then guess what?  The people doing that will have to take their losses.  It's not up to us."

So essentially their answer is, go fly a kite. Hands down the most obnoxious customer "service" response I've ever gotten from anyone.

So if you have to pay 3X the price to get their product, please be aware: Honeycomb couldn't care less.

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by mtr75

[Greggy_D 937]

2 hours ago, mtr75 said:

Besides, if you don't want to pay those inflated prices, then DON'T PAY THOSE INFLATED PRICES and if others follow suit then guess what?  The people doing that will have to take their losses.

Spot on response from them, if you ask me.

[mtr75 653]

35 minutes ago, Greggy_D said:

Spot on response from them, if you ask me.

What losses? I have two choices: get ripped off or don’t buy their product. And they are fine with that. Would you be fine with that choice for your customers?

[himmelhorse 1,277]

mtr75,

I fail to see how you can hold Honeycomb accountable in this instance.  Do you apply the same principle to Nvidia for the scalpers selling their GPUs on ebay, along with all the other products in the world being extorted by greedy and/or unscrupulous people trying to make a buck anyway they can.

Quite rightly, you have the right to be indignant, and also you are most probably stranded with two hard choices as a result. Buy or don't buy.  Hang on a minute, there is really a third option here .... be patient and wait for stocks to become available.

In essence, you are requesting (if not demanding) that Honeycomb vet all their customers (including distributors) before sales of any quantity.  Not only is this, in my opinion, impossible, that procedure alone, would make the price of their product, probably more than the price one would pay for the "scalpers edition"

If this practice was extended to all products "scalped" you would probably be in a position where you could only buy certain products if you were rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bill Gates.

There is no win/win solution here for Honeycomb nor any products scalped on ebay and other sites. It all comes down, in the final analysis, to the obvious choices, as mentioned before. 

Blaming the manufacturers of any product, publicly, really does not reflect badly on them at all. That bad reflection, or perception, if you think about it, is reflected elsewhere.

I genuinely feel sorrow for those who simply 'Have to have it NOW"  but if anyone does need it right now, then I guess you just gotta pay the price and this is precisely the target that the scalpers are after and take advantage of.

It all boils down to choice.

Regards

Tony

[charliearon 3,103]

It's all the same as with concert tix that are instantly bought by scalpers and then resold for a huge profit.  The initial seller is happy to sell their product, usually no matter who the buyer is.

[Patco Lch 1,487]

Probably won't be too much longer before there will be ample stock from reputable retailers like My Pilot Shop or Sporty's.  

[109Sqn 1,614]

I have to admit that the wording of Honeycomb's responses to concerns leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know how @mtr75 worded their initial message to them, but having  been in touch with them myself about Amazon UK cancelling my order (twice), I found both their and Aerosoft's responses pretty curt and disinterested, despite Amazon being one of their recommended resellers. Frankly, they could have responded in a less confrontational manner, and should have done so even if mtr75's message wasn't so diplomatic. That's what customer service is supposed to do - be polite and helpful, even if they're tempted to be blunt.

[signmanbob 592]

When I seen the opportunity to pre-order the Bravo throttle, I jumped on it with both feet.

I've been waiting patiently for several months, but I've been notified that I should get mine by the end of this month (WEEeeeee!!).

 

[fppilot 4,445]

3 hours ago, Greggy_D said:

Spot on response from them, if you ask me.

+1

[fppilot 4,445]

6 hours ago, mtr75 said:

They probably ordered from one of our retailers, and we've already told them to seek out such people and cancel their orders.

That is pretty point blank for me.  What else can they do?  nvidia has had

 

6 hours ago, mtr75 said:

if you don't want to pay those inflated prices, then DON'T PAY THOSE INFLATED PRICES and if others follow suit then guess what?  The people doing that will have to take their losses.  It's not up to us."

Spot on. If nobody bites on the gouging the  the gougers have to adjust.  That if they get their hands on the units in the first place.

[tutmeister 726]

I think you most of you are missing the point being made. It is not the fact that they can't do much more than they are doing. It is the way they respond to a customer. That opening scentence is downright confrontational. I doubt you would talk like that to someone in front of you.

I don't believe in the customer is always right but I do believe in being polite and courteous to someone. Word your communication as if you were stood in front of them rather than being condescending. That reply could very easily convey the same message without the customer basically being told they are being stupid.

You actually see that tone on forums a lot too. It's much easier to come across that way when separated by a screen and keyboard.

[signmanbob 592]

1 hour ago, tutmeister said:

I think you most of you are missing the point being made. It is not the fact that they can't do much more than they are doing. It is the way they respond to a customer. That opening scentence is downright confrontational. I doubt you would talk like that to someone in front of you.

I don't believe in the customer is always right but I do believe in being polite and courteous to someone. Word your communication as if you were stood in front of them rather than being condescending. That reply could very easily convey the same message without the customer basically being told they are being stupid.

You actually see that tone on forums a lot too. It's much easier to come across that way when separated by a screen and keyboard.

I agree, but you might have hit a sore spot.

They have always been very polite with me when I contact them.

[Bob Scott 7,779]

Well, we only have one side of a tale being told here...we have no idea what was said in the original e-mail to Honeycomb that elicited the response, if the quoted response was accurate or taken out of context, or if the response is part of a longer history that may have established a confrontational relationship between the developer and customer prior to this.  In any event, think it's something of a cheap play to publish one side of a private e-mail conversation, particularly when the other party is not present.

It is not fair or reasonable to expect a manufacturer to micromanage its retailers as the OP suggests he thinks they are somehow obligated to do.  They say they've refused to sell to scalpers, and have asked their retailers to do the same.  But to be clear, w/r/t their resellers, they are the manufacturer/wholesaler...they don't have any visibility into who their resellers ultimately sell to, and TBH, most resellers would not take kindly to that sort of attempted interference from a wholesale supplier.  I think everyone in the retail chain, especially in a small market like this, knows that scalping a scarce product is really detrimental to customer goodwill and product reputation, so it strikes me as a really unfair and far-fetched leap to cavalierly conclude that "they could care less" simply because they won't do it your way.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 9,068]

The moral of the story is never, ever buy from scalpers. If they profit because people are so desperate to own a product they will pay any price it just feeds their greed and more people will jump on the bandwagon as it's an easy way to make money.

Leave them with their expensive purchases. The only way they can sell them is to lower the price to the same as the official retailers. One option for those prepared to pay stupid prices is to leave negative feedback which will damage the seller's reputation and may put off potential customers eventually forcing them to give up.

It's close to blackmail. Never pay the ransom. They are retail terrorists. Don't become the next victim. Sit on your hands and be patient as has been said by others.

[HighBypass 2,339]

12 hours ago, 109Sqn said:

Frankly, they could have responded in a less confrontational manner, and should have done so even if mtr75's message wasn't so diplomatic

EXACTLY!!

It would have been better to word their reply along the lines of "We appreciate your concern in this matter, but there is nothing we can do. The product was purchased at the normal price, not stolen. THAT would be an ENTIRELY different matter! This scalping happens across the world whenever vultures see high demand for a product, whatever it may be."