There is a new authorized dealer in Central Florida. The Seminole Towne Center Mall in Sanford lacked a dealer who had HL's. Not anymore! Kitchen Magnetism on the second floor of the mall, just outside of Burdines, now has Harbour Lights. I talked to the owner and found out that she has been trying to get the line from the sales rep for over 18 months.

She told me that she has repeatedly asked the HL Rep to include her store and he constantly neglected her request. She spoke to his supervisor and still no line. Finally three months ago, she told the rep that she was going to order the line herself directly from HL's if he wouldn't order them. Last month, they arrived and she now has her display. What dismays me is that I believe there must be one rep for this area and I have heard at least three complaints from different stores about their HL rep. I'm thinking of writing a note to HL's regarding the comments regarding the rep, specifically a lack of knowledge of the line, but I don't know if it's my place to do this. What are some of the opinions out there, I need guidance.

Joanne

Joanne... maybe you should write as a "concerned HL collector." I would mention to them that you did not have a HL dealer close to you, and knew of someone who wanted to carry the line. I do know that many of the Reps want to protect their existing clients. But then, you have a place like Charlotte, NC which has over 6 different HL dealers within a 15 mile radius. In any case, and as I have always believed... "the squeaky quill gets the grease." Paraphrased of course!

Tim - Keeping the flame lit...

Joanne,

In my dealings with local dealers, whenever the term "HL Rep" comes up, there is usually an associated comment regarding lack of contact, lack of support, or lack of responsiveness. The dealer(s) seem to always have to track them down & stay on top of them.

As a HL collector, I'm surprised that as fine a company as HL is, and since they go to extremes for customer satisfaction, then why would they "tolerate" this environment. Since we are pretty far away from each other, this behavior may be common.

I can only surmise that HL either does not know about it, or, that like in most other industries, the "rep" actually services a multitude of product lines and thefore they have limited expertise and provide limited focus. To you and I, we assume that the "rep" only deals in HL products, but from their perspective, they may be representing 40 or 50 product lines (Or more), hence you see the result.

I suspect that concerned people at HL either peruse this forum from time to time or that postings of significant interest are somehow brought to their attention (as I suspect this one will).

Regardless, if I were you, I would provide your new dealership with as much customer loyalty, support, and as much "expert" HL information as you can give them. I would wait just a bit to see if the situation improves on it's down. Don't forget that your opinion is HIGHLY repected by members of this forum (MS Cruise Director ) I'm sure it will be passed on.

Wow, so it's not just me. The rep does support other lines such as Anhauser Bush, Animal Kingdom, and another line was mentioned, but that doesn't mean that HL's should suffer. It seems to me that it has been mentioned here many times about the interest in HL's by the consumer or at times, lack of it. Well, if the reps aren't doing their jobs by trying to get new dealers when previous dealers drop the line, then there's a problem. This new shop tried for a year and a half to get the line into a huge mall which had no other store carrying HL's. So there isn't even a chance of the rep creating competition for a good client who may have already been in the mall. I think I will write a letter to HL's about my recent experiences in three different stores and the comments expressed to me by the managers.

Joanne



[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited 06-28-2000).]

When I asked my favorite dealer about the Pharos collection pieces, she hadn't been told about their existence from her rep. I called HL myself to verify that I could special order them through my dealer and they said "Yes"...but they didn't expect shipment until August. In this case, it may be because of the intended overseas market with the Pharos pieces that not much was said to this dealer.

Doc John

Another thing I just remembered. Back in March when I was making the rounds of all the local collectibles shops that sell HL's, not one store out of the five knew anything about the Jan 1 to March 31 contest. Now, while I would love to keep the contestant number low to better my chances, it makes me angry to think that if I didn't pay close attention on my own, that I wouldn't be aware of such events. Maybe if the stores would have had a sign out announcing the contest, there would have been more HL's purchased. The contest just might be the deciding factor of whether or not to get that piece now or wait, or to buy it at all.

Joanne

I too have heard some issues with reps not staying in touch with their stores. Reps, while representing several lines, do have a responsibility to represent each line equally and fairly. Iwould suppose reps are on some form of a commission pay, so the more they move the more they make.

However, since reps do often represent multiple lines they may have a hard time keeping up with all of the goings on. Not a defense for lackof knowledge, but this is an unfortunate reality. The average reader of this message probably knows more about the up coming HLs than the average rep does, but that is because it is our passion. We have a vested interest in knowing what is going on.

Each dealer should, I believe, also be a member of the HL Collector Society. They get their mailings before we do, and they are sent by first class. They should have some knowledge. However, just like reps, they may receive skids full of mail and only have the chance to skim it, not digest it thoroughly as we would. In some cases, internal routing of mail may not go to the correct person in the store.

Lots of contributing causes to the lack of knowledge situation. I do believe thata rep needs to stay up to date on the lines he/she sell, as do store personnel. If there is a rep who is not fairly representing HL I am sure that they would like to know. I would encourage the dealer to call the HL folks, because it is their rep we are talking about. We are very interested bystanders.
IMHO,
Dave

Joanne,
I would base my actions on what I would want if I owned a company like HL. I know that the company is thriving, but the bottom line is that it is only as good as its representatives. So, I would want to know of the trouble the dealers are having and their lack of information.

If a new mall does not have a HL dealer and interested merchants can't get a response from the HL rep, the company REALLY needs to know because it is losing potential revenue and not serving the dedicated collectors who are ultimately responsible for a great part of the company's success.

Just my thoughts.....

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Keep Shining!

Kathryn