For those of us new to the a Stick, and it seems like there are quite a number of us, one must realize that we have business experiences with other companies other than SE. Why should we wait 2 or 3 weeks to receive a string or book order? (it happens) Or several days for a response to email? (that, too) That's simply way out of norm for what we've come to expect from our dealings with other companies in 2014. Or 2004.

We understand SE is a small business. But they don't manufacture strings or books.

Respectfully,

Randy

Moreover, when I call SE, both Cambria and I waste time. SE doesn't need to become Amazon to realize huge efficiencies from the simplest online ordering form.

I bet there are even folks here who would set it up for cheap or free!

I, too, remain most respectfully

Sound of breaks and strange faces that express emotions of surprise and concern ..

With all due respect the very thing that you are referring to concerning "business" and what "one must realize" meaning everyone, is, in actuality an exaggeration created by people
on the verge of pathology .

Incase "everyone" hasn't noticed the pace of business
has not made the world a better place, or created a more egalitarian environment
in which to conduct commerce.

The assumption that because of prior business
experience, that all business should be run in a similar way or at the same speed is preposterous on the surface but deeper down reveals an expectation that should lead one to question it's true origin .

*j*
.~

+1 to above

I couldn't have said that better - jeez I couldn't have said it at all!

Cheers,

Tim

Fair enough Randy. I'm all for the 21st century you know.

I like to imagine there are little wood sprites with curved shoes, hand-drawing the image of Emmett on each book, winding each string using some crazy contraption hooked up to a pair of miniature horses and stirring vats of bronze colored ooze that is poured into molds to make Railboards.

They save the people they love the most for last Randy.

Hell yes, like JRJ said...

[i]Incase "everyone" hasn't noticed the pace of business
has not made the world a better place, or created a more egalitarian environment
in which to conduct commerce.

Anyway I love the "humanity" of small business, notwithstanding all the benefits of life and shopping online, Good news is we all love STICKS....

The Koolaid is strong here...

Ok, folks, it's getting punchy here; the tone is getting NEEDLESSLY hyperbolic and unproductive.

Hello, OP back again:

Thanks for the input, folks. It seems, based on the replies here, that 2 weeks is longer than average to wait for a reply to an email from SE. I considered it might have been that they were exceptionally busy just now. I had also wondered if there was maybe an email "cycle" a couple of weeks long so if I chased an email I would go back to the bottom of the cycle for another two weeks. I would end up never getting to the top of it, much like C Northcote Parkinson's method of concealing oneself from the taxman.

Well, as I can't email from work (as I might be about to move to another job) I will probabaly just have to reserve the house phone from the teenagers and make that call, during which I can check to see if my email provider is perhaps hitting a block or firewall between my house and SE. I don't mind paying for strings and apparently Cambria's very nice, it's just I feel a bit miffed that I'll have to pay four charges for some strings -- once for the call to confirm the strings I need, once for the actual strings, once for the postage and once for the customs duty and VAT (since I think my order will be over the minimum threshold for those). I don't grudge the middle two at all and I'd rather get all my stick needs from SE to support the company and community but it's maybe no coincidence that the only stick player I've met personally in the UK (a busy session bassist) got his strings from a UK source.

As one of those mentioned above who's new to the Stick (in terms of actually having/trying to play one) I'm especially wary of putting anyone's back up or putting a foot wrong on the boards here.

Hey ho. Lucky I'm a stoic, really...

My personal opinion is that a fair comparison would be a company like Fodera, builders of what is recognized as the ultimate bass guitar (I don't own one, nor plan to own one, just for clarity).
If I'm not mistaken, their waiting list is expressed in years!
It's a small business, although I reckon they have way more instruments out there then SE, and customers just accept that it's the way it is.
Comparing with Amazon and eBay is not really fair, considering the turnaround of the business: we're talking about 7000 instruments, how many customers could there be? Some of us have more than one Stick (I'm crazy enough to have 7!), several lay under the bed... let's say 5000 customers.

You could easily set up a Paypal system, but that would mean an increase in prices all around, to cover the fees: would it be worth it? Would the majority of us be happy with that? I doubt the business volume would be increased, we're not talking about commodities that have a competition. As a customer, I accept that it's the way it is.
Besides, talking 5 minutes to another human being (and a nice one at that!) is hardly a chore. I know we live in a one-click-away world, and a phone bill is a phone bill, but I will continue to cherish my chats with Yuta, Emmett, Cambria and the other nice people at SE.
I'd rather pay for that then for PayPal.

So there you go, that's us, the stick community: we even provide free market research