Does the surfboard industry have a reputation for poor management?

I hear stories about how someone has ordered a board and had to wait forever. Then, while waiting forever that someone goes surfing only to see the guy that’s shaping his board in the water surfing too. Of course the guy ain’t shaping that someone’s board if the guy is surfing!!!!

I hear stories of someone ordering a board and not getting what they ordered. I hear stories of colors not being right, etc, etc.

Really, it’s not a good thing when a customer has problems with their board order. And, if one guy has a bad reputation it makes things tough on others in the business too. But, is the surfboard industry the only business that people have trouble with.?

Last week I mentioned cell phones, this week lets do the regular phone company…

My wife had her mother’s phone service changed to her new address. The day of the switch we called her mother’s new number. We only got a busy signal. The next day I called the phone company and sure enough the line was messed up…. They would send a tech guy out the next day. The next day the tech guy fixed the problem.

So we tried to call Hawaii, but had no long distance, but there was supposed to be long distance on the service. So, we called the phone company again. They sent out a tech guy the next day to fix the long distance. The next day the tech guy came out and fixed the line.

How come when the service is switched there is no quality control to see if the line actually works and is working according to the service package ordered? So, what should only be a one day thing turns into a 4 day ordeal…

Maybe us surfboard guys should set things up like the phone company. We could have an 800 number for orders. The operator would take your call in the order it was received. And for English press one. If you’re calling about an existing order press 2, for new orders press 3, for all other questions press 4.

If you press 2, then you get.. if this is for a short board press 1, if this is for a long board press 2, for all other boards press 3, to hear this menu again press 4.

You pressed 3… if this is for a fish press 1, if this is for a hull press 2, if this is for a fun shape press 3, for all others hang up and start again…

Really, ordering and getting a new custom surfboard is usually a pretty good experience. After all you’re getting something hand made just for you. You usually only talk to one or two people in the process and the whole process is pretty simple. And when you get your new board you are stoked!

Beats the phone company by a long shot…

D.R.

I need a new phone, so I’m looking at an add for phones and you can get two phone for free when you sign up with a 2 yr commitment.

But, I don’t get this… If you look over the add it says the free phones are valued at $259.99 each. For a few bucks more than that you can buy a regular PC. Isn’t a phone just a small computer? But really it doesn’t matter what the “value” is because if you sign up for 2 years the phone is free. Why not say the phones are worth 20 bucks? Nah, that doesn’t sound good enough. Heck why not say the phone is worth $629.99 then, or a thousand dollars… it really doesn’t matter ‘cause the stupid things are being given away!

Maybe we should do that with surfboards. Jack the price up to $3889.99, but hey we’ve got them on sale for a special price of $889.99 Or, how about, if you promise to buy 4 bars of wax a month and a wet suit every 6 months for the next 2 years you get a surf board for free… I mean what good is wax and a wet suit without a surf board? The surf board is valued at $3889.99 buy the way.

I’ve got a better idea. How about doing a buy one get one free. Of equal or lesser value of course. Yeah, that’s a good one… buy one surfboard at the regular price of $3889.99 and get the second one free.

It just seems to me that if the cell phone company can give you a phone for free then they are making way too much money with there service fees. Why not just let us pay for the phone and get a good service package for a much lower price… yeah right.

Us surf board guys just don’t know how to market stuff I guess. Maybe I should have a price for each one of my models but have a valued price that is way above the sale price.

Would you like, a Tip Tool? OK, that’s $900, but the board is valued at $2200. No, what you really want is an H2. Valued at $1400. but I’m selling them for $650… today and today only.

$2200 for a Tip Tool? Well sure, look at that lamination. Did you know that the rails are lapped three times? 22 ounces of cloth. Resin pin lines, this is the board.

$1400 for the H2? Did you know that board has over 40 years of design history built into it? Yeah, and you could steal it for $650.

My problem is I don’t like selling surfboards. I really like making them though.

DR.