Grazing Hippo Vending Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hi Everyone! Some of you know me as Grazing Hippo Vending. I have been a member of TVF since October 2013. Since my time joining, I have had the pleasure of doing business with a few members. Those of you that have done business with me will be able to attest to my honesty and fair dealings. Now I would love the opportunity to do business with many more of you through my new company, Lighthouse Locators. Lighthouse Locators is now open for business. We are accepting orders for bulk vending placement. We locate candy, toys, and flatline machines (sorry, no racks at this time). Currently, we have a staff of 5 (including myself) ready to get your machines placed promptly. You will find that we operate differently from some of the locating services that you have dealt with in the past. Many of you have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with less than honest locators. Many of you have had a difficult time communicating with locators in a timely fashion. Even more of you have probably read similar posts to this one in the past. Lighthouse Locators is different. How? We put our money where our mouth is: 1. We are accepting orders through the forum online escrow service from day 1. Your money is only released to us once we provide you the location(s) you paid for. 2. We are limiting our orders to 50 for the month of March. We are confident that we can comfortably handle at least twice as many orders but I want to prove to you that we are not in this for the quick buck. 2. We are offering a 105% money back guarantee! If after 30 days from the date that you submit your information to us, you have any unfulfilled orders, you can request a refund for 105% of your purchase price. No hassles, no arguments, no questions asked. We expect to fulfill orders well before 30 days have passed, but in the case that we do not, I want you to be made more than whole. 3. You will ALWAYS have clear and consistent communication with ME. Even though we are a team of individuals ALL communication goes through me. When you call, I answer. If I can’t answer, I will return your call promptly. When you send an email, I will respond promptly. I may not always be able to tell you what you want to hear, BUT I will be HONEST with you. 4. How many of you have received a location from a locating service only to find out that they didn’t really get permission for your equipment? We have a solution for that problem. When you receive your locations from us, you will also be receiving an audio file in the email. This audio file allows you to personally listen to the confirmation portion of the phone call that has secured your location. You will be able to verify the name of the person granting permission, their title, and the business name of the location we are providing. Now, you may go to drop off your equipment and the location has changed their minds. We have no control over that BUT, you WILL KNOW that we have been honest in our dealings with you right from the get go. Locations will change their minds. Thats the nature of the beast. When it happens, we will find you another location. If you need some assistance getting your machines on location, please consider trying us out. You can place your order safely and securely by clicking on the “Locations” tab at the top of your screen. Please also take a few minutes to check out our website when you have a chance. If you have any questions please contact me by one of the methods below or post to this thread and I will reply. Thank you all for taking the time to read this lengthy post! I look forward to working with you in the future! Mark A. Stappenbacher www.lighthouselocators.com Toll Free: 1-800-838-5910 Call or Text: 585-298-1174 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 This sounds like a great approach to locating...very customer-centric. I wish you and your staff the best. The fact you aren't using some call-center to make the calls for you goes a looooong way in avoiding the hassles some other locators have caused for vendors. GOOD LUCK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GagesVending Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Very cool! Congrats Mark, and I wish the best of luck to you and your crew on the new venture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grazing Hippo Vending Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Thanks for the encouragement fellas! We are pretty excited about this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hmmm...pricey. But it's cool to finally have somebody in the store with LRU! I may even order a couple. A couple of things for you to consider:1) Curious pricing structure - you don't place racks, but you do place single/double/triple toy as well as stickers (all at the same $75 price)?2) The 30 day kickout guarantee isn't much of a guarantee since, after placing the machine, it's often 30+ days before the first service and almost always before the 2nd service. A 60-day guarantee has a ton more implied value to your customers. I'm rooting for you Hippo - LOVE the audio verification of placement as well as the fact that you are choosing to put a cap on month 1 orders. I hope you create a cap for following months as well since it's typically about 6-8 weeks in that new locators go MIA. They deal with the first wave of orders really well and, once word gets out, the 2nd wave crushes them. Wishing you much prosperity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 but a toy and flat spots and if it will handle a rack throw it in there. Sounds like you have it covered best of luck my friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grazing Hippo Vending Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hmmm...pricey. But it's cool to finally have somebody in the store with LRU! I may even order a couple. A couple of things for you to consider: 1) Curious pricing structure - you don't place racks, but you do place single/double/triple toy as well as stickers (all at the same $75 price)? 