Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

HUGE CNI Frustrations...

Joined
Mar 1, 2011
Messages
610
Points
0
As a "Receiever" at a business that has almost ALL of it's products imported (mostly from China) I see the costs on the import documents.
Imported items that are to be resold DO NOT, as a rule, have sales taxes applied to them when received. There are some other taxes and duties for some things but they are not the regular sales taxes.
However, even when transferring products between branches of the same company in different provinces each branch must pay the appropriate taxes for the branch it is sourced from. (In my case, any branch outside of BC must pay the BC HST taxes for the item and then they only get their own provincial sales tax applied when they sell it so they need to adjust their pricing to accommodate the difference. Item cost + HST - PST = final cost)

I agree that CNI is treating you disrespectfully. Get your money back and take advantage of the other offer.
Based on the responses here, you are already receiving better customer service.
And you know that they keep an eye on things with the community too.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to visit their website to browse the products offered...I like good service and am willing to pay for it.
 





Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
478
Points
28
Hey guys, I'm just playing it safe. The way I figure it, the less information I post on the internet about our pricing and profit margins, the better. I'm sure Justin reads most of my posts and I'd rather not have to hear about it from him later! :p
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
3,220
Points
0
Hate to tell you, but you guys profit margins aren't that difficult to figure out (roughly, since nobody knows what your company overhead is) since your vendor source is known. :D

But I think for anyone who's ever dealt with CNI directly.. the premium is probably worth not having to go through that. :p
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
647
Points
0
I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to divulge that information.. Since when is tax law secret? :thinking:

Here in the US, Items bought for resale are tax exempt(So long as you have a EIN and give the vendor a resale certificate anyway).. at least for the reseller. So people don't get taxed twice. The item is only taxed when it's sold to the end user. Though this may change if congress succeeds in its push towards a 'national sales tax' (i.e.. VAT)

Though back OT.. I'd go for the refund option.. I knew most of this story, but I didn't know about the 'extra $500' part... I think this is seriously at the 'fuck that' stage now. Sounds like they are having trouble making said laser, and are expecting you to personally fund their R&D on it now..

Ahh we have Value Added Tax in England, I don't think I've been alive long enough to have any problems with it yet though.
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
2,031
Points
83
Thanks a lot guys. Thanks so much for the support, I did not expect that, when posting an experience about a company that was so respected.

But I felt that after the past 6 months or so, I really really had to finally let this cat out of the bag. Month after month I was trying to get this resolved so I could go back to saying, "Hey, CNI is pretty cool, here's the new laser I got from them."

I don't understand the logic in them screwing up this ONE deal to risk all future transactions from me! Isn't a repeat customer a GOOD thing?!?!?

@Qumefox: The $500 thing just happened last night, so I hadn't updated you on it... That was kind of the 'final straw' which made me post this.

Anyways, I don't intend to send the "extra" $500 (plus $90 wire transfer fee, blah; that'd make it $180 JUST in transfer fees for this laser!!) and I hope they will refund me at this point. I'm going to put it: "Refund, or another laser. Please pick one."

GRAY/JETLASERS: Thank you VERY much and I will be PMing you. I wish JetLasers could make some of these wavelengths, Gray, as I would go through you all the time!!!

Phi/DJNY: Maybe CNI should know, that if they jerk one of us around, they jerk all of us around. CNI may be willing to lose my business, maybe they'd be less willing to lose a few other customer's repeat business.

Event_Horizon: I'll be contacting you guys, too, to see what can happen.

Anyways everyone, thank you so much for helping and listening, after this months-long mess it helps some to know that the message was at least received, and that in one way or another down the line CNI will likely take some kickback for this method of interacting with their customers.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
1,481
Points
63
Phi/DJNY: Maybe CNI should know, that if they jerk one of us around, they jerk all of us around. CNI may be willing to lose my business, maybe they'd be less willing to lose a few other customer's

you got that right! i had been thinking of making an order.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
2,095
Points
63
Wow. So sorry to see you having this much trouble with CNI. I've never had to deal with them directly, even though I own several of their lasers. I can't imagine spending $1000.00 on basically vaporware and continuing to get that type of runaround.

Hopefully they at least will issue you a refund, although even if they do, I doubt you will be able to reclaim the wire fees. :(
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
3,443
Points
63
This has been getting worse lately, yes. I would like to make this go away, and have all parties get a good result, but it is much more likely that a rep will end up in an unhappy situation... =Glenn
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
2,031
Points
83
So Glenn they've been giving you the runaround too, as far as I know? A whole lot of "We'll ship it soon" (nothing happens) "We'll ship it soon" (nothing happens) etc...

I know I'm also waiting for that 589 repair in your incoming batch...

I wonder if Laserglow deals with Ava..
 

