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Post by banditms on Dec 11, 2007 16:35:27 GMT -5
Fellow Dawgs,
Interestingly enough, I had never thought of this on my own... but I had a customer call me last week and was talking to me about his order and some other details. And then he finally asked me 'so are you in the building closest to the intersection?'
I understood immediately that he was looking at either MapQuest or Google Maps to get a satellite overview of my area of the country. What I didn't know at the time was why. He explained to me that before he bought anything online these days, he would look on MapQuest to see where the business was physically, so that he could see if it was a larger operation, in a business or commercial area and if it was a real address.
My customer also told me that he had checked the business address from one of the other major scooter websites and that MapQuest showed it to be a home in middle-class suburbia... so this really helped him make a choice of where to buy online.
I think MapQuest is not as up to date as Google Maps. On the latter, there are three buildings where my shop is located (2 only on MQ) and I am in the one closest to the intersection. If you zoom in all the way, you can see my truck parked in front of the building. ( - ;
I just thought it might be kinda useful for some interested buyers... another method to 'get to know' their 'distance' dealer.
Later, Jim J...
Bandit MotorSports
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Post by Aaron on Dec 11, 2007 16:46:14 GMT -5
Good tip Jim! Be careful though, there are a lot of pilots on here....LOL
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Post by banditms on Dec 11, 2007 17:08:10 GMT -5
Whoops... didn't anticipate that at all... ( - ;
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Post by tortoise on Dec 11, 2007 17:36:28 GMT -5
I think MapQuest is not as up to date as Google Maps. On the latter, there are three buildings where my shop is located (2 only on MQ) and I am in the one closest to the intersection. If you zoom in all the way, you can see my truck parked in front of the building. Google Maps aerial |
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Post by wildbill84 on Dec 12, 2007 6:07:06 GMT -5
Another Great way to "CHECK OUT" a business/dealer is to go to the Better Business Bureau's website at www.bbb.org and do a search on the companys Reputation Just enter the companys web address. |
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Post by Dennis D on Dec 12, 2007 8:24:30 GMT -5
Another Great way to "CHECK OUT" a business/dealer is to go to the Better Business Bureau's website at www.bbb.org and do a search on the companys Reputation Just enter the companys web address. Not really... though the BBB can help spot a bad dealer quickly. Dealers that change their name frequently may do it to distance themself from unresolved complaints to the BBB under another name, so their bad reports don't show up. There are also many good businesses, some of which have been in business for years, with no BBB records, because they never get complaints they don't resolve themselves, before anyone ever feels the need to report them to the BBB. There are many excellent companies that have no need of joiningg the BBB and paying their exorbitant fees for "protection". For instance, If the BBB returns a "letter" ranking, like a "B" rating, it is a mechanism BBB's in some areas have have in place for BBB members whose record is far from steller, but without having to give a business that paid for protection the same "unsatisfactory" rating they'd give non members with the same number of complaints and unsatisfied customers. People need to know that the BBB isn't an official agency, but more of a racket that has many unscrupulous business joining the club, because they need the BBB on their side, and possibly to use a more favorable rating system than the "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" ratings BBBs always use for non-members. To be fair, there are BBBs using different systems in different areas, with some of the better and more fair BBBs using the same exact rating system for members or nion members. In that case, the main advantage of joining is that the BBB may be more favorably disposed to accept very weak explanations on the part of their members, as to why they can't resolve things to the customers satisfaction. At any rate, no records means one of two things, either a new business or newly renamed business, or in the case of a longstanding business, that they resolve complaints themselves without their customers feeling the need to go to a third party for help. |
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Post by bmaverick on Jun 23, 2008 21:44:51 GMT -5
MSN Map using the Bird's Eye view works best finding your location.  |
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Post by glassvial on Jun 23, 2008 22:29:41 GMT -5
Naa, the best way is to do what they did in that James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough...Christmas only comes once a year  |
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Post by robort1961 on Jun 24, 2008 13:19:56 GMT -5
I just checked MxMotorsports (where I ordered my scoot). They show Mapquest on their website. Now, I doubled checked Mapquest, and it shows what MxMotorsport's site shows, multiple buildings. I checked Google and it shows two empty lots. Both Google and Mapquest use Map data 2008 NAVTEQ. SO, which is correct? Either the buildings were just built recently or tore down recently. I'll see what MxMotorsports says about this.
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Post by jspencer on Jun 24, 2008 21:28:30 GMT -5
If Google Maps Streetview is enabled for an address you can get a street-level view of the building that is often clear enough to read signs in the windows (it isn't enabled for Jim's location). When Google took the photo of our street my car was backed into the driveway with the reflector in the windshield, so it must have been summer. But my scooter wasn't out -- have to ask them to do our street again...
Jon
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