Responding to AshSam's post above:
Would it not be reasonable for me to ask your company yourselves to “keep in mind we ship to many countries all over the world” and in that case make a fair effort to disclose to customers prior to their purchase that the offer you are making available internationally is not suited for customers located outside of the United States?
With regards to what is feasible (possible and practical to do easily or conveniently) I don't see how it is inconvenient to the point of impracticality when placing your order to the supplier to simply advise them of the pertinent details, for example “Dear Storz & Bickel, We have received 25x orders from the United States, 3x orders from Europe and 1x Australian order (etc) so this means we need 25x of the special US 110V version and then 4x the version that works everywhere else on the planet. Please fill this order with the appropriate units and send the items in bulk to our distribution center.”
Your website makes the claim “…and places that order directly with the manufacturer.” so I can't see any fair grounds for you to claim that the supplier is not making the European/International models of the product available to you.
If for some reason though, you really only want to make customers happy if they are American residents, why not add a simple “• suitable for 110V electrical supply only” somewhere within the description of the product? That would ensure that customers do not mistakenly form the impression that some effort will be made on behalf of your company to accommodate their international order and avoid disappointing occurrences such as this.
In the absence of such a disclaimer or option at purchase, and given that the product is indeed available in versions suitable for a 110V supply such as found in the United States and for a ~220-240V supply such as found virtually everywhere else, it would seem reasonable to believe that you will in fact accommodate your international clients with the correct device when you have provided no advice to the contrary.
Am I the first person outside of the US to place an order through your business for this or a similar electronic product?
It's not like I'm physically walking into an American retailer and demanding they sell products according to British measurements, or asking why you don't have an obscure size of battery to match a product that is only common in Timbuktu.
You are an online service, ostensibly offering the opportunity to people from all around the world to participate in group purchases in order to achieve a lower price by combining purchasing power.
“Massdrop takes a group of people that each want to buy the same thing, combines their order, and places that order directly with the manufacturer. As a result, everybody in the group gets the large quantity price while only having to buy one (or two, or ten). (Pro Tip: The bigger the group, the better price that everyone will get!)”
It definitely doesn't say everybody chips in and then majority rule applies and we'll send you what most people ordered and if that's not suitable for you well then you should have kept in mind that there are lots of countries and bad luck for you if yours is not America.
Given that you've happily offered each individual member of the group the option to purchase either the Digit or the Classic, along with either the Easy Valve kit or the Solid Valve kit, it is clear that your use of the term 'want to buy the same thing' need not be limited to 'the exact same product with the exact same options' and given you've made no mention of any limitation in this regard, wouldn't a reasonable person assume you would do the right thing with regards to shipping the US or the EU model of the product?
I don't know what the demographic breakdown of your customers are within this group purchase, but how do you think the rest of your customers would feel if you were to now advise them that you will be shipping out only the European versions of the product, and when they asked why, you responded with an “Oh you can't expect that we'll send you a product that works in your country or even advise you beforehand which version we'll be sending - that would be inconvenient for us.”
Would you expect they would find that sort of response acceptable? If not, then how do you suppose my situation is any different and why a like response will be acceptable to me?
I'm sorry to come across as hard to deal with, but I have a concern that operating the device for an extended period of time via means of a step down converter may cause the device to fail early or perform less accurately, and about how the products warranty would be affected.
I'm trying to get some information from Storz & Bickel as to how concerned I should be about that possibility, but I don't accept your response that it's inconvenient to the point of impracticality to order an EU version of the product from Storz & Bickel when you're taking orders internationally.
If somehow I have overlooked the part in the product description where adequate warning is given about the products unsuitability for operation outside of the United States, or even the use of Massdrop in general by customers outside of the United States then there will be great quantities of 'egg on my face' and you can have my retraction and apologies.
Should that not prove to be the case I would really appreciate if someone would please get in contact with me with some options on how we might remedy the situation - preferably something along the lines of:
"We're sorry we completely overlooked this aspect of our responsibility to our customers when making this offer available internationally.
We agree that it is in fact practical and reasonable for us to ensure customers are happy with our service by either
1. Sending the version of the device appropriate to each country from which it was ordered
2. Allowing the customer to select the regional version of the product they want at the point of purchase or
3. Making it clear to customers that only the US version of the product is being made available as part of the group purchase.
In order to rectify the situation we have contacted our supplier and arranged for an EU version of the product suitable for your use to be dispatched to our distribution centre and will ensure it is posted out to you with minimal delay".
If it is too hard or inconvenient, would you consider arranging a refund of the purchase price?
I was really happy to be a part of this group purchase and even promoted it to others. If we are unable to arrange for an 220V model as part of this group purchase - should I then start promoting a poll for interest in the Volcano from non-residents of the USA or are we just not really welcome on Massdrop?
