ilikemy944

OK. I wasn't going to post. But, 83na944 made me do it!

I've bought stuff from them lots of times. I always go pick it up in person, never had a problem, except once. I got a price on oil cooler seals, whatever, was a really good price. Got there, price went up like 15 bucks. So, I tell them they are crazy, George told me $whatever. So he comes up there, "They are $xx" "You told me $xx" "OK." then mumbles something random about exchange rates (like they changed in the last 2 hours between when I called and got there)...

Now, other than that one time I had an issue, which was resolved quickly
George is supernice in person... Really!! I went to one of their swap meets that they have, and it rained so I was one of the few there. Talked with the techs for a long time, a good hour, about 944s, and porsches in general. (name removed ) comes out and says he is leaving, but not before grabbing a (drink) for both the techs and myself (no I didn't drink it, but it was a nice thing to do )....

So, I personally wouldn't mail order anything from them... but, they are good in person...

SE-Romeo

Ok, I know I am probably hanging myself by doing this, but here it goes.

I am the Customer Service Manager at Automobile Atlanta. I read through the post on here last night, and brought a few of them up today. So I decided that I would get on here and post.

I am interested in hearing the comments that you as our customers, whether past or present, make. After reading over this thread, some problems that need to be taken care of have come to mind, and I have spoken with a few in the office about this. Does any on here, have any suggestions they would like to make? Tell all, and by al means dont hold back. Tell me all your thoughts on the company and what you all would like to see change, improved, etc...

Thank you for your time. And if you still have a problem with the company that has been out going, E-mail me at customerservice@autoatlanta.com and I will do what I can to get that taken care of for you, as I do see a few on here that baffle me.

NZ951

Burn your shop down please. You guys are crooks. You ripped me off because you made a mistake on the price you gave me for shipping. Tried to charge me $200 extra! Then refunded my money less your paypal expenses after giving me a quote no less. Hopefully Auto "The Devil" Atlanta" will be out of business soon.

NZ951

I'll even send you a lighter for FREE! And it wont be the wrong lighter for your buildings year, be in worse shape than you said it was, be more expensive when you come to paying or after you paid for it, and you wont have to wait months for it after you pay within a day.

I am so glad this thread came up!

j_overly

SE-Romeo,

I have ordered from you a few times. All three times were online via your website. Two of the times I had to call 3 weeks later when my order never showed to find out the order was lost and never processed. The two lost orders were within 45 days of each other. I got the same excuse both time, the server crashed over the weekend and all orders were lost.

I stopped shopping on your site after the second time. If I am ordering something, it is because I need it within a reasonible time frame. I would strongly suggest you fix whatever techinical problems you may be having because it is costing you real dollars. Add some way to track order processing online, and follow with a shipment confirmation e-mail with tracking information. Until those type of processes are put in place, I will stay away.

9xAuto is in the same boat.. they do a great job taking the order and the money, the problem is filling and deilvering the order.

Hopefully this is the constructive critiscism you were after.

j_overly

Btw.. you at least get kudos for sticking your neck out on a public board.

... of course if you were a paying Rennlist sponsor that would help to!

ahofam123

I live about an hour away from AutoAtlanta and my few experiences with them have been pleasant. I took my car there for a ppi, and they gave me a very thorough list of items needing attention. When I asked them how to replace the sunroof gears, they copied a couple of pages out of the FSM and gave them to me to look over.
Although I have had good experiences with AA, I usually shop at Paragon products because their prices are a little lower and based on online reviews, they are quick to solve any problems that should arise. I would consider shopping at AA again if they had comparable prices with the other suppliers and if they were sponsoring Rennlist and answering questions as other suppliers do.

944JM

I ordered 2 mirror replacements for the door mirrors and the ones they sent looked like a rabid beaver chewed them out of the mirror stock then sanded the edges with an angle grinder. Weren't worth any price they charged.

Brian McCoy

Geez, if the guy's going to stick his neck out, you ought to at least give a Shot at Constructive Criticisim....

Everything I've ever read indicates that parts ordering, be it online or over the phone, is something that AutoAtlanta just doesn't have a grasp on. Either scrap that program entirely, or start looking at the failure points. Communication is Always #1 ~ even if you're screwing up, if you TELL the customer at least they know what the hell's going on. Don't sell stuff you don't have (er, list stuff as 'in stock' when it's not) ~ this Should be a 'D'uh!!' type comment. I can't really help with the actual logistics of the entire process, But there are people out there in the world that specialize in the logistics of e-commerce, Pay them money to get the knots out of the system. Also, ask other companies who do it right, How they do it right. Paragon will forever be the First place I call because they always answer the phone, answer the questions and ship promptly. They screw up too, but the difference is that the screwups are fixed with the Utmost emergency, at no cost to the customer. If you can't at least match them, they Will forever be a better shop, consistently getting more and more customers ~ even if the overall price is slightly higher because you know that you're getting quality service.

In the shop, someone needs to be incharge of greeting everyone who shows up. I stood around for the better part of 20 minutes, poking and prodding the stuff in the small showroom before anyone even said 'Hi' ~ talk about making a customer feel totally neglected and unwanted. Yup, you've got the exact opposite of what should be happening nailed. People don't need to be hounded, but a simple greeting is needed.

