Bartertown.com

As some of you may or may not know, my grandmother recently passed away.
This has caused a lot of hardship on my family. It was a sudden and unexpected loss that I can hardly form the words to express. I spent many days after school in my elementary and middle school years at her house after school till my parents got home from work. I was very close to her, and I miss her dearly.

Now with that knowledge, I openly want to express my deepest apologies for the lack of communication over the last 2 weeks plus. Unfortunately I run the store entirely on my own, and have no one to take care of things when I have to leave. This doesnt excuse anything I know people have the right to expect their products on a timely manner and I freely admit that I have let some of you down over the last 2 weeks.

I am currently sorting through close to 200 emails and my voicemail is currently locked and no one seems to be able to access it right now. I am sorting through the mess as fast as I can. A lot of products have been shipped out this last week and more are going out the door as I type this up. Thanks to my wife for making numerous trips to the post office.

What I also want to express is that I will not tolerate any more of the 2am phone calls to my home and the threats sent to me via email. You feel you have the right to post my personal information on the web and email me threats where you want to come in and I quote “Rip my head off and….â€

Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel it is inappropriate however I have something to say re: Robert's post....call it a little constructive criticism....

Robert, I am sorry for your loss and I'm glad that you seem to be taking responsibility for what's occured however

[quote="The Drop Zone"]
What I also want to express is that I will not tolerate any more of the 2am phone calls to my home and the threats sent to me via email. You feel you have the right to post my personal information on the web and email me threats where you want to come in and I quote “Rip my head off and….â€

ancientsociety wrote: This type of behavior is TOTALLY unacceptable on BT, ESPECIALLY from an advertiser. It does not look good to have an advertiser for this site threatening those who have had a problem with his service as well as being out their hard-earned money with physical violence. Sorry, that crosses a line.

Robert, if you feel that you are being harassed, then you should respond in a professional manner. You run a business and you are a supporter of this site. As such, you shouldn't be acting like an immature teenager and threatening to "take all comers".

As a business owner, you need to understand that people will be upset with your service from time to time and, since you don't have a customer service center, you are going to have to field those calls. Your best bet is to be calm, professional, and willing to work with people. Don't EVER threaten someone (especially not in writing on the internet for everyone to see) - it only makes you look bad and reduces your business' image in consumer's eyes.

My point is not to attack TDZ but a hope that Robert will edit his response and learn from this (both the post and situation) that he needs to be more professional. This type of behavior would not be tolerated by any normal BTer (heck, I know Lin's banned a person who swore @ me before) and certainly should not be tolerated by an advertiser.

Quoted.
For.
Truth.

"""" It does not look good to have an advertiser for this site threatening those """"

I am not making threats i am responding to threats that have been made to me plain and simple

i am not going to take abuse in any form from anyone any longer
there is a line and when its crossed i will not stay quiet for "customer service"

screwing up i will take all the heat in the world from people but if you think about making threats all politeness is out the window

being a customer does not allow you to threaten my wife or myself

and thats the end of what im going to explain

Robert, you could probably have worded your original... umm... invitation to those individuals better, considering that you are representing not just yourself, but a business and BTown advertiser.

Of course, you're an intelligent man and you already know that.

You are also, however, a man and I understand that.

Regardless of the circumstances, i cannot say that I would have reacted any differently.
No. I take that back.
I would have reacted differently.

The things *I* would have said would have, probably, earned me a suspension, at least.

I cannot fault you for your response.

AncientS...
I understand your point. You are 100% correct in your statement:

It does not look good to have an advertiser for this site threatening those who have had a problem with his service as well as being out their hard-earned money with physical violence.

I didn't take it the same way you did, though. In fact, I took it as the opposite. Not that he was threatening people who are complaining about him - I think he feels that those people have a right to.
I believe that he's referring to specific people who called his business & residence, as well as sending emails, with direct threats.
IMO, there's a difference.

Eric

Firstly I would like to say to Robert that I'm sorry for your loss and wish the best to you and your family through this difficult time.

Second I'd like to say that though he could have worded it differently what he's saying is that he invites the person(s) to come on down and walk into the warm. loving embrace of his local police/authorities. Seriously, I can understand where he's coming from and his anger/frustation with everything going on now in his life so I would say to his customers, c'mon, give the guy a little slack. I'm sure everything will be fixed and put on track as soon as possible.

[quote="ancientsociety"]Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel it is inappropriate however I have something to say re: Robert's post....call it a little constructive criticism....

Robert, I am sorry for your loss and I'm glad that you seem to be taking responsibility for what's occured however

[quote="The Drop Zone"]
What I also want to express is that I will not tolerate any more of the 2am phone calls to my home and the threats sent to me via email. You feel you have the right to post my personal information on the web and email me threats where you want to come in and I quote “Rip my head off and….â€

insidius wrote:
Oh come off it.

Trying to provide good customer service is one thing.

Being expected to be tolerant over customers calling your house and leaving threats of physical violence to your person at 2am in the morning repeatedly is totally different, and NO ONE should be expected to act differently than he has under the circumstances. In his place of business is one thing, but at his home, after store hours? That's personal time, and in that time, he's been dealing with a loss in his immediate family. Give him an effing break.

Come off what? Come off the fact that an advertiser should conform to the standards of this site just like everyone else?

I was speaking to the fact that Robert basically asked whoever was doing it to come on down and settle it 'mano e mano'. As a long-time BTer, Insidius, you know the rules - if any one of us were to post that in a PM or thread to another member, we'd get a suspension at the very least.

If Robert is being threatened by a specific person then, gee, here's an idea - settle it with that person in private. As you posted yourself in one of TDZ's BTRs, you're tired of hearsay. Well, this is also hearsay as we're only hearing one side of the story - Robert's. How do we know that these weren't customers who were simply trying to reach him @ home to get their money back or somesuch? And what did those "threats" entail - getting a refund, calling the CC co., filing a police report, etc (which, frankly, are all things we would do if someone here kept us in the lurch for 2+ weeks, and especially if that were a business)?

TDZ, if you're "responding to threats" then do it in private, as your counter-threats sound just as specious and immature as anyone else's. It shows a lack of professionalism, which does not speak well of your business.

You are damaging my patience.

would someone please lock this thread
i didnt start it to start a bunch of grief
i have enough of that for a lifetime

i posted what i wanted to please leave it at that

R

I'll be locking this now, as some people can't seem to be civil. Go about your business, kids!

In retrospect, I should have known to watch the replies on the thread closer and not comment myself.

My apologies to Robert and the mod crew. We don't need me stirring the fires higher than they already are.

I know this is ole, but you guys should all take note; we have confirmed that The Drop Zone is now operating as Drop Zone Games.
Robert kind of fell off our radar for a while, but he's been spotted at GenCon wearing a name tag for Drop Zone Games.
I don't know what reputation he has as Drop Zone Games, but we know what it was as TheDropZone.
I'll steer clear, personally.

Eric