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"Call them and ask" We all know how frustrating and time-wasting it can be, when calling for professional service... In the end, it's still a tech problem. A

"Call them and ask" We all know how frustrating and time-wasting it can be, when calling for professional service... In the end, it's still a tech problem. Amazon has the tech, and the customer base to form a virtuous cycle. The smaller shop dont have that. We need more Shopify like supplier, with varying degrees of sophistication and targeted customer groups.

rchaud 7y ago
I've found the opposite. Calling is a waste of time when you're dialing a megacorp like your phone company or utilities provider, because they treat customer service as a cost center and do everything possible to prevent you from talking to a human who isn't reading off a script. Smaller shops will usually have someone who just picks up the phone when you call.
- alanbernstein 7y ago
  The thing is, "call them and ask" can be a 10-minute chore if you're looking for some oddball item from a local supplier, or a 10-second search on Amazon.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    My local bookstore has 'email them and ask', which is much lower friction.
    - jcrben 7y ago
      lol I expect the successful ones will have decent ecommerce platform within the new few years.
      - Apocryphon 7y ago
        They already exist: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22773393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22773393 And Bookshop is just the newest one, as others like Alibris have been around for much longer.
    - Tiktaalik 7y ago
      Yea the local bookstore and a lot of other retail I can think of will respond to tweets too.
  - reallydontask 7y ago
    Idk, searching Amazon has always been such a frustrating experience for me that i find hard to believe 10 seconds of searching achieve anything
    - randomdude402 7y ago
      Their search is so bad that it has to be intentional. This person isn't finding shit in ten seconds.
      - cycomanic 7y ago
        A thousand times this. Except for books amazon's search must be the crappiest thing there is.
      - alanbernstein 7y ago
        Look, there are a lot of different shopping scenarios. Maybe I know that I need a right-angle adapter from HDMI male to HDMI mini male. Think about the two options here: 1) Go to Amazon (or Monoprice, or whatever - it's online vs local that I'm talking about here), search for "right-angle adapter from HDMI male to HDMI mini male", and look through the result photos until you find something that looks correct, most likely somewhere on the first page. If it were a more expensive item, maybe you'd spend an extra minute checking the ratings, reviews, and questions. Either way, you find exactly what you need by searching for an exact descriptive phrase. 2) Call some local shop, and have this conversation: A) "Hi, I'm looking for an HDMI cable, but it needs to be a certain shape and size, do you have a selection of those?" B) "Sure, I think so, what do you need exactly?" A) "Well, it's HDMI male on one side, HDMI mini male on the other side, and the mini side needs to have a right angle connector. I need it to be at least a foot long, ideally not much longer than that." B) "Ok, let me go check on that..." A) [wait a little bit] B) "I have a few options here, was that a right angle on the mini side or the full-size side?" A) "Mini side" B) "Ok I don't think we have exactly that, but..." Then, repeat as many times as you can stand with other stores. This isn't some theoretical example. Something like this happened to me a few years ago, and I made a conscious decision to use online merchants more often because it's an easy trade to make to regain a bit of time in your life.
- OJFord 7y ago
  That's true, but doesn't really solve the core problem for me - I don't like making decisions on the phone. I'd probably have to be pleasantly shocked by the price/availability/whatever in order to be comfortable with it. Give me a website I can browse with all the information (and the rest of the internet) at my fingertips any day of the week. (To a lesser extent I find in-person shopping a frustrating exercise too.)
- TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  Yep. I called my local hardware store to see if they can bulk deliver soil. They couldn’t. But five minutes later they called me back and recommended a place that could. On the first call she was disappointed I didn’t want to buy 240cu ft of soil in 2cu ft bags, but by the second call she realized it was good I called their shop first even if they couldn’t meet my needs. Also their staff are way more helpful than any person at a big box hardware store.
- uoaei 7y ago
  Calling is a waste when you have to navigate phone trees and the people at the other end are only trained to answer the same questions that can be answered with Google. Whenever I call it's because I have a specific question that I couldn't find the answer to on their FAQ or elsewhere... and I can never get the answer.
- hrktb 7y ago
  I don’t get how you deal with payment in that scenario ? Do you spell your card number on the phone ? Otherwise while I get wanting to support local stores, have a bookstore order a book for you to have them deliver it feels way too wasteful when you could order the book from systems directly hooked with the publisher that will send it straight to you, delivered by professional drivers.

