Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Bad Customer
I seldom do special requests of pets...did it only twice and it worked ok, but the time invested in doing so forces you to raise the prices...what i do now is carry a backpackwith 2-3 pets ofeach levellevels....so costumers can pick high ham, high damage or whatever trait they want for a given level...that gives you certain flexibility and bigger selection of pets..
Efeedo
MBE.
Ahazi
I'm still trying to increase my customer base, so I do take special orders. I've only had four people so far, one of which I posted about on the forums, and what strikes me most of all is that they all think that we make the pets like a tailor makes a shirt. I've had to explain IN DETAIL why I can't just sit down for 5 mins and make it. I'm actually going to start a macro with
/reply Email me with CL, skin, color, and importance/preference of: armor, resists, HAM, specials, damage. Due to the difficulty in acquiring the DNA for said pet, it may take a few days just to figure out what to sample.
Then I pray they don't ask for a time frame. 
And every time I get an email, I have to email back with whatever specifics they left out.
I don't mind the special orders so far (I'm sure I will, just give me time 
) but having to gauge the CL is what's really making them difficult... that and the /tells asking me what I'm doing if I'm not making the pets.
I have to echo what ATOD says (hey, twice in one day 
) - don't let one idiot spoil your day. Ignorant customers are a pain in the butt and I have developed a few personal rules;
- On custom orders get full target stats up-front by email,
- On custom orders deal with people you know already, or folks from PAs you know to be trustworthy,
- On custom orders, if you are making it for an unknown, chat to them a bit while sorting out details to get an idea about them - folks that feel they know you are less likely to cut and run,
- Get a ballpark cost to them straight off - if they even begin to hesitate call off the deal, any CH that won't pay 150-250k for a truly good pet doesn't know the value of the creatures they use and isn't worth wasting time with (250k for even ahalfway competent CH is less than3 hours work),
- Other than the not being able to call high level aggressives problem, items bought off the vendor have a 24hr return policy. Any vitality loss to the pet negates any chance of a refund. Folks buying goods should know what skills they have and what they can use, all the info is on the clone, its not my fault if they don't bother reading.
Yes, no matter what DNA you use for the Kimogila, even minor gubbers, the lowest will be lvl 40.
Oh, and if thats an odd request, I just got an email for a pet with Blast and Stun resists... I asked if he wanted kinetic too, just to be safe, he said no, I want the blast and stun resists. So, I guess it's off to swgcreatures.com for me
Anyway, someone above mentioned a lack of information, and I'd have to agree: that seems to be the culprit with many of the "bad customers." They just don't know what we can do, because either the word hasn't gotten out or they just don't feel like doing the research to learn. Just tonite I had some guy ask me, "whuts the best non-ch pet u can make".
I'll give you a play-by-play analysis of my mental process when I get a /tell like that:
a) Ok, "whuts" lacks an aposptrophe and it's spelled wrong anyway...and "u" really should be "you"...and there should be a question mark at the end of that "sentence"
b) this guy must be a 12-year-old, or someone with similar mental capacity
c) I automatically refuse all orders from people who ask me about "the best non-CH pet I can make" (because anyone who doesn't have an idea what they want in a pet will be a pain in the rear to satisfy when the cloning process is done)
d) I need to ask this guy if he has an idea what he wants in his pet (ie, tanking, PvE damage-dealing, etc.)
[proceeds to ask and receive a "whuteva is the best"]
e) Ok, maybe I'll tell him to look at the cloning tree to see the skins we can use so at least I'll know what body type he may want
[proceeds to mention looking at the cloning tree, only to receive a, "whuts the best one"]
f) Wow, ok
g) [politely sends person on his way to pester some other poor bio-engineer]
It used to be "can u make cowardly gurreck" or "can u make grual mauler" (yes, they would spell graul "grual"). Now it's, "whuts the best non-ch pet u can make". Some things only change outwardly in their turn of phrase, but the essence remains the same; such appears to be the case here.
Oh, and the minimum for the rancor skin is 35. Here is the thread done by Sumorex on the minimum skin lvls:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bio-engineer&message.id=41803
LOL, it must be something about the Naritus server.
