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About Jinco and Other Suppliers:
August 5, 2002:
Last week, I promised to explain why I removed the link to Jinco's
site from the Wesoomi links pages. It has to do with their commitment,
my integrity, and the good name of Wesoomi. I decided that I cannot,
in good conscience, send my visitors to a web based business which
cannot keep its website current and will not honor its commitments.
What happened was, sadly enough, not uncommon in my dealings with
computer venders.
First my situation. I currently have three computers networked in my home, which is also my business base. One computer belongs to my wife. I dare not mess with it except to transfer stuff at her request. Also on that network is an input jack for my laptop computer. That allows me to keep the laptop data current with my main computer. When I added a network printer I suddenly came to 5 network devices. That happens to be the limit of my current network switch.
Without getting into a lot of detail, a network switch is the device which has the electronics that actually connects the other devices together. It is the brains and traffic cop of the network, if you would. We do not connect the computers directly together. Every device on the network must be connected to the switch so that the other devices can communicate with it.
There are two reasons I want to increase my network capacity. First, I may want to take my oldest computer and make it a CD-ROM server. I would then use the SCSI card I have and put 5 or 6 SCSI CD-ROMs in that one computer. I already have everything I need except a port on the network switch. When I connect it to the network, any other computer on the net should be able to access the CDs.
Another thing than I know I am going to do is buy a color laser printer. That too must be on the network. Clearly, I must increase my network device capacity. There are two ways to do that. One is to add another 5 port switch to the one I have. It would take two ports to link them, leaving 8 for networking. The other way is to replace what I have with a larger capacity switch.
With all that in mind, it seemed reasonable to put a switch
on my computer components order to Jinco. When I looked at their
offerings, I found an 8 port Linksys switch for a very good price.
Lynksys had even sweetened the deal by throwing in two extra interface
cards. It is always nice to have backup cards, so I ordered that
switch.
Switch 8 port 10/100 Linksys EZXS88W bundle 1 @ $67
When I placed the order online, it was confirmed immediately. Everything was in stock, so it seemed. On that same day, I receive a follow up e-mail confirming the order again. Sounds good!
On the following day, however, I received a phone call from a young woman at Jinco. I had trouble understanding her and had to ask her to repeat several things. I never did get her name. I don'‘t think she had a speech infirmity. It's just that she exhibited a behavior pattern which, for lack of a better term, I call lazy mouth. It's kind of a lazy slurring of words and lack of proper emphasis. It seems all to common to young people nowadays. I'm sure most of you have encountered it.
When we got through that painful communication, it turned out that Jinco really did not have the switch package which I ordered. Instead, the woman tried to sell me the switch alone at about the same price. I pointed out that their website showed the board as in stock and my order had been confirmed twice. She tossed that off with "Well, the website does not reflect the real situation," as though that were a good explanation. Then she tried to sell me the switch again. I declined and so I will not get the switch from Jinco.
The frustrating fact is, they could have made good on their commitment. They do have the interface cards in stock. For less than ten bucks, in cost to them, they could have sucked it up and done what they promised to do. They could have made up the package up from stock they had. Instead, they chose to alienate me. Let's go over this step by step.
First about the currency of their website. The best reason to have a website is that it can be keep current. Unlike a catalog, the website can be updated on an hour by hour basis. The software to do this can be automated. It simple reflects inventory. Each item can flagged as in stock or out of stock. You may have noticed that many web vendors do just that. The only thing that could prevent this would be sloven bookkeeping.
Here is the bell ringer. As I write this essay, several days later, the Jinko website still shows that switch bundle as being in stock. There is simply no excuse for that. It is carelessness in the extreme.
Now about the lazy mouthed woman who contacted me. I have run into this many times before. To me, it is simply insanity in management. At the point of contact with the custom, you should want the most knowledgeable and articulate people available. I have never understood the logic of putting minimum wage people in those positions. Poorly paid people are likely to be careless and surely. They are also likely to be lazy.
What Jinco blew off with this fiasco is not just a single customer. The blew off a new business account which could grow. Probably without realizing it, they also blew off a guy who has a forum and does not mind using it. I have a habit of telling the truth as I perceive it. I am just as likely to let you know when good things come my way and who sent them.
To be sure, that has never happened to me in the computer arena. This computer business is a highly competitive cut throat business. To stay competitive, many of these outfits cut corners regularly. I believe that the average life of a firm in this business is about five years. By that time, they have used up all of the tricks and alienated most of their customer base. I don't expect this to change any time soon.
I have taken Jinco off of our links page. I have taken others off in the past and will do so again when I find it necessary. Even so, I know you need to find stuff on the net, so I will continue my links pages. The words of caution are still, "Let the Buyer Beware!"
I will have a follow up on all of this when I receive the parts
and actually put the computer together. I hope everything works.
Trying to return faulty items to a vendor like Jinco could be
a nightmare indeed.
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