colnagoG60

Fair enough, but this mantra shouldn't be followed "only by customers". Businesses should also adopt as well. There was a time when businesses followed, "the customer is always right". With any product, or any business, with there should never be a policy of "no refund for product not delivered, nor produced". I mean, its not like they have to eat the cost of a space launch, and they now need to call back the ship from mining dilithium crystals.

colnagoG60

pitt911

if the coast of material is going up significantly , then it will be in their interest to refund op the money , and sell the exhaust at a higher price for another customer.
these times are crazy, but I believe honestly is always appreciated , and lying always make the problem worse ." a lie is sometimes worse than the crime "

colnagoG60

I think the bigger question here is "whether or not an exhaust even exists at this point?" Its not like the company makes televisions, and are doing a "one-off order" to make an exhaust, and had to "special order" materials, and are now stuck with material they don't typically use, for an order they don't typically support.

Tupper

Huh?

The OP is spot on about how much BS this is. It’s not about the supply chain problems, but about being totally fed a blatant lie. