What sort of feedback can you give me about your personal experience with borg.co.nz shopping ?
I placed a small order on the 12th ($70) and used Internet banking to transfer the money that same day. Since then the order status shows "pending", repeated emails and phone calls to borg go unanswered and on the one occasion where I managed to get through to his wife (Andrew wasn't home) and asked to be called back to discuss the order, there's been no followup.
I think this type of service is just shocking and generally indicative of a scammer if it wasn't for other people recommending borg and even the nzwireless site promoting it on the homepage...
EDIT:
Andrew called me and we had a nice long chat. It seems a series of circumstances (such as the bank taking 3 days to transfer money between two of it's own accounts, some lost email, overly busy schedule, couriers being slow, etc) conspired together leading me in frustration to post the message above which in retrospect seems overly harsh now.
Andrew was very friendly and helpful on the phone and keen to work towards resolving this issue. Many thanks and a big "I'm sorry" to him.
Thanks and its often great to receive feedback as it highlights where there are issues. We have over the last few months had a few. Stuff being lost on the courier, slow transfers and occasionally stock mess-ups coupled with the occasional email being filtered as spam certainly is not helping.
All that aside, we are looking at ways to improve and would gladly take any suggestions given, however the thing we also are trying to maintain is keeping the product at an affordable level as there are plenty of options available if we rise our prices but I'm sure none of us really want that.
Thanks for your patience Alex and glad we were able to get it sorted out for you.
My suggestion would be to forget email as a viable communication means.
I have had so much angst caused by emails failures and spamfilters discarding emails in my trademe dealings I usually end up just calling the other person if I have the number.
May I suggest getting an 0800 number forwarded to you cell phone ... it pretty cheap these days .. and can avoid the worst thing .. loosing the customer ...
May I suggest getting an 0800 number forwarded to you cell phone ... it pretty cheap these days .. and can avoid the worst thing .. loosing the customer ...
0800 is a ripoff, particually to a cellphone.
If a business can afford to have you call an 0800 from a mobile, they obviously have far too much money to spare. In the world of PC component sales where you are lucky to have a 5% margin, the $5-6-7 of an incoming phonecall will most likley remove any profit you had a chance of making from the sale, so losing someone that is not prepared to pay the $2-3 the same call would cost them to make is not a major deal.
The best deal I could find on an 0800 number was actually vodafone themselves, but I soon got rid of mine when people started complaining when I suggested they call me directly so I didnt incurr call charges when they were calling about things I was not going to see any profit from.
I tend to agree, on average we are making about $7.00 if we are lucky on a $100.00 order. however I guess the simple answer is to put the prices up and bring them in line with other companies.
Then we can afford to get the 0800 free calling numbers
When you have been in business for some time (dealing with joe public) you come to the realisation that no matter how cheap your products may be, people will complain about your lack of service.
It is just a fact of life.
And generally these same folk would not think of ordering from some of the other larger USA based suppliers, so no lose.
May I suggest getting an 0800 number forwarded to you cell phone ... it pretty cheap these days .. and can avoid the worst thing .. loosing the customer ...
0800 is a ripoff, particually to a cellphone.
If a business can afford to have you call an 0800 from a mobile, they obviously have far too much money to spare. In the world of PC component sales where you are lucky to have a 5% margin, the $5-6-7 of an incoming phonecall will most likley remove any profit you had a chance of making from the sale, so losing someone that is not prepared to pay the $2-3 the same call would cost them to make is not a major deal.
The best deal I could find on an 0800 number was actually vodafone themselves, but I soon got rid of mine when people started complaining when I suggested they call me directly so I didnt incurr call charges when they were calling about things I was not going to see any profit from.
fair enough .. their are other options ..
I have a friend in a similar postion ... He has a startup company selling software (very similar margins)
He has someone 'manning' the phones the whole time and does a constant email out to customer who have registered... the problem with kiwis (Nzers) is we dont value service as added value .. so we are not prepared to pay for it. We want everything for as cheap as we can get it and when things go wrong .. 'then' we want maximum customer satisfaction.
I guess im trying to say that for a company ... nothing is worse for a customer than not being able to be contacted ... BTW this is not a go at Borg .. I'm just stating general best practice ..
