Mr. Ascher,I understand that the exchanges that have been taking place are largely between Rich and yourself. However, due to the fact that they are taking place in a public forum, as well as the fact that Rich is highly respected in the scanning community and speaking on behalf of many of us, I would like to respond to a couple of your comments.
> Lt. Cmdr. Sam Ascher USNR Ret. (my father) died of
> congestive heart failure
Despite any differences in opinion that we may have, I am truly sorry for the loss that you and your family have experienced. I, as well, recently lost both parents and understand the pain that you are experiencing. I hope that the emotional roller coaster will get a bit easier over the coming months and years.
That aside, there are many statements that you made in your response to Rich that have me beside myself. In your lengthy response, that we do appreciate you taking the time to write, many aspects appeared to be more of an advertisement for CEI. I am not sure that any of the comments made by Rich were honestly taken to heart.
> Our handling fees are higher to help support the higher
> level of service and the benefits offered to our customers.
What? With all due respect, Ken, the above statement is a bunch of advertising/CEO-type hogwash. You are clearly making it sound like CEI is justified in such outrageous "handling fees" due to the fact that you offer better service than others in your business. This, I regret, is not the case. My experience with CEI has not been great. As I have mentioned before, I have had e-mail messages not acknowledged or replied to. When I ordered a BC895 a couple of years ago, I was flatly told that if I thought the shipping costs were too high, I could take my business elsewhere. If you are honestly charging the outrageous shipping charges because you have systems in place that you believe put CEI over your competitors, I would suggest that you reevaluate these programs and consider eliminating them - hence saving you money that you can pass on (hopefully) to your customers, because these programs are NOT working. I suspect that there are no such programs in place justifying these costs, but I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.
> Some hobbyists want free shipping and handling.
And that as well is unreasonable. The only way that your business or any other can justify free shipping is to one way or another make up for it on the purchase price of the product. CEI believes that $20, $40 and $60 shipping charges are fair. Some consumers would like free shipping. How about a fair charge for both parties - the true cost of shipping, plus a reasonable fee for packing materials and the labor involved in packaging? I am not sure that you will appreciate me mentioning this publicly, but some folks are not aware of the fact that your shipping cost are MUCH lower than many people realize. When someone states that it should only cost $7.00 (as an example) to ship a package via UPS, your cost is much lower. You, no doubt, have agreements with UPS and other shipping companies that give you substantial shipping discounts.
Before I move on, I would like to mention that CEI has the full right to charge whatever you/they would like for shipping and handling and it is up to the consumer to decide if it is fair or not. If we believe that it is not fair, we order elsewhere (as I do). My main point is that it would be better to tell folks that you are charging the high fees because it helps the ol' profit margin, rather than insult us with some of the statements that you have made in how the service is so great. I presently deal with a gentleman/company that charges much less than CEI for the same product and FAR less for shipping AND offers service that runs circles around CEI. I realize that this sounds cold, Ken, but I am being truthful.
> No deposit necessary to reserve future products.
I have to give you this one, Ken. I have been outspokenly against taking a persons money for upwards of a year to reserve a product - whether it be that of a new customer or especially a long-term credible customer. I have been through this several times with my present dealer and he and I have respectfully decided to agree to disagree on the merits of this practice. I hope CEI will continue to NOT charge in advance.
> Some scanner buffs save money by purchasing in standard
> case quantity from CEI or from Uniden retailers
I'll default to Rich's reply on this one…
> To help scanner owners finance their purchase, we offer
> a CEI Platinum Plus Master Card
I am not personally aware of the arrangements that you have made with MasterCard or your bank, however I am very much aware of how MOST of these types of offers work, Ken. In most all case, the dealer such as yourself, make some good money off of these offers that are generated through your business. Most of these offers charge an extremely high interest rate. I believe these offers actually benefit "others" far more than the consumer. Please do let me know if you believe I am incorrect. You may sell a few more radios as a result of this offer and perhaps even to some folks who otherwise could not purchase a radio, but I do not believe that this practice helps the credibility of CEI or yourself much (or at all).
> the most negative comments we have seen, seem to come
> from usually from anonymous people who say we don’t
> care because we ignored their e-mail or we have been
> screwing our repeat customers for years. However they
> never list their real e-mail address or full name.
I am one of those that have posted messages concerning the lack of response/support from CEI, but pleased to say that I ALWAYS post my true name and correct e-mail address. Please feel free to look at my many postings on Rich's boards, as well as in the archives of your e-mail account. I am not so sure that you should be sure that just because a comment is negative that the author information is not valid.
> This concern seems very odd to our staff as almost all
> our e-mail is responded to within a 24-hour cycle by
> answering it directly or forwarding it to the
> manufacturer for an answer.
Ken, please step outside of the box and look in the window for a moment! Your staff may be telling you this, but my experience has been that this is not the case. Yes, you and I have corresponded a few times, but most messages go to never-never land. I cannot fairly speak for others, but can say that I had read many dozens of messages from folks with the same experience. I would suggest stepping back and truly taking a look at the customer service practices of CEI.
> or e-mail if you feel there is anything further we should do.
Do you REALLY mean this? If so, I would strongly suggest that you re-visit your shipping charge policies. You must be aware that literally hundreds of messages have been posted in numerous forums about the shipping charges that CEI charges. Countless messages will show your product price, but nearly always end in statements such as "watch out for their shipping prices", "robbery without a gun" or the fact that when all said and done, products are nearly always cheaper elsewhere when you look at the true or final cost of the goods.
I would like to echo Rich's compliments of you in addressing messages on this board. Most dealers/retailers do not. We realize than in doing so you are likely taking valuable time away from your family. But since you are taking the time to address us, I would suggest putting this time and these efforts to good use. Don't just respond with the typical advertising mentality, but instead "speak from the heart". THAT would likely put CEI and yourself in the same arena as Glenn at Scanners Unlimited and others mentioned so favorable on this board.
Have a Happy New Year and thanks once again for your time and most importantly, for "listening"!
Ed Walsh
Minnesota Radio Monitoring Page