I have read this thread keenly and have kept quiet up to now, but I'm going to throw all my support behind my business partner, Max, and I agree with everything he has said one hundred AND FIFTY percent.
I don't think all of us appreciate fully what he gives up for the bowling public of Australia. Max has spent countless hours working on this venture and lost countless hours sleep doing it, for marketing with the US. He loses precious time with his wife and kids and loses the leisure time we as a whole sometimes take for granted. He spends hours on phone calls to make the deals that get us the cheaper gear to offer the public. Frustrates me at times cos I can't get him on the phone....He does all of this primarily for us. The bowling public of Australia.
We at BBA are in the middle of our 2nd year in business and Max has done a FANTASTIC job. He has given the public what a lot of dealers and pro shops haven't given us....A FAIR GO. Our vision to supply Australian bowlers with the cheapest bowling gear and to look after the Australian bowling public has been carried out to the fullest extent possible. So if that means by looking after bowlers, we give them a little latitude when it comes to payment, so be it (this may be construed as un-professional). But let's be fair. You don't buy something that was given to you in good faith that you'll pay for it later, and not make good on your promise in a REASONABLE amount of time. A department store wouldn't allow you that luxury. Why should we abuse it?
Our business relies on our clients paying their accounts. We don't have a line of credit to keep drawing on, like other businesses do. The more outstanding accounts we have, the more our cashflow is tied up, therefore not allowing us to service you better, by not having your items delivered at a specific time, by not being able to ship your gear. The least business-minded person could understand and appreciate that.
The idea of a list, in my opinion, is not to defame anyone, but to stop this from happening to other pro shops. If you don't want a bad credit report, you pay your household bills on time. It should be the same here. You wouldn't be on a list if you paid what you owed, doesn't matter how 'big' in this sport you may be.
In closing I would say (without being biased) that BBA has been very very fair and quite lenient in its dealings with customers and we urge our clients with outstanding amounts to pay them in full at their earliest convenience. This allows us to service YOU, our client base better.
Seasons greetings to all.
Michael Tran