Rich Sandor

How about this: When an order is going to LATE, becuse of lack of parts availability, the company should be the one phoning the customer, to say: "Hey, our supplier doesn't have the stock, it's gonna take a bit longer, we dunno how long though... do you still want to order it thru us?" instead of the customer having to phone the copmany, wondering where the stock is. This would garner MUCH more respect and repeated business as opposed to being lied to and put on the backburner.

user 8430

[quote]Lindsey has been great.
Pelican has been great.
Paragon has been great <hr></blockquote>
I have had good results with Paragon as well, also with Zims, and Pelican.
One place that I had the greatest servce "ever" was from <a href="http://www.performancemotorcars.com" target="_blank">www.performancemotorcars.com</a> in Fla
I ordered a grocery list of parts, probably 30+ or more and received them NEXT business day! They sent everything out via Airborne Express, I had them ship it to the hotel my Dad was staying at In Washington DC and they delivered it right to his suite the next day. This was so convenient as I am located in Canada. They were excellent!!! I strongly recommend them.

fusionsport

A few things- having been in the business of racing cars and specifically Porsches for some time- I will tell you this is not new or unusual- The one thing you have to realize is there are a lot of charlatans out there in the Porsche world that will take your money and run- These are not nec. bad people- just hungry for business so rather than potentially lose a customer by saying "Hey- we are oput of stock and the guy that makes them for me just went on vacation- its gonna be two weeks" they tell you the part is in stock and will go out tomorrow. If they actually shipped the part in two weeks that might be semi-acceptable- but they dont. They get another call after yours- and try and fill that order- ten orders later and you are more or less forgotten til you call and complain- only then they have to lie again and claim shipping problems- parts shortages- or etc. and the process repeats. Huntley isnt the only one- just one people keep using despite the bad press. GT racing is another- hank has been promising me body panels for my personal car for about 5 years- and Im still waiting- thank God i didnt send a deposit- and even if i got them by now they wouldnt fit right- mainly cause hes a seller- not a manufacturer- and cant refurbish his worn-out molds- but thats another story.
The shop I work with has just suspended taking ANY new business for the next two months- period. Yeah we hate to turn the business away- but the people who know our quality appreciatte our honesty and will come back- so we have lost nothing- its just a different way of doing business- as I argued with Derek on another topic- It is amazing what shops that deal on the internet and magazine ads get away with. I discovered one shop claiming to flow heads didnt even have a flow bench- I know because whenever possible I visit a notable shop when in the area. What irks me the most tho is when I see or hear about these shops and retailers at the track. It irks me more to see them spend weeks preparing one favored drivers/customers car while other customers- usually mail order or internet are waiting at home for the parts THESE guys are supposed to be making- I know that for some people they have to race to make their reputation- but not at the expense of the people paying the bills- ESPECIALLY when it is the SAME Club racing the customer they are ignoring is waiting on their parts to go do- I a few years ago found a vender I (no longer) used at the track putting the adjustable suspension arms I myself was waiting for for a customers Formula car on his OWN car- with two spare sets in his trailer yet the ones I ordered werent available for shipping because of a "parts shortage". Of course he handed over a set...acting the whole while like I was robbing him of the chance to win when my customer who had paid dearly for those parts was at home unable to compete- nice guy huh?
At any rate I hope your head does arrive- but if not mail me and perhaps I can help.

951carter

I think Derek just needs to switch the people working in the Billing and Shipping departments.

Then you would have your parts shipped IMMEDIATELY and not have the charge show up on your credit card for 6 months to a year =))

Dwayne Williams

Since we're listing good suppliers - I've had really good luck with Pelican, Lindsey, SpeedForce, and Guru Racing. Lindsey and Guru being my favorites. I have the Stage I kit from Guru and Travis and Danno have been really great (just hope they get that 364 kit done soon). I just ordered a bunch of stuff from Lindsey (dual-port wastegate, MBC, etc...) but they traded emails with me for about a month before I spent a dime - can't beat that kind of service. Both Guru and Lindsey have been great.

My favorite is Jones Autowerks - a local Porsche shop here in San Antonio. But you gotta live around here to work with them...

deltaP

You guys seem pretty reasonable. I posted a grievance on the 928 board and got flamed. I got lied to and just wanted the vendor to apologize and make it better but everyone, including the vendor, tried to make it my fault and make me feel like a whiner.

On the other hand, I've seen vendors flamed based purely on heresay. When asked for facts, the flamers just kicked it up a knotch but still no facts.

Anybody who makes a living in the aftermarket industry, especially Porsche, should count their blessings and should try very hard not to screw it up. I'm still stuck in a 9 to 5 and can't wait for the day to say take this job...

