Cheers/Jeers - Does this serve a purpose?

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beck3906

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We get the same complaints and praises. Then folks support their position of complaining or praising.

Do we really get anything from this?

And, yes, I've tried to block this forum but it doesn't seem to work.
 
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It falls along the same line as reviews for any other thing you buy online. If you have no previous knowledge and almost everyone else is saying its good or bad chances are you will follow their lead. Or you will say oh their complaints are all about the customer service side I am not worried about that.
 
But does it really work? With all the Jeer's for PSI, people still buy from them and complaints keep flying. Maybe their expectations are extreme or unrealistic. A bad dog is still going to be a bad dog next week. People do not read them IMO.
 
We get the same complaints and praises. Then folks support their position of complaining or praising.

Do we really get anything from this?

And, yes, I've tried to block this forum but it doesn't seem to work.

Yes!! First of all we have the freedom of speach. Everyone has their own idea of what is art, what is craft, what is skill, and what is crap. And, I think they should give a reason why they feel that way if they are voiceing one of the above, be it good or bad. Sometimes people just need to vent their problems ( may or may not be pen related ) for someone else to hear so they don't feel that they are alone in the world, just as you are doing here. If you are looking for a pure how to on pen making, you need to look in the library or at something like youtube for videos and the like. The dictionary discribes a Forum as a meeting place or medium for discussion of matters of public interest. If you don't like the forum here, don't click on it, just enjoy the rest of the site. If we don't ask, we don't learn. Jim S
 
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But does it really work? With all the Jeer's for PSI, people still buy from them and complaints keep flying. Maybe their expectations are extreme or unrealistic. A bad dog is still going to be a bad dog next week. People do not read them IMO.

send the dog to me for the week, you'll get a cuddly puppy back when I'm done...But not even I can fix PSI.
 
Yes ..It does serve a purpose.

When I joined I did not know Smitty's or Exotic Blanks or Lazer Linez..

It is because they have received Cheers that I first noticed them. And as a result when I needed something, I looked at these locations. (Capt'n Eddie also).

So I may not be a big buyer, I but got very good product and service from all these places. I probably would never have tried them if it had not been for their Cheers.

PSI has things people want and they can't get elsewhere or they advertise better. The big guy will always be that way. People still buy IBM and Microsoft and use Google and Facebook, yet they always complain about them.

Go figure..
 
Several have said negs about PSI. I have been using them for at least 5 years and have never had anything but good service from them. If these other people mentioned( I didn't know about them till I joined this site) are so much better, I don't think I could stand it.
 
Interesting (perhaps) sidenote on this one: I placed an order through PSI yesterday. Got an email today that it had shipped. That in itself may (or may not) be noteworthy. However, I got a separatae email (from Kim) that said they were out of one item and that it would be shipped when (and no billing until) it comes in.

Kind of sounds like decent customer service, eh?

Also - to the original Q - I'm like Scruffy. Hadn't heard of nor used some vendors till I saw the "cheers" here. Glad I'm here if for no other reason than that.
 
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PSI has things people want and they can't get elsewhere ....

Woodturningz (Other Turning Project Kits - WoodTurningz) carries PSI products. If you need something from PSI and want good customer service to boot, check out Ryan P. and his crew from Woodturningz. If it is not in stock, Ryan may have to order it so check with him first.


Other vendors also carry PSI products.
 
We get the same complaints and praises. Then folks support their position of complaining or praising.

Do we really get anything from this?

And, yes, I've tried to block this forum but it doesn't seem to work.
Whether you block it or not, you never have to read it if you don't want to. There are lots of forums here that I never read.
 
In the end your still supporting PSI, and just maybe that is what they want, ship a few thousand dollars of merchandise to one customer, instead of shipping a thousand orders out for the same dollars.


.
PSI has things people want and they can't get elsewhere ....

Woodturningz (Other Turning Project Kits - WoodTurningz) carries PSI products. If you need something from PSI and want good customer service to boot, check out Ryan P. and his crew from Woodturningz. If it is not in stock, Ryan may have to order it so check with him first.


Other vendors also carry PSI products.
 
Not saying to pay.

Say your peace and stop it there. We don't need 20 more comments from folks dredging up years old feelings.

And I could stop reading them. But it's there, so it just makes me wonder if someone says something new.
 
