Does a company's reputation determine if you use them?

MisssAshby

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#1
Does a company's reputation play a part in determining if you will purchase from them?

There are several companies that I refuse to even try simply because I've heard nothing but bad things from people who have used them. I think customer service is almost more important than the product being sold. I like to receive what I ordered and always do my research before ordering, but if it's wrong or bad quality I also want the company to attempt to fix the problem and make me happy. That isn't asking too much, is it?
 
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#2
Absolutely, as well as the owner's personal ethics. If I know someone is a liar and a hypocrite in their personal life, why would I expect anything else from them in business?

Mistakes happen, and sh!t goes awry on the material plane, but as long as someone stands behind their product or work, I can work with that.
 

Pops2

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#3
Absolutely, as well as the owner's personal ethics. If I know someone is a liar and a hypocrite in their personal life, why would I expect anything else from them in business?

Mistakes happen, and sh!t goes awry on the material plane, but as long as someone stands behind their product or work, I can work with that.
on that note i avoid having anything to do with guys who cheat because if they can't be loyal to their spouse how can i expect any sort of loyalty in our business dealings.
 

Kat09Tails

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#4
It depends. Services and major purchases are different to me than buying a toaster. I'm ok with a $9 toaster from Walmart. I'd probably not buy a major thing like a car, a house, a computer, or whatever from someone I didn't feel good about the purchase from.
 

Saeleofu

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#5
It depends. Services and major purchases are different to me than buying a toaster. I'm ok with a $9 toaster from Walmart. I'd probably not buy a major thing like a car, a house, a computer, or whatever from someone I didn't feel good about the purchase from.
Same here. That being said, there are some companies I just WON'T buy ANYTHING from because of ethics. Cafepress, Hills, and Lindt just to name a few.
 

AliciaD

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#6
Hmmn, kinda.

I won't go to a particular bowling alley because while they have a wheelchair access ramp going in, they don't have one going down to the alleys and they wouldn't let my mom and her client use a side entrance because it's "only for employees". Their bathrooms also weren't handicap accessible. So I'm not going there, it's stupid, and deceiving from the outside and why the **** couldn't they just let a person in a wheelchair use a side entrance? Bowling is one of the sports he enjoys the most. *grumble, grumble*

I won't buy at a sizeist/fatphobic store. I was at a clothing store when one the employees loudly ranted about "fat women trying on clothes, ripping them, and putting them back" and "one size fits all doesn't mean that it's going to fit a 400 lb woman!" WTF? Maybe you should better label the size of your clothes? I hope this is just a fluke and you aren't actually this rude to potential customers, but either way I'm not buying anymore.
 

Saeleofu

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#7
I also won't take my dogs to the clinic I currently work at once I quit, because I've seen first-hand what an ass the doctor can be, as well as some other things. I already have a clinic all lined up for when I quit. I take one of the dogs I'm dogsitting there twice a week and I LOVE them. They are also as close to holistic as it gets around here (I think the closest actual holistic vet is 3 hours away).

I also don't buy anything from sitstay.com because they condone slapping a vest on a pet and parading it as an SD.
 

AliciaD

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#8
I also don't buy anything from sitstay.com because they condone slapping a vest on a pet and parading it as an SD.
Because of the ease of which you can buy a vest and patches? Or is there something else?

At the library I work at we get fake service dogs. Like, urinating inside, chewing on cords, and dragging their owners around (with the owner jerking the lead and struggling).

But we get some really nice, well behaved ones too. Most are OT rescues.
 

Saeleofu

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#9
Because of the ease of which you can buy a vest and patches? Or is there something else?
Something else. Patches and vest are very easy to come by from just about anywhere. But sitstay wrote a letter a couple years back pretty much saying go ahead and fake it, it's fine. It was awful. I think they have since retracted it, but that fact that they write it and published it at all is not acceptable to me. I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

ETA: It's been removed, but not retracted. Service Dog controversy. Removed. | The Dish by Darcie

It was basically just a way to boost sales, but it was totally inappropriate.
 

AliciaD

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#10
Something else. Patches and vest are very easy to come by from just about anywhere. But sitstay wrote a letter a couple years back pretty much saying go ahead and fake it, it's fine. It was awful. I think they have since retracted it, but that fact that they write it and published it at all is not acceptable to me. I'll see if I can find it somewhere.
I was thinking that if it was just the vest thing, well, like you said you can get those anywhere.

I'm shocked that they posted such a thing, but I heard a respected dog acquaintance a while back say that if your dog is really well behaved, and totally reliable, go ahead, take him into Walmart, :( :rolleyes:
 

Saeleofu

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#11
I was thinking that if it was just the vest thing, well, like you said you can get those anywhere.

I'm shocked that they posted such a thing, but I heard a respected dog acquaintance a while back say that if your dog is really well behaved, and totally reliable, go ahead, take him into Walmart, :( :rolleyes:
Walmart is the worst. If you take a dog into Walmart, if you get past the greeters there's nothing they can do to kick you out, real SD or not. They were sued a while back and part of the settlement was that they can only ask if the dog is a service dog or not, and if you say yes, they let you in and nobody can ask anything from that point on until the next time you go to the store. It sucks because people totally abuse that.

