Reverse Polish Notation

How can I get back to writing my famous, righteous blog entries when I keep running into things that distract, annoy and harass me?

Hmm?

Hmm?

You’re wondering what the Hell I’m talking about. Both of you. Wondering. (I know you think I just bitch about nothing. Don’t deny it. I hear you at night!).

Well, it’s like this. I learned about the imminent arrival of a truly GOOD 1/72 scale plastic model kit of nothing less than the glorious HAWKER HURRICANE MK I of eternal glory in the Battle of Britain and elsewhere and the inspiration for remarkably few good kits.

ArmaHobby, a fresh and invigorating startup from the nation of Poland had lept into the fray and intended to do what Airfix didn’t and Tamiya hasn’t and Hasegawa sorta did. They would step up, and in recognition of the part played by heroic Polish aircrew in the aforementioned battle and other things, they’d make a truly GOOD Hurricane.

Oh thank God.

ArmaHobby had studied the ways of Eduard, a company with marketing that sucks ass in my opinion–and they decided to release the kit in a profit pack with tons of photo retch and other shit I don’t want. THEN after scooping up the suckers they’d release a “kit for children and old people” with only plastic parts, and THEN they’d go full Eduard and sell “overtrees” that would be just the plastic parts with no instructions or decals.

Now, normally I try not to be pulled into this kind of nonsense, but I was feeling frisky and just once, just once dammit, I’d like to join the Kook Kids and get in on summa ‘dat sweet, sweet overtree action.

So I went to their site and entered all my data and paid a little for the overtrees and a LOT for shipping, and I sat back, telling myself that soon I would be the proud owner of an Arma Hobby overtree of the Holy Hurricane, savior of civilization (not the Spitfire) and I would soon forget the pain of paying a little extra for shipping.

That was, I think, in FEBRUARY. It is now May. In this day and age, after I wait eight weeks for a package, I give up. I’m not like most disturbed fat guys. I don’t get on the phone and rant and rage and yell at my mom when I’m screwed by some foreign outfit. I suck it up and write it off. Polish mails. Whataya gonna do?

But here’s where it gets comical.

I’d just decided to let the whole thing slide when Generalissimo Michal Pawlowski  sends off an email to me: (and I sure as hell quote)

Dear Sir,

I would like to inform you that your order was sent back to us. Here you are the tracking history of delivery:
https://emonitoring.poczta-polska.pl/?numer=RR995168309PL&lang=en
Therefore we can offer you two options to deal with this situation:
1) we can give you back your money but only for the product – as we actually paid for the delivery
2) we can send you the order once again, but we Need you to pay for a shipping (7.75€)


 — 
Best regards 
Michal Pawlowski 
Armahobby 
shop manager 

What the hell?? (and why is it always some guy named Michael??).

Here is my reply:

I’ll take option 1 (the refund). I think it’s only fair to let you know I’m going to blog about this. No hard feelings.

Dan

Yeah well here’s my blog entry. I was willing to blow this off and not even mention it here, but these guys seem to unable to grasp a few simple truths about business–starting with the idea that, from time to time, you have to “eat” something. You have to pay for something that was somebody else’s fault. It’s good business and it builds customer loyalty. If your lousy national mail service can’t deliver a simple package, you “eat” the cost and send it again, with an apology (or even a discount coupon to ease the pain). You don’t send an email telling me “Thanks for the money, but we can’t deliver your item. Have a nice day.”

Am I wrong here? Is this nutty or what?

Major FAIL for ArmaHobby. From now on, my business goes elsewhere. Good day, sir. I SAY GOOD DAY!!!

4 Replies to “Reverse Polish Notation”

  1. That’s not good business sense no matter the locale. I would have chosen the same option as well. Just a word of thanks to your review of Revell Aqua Color paint.

    I am currently waiting on my second order of Aqua Color from the UK. Good stuff ?

  2. Yah, yep, no doubt, right, “saw it right off.” (grizz Hunter to mountain man, Robert Redford scrambling out of his smoking blankets because he didn’t put enough pine branches over the hot coals prepared for sleeping in the freezing ass mountains.
    So I too have been tempted by “over trees”. The shipping cost and some soul searching ended that temptation. The scam of “profipack” vs. “weekend” is just outright mean, as is the “over trees”. The expense just for good decals kinda cancels that. Eduard does make excellent models. I look for them on eBay and from dealers. Never will order direct from Eduard.

    I decided

  3. So thats the idea and nature of overtrees; have been wondering, see. Didn’t get off to check out the substance of the term – could of course but so much else to do of other stuff.
    Guess I’d taken option one too (not two!) if you’ve filled in the form with correct info its their job to deliver. Didn’t work have another go at it. Don’t place a surcharge on customers – they’ll run away.

  4. Sorry, I am still laughing from reading that post…Not the subject matter, just the way you wrote it.

    What can I say? We have some real trimmers in this hobby don’t we? Next time just order an Airfix mk1 and be done with it. It is a great little kit for the money, and you won’t have to deal with this guff (unless you order it from a Polish hobby store?) haha.

    Just as an aside, Some years ago I ordered an Amiga 1200 from a Polish bloke, and the postage must have been about 50 bucks at least. Anyway, 3 months later it still hadn’t arrived, so I sent him an email. He apologised and got in touch with the local carrier. After another 3 months (by which time I had written it off… yeah, I yelled at my mum over that one), it arrived on my doorstep, with a letter included. It seems the computer did an around Europe trip, and finally ended back at his doorstep. He ‘ate’ another postage hit and sent it to me again….and this was just some random bloke in Poland. Perhaps he should have started a business…

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