2) The 30 day kickout guarantee isn't much of a guarantee since, after placing the machine, it's often 30+ days before the first service and almost always before the 2nd service. A 60-day guarantee has a ton more implied value to your customers. I'm rooting for you Hippo - LOVE the audio verification of placement as well as the fact that you are choosing to put a cap on month 1 orders. I hope you create a cap for following months as well since it's typically about 6-8 weeks in that new locators go MIA. They deal with the first wave of orders really well and, once word gets out, the 2nd wave crushes them. Wishing you much prosperity. Hey Rick thanks for the thoughts and the kind words. I'm sure that there are other members who may be wondering about the same things you have mentioned. Hopefully this will help in explaining some of the thought behind Lighthouse Locators. We are not placing racks at this pint because I am not confident we (or anyone else for that matter) can do it properly through telemarketing. It's difficult to explain to a location what a rack is and how much space it takes up. I think that in order to effectively place racks over the phone, a new model needs to be developed. I can tell you that this is something that I have considered and will be considering further in the future. To touch on the point that Havending has made, I encourage all of my clients to upgrade their equipment if the location can support it. I know some locators do not encourage their clients to do that, but I think that it only makes sense. We offer 2 different price points (Silver & Gold). The Silver Package is less expensive and thus comes with fewer guarantees than the Gold Package. The Gold Package comes with a 60 day kickout guarantee standard. Periodically, we may offer promotions that offer discounted pricing and/or longer kickout periods or warranty guarantees. I agree that many locators falter in months 2 and 3. It was with that information in mind that convinced me to limit the 1st month orders to 50. I have yet to decide if that limit will be lifted in the following months. I am very confident in our staffs ability to handle a much higher volume than 50 orders per month. I would have to disagree that our pricing is expensive. Are we more expensive than LRU? Yes, but I don't really consider LRU to be our competition. To me the question must be; What value are you getting from the money you spend on a locator? For some vendors, a very low cost company like LRU will provide all of the value that they need. Other vendors will determine that they would rather receive a higher level of service for the money that they spend. I am in no way knocking LRU or the service they provide but please consider the following when making your determination.... 1. How much is YOUR time worth? By offering audio recordings free of charge, you will never have to waste your time, fuel, and patience again when going to place equipment. Spending 2 hours driving round trip to discover that a locators never really had permission is costly. If your time is worth just $15 per hour, then KNOWING that permission was truly granted could easily save you $30 PLUS the cost of fuel. 2. How much money are unplaced machines costing you? If you order from a locator who takes an average of 33 days to place your machine, that is more time that your equipment is collecting dust. What if a locator placed your machines quicker? Doesn't that give your machine more time to collect quarters rather than dust? 3. What value should be placed on prompt communication AND honesty? As a longtime business owner and a veteran of the U.S. Army I am guaranteeing the utmost honesty and integrity in all dealings that Lighthouse Locators performs. My reputation and conscience is more important to me than deception and easy money. We are offering a 105% money back guarantee because that seems right and fair. YOU should get what you paid for within 30 days UNLESS you were given a longer time frame ahead of time. I want every customer of ours to be 100% satisfied at all times. I am also a realist and I know that mistakes will happen. When they do, you can expect me to explain what happened and offer a remedy to earn your satisfaction. To often in this industry this has NOT been the case. I encourage all TVF members to try our service and make us earn your respect and satisfaction. If anyone has ANY questions or general thoughts I would love to hear them! As always, thanks to everyone for the support! Mark 585-298-1174 call or text 1-800-838-5910 toll free www.lighthouselocators.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makes Cents Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hope you do well Lighthouse. I like the guarantee policy and the audio confirmation idea and timely placements. One thing to consider. Im not sure on other states but In my state, California, you need the other persons permission to be voice recorded otherwise you are violating state wiretap laws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grazing Hippo Vending Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Hope you do well Lighthouse. I like the guarantee policy and the audio confirmation idea and timely placements. One thing to consider. Im not sure on other states but In my state, California, you need the other persons permission to be voice recorded otherwise you are violating state wiretap laws Hi Making Cents. There are a few states (about 13) that require 2 party notification when recording telephone calls. The interesting thing is that federal law only require 1 party notification for recording telephone calls. 