Good luck with the head and thanks for the info.

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by 944 Hooligan:
<strong>i am really surprised at the amount of problems i continually read with tuners/parts suppliers on this board. it seems as though at least 1 in 10 people have been screwed by what seems to be almost every vendor currently supplying the aftermarket with 944 parts.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Oops.

Hold the phone.

In the 14 months I've been on Rennlist I've yet to read about a single person unhappy with either Paragon or Pelican. None. Zero. Zip. They have been impecable from what I can see and I know who I will do business with .

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by fusionsport:
<strong>It irks me more to see them spend weeks preparing one favored drivers/customers car while other customers- usually mail order or internet are waiting at home for the parts THESE guys are supposed to be making- I know that for some people they have to race to make their reputation- but not at the expense of the people paying the bills</strong><hr></blockquote>

Amen.

When I was racing karts I saw some companies screw paying customers just to promote their own "sponsored" driver or team. I didn't do business with them.

The opposite was Emmick Enterprises who would sell you exactly what they ran themselves and if necessary would sell you stuff from their own racing stock. Their attitude was that if their customers beat them at the races, all the better advertising for them. I loved doing business with them and nobody I know who has ever done business with them ever felt taken or screwed. They have become one of the models for my own company which is producing racing development parts for Nissans (and we'll have a few 944 things as I design them for my own car).

I just lost 1/2 my profits for a single run of parts due to broken tooling and expedited shipping(but my customers will never know that). My problems will not become my customers' problems if there is anything I can do to help it. I'd rather sell them parts off my own car than to hang them out to dry.

Customer service is not all that hard. It just requires committment and discipline.

SidViscous

"Customer service is not all that hard. It just requires committment and discipline."

What's funny is how few people realize how much money you can make if you give good customer service. I left one company because I was selling what the customer wanted at inflated prices (2 to 3 times) then I had to deal with the company not wanting to an extra $200 in shipping on $30k orders for $5k worth of equipment and $3k of custimizing.

The sad thing is that when the orders did go through the customers were as happy as a pig in you know what, we made a shedload of money. But then next time I had the same hassles.

Danno

Some of you in management may recognize these:

video - "Challenge in Ameria" - KCET documentary
book - "Built To Last" - Colins, Random House 1994

enough said...

special tool

I ordered an afpr a few months ago from Paragon at
3 pm., I had it THE NEXT DAY at around 2 pm. I even asked my ups guy how the hell he did that from almost across the country.

Ken T

This is all good information. One suggestion. At one of the other forums I frequent (Bimmerforums.com), they have an area called "Vendor and Dealer Comments". This is an area to address positive and sometimes negative experiences. The vendors that support the area have an opportunity to address the issue if they choose. Sometimes the manner in which they address it does more harm than the original issue, however, this is good information as well to show customer service capabilities and techniques. This info helps everyone try to make a better informed decision before dropping serious (read hard earned) cash on their car. Just a thought.

FormulaOne10

Paragon is everything a performance parts supplier should be. I can call them up with confidence on a Wednesday or Thursday (I would even be confident trying on a Friday!) and not only be sure that I'll not only get my parts for a Sunday event, but will have time to install them too. This is customer service - accept no substitutes. Paragon makes me WANT to buy more stuff from them. Keep it up guys!!!

RJP 951

Overall I'm very happy with Paragon as well. Had a couple cases of wrong parts showing up and one or two delays, but they fix their mistakes promptly (thanks Jason).

I've also ordered from Ian's Euro Parts (944 online) a couple times and have been impressed both on price and speed of delivery.

I ordered just once from Lindsey Racing. Absolutely no problem for me, but I caused one for them so I may as well admit it! I ordered a part back in October. Get the bill for my AMEX card (which I normally reserve for business use), and there's a charge from "PRP Inc". I had no idea what this was, so I called AMEX customer service. They said they'd make an inquiry of the vendor, and took the charge off my bill.

The other day I get a message from Dave Lindsey wanting to know what the heck was wrong. Of course at that point I immediately recognized what the charge was for, but it ended up costing him more in paperwork that he made in profit on the small item I purchased (sorry again, Dave). Hopefully he can get AMEX to print "Lindsey Racing" on its statements in the future. In any case, he took it in stride, and it just goes to show that being a good supplier is hard work in more than just the obvious ways.

Ron

SidViscous

Geez guys we almost forgot 944ecology too.

<a href="http://home.hvc.rr.com/nine44/index.htm" target="_blank">http://home.hvc.rr.com/nine44/index.htm</a>

No one is more helpful than he is. If you've got a 944 that's enough for him and he'll answer any question you have, and get you anything you need.