Not saying to pay.

Say your peace and stop it there.

And I could stop reading them.
I said my piece and you introduced something else that was not in your initial OP and I gave a response to your new question.


If they bothered me as much as they seem to bother you I would stop reading them.
 
Sorry, to explain more.

The poster can say their peace about the cheer/jeer and we stop it there. Why does it need to have 20 more postings after that?
 
There is the possibility that the person starting the..

thread is not entirely correct. I see nothing wrong with other members having the chance to set the records straight. Or to agree with the original poster.
 
Check with jeff

You might ask the last question to the administrator of the site. I'm not sure but I believe that what you are asking was discussed at length before the current method was introduced. Jeff could best answer why he went the way he did.
 
As a newer turner, this forum has been more than helpful. Without it I wouldn't have found Exotic Blanks, Woodturningz, and WoodnWhimsies, along with others on here I will order from in the future. Most new folks start with PSI, then soon learn you don't have to settle for their level of customer service. I think it also rewards our good suppliers and holds them accountable. I'm willing to bet that most of them check this forum regularly. In the end, it gives us a better product.....and rewards good folks.....unless your PSI and just don't care.
 
I have been vocal about my frustration with past orders from PSI, but I needed something that they carried so I gave them another try. Ordered Tuesday, received on Friday. Good service. Maybe they read these posts? Anyway, I like to hear what people say.
 
I do like having this forum here if not for the learning value of others dealings with certain suppliers, or for the comody value of these stories. (yes they are pretty funny sometimes)

Sent from my Rooted Galaxy Player.
 
You have the one or two people that can not be satisfied with anything, you could give them a gold brick and they would complain that it isn't stamped...

Say vender A has 99 cheers and 1 jeer, you would probably take it as that one person being the one that complains about everything.

A lot of us worry about dropping $100 or $200 or more online to a small vender, but when they read and see a dozen or so people attesting to them, they are more apt.

I hope he will not mind, if you do Leroy let me know, but let's take smitty pen works for example. He has about a dozen pen kits offered. If you find his site by looking on google and going a page or two down (not sure how far down he is on the search engine), would you order from him, or PSI (which is probably #1 - #10 on results)? Keeping in mind that you do not have any back information from IAP on him. And I don't think anyone here will argue that he does not give top notch customer service.

When ordering on ebay, you find the same item for the same cost by two different people. Same price across the board, one has 8 feed back and the other has 1000 in the last month; which are you probably going to order from?

I think the forum is a useful tool to help the new people to find new venders. As many have said if you don't like it; don't go.
 
Yes!! First of all we have the freedom of speach. Everyone has their own idea of what is art, what is craft, what is skill, and what is crap. And, I think they should give a reason why they feel that way if they are voiceing one of the above, be it good or bad. Sometimes people just need to vent their problems ( may or may not be pen related ) for someone else to hear so they don't feel that they are alone in the world, just as you are doing here. If you are looking for a pure how to on pen making, you need to look in the library or at something like youtube for videos and the like. The dictionary discribes a Forum as a meeting place or medium for discussion of matters of public interest. If you don't like the forum here, don't click on it, just enjoy the rest of the site. If we don't ask, we don't learn. Jim S

Is it really 'freedom of speech' when you are told you can not post things because someone is lawsuit crazy and due to legal liability and all that crap you are unable to say things? Truth of the matter seems as if most non-rave, non-back slapping and non-tumbs up is frowned upon and highly discouraged.
 
I do not visit that forum because to me it is a joke. I laugh when someone Jeers PSI and the very next posting some Cheers them and that goes for all vendors. All that is is a matter of opinions. There are many many many people here that use vendors but never write reviews and I am one of them. If you are a vendor and do not treat people right then you are not in the vending business very long. This is the same approach when you are selling your wares. Remember that. Maybe we should have a cheers and jeers section for those that sell pens.:smile:

To those that said they would not have found said vendors if it weren't for that forum than shame on you. That tells us you did not read other forums. You did not go to the vendor section. Take the time and view and partake in the entire site and become a true member. You will get a better take on things instead of reading one or two reviews.

I thought this was hashed out just recently. :rolleyes:
 
I don't read every post and I don't intend to.

I don't read every new post and I don't intend to.

