Dear Abby

[Rvrwind]

I really hate to ask this but recent events have shown things that I really wanted not to believe but unfortunately I have to. My question, without a poll as I want to hear your thoughts, is:
Are men just naturally dense or is it a learned thing???
I don't include women in this because I actually fnd women think ahead & figure these things out & are prepared where men, wellll....
The reason I ask is I have a client that I would just like to plain put it on the line & ask, Are you F***ing stupid or what???
I know that seems harsh but it just gets to me when a grown adult or supposedly grown adult hasn't got the common sense God gave a Dodo bird.
The story is thus:
The day before Valentines I get an Email that this guy wants a food basket & flowers etc delivered to his lady friend in Tver. Now first off, the lady is not in our agency, not a problem we deliver to others that arn't as well, but he gives only an address no phone # to contact her at & expects it should be delivered on VDay.
Well first of all if she is not in our agency & we have no contact phone what are we expected to do, go sit on her stoop for hours maybe days waiting for her to show up? I don't know but common sense tells me a contact phone # is nessessary. To top it off if you want it delivered VDay you better let us know a few days to a week earlier, you are not our only client. Its not as though we have the food baskets & flowers sitting on a shelf in the office just waiting for you to order & we deliver it, they have to be made to order.
Now I get another email & he is pissed because it didn't get delivered & even after I explained, nicely I might add, that we cannot without a phone # he tells me she has no phone.
Well that would be a first, a Russian woman without even a cell phone. And he has the gall to blame me because we don't say a phone # is nessessary. I really find I am getting disillousioned with my fellow man. Is there no common sense anymore? I sometimes wonder if some people have enough brains to tie their shoelaces or blow their own nose. Very discouraging & says a lot about the state of man & explains why this world is in the mess it is.
Now my radar is going off bigtime. If she doesn't have a phone or doesn't want him to have it, that tells me plenty. I have offered to refund his money without a problem but my point is for crying out loud, is, is there so few of us left with any common sense that we can actually fuction without someone holding our hand?
Now my company gets a bad rap because he was too dense to figure out something so simple & give us adaquate notice to achieve what he wanted done.
Sorry but I'm just shaking my head in shame at the state of mankind.
Frustrated in Tver

[BC]

RVR..

Business is business man....

Last minute rush order?.. no problem double the price.
No number? so what.. waiting time 20 bucks an hour max 4 hours payable in advance with unused time refunded.

No number, no contact? Of course no guarantees can be given. Tell the customer up front.. that's quite fair and his call whether to agree with the terms.

You are providing a straightforward flower delivery service, not a shoulder to cry on.. - that's extra.

[LEGAL]

Goodmorning Richard! Don't get frustrated get More money  capitalism my friend. especially off of a popka! I wonder how long his relationship will last. mmm Russian woman without a phone BS

LEGAL

[Phil dAmore]

Richard:

Some guys just don't, or don't want to, learn that here in Russia things take time! I guess because in the U.S. you can pick up a phone and get anything from a pizza to a Plymouth delivered to your door in less than 24 hours.

Fruit baskets are time-consuming to create and even more so in the middle of winter.  The last basket we put together had us running all over town looking for fruit.  (The fact that Mr. Putin saw fit to deport all the fruit and vegetable sellers hasn't helped things, but that's a subject for another post!)

Yeah... a rush-delivery charge sounds like a good idea.

... Now what to do about the guys who just won't take NO for an answer?

[LEGAL]

... Now what to do about the guys who just won't take NO for an answer?

The Doctor's diagnosis:
"The patient has not mental disorders, he is just an ordinary  fool"

Olga.

PS: Phil, LEGAL will call you this weekend.

[I/O]

Is there no common sense anymore?

Nope..never was.  If it was common, many people would have it but they don't.

I/O

[catzenmouse]

I always thought of it like this:

 If "common" sense is what the masses have, I'll opt for "uncommon" sense anyday!