My first (and probably only) special order came apart the other day. A guy had approached me in the Imp outpost on Datooine and asked for a CL 22 Bol. I explained the problems of hitting an exact CL and quoted him a price of 50K (I normally only make high level CH pets CL35+ and had to make a special trip to gather some appropriate DNA), which he agreed to. I asked him to send me an email about the order (which also didn't come, maybe that should be the tip off).
I spent the evening and part of the next morning gathering DNA and crafting about six or so pets, I finally presented him with a selection of two CL 21 and one CL 23 from which he could choose. He decided he wanted both the CL 21's and headed off to the bank to get the money. While at the bank he sent me a tell asking how much for the two and I told him 95K (I figured he should get a bit of a discount). He sent me back a tell saying I was ripping him off and that he wasn't interested. I guess he thought I'd give him both of the pets for 50K.
Needless to say, he's now on my ignore list. I put all six pets I'd made on my vendor and one of them sold by yesterday afternoon, so it's not going to be a total loss. I've also now got a recipe for making low 20's CL pets if I ever want to do that again.
Argarell,
I've had the same thing happen to me. One guy really bitched me out because he wanted a CL 25 tank in a cat skin. I went out and made one that had light armor, something like 45% kinetic resists, nice HAM, and two very compelling specials in a razor cat skin. He said he would not accept less than 60% kinetic, and it had to be a nargalach skin, and it had to have two specific specials of his choice (that he forgot to mention initially). So, needless to say, he's on "ignore" now and I'll never bother with him again.
But I don't let a few bad apples spoil my fun, or make me distrust people in general. No policy change for me, and no down posits required. I actually put the critter that I had made for him on my vendor, raised the price 25k above what I quoted him for it, and it sold within a few days, lol.
Argarell wrote:
I'm on the Naritus server. The other day I was out gathering DNA when I get a tell from someone wanting a Rancor with Stun, Blind, Ranged, Light armor between CL50 and CL59. And he wanted it that day. Not a major problem, but I did have to go get some DNA for it.I quoted him a price of 250K. He said it was high, but he would pay.
I gather the DNA, do some combines, and hit the sweet spot on the 6th clone I made. CL59, specials and ranged just as ordered, nice resists, really nice HAM (better than I had expected). I send the guy a tell with the stats and tell him the price is 225K (I decided to give him a break on price). He stalls and finally says he really wanted something with 60% kinetic resist (the rancor I made was 41%) and says he doesn't want it after all.
I had asked the guy to send an email stating exactly what he wanted in the pet before I started making it. He never did, though he claimed to have (I certainly never received it) even though I asked him to several times. At no time did he ever state that he wanted 60% resist in kinetic. I have added him to my list of people I will not do business with in the future (short list--only 3 people on it so far).
Do any of you require deposits before making special order pets? I haven't so far, but this is the first time that a customer refused to buy a pet he requested.
Customer A wanted a Bageraset, CL 22, with as high a HAM as possible, as soon as possible. He is part of the reason for my policy of more than 2 "are we there yet" tells per day adding 1K per tell to the final price. Two days after making him the pet, after tons of work getting the DNA and experimenting, he sent me a tell saying he "threw away" the pet because he got a message saying he could not mount this creature. I did not ask him if he had EVER seen a Bageraset as a mount (he was obviously thinking Brackaset), but I did not offer to refund his money as well.
Customer B wants 3 exceptional pets of a range of levels, CL 10, CL 22 and CL 40+, and has been quite specific as to body types. I am working on these and he checks with me once a day or so to see if I have them ready as yet.
Customer C visited my shop, looked at the current stock of pets, and said "I would like something with the stats of this Woolamander with a GSP body type". Showing him a Razor cat suited him just fine, and I expect to have his kitty for him this evening. In the meantime he checks the vendor to see what I have available as well, and checks with me via email.
The second two customers I will work my tail off to get them the best I can possibly make for them, they are appreciative of the work it requires and interested in what they get. Customer A is the type you just do not want to deal with, I am sorry to say.
I will no doubt find more of both types, but I have in general had good luck with most requests so far. I do not wear the Master title when I am out in "public" however, preferring Geneticist and the fewer resulting "I wanna CL 10 Rancor with 10K HAM and 5000 damage" type of tells.
LLan Farseeker - Farseeker's Muppet LLabs
Building the Gnorts of Tomorrow, Today!