Q: Where is a toll-free number (or any number)
that I can call?
A: In December 2006, we
eliminated our toll-free number. Looking back on it, although this was a tough
decision at the time, it ended up being the best decision for
everybody…especially our customers! Why did we eliminate the number? Here were
the reasons:
1. Cost
2. Scams
3. Customer Response
4. Abuse
1. Cost – We have worked hard to keep the price of the directory low for
customers like you. Many companies have moved their call centers overseas to
keep costs down. Quite frankly, many overseas call centers are not too good and
leave the customers screaming mad. We did not want our customer going through
that mess. As I mentioned in our article entitled “What
You Must Know About A Drop Shipping Directory And It's Company...“ the wholesale drop
shipping business has changed, and so has the directory services that list them.
Paying for people to simply answer the phone all day long costs money. In turn,
the constant overhead expense would be buried in the price of the directory, and
would come out of your pocket! This is why some wholesale drop ship directories
can cost hundreds of dollars due to their overhead expenses. It’s unnecessary
for you, or anyone, to pay that high price. Save your money. Our goal has always
been to bring you the most affordable legitimate wholesale drop shipping
directory on the Web.
We have eliminated every possible expense to reach this goal.
2. Scams - In the days of yester year, many scam websites did not have a
toll-free number with customer service reps standing by. They were (and still
remain) complete scams with nobody behind the scenes doing drop ship research or
servicing customer requests. Only the legitimate directories such as ours had
people working on trade show searches for drop shippers and manning the phones
to answer customer questions. Eventually, toll-free numbers with voice mail
became so cheap, anybody could have one for just pennies a month. In turn, many
of the scam websites started displaying a toll-free number with a voice mail
message saying, “Hi, you have reach such-n-such drop shipping directory.
Currently we are busy, but if you leave your name and number we will return your
call.” To most customers, this sounded legitimate and they proceeded to buy
their scam. Well, guess what? Nobody returned their call, and the directory they
bought a product that did not contain wholesale drop shippers. Here is the
lesson…having a toll-free number lost credibility in terms of anybody being a
legitimate business. Smart customers do their homework. They know that having a
toll-free number, always routing to voice mail can be a bit suspicious. It
defeats the purpose of having a phone number. Don’t ever fall for anyone’s
toll-free number scam tactics.
3. Customer Response – We are a trade show research company that finds wholesale
drop shippers for you. That often means we are often traveling to shows, or
attending them. During those days, nobody was here at our office to answer the
phone. We often missed many calls from customers. Making everybody communicate
via email ensures we do not miss a phone call. This has greatly improved our
response rates to customers.
4. Abuse - The majority of calls we received (roughly 98%) were people wanting
us to give away information about the drop shippers in our directory. They
expected us to simply give away the information for free! Yet others wanted us
to spend time on the phone trying to convince them why they should buy our
directory. Most of these folks wanted to waste time contemplating whether they
should spend $30 on their business. Think about that for a minute...Are you
really serious about your business if you don't have $30 to spend on it?
Would you want to spend your valuable time and money on the phone with these
non-customers? Of course not. With that being said, the number was disconnected.
If you have a question about drop shipping check out our
Drop Shipping FAQ page.
If you would like to learn more about our directory our
Directory FAQ page.
Thank you for taking the time to read!
Sincerely,
Hienote Support Team