Regards,
Zero
Would it not be reasonable for me to ask your company yourselves to “keep in mind we ship to many countries all over the world” and in that case make a fair effort to disclose to customers prior to their purchase that the offer you are making available internationally is not suited for customers located outside of the United States?
With regards to what is feasible (possible and practical to do easily or conveniently) I don't see how it is inconvenient to the point of impracticality when placing your order to the supplier to simply advise them of the pertinent details, for example “Dear Storz & Bickel, We have received 25x orders from the United States, 3x orders from Europe and 1x Australian order (etc) so this means we need 25x of the special US 110V version and then 4x the version that works everywhere else on the planet. Please fill this order with the appropriate units and send the items in bulk to our distribution center.”
Your website makes the claim “…and places that order directly with the manufacturer.” so I can't see any fair grounds for you to claim that the supplier is not making the European/International models of the product available to you.
If for some reason though, you really only want to make customers happy if they are American residents, why not add a simple “• suitable for 110V electrical supply only” somewhere within the description of the product? That would ensure that customers do not mistakenly form the impression that some effort will be made on behalf of your company to accommodate their international order and avoid disappointing occurrences such as this.
In the absence of such a disclaimer or option at purchase, and given that the product is indeed available in versions suitable for a 110V supply such as found in the United States and for a ~220-240V supply such as found virtually everywhere else, it would seem reasonable to believe that you will in fact accommodate your international clients with the correct device when you have provided no advice to the contrary.
Am I the first person outside of the US to place an order through your business for this or a similar electronic product?
It's not like I'm physically walking into an American retailer and demanding they sell products according to British measurements, or asking why you don't have an obscure size of battery to match a product that is only common in Timbuktu.
You are an online service, ostensibly offering the opportunity to people from all around the world to participate in group purchases in order to achieve a lower price by combining purchasing power.
“Massdrop takes a group of people that each want to buy the same thing, combines their order, and places that order directly with the manufacturer. As a result, everybody in the group gets the large quantity price while only having to buy one (or two, or ten). (Pro Tip: The bigger the group, the better price that everyone will get!)”
It definitely doesn't say everybody chips in and then majority rule applies and we'll send you what most people ordered and if that's not suitable for you well then you should have kept in mind that there are lots of countries and bad luck for you if yours is not America.
Given that you've happily offered each individual member of the group the option to purchase either the Digit or the Classic, along with either the Easy Valve kit or the Solid Valve kit, it is clear that your use of the term 'want to buy the same thing' need not be limited to 'the exact same product with the exact same options' and given you've made no mention of any limitation in this regard, wouldn't a reasonable person assume you would do the right thing with regards to shipping the US or the EU model of the product?
I don't know what the demographic breakdown of your customers are within this group purchase, but how do you think the rest of your customers would feel if you were to now advise them that you will be shipping out only the European versions of the product, and when they asked why, you responded with an “Oh you can't expect that we'll send you a product that works in your country or even advise you beforehand which version we'll be sending - that would be inconvenient for us.”
Would you expect they would find that sort of response acceptable? If not, then how do you suppose my situation is any different and why a like response will be acceptable to me?
I'm sorry to come across as hard to deal with, but I have a concern that operating the device for an extended period of time via means of a step down converter may cause the device to fail early or perform less accurately, and about how the products warranty would be affected.
I'm trying to get some information from Storz & Bickel as to how concerned I should be about that possibility, but I don't accept your response that it's inconvenient to the point of impracticality to order an EU version of the product from Storz & Bickel when you're taking orders internationally.
If somehow I have overlooked the part in the product description where adequate warning is given about the products unsuitability for operation outside of the United States, or even the use of Massdrop in general by customers outside of the United States then there will be great quantities of 'egg on my face' and you can have my retraction and apologies.
Should that not prove to be the case I would really appreciate if someone would please get in contact with me with some options on how we might remedy the situation - preferably something along the lines of:
"We're sorry we completely overlooked this aspect of our responsibility to our customers when making this offer available internationally. We agree that it is in fact practical and reasonable for us to ensure customers are happy with our service by either 1. Sending the version of the device appropriate to each country from which it was ordered 2. Allowing the customer to select the regional version of the product they want at the point of purchase or 3. Making it clear to customers that only the US version of the product is being made available as part of the group purchase. In order to rectify the situation we have contacted our supplier and arranged for an EU version of the product suitable for your use to be dispatched to our distribution centre and will ensure it is posted out to you with minimal delay".
If it is too hard or inconvenient, would you consider arranging a refund of the purchase price?
I was really happy to be a part of this group purchase and even promoted it to others. If we are unable to arrange for an 220V model as part of this group purchase - should I then start promoting a poll for interest in the Volcano from non-residents of the USA or are we just not really welcome on Massdrop?
Regards, Zero