Members TinkerTailor Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 (edited) Wow... I work for Tandy and I can't believe someone would do that. I hope corporate took your complaint seriously and responded to you. I would love to know what store this happened at. Someone that isn't a business purchasing $2,000 worth of products would be considered a very high paying customer at my store. And although all customers, regardless of how much they spend, should be treated with equal courtesy and respect, a customer who is just starting out with leather and still spent that much $ deserves 1st class service all the way. THEY undercharged YOU. It's their mistake and not your responsibility to catch that kind of thing. Nor should you have had to pay the $21. It was the store's mistake. Essentially when they told you the total, they were quoting you a price which they agreed to sell you and you agreed to pay. It wasn't your fault that happened and the manager should've just let it go. The fact that you came back and tried to resolve the situation was going above and beyond on your part. You sound like the kind of customer that every manager should love to have shopping at their store. Although the large majority of our customers are really great people, we of course do get dishonest ones that come into our store. We get shoplifters, people that steal our sample items for our classes, people that take a barcode sticker off cheap leather and put it on the expensive stuff to try and get away with paying less, and the list goes on. A customer like you that goes out of his way to try and make the situation right is the type of customer that a manager should show respect and kindness towards, not be a rude jerk towards. I am very sorry you had such a bad experience with Tandy. Again, I'd love to know what store that was. If you happen to live in California, send me a message and I'll let you know what store I work at and if you want the customer service you deserve, I'd love to have you shop through us. I think you may be the only person on this site who works at Tandy and admits it. There are a few who used to work there, but not any that do now that I know of. I commend you for this. I think Tandy headquarters could do themselves some good to get an account here, and read some of the other things said about them. They may be able to win back some former customers. Its not like there are 60,000 leather working users on here or anything....... Perhaps they could send a check and advertise... to: Tandy Corporate: You used to be the go to store for entering into this hobby, and also a supplier good enough for some businesses to use exclusively. You had good quality at reasonable prices. My mom, dad and grandpa shopped there. Tandy had what a leatherworker needed and had mail order, and a nice catalog, so you became the only game in town. All the exclusivity went to your heads. Product got crappier and crappier, and prices went up. Now in the days of the internet, I can get the same crap tools for alot less money online. Tandy is no longer the only game in town, and you are losing market share fast. Tandy has horrendous quality control. Your tools are so inconsistent, most experienced users steer the novices to other options. I, and many others here have multiple generations of tools from Tandy. I have new and old versions of the same tools. They look the same but the new ones suck. I understand that quality control of random internet tools is questionable, however sometimes i can order 4 or 5 tools for the price of one at Tandy. One of them will be good. It is a crapshoot, and is wasteful, however its a gamble I usually win......If I knew I could trust the product I got at Tandy to be consistent from piece to piece and visit to visit, I would buy it there, even if it was a little more. Not double price, just a little more. Its the trust in the product that is most important to me. As far as hardware, why do all the snaps and things have Tandy logos on them now? I am sorry, advertising costs money, and if Tandy is going to advertise on my product, they better pay me, not the other way around.....And would it really be that hard to carry solid brass double cap rivets? With the internet, people can shop around and won't put up with this crap for long. Your high prices and low quality drive them away. And don't get me started about the staff who spend more time training on the up-sell than on working with leather. You sell horsehair brushes (Item #2942-00) for $18.19cad. I can buy the exact same brush at the grocery store in the shoe polish section for $6.99 You sell 6 nitrile gloves (Item #2096-00) for $5.60cad. A box of 100 is 12.99 at any drug store, or hardware store, or paint store or...... You sell 6 glue brushes (Item #3432-00) for $5.60cad. They are $0.25 each at the hardware store. Who the heck do you think you are fooling? You may be able to screw someone over once or twice, but once they figure it out, they will be resentful for a long time. On sites like this, they tell others about it and you lose customers you never knew you coulda had..... These are not boutique shops, there are the same chain stores in every town. These prices are less that half of the tandy "gold" "wholesale" customer pricing. Some much much cheaper, and they are RETAIL....... Other businesses can pay their bills selling these products at reasonable prices.. Why can't you? Is it just plain greed?... Get a grip and respect your market, or you are going to lose what grip you have left and go under. Take that to corporate. Edited February 10, 2016 by TinkerTailor Quote "If nobody shares what they know, we will eventually all know nothing." "There is no adventure in letting fear and common sense be your guide"
