Large Scale Central

Buy American and get the American treatment?

General Discussion
#1

Hi to all,

Anybody else with weird experiences with Ozark? Should I be angry or just advise somebody a good shrink.

Here it is:

Ordered a couple of weeks ago some stuff from Ozark. Nothing happened. Orders pending. Was written on their web site that meant something wrong with credit cards. Also written on the web site they bill credit card when they ship and that they ship Monday and Friday. Now some Ozark figure, who doesn’t sign his(her) email, writes they only ship on Friday. Cancellations were third email. About the kids; Ozark should read own web site.
I cancelled with this email:

“Subject: Pending for ever?

So herewith I cancel my orders OMI-6390 & OMI-6389 for the time being. I
will try it again next month. Maybe you then will have real staff working in
your shop.

Fed up: pending, pending and no answer at all. Very impolite and children no
excuse.

Kind regards,

Andreas Herter, an angry old man in Thailand”

Now I got immediately an answer:

Recieved BOTH messages today. ALso try reading the website. We ship on
fridays Luckly we are a day behind so pulled your orders and cancelled.
Besides being a jerk you cant read
WE ARE FULLY STAFFED and work 6 days a week. Apperently you are just angry
all the time and rude. Please do not order as I will reject all your
orders. Maybe in Thiland being rude is acceptable …not here. What did
children have to do with anything???
.
NEVER ORDER AGAIN
I have removed you from our site.
No kind regards

From Ozark web site:

“About US

Dear Friends
Please make a note. I had a typo on this page and our fax number is really 435-586-0580. Sorry for any inconvience
We have many pictures to update but we are working on it every day. The new format should be easier to surf and use.
We love to hear from you. If your having problems ordering or just have a question. Our biggest problems is having enough time in the day to do everything. We also have 8 children that help in the business. So if you call please remember that you may be talking to a 7 year old or a 24 year old ( about the same some days) and sometimes they will put you on hold and then forget to tell anyone.
The best time to reach us is on from 8-12:00 Monday, Wednesday and Friday to talk about orders problems etc. If you want to just call and chat with Dave its usually Tuesdays and Fridays after 6:00 or 7:00 that’s when I sit down after working all day in the shops.
Our number is 435-586-1036 and please no calls on Sundays. Also if you want to fax an order our fax number is 435-586-0580
Dave, Brenda & Kids “
Because of the faulty English I suppose that the 7 year old or the Mexican cleaning lady answered my email. Even I see this is a Dutchman.

#2

I’ve ordered lots of stuff from Ozark, and never had a bit of a problem.

#3

Notwithstanding the large family that the Ozarkians seem to have, I bleeve it is a mistake to involve people at age seven in over-the-phone business transactions of any kind, apart from Girl Scout cookies.

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but if you went into a store to buy some specialist item, would YOU be happy at a seven-year old behind the counter beginning to carry out YOUR credit card transaction and then walking off to feed the goldfish or play with a computer? I would not.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

#4
Terry A de C Foley said:
Notwithstanding the large family that the Ozarkians seem to have, I bleeve it is a mistake to involve people at age seven in over-the-phone business transactions of any kind, apart from Girl Scout cookies.

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but if you went into a store to buy some specialist item, would YOU be happy at a seven-year old behind the counter beginning to carry out YOUR credit card transaction and then walking off to feed the goldfish or play with a computer? I would not.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


Thank you Terry(in between you have a very interesting and worthwhile web site). I got until now already two reactions from American train buffs with the same experience as me. My Thai bank told me last week nothing wrong with your Visa Card, but that people over there in the Sates is on our black list as dangerous and we don’t honor any bills from them. I thought my Thai bank was nuts. Now I hear from Americans the same story. And that Ozark person has the courage to write me that they black listed me. Me an honest old man, who worked during the cold war seven years long as a reliable partner of one of your governmental agencies.

Kind regards,

Andreas

#5

Sorry you had problems.
But what is meant by “get the American treatment”?
If one is confrontational, they should not be surprised by a like response.
Ralph

#6
Ralph Berg said:
Sorry you had problems. But what is meant by "get the American treatment"? If one is confrontational, they should not be surprised by a like response. Ralph
Ralph,

“American treatment” was used after whole the story already happened and it was meant cynical. Some people have a very thin skin. Wish you happy modeling. And I have enough from this “discussion”. I’m just building my train house in the garden and calculating the costs of whole the enterprise. Don’t forget that the transport costs of my train stuff from the States to Thailand is horrendous, not speaking about the Thai import duties.

All the best,

Andreas

#7
Andreas Herter said:
Ralph Berg said:
Sorry you had problems. But what is meant by "get the American treatment"? If one is confrontational, they should not be surprised by a like response. Ralph
Ralph,

“American treatment” was used after whole the story already happened and it was meant cynical. Some people have a very thin skin. Wish you happy modeling. And I have enough from this “discussion”. I’m just building my train house in the garden and calculating the costs of whole the enterprise. Don’t forget that the transport costs of my train stuff from the States to Thailand is horrendous, not speaking about the Thai import duties.

All the best,

Andreas


So what’s the transport costs from the states to Thailand have to do with Ozark?

#8

I had a similar experience with Ozark a few months back.

#9

  1. When EXACTLY is “a COUPLE weeks ago”? I seem to recall a notice that they would be CLOSED for a time around Christmas.

