Entrepreneurship & Small Business

One of my biggest beefs with small businesses - no way to properly communicate with the company ie: no website or email

  • Last Updated:
  • Oct 9th, 2019 2:39 pm
Deal Fanatic
Jun 24, 2015
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One of my biggest beefs with small businesses - no way to properly communicate with the company ie: no website or email

I use the services of small businesses, and even had my own small business operation. One of my biggest beef is a company that has no way of contacting them, or they do have a way to contact them but its broken, and they do not care to fix it.
Example #1. I found a small electronics shop to fix a broken pair of high quality headphones of mine. The guy says he can not give me a quote so i have to take a picture of the box/package of my headphones and send it to him so he can confirm the actual model of it and if parts are available. So I found it strange he did not want to do the research himself so anyways i take my headphones back, go home, take a photo of the box as per his request and find his email on the business card and email it to him. i do not hear back for like 3-4 days and finally to my surprise i get a mailer deamon email the email could not be sent??? so i try his website and sure enough its down it does not work. so i call him and he tells me to dm him on instagram or send via facebook. i tell him not everyone uses that crap and you should not limit your business to members who only use facebook or instagram. At this point I had enough, and took my business elsewhere.

Second example. I found someone on craigs list for yard maintenance and trimming and stuff, she then said she would email me her website and i can check out her previous jobs. so i try to open it up and its a facebook link sure enough it says i need to login to view. she emails me after a few days and asks me what i think of her website and i told her what web site? you gave me a silly facebook link, i cant see crap. im not on face book nor do i have plans to open up one just to see your website,. I told her you need a proper web site or im taking my business elsewhere. fair enough, i took my business elsewhere.

I have pleanty of more examples of businesses who have their mailbox fill who do not delete their voicemails for ages and ages or who do not check their email. having a landline number for a different city than you operate in, thus me having to pay LD to call you? umm no thanks. etc. the list goes on

is it just me or does anyone else find these practices to be very unprofessional?
Supermarket worker at Fortino's
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17 replies
Deal Addict
Aug 12, 2004
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So let me get this straight... and correct me if I am wrong.

You go on Craigslist of all places to find cheap labour instead of finding a reputable and credible licensed vendor. You get upset when cheap labour does not have a reputable and credible website and uses sites like Craigslist and Facebook.
Am I missing something?
Jr. Member
Aug 12, 2014
199 posts
48 upvotes
Brampton, ON
Firebot wrote: So let me get this straight... and correct me if I am wrong.

You go on Craigslist of all places to find cheap labour instead of finding a reputable and credible licensed vendor. You get upset when cheap labour does not have a reputable and credible website and uses sites like Craigslist and Facebook.
Am I missing something?
Sounds about right. Maybe OP can include this in his post as a good summary of facts?
Newbie
User avatar
Nov 18, 2012
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Vancouver
Well there is a reason why a lot of businesses fail.. OP has a lot of good examples.

If you can't solve common sense, can't really blame it on the economy ...
Banned
Aug 23, 2019
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Gangsterlike wrote: Sounds about right. Maybe OP can include this in his post as a good summary of facts?
actually many businesses advertise on criagslist/kijiji.. and many also have websites.

anyway, OP is showing us an example of why most business fail. try calling a small business and see how many answer their phone, or return your call.
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Aug 2, 2010
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Firebot wrote: So let me get this straight... and correct me if I am wrong.

You go on Craigslist of all places to find cheap labour instead of finding a reputable and credible licensed vendor. You get upset when cheap labour does not have a reputable and credible website and uses sites like Craigslist and Facebook.
Am I missing something?
LFMAO, you are so right. Some people are so naive!
Deal Fanatic
Jun 24, 2015
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not just Craig's list, but an actual electronics store in a plaza, has a website and email on his business card, but its not working, his email is also not working, just instagram,. yeah very professional, what about the people who dont use instagram? are we suppost to send you smoke signals to contact you? morse code?
Supermarket worker at Fortino's
I'm Not a Wise Guy but more of a Good Fella~!
Drive an Escalade
Deal Fanatic
Jun 24, 2015
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Firebot wrote: So let me get this straight... and correct me if I am wrong.

You go on Craigslist of all places to find cheap labour instead of finding a reputable and credible licensed vendor. You get upset when cheap labour does not have a reputable and credible website and uses sites like Craigslist and Facebook.
Am I missing something?
yes you are missing something. you read it wrong, re-read my post above this one
Supermarket worker at Fortino's
I'm Not a Wise Guy but more of a Good Fella~!
Drive an Escalade
Deal Fanatic
Jun 24, 2015
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so ABSOLUTELY NO ONE else besides me tried to reach out to a business and their web site, email, and or phone line was not working? im just the only one ever who has these problems? i find that hard to believe
Supermarket worker at Fortino's
I'm Not a Wise Guy but more of a Good Fella~!
Drive an Escalade
Deal Addict
May 12, 2014
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GoodFellaz wrote: not just Craig's list, but an actual electronics store in a plaza, ?
Probably the same guy is the owner, cashier, repairman, advertising department, customer service department, accounting department, cleaner, ....

I don't think it's a big deal as long as the work is well done. Nor do I think waiting 4 days for an email reply is too long.

If you want instant responses, websites, etc you'll have to pay BigCorp prices.