Members CastlesCustomLeather Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 I think you may be the only person on this site who works at Tandy and admits it. There are a few who used to work there, but not any that do now that I know of. I commend you for this. I think Tandy headquarters could do themselves some good to get an account here, and read some of the other things said about them. They may be able to win back some former customers. Its not like there are 60,000 leather working users on here or anything....... Perhaps they could send a check and advertise... to: Tandy Corporate: You used to be the go to store for entering into this hobby, and also a supplier good enough for some businesses to use exclusively. You had good quality at reasonable prices. My mom, dad and grandpa shopped there. Tandy had what a leatherworker needed and had mail order, and a nice catalog, so you became the only game in town. All the exclusivity went to your heads. Product got crappier and crappier, and prices went up. Now in the days of the internet, I can get the same crap tools for alot less money online. Tandy is no longer the only game in town, and you are losing market share fast. Tandy has horrendous quality control. Your tools are so inconsistent, most experienced users steer the novices to other options. I, and many others here have multiple generations of tools from Tandy. I have new and old versions of the same tools. They look the same but the new ones suck. I understand that quality control of random internet tools is questionable, however sometimes i can order 4 or 5 tools for the price of one at Tandy. One of them will be good. It is a crapshoot, and is wasteful, however its a gamble I usually win......If I knew I could trust the product I got at Tandy to be consistent from piece to piece and visit to visit, I would buy it there, even if it was a little more. Not double price, just a little more. Its the trust in the product that is most important to me. As far as hardware, why do all the snaps and things have Tandy logos on them now? I am sorry, advertising costs money, and if Tandy is going to advertise on my product, they better pay me, not the other way around.....And would it really be that hard to carry solid brass double cap rivets? With the internet, people can shop around and won't put up with this crap for long. Your high prices and low quality drive them away. And don't get me started about the staff who spend more time training on the up-sell than on working with leather. You sell horsehair brushes (Item #2942-00) for $18.19cad. I can buy the exact same brush at the grocery store in the shoe polish section for $6.99 You sell 6 nitrile gloves (Item #2096-00) for $5.60cad. A box of 100 is 12.99 at any drug store, or hardware store, or paint store or...... You sell 6 glue brushes (Item #3432-00) for $5.60cad. They are $0.25 each at the hardware store. Who the heck do you think you are fooling? You may be able to screw someone over once or twice, but once they figure it out, they will be resentful for a long time. On sites like this, they tell others about it and you lose customers you never knew you coulda had..... These are not boutique shops, there are the same chain stores in every town. These prices are less that half of the tandy "gold" "wholesale" customer pricing. Some much much cheaper, and they are RETAIL....... Other businesses can pay their bills selling these products at reasonable prices.. Why can't you? Is it just plain greed?... Get a grip and respect your market, or you are going to lose what grip you have left and go under. Take that to corporate. I totally agree with everything you've said. Prices have gone way up while quality has gone way down. It's sad, but Tandy has turned into a corporation. No longer are they the same small town type of store where everyone is friends and it's all about the customer's happiness with their shopping experience and the products they buy. I used to work in manufacturing and I can rarely get any of the shops I worked for or did business with to buy from Tandy. They can find the same hardware or Fiebing's products or similar tools at much cheaper prices from other places. I work for Tandy and even I don't use their products that often. If you want to see how much the quality has gone down, just compare a Craftool stamp from 30 years ago to a new one. That's why people pay so much for the vintage Craftools. And I don't even mean the discontinued ones. People will pay twice as much for a used vintage Craftool even though they can get the same stamp brand new from Tandy. The only thing I will say though, is even though some of the tools have gone down in quality, there is a lifetime warranty on all tools. If they break from normal wear and tear or are defective in any way, you can just bring it or send it to your local Tandy and they will replace it for free. And also, Tanddy does sell solid brass double cap rivets. They are item numbers 1379-11, 1381-11, and 1383-11. They also come in solid brass nickel plated. Quote