Justin

0
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
496
Points
0
Thought I'd put in my $0.02.

You will notice that Laserglow does not carry all wavelength/form factor combinatons offered by CNI. This is because we only list a product once it has been fully tested and evaluated to meet our requirements for performance and consistent availability. CNI will sometimes list product that does not, strictly speaking, exist. This is what you just encountered, it's vaporware - theoretical product. We make sure that we've actually received one before we list it.

Laserglow can take a custom order for you, and we do have a dedicated rep at CNI who is very responsive. However, the fact that we've chosen not to list a product might indicate that we have experienced problems with deliverability or performance of that model, and we don't feel comfortable advertising it. If CNI actually can't build it then there is little more that we can do, except that we may have a better time managing the relationship than you might. If you do want to send me an inquiry I can clarify the product availability with CNI and offer you a firm quote and lead time. We're here to help!
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
Now I want everyone to sit down and calmly discuss what recourse US buyers have when Chinese companies decide to give them the runaround.







*crickets*




Exactly.



That said, I haven't had too many problems dealing with China so the issue doesn't seem to be all-encompassing in the world of Chinese export, but it's far from unheard of. CNI really should be more careful though, if they alienate too many people and start getting a bad reputation it will hurt their business without a doubt. The laser hobbyist community is pretty small and tight-knit, and I'd reckon we make up for a good chunk of their sales. Maybe not as big-spending as the scientific/industrial community, but together I'm sure we spend a bit.
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 22482

Guest
IMHO JetLasers are the best when it comes to quality and price. I don't know of LG or CNI lasers, they could be nice but they are overpriced if I should be honest.

Hope JetLasers could make exotic wavelengths.
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
2,031
Points
83
Laserglow can take a custom order for you, and we do have a dedicated rep at CNI who is very responsive. However, the fact that we've chosen not to list a product might indicate that we have experienced problems with deliverability or performance of that model, and we don't feel comfortable advertising it. If CNI actually can't build it then there is little more that we can do, except that we may have a better time managing the relationship than you might. If you do want to send me an inquiry I can clarify the product availability with CNI and offer you a firm quote and lead time. We're here to help!


Thanks for the input, Justin. I actually did shoot an email off to you and Scott about the possibility on this.

I guess what bugs me the most is that they said they could do it, to the point of accepting my money, and then saying (twice) that they were producing the laser, and *then* saying (twice) that they couldnt'd do it, and *THEN* saying they could if they got more money.

I was talking with someone else about this -- I don't know if it's a 'scheme', or just disorganization. I expected a lot more from a 'large company that produces a lot of expensive things', especially one that seems to feel (lately?) that they don't need the individual market. The whole transaction has just been very unprofessional. The delays, the switching of position, the contradictory statements(some of which obvously were not true), the willingness to help and then the shut-out in reply after so many months...

I just don't understand the motivation. If the individual/hobbyist market isn't worth anything to them; then how can they justify the notion of "Well we'll try to extract an extra $500 from this guy, and he'll probably never buy from us again, but at least we got an extra $500". I just have trouble grasping that; it's like they want to forfeit all of my possible future business, for $500. As in, "We don't need his couple-thousands-of-dollars-a-year orders, that's small-time. But, say, Ava, do whatever you can to get that extra $500, we're running pretty tight this month." Maybe it's the Asian "saving-face" thing? Something cultural? (Gray, would you have any insight there?)

I'm relatively sure that Ava knows that I talk to people on the forum, too. I'm POSITIVE that she knows that I know Glenn/Scopeguy20, *rather* sure she knows that I know Phi/DJNY, and through certain conclusions should know that I know RHD. These are all people who have placed a -number- of direct orders through CNI, and I find it strange that they don't realize that such treatment would rock the hobbyist boat a bit.

Anyways, I did email you and Scott to see what might be able to be put together on Laserglow's side; I probably need to reach some sort of conclusion with this first, but who knows, maybe your rep will tell you differently.

Again, thanks for the support and all -- I just with the whole process of obtaining some of these types of lasers was more straightforward.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
Classic Chinese "saving face" move if you ask me. When their gov't makes a mistake or cannot provide what is promised, rather than own up to it and fix the problem ALL of society gets the runaround, excuses fly every which way, and fingers get pointed at every possible scapegoat EXCEPT the real root of the problem. Doesn't take long for that MO to spread to business and society in general.

I don't necessarily think there was malice involved in the beginning, I would bet that they were convinced they could provide what you were looking for. But once things started to go south and they couldn't provide, the game changed to the aforementioned strategy. As with any business entity, money flows easily into the company down a greased chute, but if money must go out then the people to whom it is owed will be required to jump through 90 different flaming hoops and then be required to wait almost forever to get it.
 
Last edited:




Top