rchaud 7y ago

I've found the opposite. Calling is a waste of time when you're dialing a megacorp like your phone company or utilities provider, because they treat customer service as a cost center and do everything possible to prevent you from talking to a human who isn't reading off a script. Smaller shops will usually have someone who just picks up the phone when you call.

alanbernstein 7y ago
The thing is, "call them and ask" can be a 10-minute chore if you're looking for some oddball item from a local supplier, or a 10-second search on Amazon.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  My local bookstore has 'email them and ask', which is much lower friction.
  - jcrben 7y ago
    lol I expect the successful ones will have decent ecommerce platform within the new few years.
    - Apocryphon 7y ago
      They already exist: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22773393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22773393 And Bookshop is just the newest one, as others like Alibris have been around for much longer.
  - Tiktaalik 7y ago
    Yea the local bookstore and a lot of other retail I can think of will respond to tweets too.
- reallydontask 7y ago
  Idk, searching Amazon has always been such a frustrating experience for me that i find hard to believe 10 seconds of searching achieve anything
  - randomdude402 7y ago
    Their search is so bad that it has to be intentional. This person isn't finding shit in ten seconds.
    - cycomanic 7y ago
      A thousand times this. Except for books amazon's search must be the crappiest thing there is.
    - alanbernstein 7y ago
      Look, there are a lot of different shopping scenarios. Maybe I know that I need a right-angle adapter from HDMI male to HDMI mini male. Think about the two options here: 1) Go to Amazon (or Monoprice, or whatever - it's online vs local that I'm talking about here), search for "right-angle adapter from HDMI male to HDMI mini male", and look through the result photos until you find something that looks correct, most likely somewhere on the first page. If it were a more expensive item, maybe you'd spend an extra minute checking the ratings, reviews, and questions. Either way, you find exactly what you need by searching for an exact descriptive phrase. 2) Call some local shop, and have this conversation: A) "Hi, I'm looking for an HDMI cable, but it needs to be a certain shape and size, do you have a selection of those?" B) "Sure, I think so, what do you need exactly?" A) "Well, it's HDMI male on one side, HDMI mini male on the other side, and the mini side needs to have a right angle connector. I need it to be at least a foot long, ideally not much longer than that." B) "Ok, let me go check on that..." A) [wait a little bit] B) "I have a few options here, was that a right angle on the mini side or the full-size side?" A) "Mini side" B) "Ok I don't think we have exactly that, but..." Then, repeat as many times as you can stand with other stores. This isn't some theoretical example. Something like this happened to me a few years ago, and I made a conscious decision to use online merchants more often because it's an easy trade to make to regain a bit of time in your life.
OJFord 7y ago
That's true, but doesn't really solve the core problem for me - I don't like making decisions on the phone. I'd probably have to be pleasantly shocked by the price/availability/whatever in order to be comfortable with it. Give me a website I can browse with all the information (and the rest of the internet) at my fingertips any day of the week. (To a lesser extent I find in-person shopping a frustrating exercise too.)
TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Yep. I called my local hardware store to see if they can bulk deliver soil. They couldn’t. But five minutes later they called me back and recommended a place that could. On the first call she was disappointed I didn’t want to buy 240cu ft of soil in 2cu ft bags, but by the second call she realized it was good I called their shop first even if they couldn’t meet my needs. Also their staff are way more helpful than any person at a big box hardware store.
uoaei 7y ago
Calling is a waste when you have to navigate phone trees and the people at the other end are only trained to answer the same questions that can be answered with Google. Whenever I call it's because I have a specific question that I couldn't find the answer to on their FAQ or elsewhere... and I can never get the answer.
hrktb 7y ago
I don’t get how you deal with payment in that scenario ? Do you spell your card number on the phone ? Otherwise while I get wanting to support local stores, have a bookstore order a book for you to have them deliver it feels way too wasteful when you could order the book from systems directly hooked with the publisher that will send it straight to you, delivered by professional drivers.