Members TinkerTailor Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 (edited) I stand corrected, i see they do for $27.99/$16.80cad elite price for 100. However, $12.30cad/$8.85usd : http://www.buckleguy.com/rv4756-double-cap-rivet-cap-4-7mm-post-5-6mm-natural-brass-solid-brass-100-per-bag/ There standard discount: Most of our "In-Stock" brass hardware items have the following volume discounts: (10 - 99) -15% (100 - 499) 25% (500 - 999) 35% (1000+) 40% Edited February 10, 2016 by TinkerTailor Quote "If nobody shares what they know, we will eventually all know nothing." "There is no adventure in letting fear and common sense be your guide"
Members CastlesCustomLeather Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 I stand corrected, i see they do for $27.99/$16.80cad elite price for 100. However, $12.30cad/$8.85usd : http://www.buckleguy.com/rv4756-double-cap-rivet-cap-4-7mm-post-5-6mm-natural-brass-solid-brass-100-per-bag/ I never said they were reasonably priced haha! Just that Tandy sells them. I think Tandy relies on their monopolization of the leathercraft market. Even though people who are experienced in the field know about Barry King, Leatherwranglers, Chuck Smith, Bob Beard, Sheridan Leather, Springfield Leather, Ohio Travel Bag, Beylors, Hide House, Wicket & Craig, Horween, Herman & Oak etc, the beginner and the casual hobbyist only know about Tandy. They think Tandy is the only place that sells leather, leather working tools, hardware, and so on. So they pay those prices because they don't know that there are other places with the same or similar products (sometimes far superior products) at more reasonable costs. We do have a lot of businesses that buy from us, but it's usually more specialty items that aren't readily available from other companies. Anyway, I appreciate what you wrote and I understand and agree with your opinion. Quote
Members Norton Custom Leather Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 See my previous post of 16 December Springfield Leather Company has not disappointed me with anything. The one question I did have, Kevin, the owner took the call himself, answered my question & offered to exchange the item if that was what I wanted. I have even walked into the store & had Kevin, the owner greet me with a hello. Quote
Members rickdroid Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 The manager of my local Tandy store was "retired" by corporate with a sorry excuse that they wanted someone to "build the business faster." What a crock. That store is in an ancient shopping center with inadequate parking and not nearly enough floor space to adequately display a reasonable range of materials. I know from first hand experience that he had been trying to get Tandy to choose a larger, more modern location for over two years but they had refused. I ran into the ex-manager Sunday at a local leather guild meeting and asked about his retirement; I would have been really bitter about how the dismissal was handled but he was still loyal to the company, though not to Tandy corporate. He was the main reason that I continued to shop at the local Tandy; he is knowledgeable and always willing to help. Tandy sure crapped in their own backyard when they let him go, I will be ordering a lot more of my products from out of town suppliers in the future. I can also remember when Radio Shack was a good place to shop for the electronics hobbyist but apparently that didn't bring in enough profit either. Guess their decision to abandon the hobbyist finally caught up with them when they couldn't compete with businesses such as Best Buy and Fry's selling computers and cell phones. Now it seems that Tandy Leather may be going the same way. Sad. rick Quote
Members Studio-N Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 well Rick, if it is any consolation - the person who retired Dennis is no longer a part of corporate. He's out. Karma is a bit*h, but she's fair. Quote "Out of my mind.....back in 5 minutes"
Members thunter9 Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 who said Tandy leather executives . are very smart . they owned colortile and radio shack or am I mistaken Quote
Members thunter9 Posted February 10, 2016 Members Report Posted February 10, 2016 25 -30 years ago the leather factory was started didn't they spin off from tandy Quote
NVLeatherWorx Posted February 11, 2016 Report Posted February 11, 2016 The Leather Factory was an independent business that came to be in an effort to compete against Tandy and the other guys; they got big and eventually bought the Tandy brand name as it was more readily recognized and had a solid following. I considered it much like a hostile takeover but it happened and here we are. Tandy was much better when the entire staff knew about their product and how to use it. You walk into a store today and ask a staffer to demo a tool for you and they have no clue how they even work. As has been covered previously, they are a corporation and all they see is the bottom line, they forget where that bottom line originates from and apparently don't quite get it that you have to keep your customers happy and well treated if you expect that bottom line to maintain and/or grow. I get all of my supplies from other sources, mostly from the origin source. I have a direct buy with Fiebing's, H.O., Maine Thread Company, etc. and can get anything that Tandy has available for a fraction of what they could give me as a business customer. Why should one waist their time, and money, with someone who doesn't care about anything other than just money when they can do themselves better by shopping elsewhere? Just doesn't make sense. Quote Richard Hardie R. P. Hardie Leather Co. R. P. Hardie Leather Co. - OnlineR. P. Hardie Leather Co on Facebook
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