Posts Made By: Dave Bonandrini

I believe it.

Our local store has banned at least 3 people that belong to our club.

Returns do cost the store money:

1. Opened returned items can not be sold as new. So now the store has to take your returned item and sell it as an open box or used item. I don't know about you, but if an open box item is only marked 15% off, I'd rather just get a new one that no one has messed with.

2. High end astronomy items like eyepieces and telescopes only have a 15% mark up, sometimes less. An opened item may have to sell at or even below cost to move it out of the shop.

3. Stores have to always worry about getting back "sealed" boxes that actually have the original contents replaced by junk. Scammers know how to lift seals with heat and re shrink wrap boxes. The more returns they take in the greater their exposure to risk.

4. You mess up inventory with returns. If a small store only stocks one binoviewer, you buy it, they order another and then you return the first, now they have two expensive binoviewers in stock (and one at a discount).

5. Every bit of time you spend in the store cost the store money. If the employee (who might make $15 an hour) spent 30 minutes talking and ringing you up, that cost the store $7.50 . If you spent 15 minutes explaining and transacting your return, that cost the store another $4.00 .

If you are the type of person who walks around for an hour, looking at items you have seen 100 times before, some employee has to keep an eye on you on the security monitors.

If you are the type of person who is an incessant talker ( you feel the uncontrollable need to tell the employees "Wow, you should have seen M13 last night!!!! It was the best you have ever seen!!!!" or "Have you ever seen the Coin Galaxy, NGC253??? A lot of people haven't...") you are costing the store money. Even if an employee is stocking or facing shelves, he can still only work at half speed because he needs to occasionally give a nod in your direction.

6. If you paid with plastic, the store paid a "transaction fee" each time the card terminal was used. This is a small network access fee added on regardless of the amount of the charge. It might only be .35 cents, but still that adds up over a year. On top of that, the store paid 3-4% of the amount charged depending on if the card was a check or credit card.

If a customer requires a cash refund on a large ticket item, the transaction can leave the till short.

7. The additional bookkeeping of the return costs the store money. A return entry needs to be made, inventory adjusted, sales tax payment adjusted. The sale may have occurred in the prior month or prior bookkeeping year, so the month end or year end tally may have to be adjusted.


So yes, I believe that a store would ban a customer to keep from losing money.

I don't know what they charge, but Webster Telescopes does Servocat installs on whatever brand scope. You would get a "factory authorized" install and I'm sure they could do it in an afternoon.

You want to see Detroit, right?

I had one of those scopes and what you really want to do is replace the ENTIRE focuser. No sense in putting a great focuser on top of a pile of crap.

The factory focuser is terrible, with sticky movement (especially when cold) and lots of slop.

Give Wayne at Feathertouch a call and give him the exact diameter of the tube. Then they can machine a base that will match the curvature of the scope.

My only concern is that a modern focuser may only have 2.5" of travel and a lower profile, so you may want a riser to make the new focuser the same height as the old. Again, Wayne can help you with your choice.

Sadly, even some of the replacement blue mirror coatings later developed rust.

I thought mine was purchased late enough that the rust problem had run its course and it was safe to buy one. After a year and a half, it developed the rust too. Meade took care of it free, but it took a very long time and no one at Meade could ever tell me how far along they were. It simply showed up on my doorstep one day.

I still have a feeling of dread whenever I remove the objective cap, waiting for another rust fest.

There was a thread on CN that had a huge range of affected serial numbers, if that kind of thing interests you....

1. Large chain stores have secret return amount limits that are never on display (that I have seen). A certain home improvement store located in what I would consider a "poor neighborhood", puts you on their list if you have three returns in a month. The same chain has a store in a rather affluent neighborhood and I have not been able to determine how much you can return (it seems like no limit). Somewhere in some corporate computer there is a formula, but they are not posting it on the wall.

2. Just about every chain store has become LESS liberal with their return policy in the last few years. There have been many segments about that on TV lately with the holidays approaching.

Best Buy even has a sign that says "Best Buy reserves the right to deny ANY return". It's true:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Help-Topics/In-Store-Return-Policy/pcmcat204400050028.c?id=pcmcat204400050028


3. Shoes have a tremendous mark up. Google "Nike shoe production costs" to see that Nike's total cost is under $5, and they retail for $150. The Nike outlet store could have a 1/2 off shoe sale and still make a great profit.

You don't see 1/2 off Ethos sales at Anacortes because the razor thin profit margin is closer to 15%.

4. One can be certain that the manager of a store would not just ban a good customer without first trying to advise him of the problem. The club members who are banned from our local store are "just a little bit off" and between ordering things (then trying to cancel them), returning things, hanging around and just simply making others uncomfortable, I fully understand the owner's reasoning behind the ban.

victor truglio said:

Dave, this is mainly for you since you seem to be on the side of the store. Let me explain the type of person I am.
I am the type of person that has never asked for a refund from this store.
I am the type of person that has been dealing with this store for over 4 years.
I am the type of person that drives 100 miles one way to this store and does not take advantage of their free shipping.
I am the type of person that each and every return or exchange was followed up by me spending more money.
I am the type of person that has spent over $7,500, maybe $10,000 at this store, I Lost track.
I am them type of person the reccommends customers to them.
I am the type of person who has purchased over 40 items from this store and returned 6 or 7. One was an un=opned cpc800 which I exchanged for a cpc1100. One was an un-opened cg4 mount which I exchanged for a cg5 mount.
I dont travel to this store to waiste the time of the sales staff.
And once again I have never asked for my money back. NEVER
Thats the kind of customer and person I am and if they dont want my money, I will spend it elsewhere.
I was also made aware I was not the only one banded from the store.
So Dave, if what I described makes me a bad customer, I am what I am.

Victor, hey, don't shoot the messenger!

I'm not on the side of the store (I have no knowledge of what store it is), I'm just pointing out that returns cost a store actual money.

You sound like a great customer ($10k sales in a year qualifies for a "great" rating).

You have almost a 20% return rate, so I'm pretty sure that is what is working in your disfavor. Maybe the owner ONLY remembers your returns and not the purchases you kept.

It could also be some personality conflict between you and the owner; not everyone is going to get along with everyone - no matter how much money is involved.


You could let things cool awhile and try to approach the owner, promising to never return another non defective item. Or you could just spend your money with Anacortes (free shipping and no sales tax sounds good, yes?). Don't return 20% of the items though, or Herb will ban you too.

Your mirror in a large Dob would slide around just as much with the scope assembled or disassembled. In most designs, the mirror is restrained by a sling or keeper clips.

Vibration can be a problem with any mechanical device, but you check everything before you leave and probably during the trip.

Finally, although many people do transport their Dobs assembled, note that the latest scope designs assemble in less that 5 minutes - even the big 32" ones.

So it might be less trouble to buy a contemporary scope design that assembles fast, than to transport an older design, fully assembled scope.

I have not used that particular brand, but I have some 12v socks and vest that work great.

I plug into the scope battery (80 amp hour deep cycle) while observing and unplug while walking about. They make a rechargeable set of batteries that go into the pockets, but I never found the need to buy them when I already have such a large battery at the scope.

Get the Lumicon, best I've found.

The Televue is not tight enough in filtering for high contrast.

http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/mnt_hw_describe.html

Look under "Guan Sheng Optical GSO" and find if you need mount style A or B (B is the one with the big aluminum knobs on the ALT).

You can use this hardware on the ArgoNavis or any other push/to computer on the market.

I highly recommend the ArgoNavis!