What I am about to say I say as BOTH a buy who has formed opinions of what is right and wrong in the wet shaving community through my own experiences and participation AND as an (as in ONE of the 3 owners that make of THE owners) owner of the TSC forum were you posted about your experience and your opinion.
I think it is total fair, reasonable and expected that customers share their experiences they have had with vendors. If we are going to heap praise and glory on those who we love we can expect to share a few failed transactions as well. It isn’t possible for any vendor or artisan in the wet shaving world to provide perfect products or services the first time every time, if the forums are filled with users who make it appear that is the case...it’s a lie. ‘It’ happens and when it does how the vendor (or artisan) deals with it and corrects the issues that made it happen in the first place tells us all what kind of person/people we are dealing with. Just as a vendor won’t always deliver perfect products or services, forum members won’t always be fair in how they represent their side of a transaction gone wrong or allow a vendor ample enough opportunity to correct a problem (being upset that you got the wrong product delivered but never telling them you got the wrong product is just setting the vendor up for failed service and unfair). As customers and forum members we have a responsibility to provide fair opportunity for redress of issues BEFORE we post a negative comment that will forever alter the vendor’s livelihood. Your/our small purchase does not give us the right to have hurt feelings, only products or services in exchange for cash. Our duty as forum members is to provide fair and honest reviews that are independent of the cash transaction we had with the vendor. We can/should describe if or how the vendor failed to deliver even after being informed of an error and given an opportunity to resolve the issue, and we can/should describe our OWN impressions of products and services received. I know it’s hard to keep emotions out of such things but as long as a review or recap is about your own experiences and/or your comments to threads about others experiences are respectful, constructive and reinforce/rebut their experiences with examples of your own, such threads shouldn’t be avoided just because they appear to shine light on something negative. If it’s true, respectfully stated and constructive, it can have value to others.
I will readily admit (and if they wish to say publicly I did so and how it was handled they may) I sent out at least 2 orders recently with the wrong soaps. One person had to tell me I messed up so I could fix it, the other I caught after it was sent and had to send a second package which didn’t arrive until after Christmas (hasn’t arrived yet). I’ve had other screw ups and will have more.
For many who have been around awhile razor emporium is but one of many dead horses that are kicked now and then. I am all for allowing new guys to give old business a second chance but if there are other places that offer great service I think we owe it to our forum brothers to share THOSE places names too. Particularly when a googly machine search doesn’t easily return those names.
If we (meaning the other groups) are willing to accept the pages and pages of nothing but glowing reviews of the same soaps, we/they need to be willing to accept threads that tell us the dead horse is still up to its old tricks. That’s my opinion.
