Bill Of Rights

[Rudz]

The Paintball Players Bill of Rights

Preamble -
The paintball consumer has long suffered a rash of unethical and incompetent retailers. In many instances cause harm to their customers with little recourse.

First - the purpose of this statement is to strengthen the paintball consumer by educating them about the responsablities of the merchant,.

Second – to reaffirm the importance of a strong relationship between a business and customer.

Thirdly – to make the paintball players aware of there own duties to act responsibly.


Article I
A Paintball merchant shall make every effort to manage the expectations of their customers.

Article II
A paintball merchant shall go to extreme measures to insure the safety of their customers


Article III
A paintball merchant shall make every effort to portray an accurate description of their products.

Article IV
A paintball merchant shall make clear all and any additional costs involved in the purchase of a product.

Article V
A paintball merchant shall provide a secure means of transaction.

Article VI
A paintball merchant, upon the request of a customer, provide an accurate “Order status”

Article VII
A paintball merchant shall provide detailed instructions for the use and care of their products, and reasonable customer support for the same.

Article VIII
A paintball merchant shall make clear to the customer, any and all warranty and return policies prior to purchase.

Article IX
A paintball merchant shall adhere to his or her own stated warranties.

Article X
A paintball merchant shall provide a viable means in which a customer may contact them for dispute resolution and inquiries.

Article XI
A paintball player/customer shall make every effort to act in accordance with the stated and implied safety regulations

Article XII
A paintball player/customer shall make every effort to act responsibly in accordance with the stated terms of commerce.

Article XIII
A paintball player/customer not make illegitimate claims against a merchant, in either a public or private manner.

Article XV
No paintball merchant, or player/customer shall act with malice towards another.



written by our very own, BigEvil

original article posted here

bigevilonline (http://bigevilonline.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=54&sid=bfb8429fed4970acd3ff12470e67f2b2)

[buzzboy]

Good thoughts. This should be sent to every paintball shop/thing over an annonymous name!

[Hexis]

Very well done.

[warbeak2099]

Certain dealers on this forum need to read Articles VI and X. And by dealer(s), I mean one specific dealer....

[BigEvil]

Glad you guys think its good - its all the truth. Im sick of having to file Paypal claims against supposed reputable pb stores. Im up to 3 in the last 9 months. It's a big surprise that regular people on the forums are easier to deal with than some retailers. (Well, here anyhow)

[BigEvil]

Let me elaborate a little on each:

The Paintball Players Bill of Rights

Preamble -
The paintball consumer has long suffered a rash of unethical and incompetent retailers. In many instances cause harm to their customers with little recourse.

First - the purpose of this statement is to strengthen the paintball consumer by educating them about the responsablities of the merchant,.

Second – to reaffirm the importance of a strong relationship between a business and customer.

The customer is always right, except when he is being a jerk and posting bad things about you all over the internet

Thirdly – to make the paintball players aware of there own duties to act responsibly.

Act like an adult when doing business. Do your best NOT to piss anyone off and you will be surprised how smoothly things go even when there are issues

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Article I
A Paintball merchant shall make every effort to manage the expectations of their customers.

Let the customer know wtf the deal is - if its going to take a year, let it be known up front. Keeping a paid customer informed is always best. Keeping them hanging cluelessly is just bad business. Most people are very accomodating when they dont feel like they are getting anally raped. Also, for god's sake, if something really IS going to take a year to get to then you probably shouldnt be taking in work.

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Article II
Paintball merchants and manufacturers shall go to extreme measures to insure the safety of their customers. Educate, follow and enforce Safety Protocols.

Self-explanitory. Although, you would be surprised how many fields dont have proper ref staffing or safety enforcement.

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Article III
A paintball merchant shall make every effort to portray an accurate description of their
products.

Tell it like it is. Plain and simple

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Article IV
A paintball merchant shall make clear all and any additional costs involved in the purchase of a product.

Getting an additional $30 surprise S&H charge on your credit card is NOT cool.Neither is having to pay extra for something that was implied is included

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Article V
A paintball merchant shall provide a secure means of transaction.

Self-explanitory, but I wonder how confidential our billing information is kept by some places

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Article VI
A paintball merchant, upon the request of a customer, provide an accurate “Order status”

You take our money, after a reasonable amount of time it is only right to answer requests about what is up

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Article VII
A paintball merchant shall provide detailed instructions for the use and care of their products, and reasonable customer support for the same.

Paintball is NOTORIOUSLY bad at users manuals. If it werent for the internet, most people still wouldnt know how to time a cocker. Im many instances, a users manual is a warranty card, and a 3 page cover-their-*** "This is not a toy" discalimer.

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Article VIII
A paintball merchant shall make clear to the customer, any and all warranty and return policies prior to purchase.

Be clear as to what to do if the thing doesnt work. Most retail places online WILL NOT accept a return for repair. They instruct you to return it to the manufacturer. With the minimum amount of information provided with most products about proper use and care, you cant blame retailers for not wanting to fix a mess they didnt create

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Article IX
A paintball merchant shall adhere to his or her own stated warranties.

well, see above, but screw the order up and you better make good.Mistakes happen, and it is understandable but I order a XXXL Cup, and get a M NPS baseball cap, be prepared to fix your own mess

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Article X
A paintball merchant shall provide a viable means in which a customer may contact them for dispute resolution and inquiries.

If your willing to take my money, be willing to answer your email and/or telephone

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Article XI
A paintball player/customer/Manufacturer shall make every effort to act in accordance with the stated and implied safety regulations.

Duh - keep your goggles on, your barrel plugged when needed, and dont act like a retard, ect ect.

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Article XII
A paintball player/customer shall make every effort to act responsibly in accordance with the stated terms of commerce.

You say your going to do something, do it

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Article XIII
A paintball player/customer not make illegitimate claims against a merchant, in either a public or private manner.

Do not falsely accuse anyone of something they didnt do.

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Article XV
No paintball merchant, or player/customer shall act with malice towards another.

No 'knuckling-up' :-)

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[NewbieMagMan10988]

Sticky/Historic post?


I like.....


Mike

[Rudz]

Nice elaboration, and thos should be stickied

[RT Old School]

Unfortunately if someone is a shady operator, no Bill of Rights is going to change their ways. If they run a screwed up buisness in the past, they will most likely continue to run a screwed up buisness in the future. If you get the raw end of one of their deals, one of the few things you can do as a consumer (after trying to get your order right) is to warn people away from doing buisness with them. I personally have had to pull the "well, if you dont refund my money, you'll hear from my family's attorney" blufff once, but it was a person to person transaction, not a purchase from a buisness.

The sentiment of the BoR is right on, but its really just a pipe dream. Continue to be a smart shopper, resarch the companies before you do buisness, and at all times, CYA.

[Beemer]

Fixed

Article II
Paintball merchants and manufacturers shall go to extreme measures to insure the safety of their customers. Educate, follow and inforce Safety Protocols.



Article XI
A paintball player/customer/Manufacturer shall make every effort to act in accordance with the stated and implied safety regulations.

[BigEvil]

Fixed

Article II
Paintball merchants and manufacturers shall go to extreme measures to insure the safety of their customers. Educate, follow and inforce Safety Protocols.



Article XI
A paintball player/customer/Manufacturer shall make every effort to act in accordance with the stated and implied safety regulations.

NOTED** :)

(and changed. Much better now. I must have been tired writing at that point. ) :-)