FOR PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT INFORMATION
(non-customers)

This page is for people who don't want to buy from us, but still want us to provide information for them (Which we don't do anymore. We are not a free information service.)

Please don't call or write and ask for information "Off the top of my head," or ask for "Just five minutes of my time." Instead, please refer to the guide given below:

PRODUCT INFORMATION

If you are a non-customer, or a customer requesting information about a product that you did not get from us, the following should help you get the information you need. If you have time, please read the article that explains why we no longer answer all inquiries. These strategies are in "Oh ya, I didn't think of that" order.

1. Get the book or video. Books and videos always pay for themselves in saved time and materials. I don't have them memorized, so please don't ask me to write chapters in our email correspondence. Some of our books contain very valuable resource guides. If you can't afford the information you might consider doing something else as a hobby because the materials are much more expensive than the books and videos.

2. Check out the books or videos at the library. If they don't have it, let them know that you are interested in borrowing them. Libraries have budgets for patron requests and most libraries would like to have our stuff. Tell them not to go through a broker, as brokers will double or triple the price and are very rude to us.

2. Go to the yellow pages. We have received hundreds of calls from people who were just a short drive away from a resource in their home town. Remember, we provide difficult to find items, if a product is available in your area, we probably don't have it for that very reason.

3. Go to the people who sold you the product. They often know more about it than I do. If you find a good price on something, remember that it doesn't come with customer support. The money you save by getting something in a yard sale doesn't automatically arrive in our bank account. We are not as nearly excited about your good deal as you are.

4. Seek an industrial source rather than a consumer source. The clerk at the hardware store will not know the water to product ratio of UltraCal 30, but the salesman at the Construction Supply warehouse probably will.

5. Go to the manufacturer of the product and ask for a local supplier. This supplier will have the product information you need.

6. Continue to search the web. If you've found us, you'll probably find someone else with time to help you. Also check the links on our links pages.

6. Pick on someone else. Check our "Artist Pool" and see if there is someone in your area who has the time to help you with your project. Advise from new friends is free, but remember friendship goes both ways.

7. As a desperate, last resort, consider buying from us.

LOCATIONS and LOCAL SOURCES

Special Effect Supply Corp. is the only source for all things listed on our website. We are the only location that offers this product line. We do not have stores in other countries. Some products may be available in your area, but we don't have access to the names of dealers in your area as we are a dealer in our own area. That's like asking the owner of a barber shop in New York for the name of a good barber in Los Angeles. You are welcome to buy from us if you are willing to pay for shipping and import fees. Please don't pretend that you are a customer, pick our brains for product recommendations, then suddenly announce that you are in a rush and need to find a local source. If you feel guilty it is because you are doing something wrong. A half-hearted and insincere apology does not restore the time lost to us. Telling us up front that you have no intention of doing business with us doesn't help much either.

FORMULAS
We don't give out formulas. This is like killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

BIDS on PROJECTS
We no longer bid on special projects and services unless it's someone we know and have done business with them for a long period of time. This might seem like an odd policy, but we get a lot of people who don't know how to bid a project. These guys will pretend that they want us to do a show, we will bid on it, and then they will use our numbers for their bid to their customers. We also get kids with big ambitions and no money or experience who are pretending to be adults. Although these kids are amusing, they still take us away from our customers.

INTRODUCTION
(Yes, we put our Introduction last)

Hopefully, from our website, you can see that we are a service oriented company. You just can't get our kind of information at your local art store or even from an industrial supplier. We love to serve our customers, and are often intrigued by their questions and projects, and we will continue to give the best possible support that we can. In order to do this we must focus on the products that WE sell to OUR customers. We just can't answer all inquires any more. We must set a priority, and that priority is to our customers. We've tried to make that clear, but some people just don't seem to get the message. They are upset that we won't give them our formulas, reveal our sources or do free research for them. These people often waste an hour or two of our time everyday, so say nothing of the aggravation that comes from those very few who use manipulation to trick us out of proprietary information. I have spend decades and thousands of dollars collecting the information that I have, I just don't hand it over to someone because they think I owe them a favor.

In the olden days (when we first started) I enjoyed helping people with their questions and projects regardless if they were customers or not. In the nine years since I started Special Effect Supply our business has grown ten-fold and with that growth there has been a tremendous increase in the demands on my time. There has also been a tremendous change in the demographics of our customers. Not only do I get more inquiries, the questions have changed as well.

Some people think they are customers just because they call or write. We define a customer as someone who purchased something from us or will purchase something from us. Occasionally we get letters or calls from very friendly people who just want to talk or need emotional support for their careers or projects. These people take a lot time and rarely purchase anything simply because talking about a project will generate the same kind of emotional satisfaction that doing it would. I love people, and love to help where I can, but I am not a trained psychologist and don't get paid like one. In those cases I'm probably doing more harm than good anyway.

Good Luck in your Quest, Please come back when you are ready,

Steve Biggs, Pres.

This page originally posted: 02/01/1999
This page last updated: 03/23/2008