Re: [Leica] A Chatterton Story

["Jeff S" <segawa@netone.com>]

I've never dealt with Mr. Chatterton; had I seen the $550 Elmars, I surely
would've, minor blemishes notwithstanding (any bargain M6's left, he asked)

Mail order, I know something about--it can be tough! At first, there's the
entrepreneur in his garage: All works great, because one person sees the
order through from start to finish.

Sooner or later, word spreads, and business picks up, and one person can no
longer hope to handle the load, as the darned phone won't stop ringing, and
it seems as if everyone wants product info that might've been had easily,
had they done a bit more homework. Extra help is hired on, but everyone
wears many hats--this can be very, very tough due to incessant interruptions
(keep getting stuck answering questions on the phone, hardly have time to
pack or ship anything). Slipups do occur--product doesn't ship, is delayed,
callbacks and promised product info takes forever if it happens at all. Some
days, it just seems like you've got 10 hours worth of work to finish in 8
hours, and "some days" seems like "every day"! It can be really strange to
experience a sickout, and realize that there is no way that more than a
trickle of the highest-priority orders will make it out the door on a given
day.

If all goes well, and everyone's managed to survive the bumpy period, and
income's up, finally there's money to pay folks to follow up on trickier
orders, and in general, see that fewer things fall into cracks. Sounds
simple, but getting to this stage takes some work!

The reports I've read here suggest to me a basically okay business
experiencing a few of those growing pains. Even big guys, like Land's End
and PC/MacConnection, goof, sometimes repeatedly. Best thing's to excercise
patience, a sense of humor, maybe some constructive criticism--and remember
that, despite what it might seem like, life will go on if the new lens
arrives late or the wrong one gets sent!