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Here is:
1. My email to Matrox, dated 7/4:
When will Matrox store orders received after 6/11 ship?
When will retail outlets begin receiving them?
How many backorders do you currently have from retailers?
How many boards will you be manufacturing per month?
Any company worth its salt should have this information and as a courtesy to your loyal customers (and in an effort to keep them that way) you should be relaying this information. I don't know what you have in the way of a PR department, but I think you will find that the best way to gain loyalty (and hence, the upper hand in the highly competetive 3d graphic industry) is to be forthright and honest with your customers. It would certainly be a refreshing change and probably gain you some new ground from former Nvidia and 3dfx customers who are certanly not used to honesty and forthright-ness from those companies.
Note: This letter is posted on the Matrox Hardware web site with a note that it will also be sent to Matrox.
Here is the response dated 7/6:
----- Original Message -----
From: Joan Ward
To: MadMax
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: G400Max (also posted on Matrox hardware forum)
At 09:56 PM 03/07/98 -0700, you wrote:
When will Matrox Online-store orders received after 6/11 ship?
The G400 32 MB and 16 MB have begun shipping. There is currently a 1-2 week waiting time from the date you place your order.
For the G400 MAX, there is currently a 5-6 week waiting time from the date you place your order.
When will retail outlets begin receiving them?
How many backorders do you currently have from retailers?
Please direct your questions regarding our distribution channel to our Sales Department: insales@matrox.com
How many boards will you be manufacturing per month?
This is privilege information which we do not have access to - nor do you!
Any company worth its salt should have this information and as a courtesy to your loyal customers (and in an effort to keep them that way) you should be relaying this information. I don't know what you have in the way of a PR department, but I think you will find that the best way to gain loyalty (and hence, the upper hand in the highly competetive 3d graphic industry) is to be forthright and honest with your customers. It would certainly be a refreshing change and probably gain you some new ground from former Nvidia and 3dfx customers who are certanly not used to honesty and forthright-ness from those companies.
FYI, Customer Service have been doing a great job providing customers with information regarding their orders on an individual basis. Ship dates are based on order date, product ordered and delivery address (Are you aware we have been accepting pre-orders worldwide). How can we post one message to apply to all our customers regardless of product ordered, when the order was placed, and the country that order is to be shipped to??? We do not wish to provide anyone with wrong information, which is why we respond to individual requests regarding order status rather making one general statement. We, Customer Service Representatives, provide the information as we ourselves receive it. The information we provide is the most accurate information available for that time. Yes, the information may change the following week, which means that we, ourselves, have just received the new information and our relaying that information to our customers.
We are doing everything possible to ensure our customers receive their products in a timely manner. We provide the most accurate information that is currently available.
Regards
Joan
Customer Service
And here is the e-mail I just sent in response:
Thank-you for your response:
The general questions I asked in my post - specifically, what will happen to pre-orders received after June 11, had NOT been answered by Matrox. I am very diligent about keeping up on press releases so that I can properly advise my customers. I had no idea what to advise them. The ship date had been pushed back three months and it is hard to make sense out of the information Matrox was releasing.
With regards to my questions regarding the number of backorders and the number of boards Matrox will be manufacturing, I am sure much of this is privileged information - but that is only because Matrox has decided it so. That is my whole point. Matrox could just as easily decide to let the public know what their capacity and demand is so that we could make a more informed decision. I realize that Matrox, like Nvidia and STB, are in the business to make money - but in the long run - by giving customers information that other companies will not release Matrox will win more customers than they will lose.
With regards to my questions about when retail outlets will be receiving them and how many backorders Matrox currently has, I asked you because you are a customer service representative and you have easier access to the information than I.
And as far as your statement that customer service representatives release information as they receive it - you have to realize that to the customer - there is no distinction (nor should there be) between a customer service representative and the company for which they work.
Lastly, I am sorry for sounding like such a sh*t - I spend a lot of my money, as well as others' money, on computer hardware and I just want to make sure I am getting value for that money. Part of the value is freedom from headaches and good customer service. I realize that you, personally, don't have control over the issues raised in this e-mail, but as a representative of Matrox, it is my hope that you will either be able to provide the answers or forward the questions to the appropriate representative.