My other thoughts are that borg may want to consider a tactifal marketing campaign .. ? email is one way but advertising indirectly to your target market really helps .. like trade shows etc etc ... yes the intial outlay is expensive ... but I guess its a question of how seriously you want to take things ..
Borg = great
Andrew = stressed and too busy
Funding for bus. growth = $0 to negative $?
Margin = too low
0800 = waste of time / resource
Service = work smart / outsource
heh.. i think this post was a bit premature.. if it had been a couple of weeks, i'd have understood.. but bank transfers are not instant... if you had handed andrew the cash, again i'd have understood.. but you didnt
dont be so quick to judge, i doubt you could do any better if you were in his position, and he was hardly likely to dispatch your order without confirming payment..
While i agree, contactability is a big thing for small businesses.. its just something you have to live with
Who's spam filter was at fault? If it's your companies side, either remove it or get a better ISP (if your ISP won't let you stop the spam filter)
It was either the ihug one on basic, or else my own one I run locally, but when people use email programs like incredimail that includes web bugs, it tends to trigger spamfilters.
Hay Guys
Just on the topic of Borg.co.nz, i have ordered a slotted waveguide. Is this most likly to turn up after a while, or not turn up at all? If it is going to turn up, how long does it normaly take? Also, what is the best way to get in touch with borg.co.nz. I belive email is not. So far i have sitting in my kitten, 1 package from the states, and 1 from ozz, all orded at the same time i ordered the waveguide from borg!
:arrow: borg.co.nz is merely a not-for-profit shop setup to help supply the local wireless comunity with things that are otherwise a pain to source individually
this is pretty damn obvious :!:
:idea: if you want prompt service, sure, go spend your big bucks somewhere else Mr High Roller :twisted:
I think if someone was to delete this thread then some people would be all up in arms calling it censorship.
Everytime I have gotten anything from borg, there have being _no_ problems with the order.
The selection is there to get a simple accesspoint up and running, and for anything more complex you can approach andrew and ask him for something specific as I have done once so far.
The build quality on the wave guides is as good as your going to get. While the prices on the 19 and 24 dBs can be beat by importing via fab, that only makes sence if someone can get a bulk buy together.
All in all Andrew is doing a great service to wireless fans IMHO.
I dont think your kitten would be too impressed! 8O
Sorry, Kitchen. I'm guessing you figured that much. I am starting to wonder if this package is going to turn up at all. I have been talking to Andrew on the phone a few times, he sounds like a nice guy, but it is getting beyond a joke! This waveguide was ordered "Order Date: Monday 21 June, 2004", and paid for on the same day. I was wonting to order a lot more gear too, but I’m not sure if it's a good idea.
Greetings all, At last, after a challenging 3 weeks, we have received our waveguide antenna. Andrew, a pleasant and well spoken guy on the phone, may need to become a little more organised with order dispatching and returning of emails to clients. I can sympathise with him being busy, but aren't we all. However we are happy at last.
Thanks Andrew.
Cheers, Robin & Travis (IT guru)
Greetings all, At last, after a challenging 3 weeks, we have received our waveguide antenna. Andrew, a pleasant and well spoken guy on the phone, may need to become a little more organised with order dispatching and returning of emails to clients. I can sympathise with him being busy, but aren't we all. However we are happy at last.
Thanks Andrew.
Cheers, Robin & Travis (IT guru)
:arrow: borg.co.nz is merely a not-for-profit shop setup to help supply the local wireless comunity with things that are otherwise a pain to source individually
this is pretty damn obvious :!:
:idea: if you want prompt service, sure, go spend your big bucks somewhere else Mr High Roller :twisted:
Totally agree with you cAP...
Andrew is so passionate about this gig he deserves to be reciepient of large donations and not be too commericalised - otherwise you guys will be paying big bucks in the commercial world...
BTW - I am not a sponsored member of the Borg Team, just a patient customer and happy Wi-Fi_Guy....
From the orders that I have put through borg.co.nz they have always be speedy in arriving I have found Andrew to be very prompt and always more than willing to help out, I would recommend borg.co.nz to anyone wanting to buy wifi gear. (ps I didn't get paid for this it is all from experience)
Is borg.co.nz service always this bad? 
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