The mechanic(s) seem to be the high point of the whole company. Curtious, proficiant, knowledgeable ~ Exactly what I want when I go to a shop.. (though a ford shop up 400 recentally showed me just how GOOD it can be, cleanest place I've been in and VERY curtious to my fiance when she went up there alone). So long as that standard is kept (from 2002, the one time I was there), no need for any change. You're better than Performance Imports when it comes to service work ~ no matter what people say.

Hopefully things can change for the better... it all starts with awareness of a problem.

83na944

Michael,

I'm sure you've heard that a satisified customer may tell someone else of good service, but a dissatisfied customer will, on average, tell 7 people of the problem.

As an example, I recently bought a clutch package and a few small parts from a mail order place. I opted for three day delivery, at a substantial cost, since I was ordering on Monday and I needed the parts for the weekend. I checked the order status Tuesday and found they were waiting for one small part. So I was disappointed and figured that I'd get the parts Monday. I checked Wednesday and order still wasn't shipped. I called their customer service to see when they would ship it. They apologized, told me they would ship Thursday, but they would pay for next day delivery. Indeed, the order was recieved on Friday. Therefore, the parts I ordered were delivered when I wanted at the price I agreed to pay. The bottom line is they met my expectations as a customer. That is good customer service.

Steve

NZ951

Yes, it is. Good customer service is as perplexing to AA as the whereabouts of Osama Bin is to GB Jnr.

pete944

I've never purchased anything from Auto Atlanta primarily because of the reputation. I have to echo Brian McCoy's words. Communication with the customer is paramount. I don't care if a part may take three weeks to get as long as I'm told that up front. The surest way to lose a customer forever is to lie to them.
Email a confirmation when the order is placed, email a tracking number when it is shipped, and don't charge the credit card until the order is shipped. A follow up email a week later to make sure the customer is satisfied is also a nice touch. Pelican Parts does this and they get my business for that reason. Paragon Products is also one of the absolute best at customer service. Jason could teach a class on good business practices.
A price quote is just that, a quote. If you give a customer a price you have to honor it whether or not it was correct in the first place. I've misquoted prices before to my customers and I end up eating the difference. It wasn't the customer's fault that I made the mistake.
The size of the order should make no difference. A $5 part is just as important to the customer as a $500 part. Treat every customer like he/she was your only one. A good reputation is hard work, but a bad reputation is easy to get.
If things change over there the people here at Rennlist will be the first to notice. Word of mouth can be a businesses greatest ally.

washington951

i had been aware of AA for years. i got my first car - a 73 914 - in 1983 and their catalog was one that i always looked forward to. one thing that always griped me, tho was the fact that AA uses factory or factory-like exploded diagrams, but then assigns their own part number. what a shady way of making it so you can't really compare apples to apples with another supplier.

anyway - after i moved to atlanta, i decided to give AA the personal look-see.

i also experienced the 20-minute lack of acknowledgement upon entering the front of the shop.

i left.

there are just too many places to get parts. with the internet and phone, its just too easy. you have to offer something else - like paragon does: a friendly, HELPFUL voice on the phone or conversational and informative emails. if i still lived in atlanta, i wouldn't even consider going to AA after my personal experience there and the collective experience of rennlist. there's just too many other choices.

i guess what i'm saying is that AA is dead to me. maybe a bit harsh since i really haven't had any personal horror stories. i just prefer to nip things in the bud.

being a small business owner, i can appreciate AA (or a representative thereof) coming on this board to try to turn things around.

but i'd appreciate it a little more if they actually PAID for a membership - its the cheapest bit of market research they could ever buy - and MIGHT signify the smallest of baby-steps that inch towards being accepted and respected in the porsche community.

PorscheDoc

SE-Romeo

Well, i would start off by firing Teri and michael in customer service, because they obviously can't finish a job that they start. I battled the double visa charge for MONTHS every day they said my account would be credited and i would give them 2 days for it to go through, i never did, so i would call again. I must have spent 3-4 hours total on the phone trying to straighten it out......started with teri, then she had to leave due to surgery or something, and michael delt with me.....well basically told me what i wanted to hear over the phone, then probably threw the paperwork in the trash after he hung up the phone. If any of my employees handled a customer like i was handled, they would be fired that day...pack up your stuff and good bye style. I will never do business with autoatlanta again, and you guys can stop sending me your emails on SPECIALS as well. When it comes to employees, you get what you pay for, if you know what i mean. You hire someone for 5.50 and hour, and you get 5.50 an hour quality work. Hire someone for 12.00 an hour, and you get 12.00 an hour quality work.

Karl Wilen
karl@wilen.us

NZ951

Ok, this non-member is the customer service manager of AA. And as an attempt to improve customer service and the companies reputation accordingly, he does not start a new thread titled something like "AA tries to make it right" or "We are cool now, buy from us please", he replies under AA sux. Which highlights even further the problems with the company. I would not like a customer service genius like that working for my company.