I do agree that Facebook only "websites" are unacceptable. (Or any other non open platform)
Last edited by FrancisBacon on Sep 27th, 2019 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Deal Addict
Jun 20, 2010
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Just create a burner account. I don't care for connecting with ppl on FB either but FB is very useful in your case and also to join marketplace groups - I've gotten tons of good deals off buy and sell groups. IG is good to follow stuff you like to kill time on the can or dr's office.

As for the electronic shop, it just sounds like a mix of poor communications/CS and the guy isn't internet savvy.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 17, 2004
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I had a customer once who was american, I am a Canadian company. He emailed to complain to me that taking 4 days to get his package was too long because Amazon.com can do it in one day.
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Sr. Member
Dec 15, 2015
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Toronto
GoodFellaz wrote: not just Craig's list, but an actual electronics store in a plaza, has a website and email on his business card, but its not working, his email is also not working, just instagram,. yeah very professional, what about the people who dont use instagram? are we suppost to send you smoke signals to contact you? morse code?
Just don't use the business, how hard is that?
Deal Fanatic
Sep 23, 2007
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Running a business is hard. Business owners will do what benefits them. There could be some reasons why you don't get a response. It could very well be what you described. Or they already have sufficient business and not interested in taking more. It's also possible that if it's like a small repair shop, you described a problem that is not within the owner's ability or scope to fix. I can assure you that based on human nature, they will jump at money. If they don't want to, then they probably deserve to fail.

A lot of business owners create a separate email address for business. If they get sufficient business already, probably check less frequently than what a large corporation would do.

On the other hand, a single owner business is much more likely to be flexible on hours (YMMV). For example, in big corporations, most people are off after 5pm. Again using an example of a repair shop, you can choose to work as much as you want. You can do a crazy day and get your existing jobs done in 2 days, then take the rest of the week off. The owner if he has a physical store, can choose to open as late as he wants. Likewise he can also be closed for as long as he wants. I've seen some businesses closed Mondays to Wednesdays. Whatever works for them.
Banned
Aug 23, 2019
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BananaHunter wrote: Running a business is hard. Business owners will do what benefits them. There could be some reasons why you don't get a response. It could very well be what you described. Or they already have sufficient business and not interested in taking more. It's also possible that if it's like a small repair shop, you described a problem that is not within the owner's ability or scope to fix. I can assure you that based on human nature, they will jump at money. If they don't want to, then they probably deserve to fail.

A lot of business owners create a separate email address for business. If they get sufficient business already, probably check less frequently than what a large corporation would do.

On the other hand, a single owner business is much more likely to be flexible on hours (YMMV). For example, in big corporations, most people are off after 5pm. Again using an example of a repair shop, you can choose to work as much as you want. You can do a crazy day and get your existing jobs done in 2 days, then take the rest of the week off. The owner if he has a physical store, can choose to open as late as he wants. Likewise he can also be closed for as long as he wants. I've seen some businesses closed Mondays to Wednesdays. Whatever works for them.
well, what OP has said ive experienced many times in my life. From what i've seen, most 'small business owners' are really bad at business.. and it just goes to show you that there is enough money out there that even if you suck, you can still make it by.
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Dec 3, 2009
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For 1 person businesses, there are a lot of cases (of newer successful small businesses) where their only digital footprint is Facebook and Instagram. You'd be surprised at the amount of people that use the internet and dont visit websites anymore. There are countless successful small businesses that built themselves solely on word of mouth.

There are some small businesses that have a handful of clients they choose to do business with and not interested in any small time one-off customers.

In short, it's sometimes difficult to determine if a small business is bad, disorganized, or incompetent just because of theory lack of responses.
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Aug 12, 2004
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No Frills wrote: For 1 person businesses, there are a lot of cases (of newer successful small businesses) where their only digital footprint is Facebook and Instagram. You'd be surprised at the amount of people that use the internet and dont visit websites anymore. There are countless successful small businesses that built themselves solely on word of mouth.

There are some small businesses that have a handful of clients they choose to do business with and not interested in any small time one-off customers.

In short, it's sometimes difficult to determine if a small business is bad, disorganized, or incompetent just because of theory lack of responses.
I would say that 95% of my business clients comes from Facebook or Instagram. That's where I invest most of my time and energy. My website is browsed a good amount, but most acquisitions are from social sources. And the ones that hit my website are largely mobile users and a 375 x 667 screen (i.e IPhone 6 - 8) based on my Analytics (in other words, a great desktop website is not viewed much). This morning for instance I've spoken to 4 customers who booked either through Facebook or Instagram (that's where I get contacted). In the odd blue moon I get a call, usually from someone in their 50's+, or an email through my website who found me through Google (again, usually someone older). The reality is business has moved to social platforms and customers are texting or messaging from their phone the easiest way they can.

It's not just small businesses either. Try calling Uber customer service, it exists, but it's well hidden. Instead you are referred to an FAQ, through the app itself (not much help), or Twitter of all things. Let's not even talk about Instagram customer service.
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Jun 24, 2015
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people need to realize that there are customers out there WITHOUT FACE BOOK OR INSTAGRAM, dont cater to them, and when the owner of the repair shop puts nothing but pictures of his souped up car and his car meets on his facebook page for his company, he does not take life seriously so why should i be serious about taking my business to him
Supermarket worker at Fortino's
I'm Not a Wise Guy but more of a Good Fella~!
Drive an Escalade

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