 John Q Public is (in my opinion) a small minded, simpleton, who lets the media make his decisions for him and has not the sense to come in out of the rain without being told to do so.

 Like others have mentioned. Extra charges up front for someone like this.

Ken

[Bruno]

And he has the gall to blame me because we don't say a phone # is nessessary. I really find I am getting disillousioned with my fellow man. Is there no common sense anymore? I sometimes wonder if some people have enough brains to tie their shoelaces or blow their own nose. Very discouraging & says a lot about the state of man & explains why this world is in the mess it is.

Richard... when i was in university learning make programme for computer... the core code was only a few kilobyte... but anti-idiot routine was taken a few Megabytes... same writen in clear on the screen, when a birth date is asked ( with a example like "ddmmjj" ), some idiot put letter in place of the month, or some more idiot put their name... so, need to treat a alphanumeric value in place of a number, analyse the content of the reply, ... so a big loose of time and money...

So, you have two solution... pay back the idiot who have make a mistake and maybe receive a bad reputation... or make your system idiot proof and raise your price of 300%...

[Rvrwind]

Thanks people, I'm glad I am not alone in my thoughts on this. I will in future up the price for last minute orders.
Anyway, as it turned out I managed to turn him around & he has admitted he is new to what we are old hands at & I have counselled him some & gave the address to RWD so we may teach him some more.
As for the ending to the delivery well, some of you were correct as I was, it was a scam. We decided not to buy the basket & such & went to the address he gave us instead. No such woman at that apartment & the babushka that lives there was quite adament about that, LOL. We also talked to her nieghbors & the building manager & no one has ever head of her, so conclusion: SCAM!!!
I did the decent thing & refunded his money except the cost of a Regular Scam Check. I think this is one fellow that was open enough in the end to understand why I was losing my patience in he beginning & why a phone # was so important. I hope he will be more vigilant next time & more tmely with any gift deliveries .
So the conclusion is sometimes we just gotta give some people a little slack, enough to hang themselves, that way we don't get made out to be the bad guy!

[Kuna]

Richard,

Glad to hear it worked out OK for you... sadly it wasn't so good for him.

I don't know if you'd have these figures or whether you would disclose them but what proportion of flower deliveries would end up being scams?

I guess the good thing is that when it IS a scam you might be able to convert the victims into customers and give them an education rather than a fantasy.

Kuna

[Rvrwind]

Yes it turned out unfortunate for him, but I figured that from the get go. Soon as he told me she said she had no phone my red flag shot up to the top of the mast. I been here long enough to know that there isn't a woman in this country over the age of 12 that doesn't have at least a cell phone. Even at that she would have friends or neighbours that would & she would want to give him her # if she were truly interested in him.
I guess you could say there is a need for reputable & honest agencies. After all we could have took all his money & said we tried to deliver but she turned out not to be real but unfortnately we spent all your money fulfilling your order. Too Bad So Sad. Others less ethical than us would have done exactly that.

I don't know if you'd have these figures or whether you would disclose them but what proportion of flower deliveries would end up being scams?

Too funny Kuna. I was just discussing this with Marina & through our agency, of all the delivery or scam checks we have handle for guys to women NOT in our agency, 27 have been scams. Very discouraging figure wouldn't you agree. There were two that were not (one was Two Bits lady), out of 29 orders to women outside our agency in the past 4 months. What that is percentage wise I don't know but way up there, LOL.
To women in our agency, 100% were real & delivered on time.

I guess the good thing is that when it IS a scam you might be able to convert the victims into customers and give them an education rather than a fantasy.

I try. Some I lose because they are disalusioned & others are just pissed at the whole affair. Some I manage to bring to the boards in hopes they can be educated to the process & perhaps will return to me later for their search. Sometimes I lose them to my competition, its the nature of the beast. No matter as long as in the end he gets good honest service & finds what he is searching for & I'm a happy camper.

[Son of Clyde]

He could have been more of an idiot and ordered his gifts the morning of Valentine's day. Hey, he gave you a whole days notice.