Thank-you,
Phillip
1. My email to Matrox, dated 7/4:
When will Matrox store orders received after 6/11 ship?
When will retail outlets begin receiving them?
How many backorders do you currently have from retailers?
How many boards will you be manufacturing per month?
Any company worth its salt should have this information and as a courtesy to your loyal customers (and in an effort to keep them that way) you should be relaying this information. I don't know what you have in the way of a PR department, but I think you will find that the best way to gain loyalty (and hence, the upper hand in the highly competetive 3d graphic industry) is to be forthright and honest with your customers. It would certainly be a refreshing change and probably gain you some new ground from former Nvidia and 3dfx customers who are certanly not used to honesty and forthright-ness from those companies.
Note: This letter is posted on the Matrox Hardware web site with a note that it will also be sent to Matrox.
Here is the response dated 7/6:
----- Original Message -----
From: Joan Ward
To: MadMax
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: G400Max (also posted on Matrox hardware forum)
At 09:56 PM 03/07/98 -0700, you wrote:
When will Matrox Online-store orders received after 6/11 ship?
The G400 32 MB and 16 MB have begun shipping. There is currently a 1-2 week waiting time from the date you place your order.
For the G400 MAX, there is currently a 5-6 week waiting time from the date you place your order.
When will retail outlets begin receiving them?
How many backorders do you currently have from retailers?
Please direct your questions regarding our distribution channel to our Sales Department: insales@matrox.com
How many boards will you be manufacturing per month?
This is privilege information which we do not have access to - nor do you!
Any company worth its salt should have this information and as a courtesy to your loyal customers (and in an effort to keep them that way) you should be relaying this information. I don't know what you have in the way of a PR department, but I think you will find that the best way to gain loyalty (and hence, the upper hand in the highly competetive 3d graphic industry) is to be forthright and honest with your customers. It would certainly be a refreshing change and probably gain you some new ground from former Nvidia and 3dfx customers who are certanly not used to honesty and forthright-ness from those companies.
FYI, Customer Service have been doing a great job providing customers with information regarding their orders on an individual basis. Ship dates are based on order date, product ordered and delivery address (Are you aware we have been accepting pre-orders worldwide). How can we post one message to apply to all our customers regardless of product ordered, when the order was placed, and the country that order is to be shipped to??? We do not wish to provide anyone with wrong information, which is why we respond to individual requests regarding order status rather making one general statement. We, Customer Service Representatives, provide the information as we ourselves receive it. The information we provide is the most accurate information available for that time. Yes, the information may change the following week, which means that we, ourselves, have just received the new information and our relaying that information to our customers.
We are doing everything possible to ensure our customers receive their products in a timely manner. We provide the most accurate information that is currently available.
Regards
Joan
Customer Service
And here is the e-mail I just sent in response:
Thank-you for your response:
The general questions I asked in my post - specifically, what will happen to pre-orders received after June 11, had NOT been answered by Matrox. I am very diligent about keeping up on press releases so that I can properly advise my customers. I had no idea what to advise them. The ship date had been pushed back three months and it is hard to make sense out of the information Matrox was releasing.
With regards to my questions regarding the number of backorders and the number of boards Matrox will be manufacturing, I am sure much of this is privileged information - but that is only because Matrox has decided it so. That is my whole point. Matrox could just as easily decide to let the public know what their capacity and demand is so that we could make a more informed decision. I realize that Matrox, like Nvidia and STB, are in the business to make money - but in the long run - by giving customers information that other companies will not release Matrox will win more customers than they will lose.
With regards to my questions about when retail outlets will be receiving them and how many backorders Matrox currently has, I asked you because you are a customer service representative and you have easier access to the information than I.
And as far as your statement that customer service representatives release information as they receive it - you have to realize that to the customer - there is no distinction (nor should there be) between a customer service representative and the company for which they work.
Lastly, I am sorry for sounding like such a sh*t - I spend a lot of my money, as well as others' money, on computer hardware and I just want to make sure I am getting value for that money. Part of the value is freedom from headaches and good customer service. I realize that you, personally, don't have control over the issues raised in this e-mail, but as a representative of Matrox, it is my hope that you will either be able to provide the answers or forward the questions to the appropriate representative.
Thank-you,
Phillip
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