1 party notification simply means that at least one of the parties on the telephone must be aware and allow the call to be recorded. Now it does get a little more slippery than that....It seems that in instances of telephone recording, state law "pre-empts" federal law MOST of the time. In some cases, federal law (1 party notification) has been on the side of the recording party IF they are calling across state lines AND even more so if the call is being made from a 1 party consent state. So all of that information is very boring but is none the less exceedingly important. The way that I (not an attorney) and a friend of mine (is an attorney) interpret this is to always err on the side of caution. When recording ANY calls in 2 party consent states, we will need to notify the other party and obtain their consent. If consent is not granted, we will not record any portion of that telephone call. Further, if we find that even asking for permission "turns off" more than a few locations, we will stop asking AND not record in those particular states. We will always err on the side of caution. Our intent is to provide audio verification as an additional convenience to our customers at no additional charge. There WILL BE times when we cannot provide an audio recording because it may not be compliant with the laws of a particular state. Mark 585-298-1174 1-800-838-5910 www.lighthouselocators.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashman Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Can someone on here verify if they have received locating ? I have not ordered any but was wondering how things are looking so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricjo vending Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Anybody try lighthouse yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I just placed an order yesterday for 5 locations. I'll update this thread with how quick, quality of locations, communication, and all of that So far the communication has been fantastic. I ordered latish on a friday, and they responded on friday. So far so good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 While this is appreciated (reviews are always helpful) - I'm always a little leery of the customer service when it's announced ahead of time that you'll be reporting back. I'm more concerned about when the world ISN'T watching. Still will be anxious to read about your experience. I have a feeling Mark is a good dude to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallstreeterww Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I will be watching also as I'm about to get some 1800 triples this week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Well I just checked my email and come to find out Lighthouse has found TWO! locations for me already very excited about that. In the notes section it clearly states when I'm suppose to place them (1 on tuesday, 1 on wed) so I will be placing those machines at the specific time noted. So far very impressed with lighthouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricjo vending Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 What type of business did you get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 What type of business did you get? 1 restaurant 1 laundromat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ki4fkw Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I just ordered one double head location. We will see and I will post my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I'm beginning to think you guys say this more to make SURE you receive good service than providing a public service for the rest of the forum. Which I'm not blaming you, but it's not doing a favor for anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I'm beginning to think you guys say this more to make SURE you receive good service than providing a public service for the rest of the forum. Which I'm not blaming you, but it's not doing a favor for anyone. There are lots of people that read vendiscuss that have helped me out, it's my way to "try to" give back a little. Also for many people gambling with $100 or $200 isn't something they can stomach. As someone that gambles everyday, taking a chance on a new to the forum locator is something I have no problem doing. Last time I gambled, it was on riverbend locators. They stole $50 from me. So there's a downside to being the first to try someone out too (although there is an upside, which you of course pointed out, sometimes I get better then average service). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 No I understand why and like I said, I ain't hating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ki4fkw Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Hey, if they give me better service because they are afraid that I'll tell if they don't - then it DOES benefit someone, ME. Though, that is not my intent. I am a small business - to me, $50 is significant. I know that several others on here are the same - by reading through here, I see that more people than not get ripped off my locators - so I am helping myself - and others to be cautious. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, that's all we can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricjo vending Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 1 restaurant 1 laundromat. Thanks.I might place an order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Thanks.I might place an order They got me a Pizza place yesterday, that didn't have even 1 machine placed there yet (and it's been open for over a year, no idea why no one has approached them, or if they have they must've just been turned down). Definitely an A+ location. The laundromat ended up turning me down when I arrived. But it wasn't anyone's fault. The manager said yes, but when I showed up the owner said no. Not a big deal, but so far 2 locations placed in the first week and both are very good locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ki4fkw Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Ok - they got me a killer location at a Mexican restaurant - like above, I can't BELIEVE that I didn't think of them, myself. I haven't went to meet the owner, yet, but I hope they allow me to place it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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