I was SO happy when my rally trainer asked me a ton of questions about Logan when I said I was training him as a service dog and asked if I could come in to work on long downs with distractions. She actually knows what she's talking about. It's comforting to me when people actually ask what they're supposed to ask.
 

GipsyQueen

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#12
It really depends to be honest. If I'm buying something that isn't all too expensive, like lets say a hairdryer? I'll go and buy that at walmart if its cheapest there, because even if I don't like their ethics, I really can't afford to be picky about things like that. However, if I'm investing my money in lets say a laptop, or a car, I will look at what company I buy from. I'll never buy dell again for example. ;)
I also refuse to go shopping in a few grocery markets, because they spy on employees.
 

Chewbecca

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#13
Yes a company's reputation counts in MOST cases. It depends on how major the purchase is.

It ALSO depends on WHO is saying the company is bad.

Is it some I know personally? Is it a bunch of crappy reviews on the place?

It also depends on if I've bought from them before.
 

~Jessie~

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#14
If someone I know personally gives me a bad review on a company, I will strongly hesitate to buy something from them. Especially if multiple people tell me the same thing.

Customer service is VERY important to me. If I purchase something from a company that I'm unhappy with, and the person I speak with is rude, passive aggressive, or argumentative with me, I will never purchase anything from said company EVER again. Especially when the company is at fault for selling something that is of very poor quality to me, and blindly stands behind their shoddy product.

I made a thread a couple of weeks ago about finding a cricket in a bag of raw food, and the person I spoke with was VERY nice and understanding, and said they would send me a voucher for another bag. She also explained their quality control procedures and was VERY appologetic about it. Since their customer service was so great, I am going to give their company another shot. I have also heard nothing but nice things about this company from people who work with this brand on a daily basis.
 
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#15
Well, yea, it's a no-brainer and what word-of-mouth is all about. Especially for goods or services that I get infrequently - say, having the roof done or a fence put in. I'm not going to pick some random ad, I'm going to ask my friends and neighbors for recommendations.

Having said that, I've worked in many many service-related jobs and I've seen how unreasonable some people's expectations can be and how stories of what actually happened can morph into "based on a true story" accounts. So I'm also going to consider the source and the ratio of good/bad feedback about a particular place.
 
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#16
It depends. For certain things, I'll go wherever's cheapest - for example, if I need a hairdryer, I'll just buy whatever one looks decent for a decent price, wherever it is - online, Walmart, wherever.

For other things, I'll only buy from a company if I feel comfortable with them, with their business practices, and whether or not I've heard good/bad things about them from other people. I try to buy dog food and other pet things from companies I like. I went to a ton of different places when I bought my car because I couldn't find a place I felt comfortable with.

There aren't, however, any companies I boycott for one reason or another.
 

MisssAshby

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#17
If someone I know personally gives me a bad review on a company, I will strongly hesitate to buy something from them. Especially if multiple people tell me the same thing.

Customer service is VERY important to me. If I purchase something from a company that I'm unhappy with, and the person I speak with is rude, passive aggressive, or argumentative with me, I will never purchase anything from said company EVER again. Especially when the company is at fault for selling something that is of very poor quality to me, and blindly stands behind their shoddy product.

I made a thread a couple of weeks ago about finding a cricket in a bag of raw food, and the person I spoke with was VERY nice and understanding, and said they would send me a voucher for another bag. She also explained their quality control procedures and was VERY appologetic about it. Since their customer service was so great, I am going to give their company another shot. I have also heard nothing but nice things about this company from people who work with this brand on a daily basis.
I agree - well said! :)
 

katielou

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#18
Yep for just about everything.

Even if i have to pay an extra $10 for a $20 hair dryer from somewhere i have faith in i for sure will.
 
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#19
If someone I know personally gives me a bad review on a company, I will strongly hesitate to buy something from them. Especially if multiple people tell me the same thing.

Customer service is VERY important to me. If I purchase something from a company that I'm unhappy with, and the person I speak with is rude, passive aggressive, or argumentative with me, I will never purchase anything from said company EVER again. Especially when the company is at fault for selling something that is of very poor quality to me, and blindly stands behind their shoddy product.
In my experience, which is longer and broader than I ever wanted it to be, both as an end consumer and purchasing for retail sale, no company that puts out shoddy merchandise actually stands behind it, they make sure you have no recourse and are stuck with your purchase. They make excuses or flat tell you it's not their problem.
 

MisssAshby

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#20
In my experience, which is longer and broader than I ever wanted it to be, both as an end consumer and purchasing for retail sale, no company that puts out shoddy merchandise actually stands behind it, they make sure you have no recourse and are stuck with your purchase. They make excuses or flat tell you it's not their problem.
You are correct that most companies that put out shoddy merchandise could care less to try to fix the problem. However, there are also companies who will make it very obvious that they could care less to fix the issue, which leads to someone having to get pushy to get something accomplished. I wouldn't call that good customer service either. Just my $.02 as always. :)
 

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