Customer service is the driving force for Carpones

I was sitting here, in front of the computer, daydreaming about big fish... yes I know... so I decided to start the new year the way I would like it to continue - being by the water with a chance of a big fish.

"Where and when" are two questions Ive yet to answer, but I did realize that the "with what?" question needed answering pretty quick. My last trip to the Ebro had all but wiped out my bait supply, so with all the nightmares of Xmas post coupled with living in the sticks of Spain, right down here in Marbella, I knew I needed to get an order placed pretty quick.

A short email to Andy Mac, a new friend Ive made through blogging. (Andy writes the blog Fish Madrid and its a must read if your planning on fishing around the Madrid area) Andy gave me the contact details of a mate of his called Paco who had recently set up www.carpones.com so I thought Id give it a try.

Its not often that I´m truly impressed with customer service in Spain, we kind of get used to the Spanish "manana" attitude and when a really great customer service experience happens it feels all the more special for being so unique.

I placed the order on Friday night and paid by paypal on the Saturday. Every step of the order process was confirmed by email and Monday afternoon the bait arrived by courier. Cant beat that! Gracias Paco!

His shop is easy to navigate as long as you can find your way in, the "Tienda" link underneath the navigation box on the right side of the screen for non Spanish speakers. Once in, its straightforward enough for anyone to find what they want. There is a great selection of bait from all the top names and plenty of tackle.

Paco speaks English so if your thinking of coming over on a fishing holiday why not drop him an email and see if he could deliver to your holiday destination. Im sure Ill be doing that myself in the future.

catsncarp launches new online fishing gift store - My Bivvy

Come and have a look round My Bivvy! - our fantastic new Fishing Shop.

We have books from Simon Crowe, Rob Hughes, Tim Paisley and more fishing legends, the latest DVD´s from the top names in the sport like John Wilson, some great computer games and other bits and bobs, that you just cant do without.

Click here to browse around My Bivvy

Its been an incredibly busy week, apart from finishing off My Bivvy I´ve been working on a new Blog, eBay site and online store, all of which are meant to be launching this weekend! - ermm doesn't feel like it will happen as of now, midday Saturday, but who knows.

I am involved with a company called 360factory that produces 360º panoramic photos, we are launching a series of City Tours with panoramic 360 images and still photos combined in an easy to use browser. This product is available free for use on your own web site or blog. Check out the first City tour of Bodo in Norway here. If you are interested in panoramic photography, virtual tours or Quick Time you might want to check out the new blog.

My mate Mark, he´s the one with the huge Catfish, - his first 100lbs+ fish - which he caught during our trip up to the river Ebro, you can read that article here. Mark enjoyed his first catsncarp experience so much that he made an excellent purchase of a full set of carp gear from eBay during the week. I really couldn't believe the prices and some of the gear that was being offered, it was excellent. I was cursing the money I had spent a few years ago upgrading all my kit from new, when I could have spent a fraction of that and got loads more, ok - its used gear, but we all know how well made and durable fishing gear is these days.

We had been chatting on Skype during the process of selecting which of the carp set ups to go for - trying to work out which setup offered him the best balance for the type of fishing he was planning to do and I jokingly said that he would need a bigger car to get it all in.

He stunned me a few days later with a Skype message saying he had just bid and won on eBay, a cracking Volvo V70 - good on you Mark! and welcome to catsncarp world.

I have had a few comments back from my last post on the dreaded Zebra muscle thats infesting the river Ebro, you can read that here. It seems drastic action needs to be taken, but the scientists are stumped. Ill keep you posted on the current state of affairs.

So thats about it, - Ive got to get back to 360 Virtual World as I need to write the advert for eBay, but in a nutshell the 360 Virtual Tour includes 8 x 360º pictures, 12 still images, professional Voice Over running commentary, backed up with text that automatically scrolls as the 2 minute tour progresses.
Our first offering is the Virtual World 360 City Tour of Bodoe in Norway, in addition to the built in features of the tour we offer you the chance to customize your Bodoe tour with your own logo or corporate message, Google adsense adverts, anything you like really. We supply you with a unique LIFETIME URL for the Virtual World 360 Tour and a unique URL for the built in IFrame, which within the space provided you can do whatever you like. (subject to content moderation)
There is no other product like it on the market, attracting traffic to your site and a chance to make your own slice of online income. To celebrate the launch of the first Virtual World 360 Tour we are offering our Bodoe tour at €49 ( not customizable) including a Free upgrade to the commercial Iframe version if you wish to make money from adverts in the bottom navigation bar. (Limited time take up may apply)

Our Virtual Tours provide excellent content for businesses and private individuals, they are well presented, slick and beautiful content rich additions to any web site or blog.
If you are interested in purchasing this tour please check our eBay shop here.

Oh and dont forget to have a look round "My Bivvy" - maybe you´ll find a great Christmas present for that Angler in your life!