  2. It is a VERY small company, mostly just husband and wife. And he has a day job, I think.

3, I’m on their mailing list, I got an e-card from Dave back around Thanksgiving that said, in part, "This year has been a little rough on me as I learn to control diabetes. I have been extremely tired and in pain with neuropathy. I want to thank my dear wife that has held down the fort doing virtually everything.

I wish to apologize to those that projects seemed extremely slow at getting done."

  1. Christmas is a MAJOR holiday over here for many people. And Brenda already had her plate full with a not quite up to snuff business partner, filling last minute…last second orders, kids home for vacation, the inevitable holiday preperation, etc. And you didn’t say, but you gave her exactly HOW long to respond before you sent your nasty-gram?

  2. I’ve ordered from them on average 3-4 times per year for several years. In all that time they have made ONE mistake in packing, and had ONE out of stock/backorder, both of which they were extremely apologetic about and made right in a very timely manner. Mistakes happen, things do go astray. Try running your own business sometime. It’s a LOT different than punching somebody else’s timeclock.

  3. If someone had sent me a note like that when I was in business, I’d have told them the same thing. But not NEARLY so politely. And did. NOBODY gets paid enough to be abused. “American Treatment”? Do the Thais go around insulting people over minor mistakes as a habit, then actually expect them to kiss their behinds in return?

I vote for anger management (or a shrink), some patience, some tact, and maybe you need to send them an apology as well.

#10

Ditto

Greg

#11

I ordered some things from Ozark two weeks ago.
I ordered late in the week knowing they ship on Monday.
My order was pending that whole week. Hmmm…
On that Friday I tried to use my credit card at an Ace Hdwre, and an Arts supply store.
Rejected both times.
I rushed home, went on line to my bank accounts and found my credit card frozen due to a fraudulent user.
Then the phone rang and it was my bank saying someone was using my credit card in Utah.
I acknowledged it was me after giving them all the codes they needed over the phone. Then they unlocked my card.
Apparently it’s Ozark’s processing computers. They must not have a decent security set up.
I need more stuff. I am going to call them this time and have my bank pre-pay them.
The experience was too scary for me to repeat it again with Ozark.

Ozark, if you are reading this, please explain this snafu.

jb

#12

It’s not the merchant, it’s the bank’s computers trying to see if something “out of the ordinary” is going on. I had my brand new card frozen on a $60 purchase… the computer had never “Seen” that particular store before, so flagged it.

Funniest damn thing was it was brand new. I got it to have a higher per day limit. I got on the phone and the moron on the phone told me the reason, that they had no history of me shopping there, so they locked up the card.

I asked them if it was a brand new card… “YES”…

I asked them if it was a platinum level with a very high limit… “YES”

I asked them, if the card was brand new, how could they have ANY spending history on the card… moment… “Oh, I see”… Yes, I suppose that would be true.

Fixed…

Don’t blame Ozark.

Regards, Greg

#13

Bought several times from Ozark, Caboose hobbies, Ridge road, etc, using the same card with no problems.
I think Ozark should still have their processing computers checked, Greg.
I don’t blame them at all.
A small company trying to make it.

#14

I have had nothing but top notch service from Dave at Ozark. I get my orders quickly and he usually responds to email questions in a timely fashion. One time he was a bit tardy in doing so and happily extended sale prices for me as the deadline had passed. No complaints!

-Brian

#15

I’m sorry about your bad experience with Ozark but I’ve always had good luck with them. I sometimes email with Dave and have talked to both him and his wife on the phone. I will say that the kids are on the website as helping but it’s normally Dave doing everything.
That reference to Dave being diabetic may help explain what is going on. I’m a long-time diabetic and had a diabetic stroke 10 years ago at age 41. Until I got my diabetes iunder firm control it did all kinds of strange things to my personality. Give him a break if you can.

#16

I don’t intend to defend or castigate Ozark: I have never dealt with them.

But I do defend Thai people: they are generally very polite people.

Andreas did not say he was Thai, he only lives in that country. By his own admission he is Dutch.

#17

Dutch? OK, but methinks he was still acting kind of like a stereotypical Prussian cavalry officer.

Or perhaps the southernmost end of his northbound mount. aka, more of an ‘ugly American’ than the actual Americans in this case.

Yes, I suppose he may be quite a nice and pleasant person in every other part of his life. But I think he really blew it on this. FIRST because HE got impatient and nasty. and SECOND because he posted the same message on at LEAST two different boards (the one on MLS was deleted), worded offensively, not in a way to that said he was seeking resolution, input, or even trying to simply convey that he wasn’t satisfied, but actually written in a manner that was an attempt to damage the reputation of one of the few suppliers we have of detail parts. Maybe something was lost in translation, but it STILL doesn’t look like Ozark was even 25% to blame for the outcome of that transaction.

#18

American treatment? We’re not prejudice, we treat everybody this way.

#19

Hey , why all the fuss ?
This bloke is Dutch , thus his first language is not English , nor American .
Now , just sit down and compose a letter of complaint (fictitious of course ) in Dutch to a firm in Holland .
Or better yet , send one to HJ in your best German . HJ is an honest bloke who will not laugh at your efforts .
Think you’d do OK ? The bloke probably speaks Thai as a second language . Try that .
The chap seems to have a genuine gripe , and has tried to explain what and why .
So cut some slack and try to help instead of throat diving .

Mike , bloody disgusted

#20

I tried Mike’s idea, but apparenlty my complaint came back that “My LGB loco is full of eels…”