twinsoft
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posted on August 8, 2002 09:16:24 AM new
For about the third time in two weeks, I've gotten email from customers saying I've sent them a blank floppy disk. (Supposed to contain a software program.) I know the disks aren't blank, as I copy them myself individually. One mistake, yes. Two, maybe. Three? No way.
I can only guess that these computer illiterates can't figure out how to run a SETUP.EXE program from a floppy, even when the instructions are printed on the disk.
The kicker: Customer emails me at 8:00 pm last night, then again at 7:00 am this morning, accusing me of "totaly ignoring" him.
There are many days when being a pig farmer would be preferable to selling on eBay.
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Dejapooh
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posted on August 8, 2002 09:21:35 AM new
You have the instuctions on the disk? Where is the disk when the person is trying to install the software? Can they read those instructions while trying to install? Perhaps you should write the instructions on a strip of paper and include it with the disk.
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twinsoft
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posted on August 8, 2002 09:36:58 AM new
Okay, call me an elitist. I sell auction management tools. I happen to think that someone who buys my product (i.e., intends to sell online) should at least know how to open a file on their computer. Is that asking so much?
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RB
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posted on August 8, 2002 09:42:20 AM new
twin ... ah, the new generation eh! They want everything on CD and they want to simply be able to plunk the disk into the drive and watch as it self installs and configures.
Next time someone sends you an email like this, ask them if they know what this "symbol" means:
C:\
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twinsoft
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posted on August 8, 2002 09:49:56 AM new
Yes, I'm considering switching to CD autorun format. That would increase production and distribution costs by about 20%. Maybe I need to wipe my customers' toushies, too. Ha ha.
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gc2
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:02:52 AM new
Twinsoft, I know you've been around here a long time, and it's unusual to see you so upset with your buyers.
But I too have noticed an unusual number of really dumb (and hateful) buyers lately.
Don't know what to blame it on.
Have you noticed there are two separate threads right now on EO with links to a magazine (or site - really not sure waht the he!! it is) that's really ripping into us? If I thought some of my buyers were literate enough to read, I would think they had been influenced. It's almost like they want to have a bad experience (at least in their own minds - what little they have) so they can "join the club".
Received a negative this week - my second in going on 4 years (the other was retaliatory from NPB); and the sad part is, the witch doesn't know what she's talking about. Said it wasn't what it was supposed to be - that it was "dollar store merchandise"! If she had emailed me, I would have referred her to sources other than my own word. She didn't email, didn't ask for a refund - just wanted to be a b!tch.
Sorry. I've been ranting for a couple of days now. Just so tired, and sick of some of the stuff that goes on.
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zoomin
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:20:10 AM new
Maybe I need to wipe my customers' toushies, too.
twinsoft!!!
You just hit the nail on the head!
Adding that service to your auctions will surely add to your final bid price by waaaay more than the 20% p&d increase that you would experience!
(sounded like you might need a chuckle)
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trai
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:36:24 AM new
Is that asking so much?
Seems to be. People do not read! They want you to come to their house and load all this stuff for them at no extra charge of course!
Maybe I need to wipe my customers' toushies, too. Ha ha.
Just make sure the toilet paper comes with the proper cd instuctions. 
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uaru
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:38:14 AM new
I won't argue about many being computer illiterate. My idea of hell is helping my sister-in-law learn how to check her email. I think I should have set her up with AOL.
Aren't blank CDs cheaper than floppy disks now? I think I've got 2 floppy disks in my possession now, one with my passwords and one emergency boot disk. Somewhere in a storage shed I've got a few thousand old ones baking at 140 degrees I imagine.
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cheesel
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:57:34 AM new
Hey guys, boy do I sympathize with you. I haven't seen any clueless users here (yet) but I am in the IT field and my first computer job was doing technical support for NEC computers. Oh, the stories I could tell...