I only read what appears to be of interest to me at the time.

I do trust people's opinion of experiences they have had with a vendor more than I trust self advertising from a vendor or their thrall.

I also have strong opinions about people that are judgmental about others' values and experiences and at the same time are arrogant about their own.
 
It is very easy to avoid Cheers and Jeers postings. Cheers and Jeers is part of the Marketplace forum. Threads contained in the Marketplace forum do not cycle through the front page every time they arre updated. In fact, they do not even appear on the front page unless you are a member of the "Marketplace" group. You can join or leave that group by accessing your User Control Panel and navigate to Group Memberships. The only way you would be able to look at a Cheers and Jeers post is to actually navigate to Cheers and Jeers in the Marketplace forum and open the threads. Hope that helps those of you who don't want to see Cheers and Jeers.
 
Freedom of Speech

For those concerned with freedom of speech - your freedom of speech ends at the door to my house. You do NOT have the right to say whatever you please when you are in my private house - or place of business. Hence if you work for a company, your boss can tell you that you may not say certain things - in fact, today companies are REQUIRED to prohibit certain kinds of speech to stay within the law regarding harassment. Also, this is a private forum and the owner has every right to put any limits they think necessary to maintain decorum and focus on posts here.
 
Is it really 'freedom of speech' when you are told you can not post things because someone is lawsuit crazy and due to legal liability and all that crap you are unable to say things? Truth of the matter seems as if most non-rave, non-back slapping and non-tumbs up is frowned upon and highly discouraged.

First of all, YOU don't have to deal with 'all that crap', I do. If I ask that conversation be limited about a certain topic, rest assured there is a good reason for it.

The simple rule is that broad, negative statements are not tolerated. You are more than welcome to post negative reviews of a vendor related to your direct business relationship. But you can't post unsubstantiated negative statements simply intended to make people think poorly about a vendor.
 
...unless your PSI and just don't care.
Consider this - PSI gets a lot more jeers than the rest of us because they get a lot more chances to screw up. In short, they do more business (in my unsubstantiated opinion) than the rest of us combined. If they get 500 sales a day and I get 5 they can be 99% perfect and still screw up more orders than I get. So, in my opinion, it's going a little far to say they don't care - I think it's more likely that they don't have themselves organized to handle consumer issues as well as they should and probably will eventually. The "fast shipping" issue is a fairly recent one - 2 years ago, nobody was expecting 'same day/next day' shipping. Today everyone does and the smaller vendors can be a lot faster on our feet handling that than PSI can.
 
So, in my opinion, it's going a little far to say they don't care - I think it's more likely that they don't have themselves organized to handle consumer issues as well as they should and probably will eventually. The "fast shipping" issue is a fairly recent one - 2 years ago, nobody was expecting 'same day/next day' shipping.

It honestly feels to me like PSI experienced a much larger growth than they had expected. I know the company I work for had the absolute best sales year ever last year and our customer service took a sharp turn for the worse because we weren't prepared to deal with all those customers.

I know in my area when I started considering making pens three years ago there was one pen turner in the area (there may have been more but he was the only one ever seen at shows). Now every show I attend has at least 3 pen turners set up and it is rarely one I have seen at another show.

But that's just my 2 cents on why PSI's service may have gone down some. I typically don't buy from them but that is because I have a Woodcraft just down the street and when I can afford to wait I have all the IAP vendors sites to choose from. My cousin on the other hand swears by PSI because to him it is more of a one stop shop.
 
...unless your PSI and just don't care.
Consider this - PSI gets a lot more jeers than the rest of us because they get a lot more chances to screw up. In short, they do more business (in my unsubstantiated opinion) than the rest of us combined. If they get 500 sales a day and I get 5 they can be 99% perfect and still screw up more orders than I get. So, in my opinion, it's going a little far to say they don't care - I think it's more likely that they don't have themselves organized to handle consumer issues as well as they should and probably will eventually. The "fast shipping" issue is a fairly recent one - 2 years ago, nobody was expecting 'same day/next day' shipping. Today everyone does and the smaller vendors can be a lot faster on our feet handling that than PSI can.

Excellent view Smitty... I think some of the big players (walmart/amazon) in the shipping business have really changed peoples thinking on shipping speed, but the level of automation requires you to be huge.

