I know what your talking about, god knows I have had it many times as a purchaser of product too..... BUT I also know the flip side. Not that I am saying it is right, or trying to make any excuses for any times that I may have done it to customers or potential customers, but it does happen. Especially when it tends to be a small scale (employee-wise) business when it seems like there is never enough time in the day/week/year!
All I can say is that, and correct me if I am wrong, most niche vendors are sometimes as little as one or two people, or 4 in our case, that spend the majority of their time BUILDING the cars for local clients and going through exactly what you are talking about with larger vendors! Such as in our case, we are starting to break into the production side of things and it can be alot to take on! That is not to say that we shouldn't, because if shops like us didnt you may not get some of the innovations that we have come to love, and all businesses start somewhere!
I know from our own experience, that I do the design/management/machining/CAD/and alot of the fab work and wiring within the shop with my employees, while Dawn does the office and phones. As a small business with a family, sometimes things get in the way. But we always try and respond and I think that we are pretty giving with information on any products we know and sell, and we are always eager to get a new customer. Much like us, there are many really great vendors on this site, and many that arent! For example, Shannon from MODO is absolutely phenomenal, and many others. (Sorry everyone else, I only mention Modo as it was fresh in my head with how they were really nice to deal with for a smaller company)
Sometimes I think we as vendors can be on the defensive prematurely too, as sometimes we can feel like we give out a ton of pertinent info only to not result in a sale.... not that that is right to do, but it happens!
Anyways, hope you aren't afraid of all of us, and remember at the end of the day we need you too and that is always our goal, even if it gets forgotten sometimes!
|