Vesalia, Vesalia... :P

[Daedalus]

Right, I'd have to agree with Lemmink... While I have not met the man in person, I have spoken to him on the phone and he is a very decent character who goes out of his way to help his customers. I have indeed noticed the problems with email correspondence. I've bought nearly all my major gear from Vesalia, but any technical questions I had before buying were never answered, even after repeated emails. So, after finding out the details elsewhere I'd go to the website and place an order. As soon as the order goes through to the payment stage, I then get an email from Vesalia confirming the order and payment details, and get whatever questions answered then.

So, it seems he/they prioritise their limited email responses to those people who are buying stuff from them. I don't think this is unreasonable at all for someone like this with quite limited resources, although it doesn't excuse the sloppy after-sales service. Thankfully I haven't had any problems with anything I've bought, and would probably buy from them again...

[x56h34]

@Lemmink:

All I know is that I am down over 700EUR for the card and that Vesalia offered no help whatsoever on the subject.

I've had to beg a friend in Germany to personally visit DCE on his own time and see if they even received the card from Vesalia for repair, that's how bad it was. It's not like I've threatened Mr. Does or something and he decided to ignore me. I politely asked what the status of my card's repair was and he never answered. If I ask about a different product, he may answer, but if I again ask about the PPC card...silence. I cannot speak German so calling him doesn't help. I tried to a few times, however this lead to nowhere as once he hung up after a few words, and the other time I was greated in German with perhaps a few English words too, followed by another hang up.

How can I not be pissed off? :-( I didn't even come to a point where I asked for my money back. I simply did not get ONE SINGLE REPLY on the topic of my faulty PPC card.

Regardless of his personal agenda and problems, I think that he really should not treat me like this.

[Doppie1200]

x56h34 wrote:
All I know is that I am down over 700EUR for the card and that Vesalia offered no help whatsoever on the subject.

 :-o Now that is just too much money. It is exactly what I was talking about. One-man operation or not. You just can't do that to people.

I have called him too once. He even speaks a bit of dutch. And as I stated before; my problems were solved. But this story is unacceptable and makes vesalia smell like a fraud.
I hope it has been an incident.

If there are more of these cases you can safly say Vesalia offers no warranty on expensive products since they/he is unable to take the damage.

[Jettah]

@AMIGAZ

You're probably right about Vesalia being a one-man operation. Or better: a man, his wife and a technician. Suchs an operation does not provide for much time to answer e-mails elaborately. It is a bit of a hectic time currently. But margins are not that high that it allows for expansion of workforce. Bear this in mind. And it is not only Vesalia suffering from this, I think that many, maybe most or even all resellers face a similar situation. The market is not THAT big and very diverse. Which computermarket provides for aftersales of products 15 years out of production? Certainly not Windows-related. You'll be the laughing stock of the shop's crowd when you want a replacement for a specific PC-part some 5 or 6 years old.
Be very glad that some companies STILL provide for spares of  your old relic, however much you cherish it!

I got a scandoubler for my A1200 from them some 2 years ago and on the shortest day of the northern half in 2004 I got my MicroA1 from them: drove up the entire 170 odd miles, collected what I wanted and some more, got a cup of coffee from the missus, paid the bill, said goodbye, turned the car, drove back home, installed the gear and continued enjoying life.

Be patient, moderate your tone, you are dealing with people that STILL show interest in a very awkward market! Be glad that they are still around and are able and willing to serve you with your beloved but heavily antiquated gear!

My handfull of small-coin.

Jettah

[K7HTH]

Having lived in Germany for six years I can tell you across the board Germans lack the remotest concept of customer service; it is alien to them. There are small pockets in this economy that have grasped the concept to a small degree with full credit coming from the arrival of Wal-Mart stores.  

Competition is a wonderful concept for business however, Vesalia operates a niche market without competition where Guido's customers need him more than he needs them, hence the usual German lack of customer service. This is the culture here. It does not matter if you are bank rolled to purchase a Porsche 911, if you think the dealer will kiss your ass all through the sale like dealers selling Hondas in the USA do you are fooling yourself. German retailers feel they are doing the customer a favor and that favor is a pain in their asses. If shipping takes three months from Frankfurt to London you better bite your tongue and praise the fact you received your product. If you received the wrong product then using an apologetic tone may yield you some results as long as you avoid blame on the vendor. Complaining will only bring you contempt. Once you understand this you will have a much better shopping experience.  
 

[Crusher]

Err.. isn´t it better that the German shops learn what service is? I mean everybody else in the world knows what that is and it isn't hard. :roll:

[x56h34]

I think that KD7HTH put it really nicely as to why things suck nowadays, and not only with Vesalia, but with the entire Amiga dealer community.

I was impressed at how dedicated and honest AmigaKit turned out to be, compared to other dealers. Two thumbs up for their service.

[Morley]

Hmmm....funny. We have a joke at work, that goes something like this:

"Do you know the proper German answer to any question?"
"Nein!"

Having worked partly in Germany for the last 5 years, I have too know the people more. They have a very special way of treating strangers and foreigners, but when you finally get to know them they are the friendliest people existing. I do speak German, and that's a great advantage though.

I would get someone that speaks German fluidly to call up Vesalia and check things out. Remember the time zones though, don't call him in the middle of the night ;-)

[odin]

I always regarded the Germans as very correct and courteous in their dealings with customers. Was I that wrong then?

[x56h34]

@odin:

I have nothing bad to say about German business as a whole. I've dealt successfully with many people from Germany and they were mostly friendly and very professional. My misfortune with Vesalia should not be categorized as an example of how all german businesses work. Vesalia is only one bad seed, in my opinion.