GrandThingsOk true, my shot at NS was unjust. I get VERY frustrated when someone who has a ton of influence/clout on this site shuts down (IMO) worthwhile conversations with misguided information or judgements. I certainly interpreted your first comment as "just shut up about this, you're not doing anything" which I why I reacted so strongly
However....The VAST majority of all ecommerce platforms indeed DO operate with this exact same dropship/light inventory, platform based model which allows for rapid growth and tons of flexibility. CS is a HUGE part of understanding the direction of your customer and will typically be a uniquely cylo'd part of the org. While many of these people will indeed be temporary/seasonal workers there will typically be a difference between generalists and specialists and although, true, it might not be exactly the same as my employer, I would bet it works somewhat similar at BC.
I 100% agree talking shit or being an asshole to CS/Gearheads is going to do nothing. But you can simply state "per your recent trademark lawsuits, I will not longer be shopping with backcountry" and then literally close the window off. The Gearhead will give you the stock "Im not at liberty to discuss this issue" line and boom. thats it.
I guarantee their PR team is trying to quantify the impact of all this fallout and CS chat logs/call records is one of the the first place they'll go. Where better to understand the needs of your customers that your own data? Even if it is "just 10 dudes" (which seems like a drastic simplification) I personally think it is important to voice my concerns with companies I've historically supported. Sure - it might be worthless or a long shot, but why not try?
Well, originally my post was towards suspiciousfish who said "blast the hell out of them" via chat, thats what I was trying to discourage. What you mentioned is fine, but its still probably going to nothing, I think they anticipated this situation. As someone mentioned before, they've had huge sales days after this issee came to light and will likely do very well in Q4.
Another big wrinkle to this is that people are outraging based on a small amount of info, nobody is talking about how trademark law works. BC is trademarking "backcountry" as they are developing their own brand of clothing, etc and when you do so, you are required by law to protect that trademark against any other products that are similar to yours and bare the same name. They are not going to sue every company with backcountry in the name, they're actually paying companies with similar products to rebrand their company because they are required by trademark law to do so. BC isn't going out to take down small business, they're just following the law and actually giving people money to change their brand.
