Why I am misanthropic and how that affects you.

Hello all!

So, it's that time of the year where I send out a missive into the void in the vain attempt to vent frustrations.

Many years ago, I started this business thinking that I would help provide items to people who wanted to use their retro gear.  I would do it in the mindset that I always have for myself: Do the best job possible and cut a lot of slack for things to go wrong.

Then people got involved.  As the saying goes, "I used to be a people person, but people ruined it for me."  

We used to not have a return policy and then people started returning things two months after they received them because "it was too expensive."  EVEN then, if something was allegedly not working, we would offer to take it back and check it out.  Even if it was three months after the sale.  If the item truly wasn't working, then we would repair or replace it and return it to them, no charge.  If it was working and simply user error, we would only ask for them to pay for the return shipping.

Now, when people do not avail themselves of that offer, they open PayPal cases (this is also why we have deceased our presence on eBay: too many "missing packages" and eBay just taking our money, not to mention the fact that the selling fees are an OUTRAGEOUS 15% or more!).

So, what does all of this mean to you? Well, we were going to close for the summer, but I was going to keep the site open and just handle the orders every other week.  As a result of recent customer behavior, however, we're done.  We were feeling like Danny Glover as it was (getting too old for this s***), but now we are definitely set.  We will be back in the fall (probably) and we will definitely be at PRGE in October since we paid for a table already.

Also, we always tell you what is up with your build to order items on a regular basis.  We always answer your emails in a quick and--usually--cheery manner.  So, it's not like we're asking you to cut us some slack.  All I am expecting is that if you place an order, you do so knowing what the rules are and what you are ordering.

Now, I know that this will make exactly zero difference in the retro world.  The dog will bark and the caravan will move on without us.  But maybe, just maybe, the next time someone starts a "What's wrong with 'X retro company'" thread somewhere one or two of you will smack the OP back to reality and remind them that perhaps they not poke the bear of those people still insane enough to do this on a regular basis.