Renee
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sanmar
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posted on August 8, 2002 11:09:38 AM new
I am not sure that putting the direction a sheet of paper will solve the problem. People just don't read anymore. A prime example. My TOS states that I do not take personal checks. I sold an item to a man in OK. I emailed him the cost of shipping & again stated in my email that "I accept PayPal, Money Orders & Cashiers Checks. Sorry, I do not take personal checks." A few days later I get a letter in the mail with a copy of the email & a CHECK!!! I took a highlighter, swiped it across the do not take checks & sent it all back. A few days later I get an email saying he didn't notice the phrase & was sending a MO.
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RB
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posted on August 8, 2002 11:13:03 AM new
I use my floppies to level out bookcases on carpet ...
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hair2dye4
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posted on August 8, 2002 07:51:29 PM new
I barely know how to run a CD, floppy for me, Ok I can burn a CD if I have to but didn't most of us learn on floppy's what's up with these people?
I think it is the reading, we all want instant results, no thought involved, spoiled and lazy..
Opps that's me LOL
you wipe the butts I will sell the TP on ebay to you ok,? we can all make some money!!!
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twinsoft
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posted on August 8, 2002 08:21:49 PM new
Thanks for your support. Oh, I do vent occasionally. Not so much since I put eBay on the back burner and got a regular job. Now I just mostly #*!@ about the job. LOL.
I know I am partly to blame, but it bugs me that these people want to sell on eBay, but don't have the first clue how to operate their own computer. It seems they take their ignorance out on the seller.
The guy's email I mentioned above was particularly annoying. He emailed me once at 8:00 pm, then at 7:00 am the next morning saying he had sent several emails and accused me of ignoring him. That kind of thing really makes me want to throttle somebody. Ironically, his earlier emails said, "I left you pos. feedback, please leave me feedback too." Then he comes back later and accuses me of trying to cheat him?!
I'm melting ... what a world!
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stockticker
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posted on August 8, 2002 08:31:34 PM new
Is there any possibility that those disks came into contact with a magnet which may have wiped them clean?
edited to add: Did the three shipments go into the mail at the same time? If so they may have come into contact with a magnetic field in an item being mailed by someone else.
Irene
[ edited by stockticker on Aug 8, 2002 08:36 PM ]
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twinsoft
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posted on August 8, 2002 08:39:43 PM new
Hi, Irene!
I don't have a magnet anywhere near my desk.
I did leave pos fb for the customer. Weird how after all the feedback has been left, the buyer suddenly goes ballistic. That's a first for me. (They usually go ballistic much sooner. LOL just kidding.)
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bear1949
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posted on August 8, 2002 08:46:02 PM new
No matter how hard you attempt to make it IDIOT proof, someone (with no brains) will figure a way to mess it up.
I was providing IT supporting to major oil company here in Houston (TX). Had a call from a summer intern that the floppy drive on her new PC would not read the diskette. (I know it was working because I had loaded all the software on it).
I located the cause of the problem, it was the idiot behind the keyboard. How many correct ways are ther to place a label on a 3 1/2" diskette? ONE. THe idiot had place the label over the shutter on the diskette.
My favorite experssion for this type of idiot is "dumber that dirt"
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stockticker
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posted on August 8, 2002 10:06:31 PM new
There's also another possibility.
This spring I was moving so I decided to throw out my old computer which I hadn't used since 1997 when I purchased the computer I'm currently using. I had backed up certain information (about 30 disks) from that old computer onto floppies back in 1997 and never got around to uploading the information to my new computer. I thought that I had finally better upload before I threw the old computer away.
Guess what, only about 20% of the disks were readable. I assumed that the reason was that the floppies were old and the formating had broken down. So I reformatted some floppies, re-copied information from my old computer and attempted to upload to my new computer again. It was really fluky. On some of the disks I was successful and on others no information could be found. If I re-tried to upload a few minutes later, sometimes the computer could find the files, sometimes not. I tested the floppy with my old computer and the files were listed.
I'm fairly certain the floppy drive of my current computer is defective and only works sporatically.
I had a similar experience back in the 1980s when I had an XT and was working in a DOS environment. Unbeknownst to me, my B: drive was defective and about 1 in 10 disks wouldn't copy properly from my A: drive to my B: drive. It took me the longest time to isolate the problem because it only happened 10% of the time.
Irene
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