Unless you get the smaller vendors (like several here) who can give personal service and turn things around quick.

PSI is somewhere in the middle and that can be a really tough spot. It was great to see Ed Levys post in the recent jeer. That ONE post alone may give good proof why its good to have a cheer/jeer forum.
 
I have used PSI for 8 years and not had any issues with the products or shipment in a timely fashion. people should use vendors they have confidence in so if there are issues they won't be too upset. remember even though we think we are all easy to please our wives would beg to differ or at least mine will enlighten me on this sometimes, but I know it is never my fault.

I keep telling her I thought I made a mistake one but, I was wrong.

Use vendors you get the best service from and try to up port the vendors who help support the IAP process.
 
I see. When I voice a complaint I need to be specific. Okay. I just placed an order that was a "we miss you" offer that saved me twenty dollars. I paid for U.S.P.S. and will see when it arrives. I will keep you "specifically" posted with the details.
 
Just an informational point... the ISP and the website administrators are protected from lawsuits just because others say things about a particular company provided they DON'T take try to limit the speech (even if the speech is untruthful). This has come up several times lately with the website ripoffreport.com. In each time they (ripoffreport) won. It's protected under the Communications Decency Act as a "publisher". However, if the site does start moderating what others are saying it can open itself up to liability.

As a hosting provider myself, I try to keep up with these issues. I won't take anything down without a legal basis for doing so. Which interesting enough is trying to be used right now against ripoffreport.com. A lawyer copyrighted some material is claiming they are violating a copyright under DMCA. It's being fought that the copyright was issued erroneously. Interesting stuff.
 
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I still don't understand everyone's concept that PSI is a bad company... I've been dealing with them for over 12 years..ever since I got into this vortex of pen turning... I order with the expectation of getting my stuff in 5-7 days - which I almost always do - I understand the on line order process of receiving an order, checking it, then passing it along to the order puller, checking it, passing it along to the packer, then calling in the shipping company to pick up, who takes it out of PSI's control - the only control they have is picking the company - once in the shipping companies hands, PSI has no control over the routing, handling etc... I've dealt with UPS, USPS, FEDEX, DHL, and half a dozen other courier companies, plus just about every trucking company on the road, independent truckers, all major airlines and steamship lines over the course of 40 years in shipping... every one of them has screwed up on occasion... the real key is how did they handle the screw up, what restitution did they make, etc.... like Smitty said, if you are a small shipper and get 5 orders per day, there is little likelihood of a screw up... I like PSI and think they do a good job.
 
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I still don't understand everyone's concept that PSI is a bad company... I've been dealing with them for over 12 years..ever since I got into this vortex of pen turning... I order with the expectation of getting my stuff in 5-7 days - which I almost always do - I understand the on line order process of receiving an order, checking it, then passing it along to the order puller, checking it, passing it along to the packer, then calling in the shipping company to pick up, who takes it out of PSI's control - the only control they have is picking the company - once in the shipping companies hands, PSI has no control over the routing, handling etc... I've dealt with UPS, USPS, FEDEX, DHL, and half a dozen other courier companies, plus just about every trucking company on the road, independent truckers, all major airlines and steamship lines over the course of 40 years in shipping... every one of them has screwed up on occasion... the real key is how did they handle the screw up, what restitution did they make, etc.... like Smitty said, if you are a small shipper and get 5 orders per day, there is little likelihood of a screw up... I like PSI and think they do a good job.


With instant gratification of the internet comes the demand for me me me and me. Most of the 'jeers' that I have read stem actually from user errors or shipping errors rather than from the company itself.

The other thing I would like to point out is shipping 5 orders per day -vs- shipping 1,500 orders per day is quite massive. Look at it from the shipping company's side. 5 boxes can easily be taken to the post office and dropped off with ease, 1,500 can not. If you dump 1,500 boxes at the post office they are likely going to take a day or 3 to process that into their system. This is what most do not realize.

Sadly just about everyone here wants to compare the shipping companies handling and say that is the company itself, which it is not. The company itself rarely gets talked about.
 
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Interesting point ...

If we took shipping & delivery time off the board, how many of these "Jeers" focus on the quality of the products?

I like that point.

In fact, the quality of the product is probably more important to me than a couple days on the delivery cycle.

(and I have remarked here about speedy delivery)
 
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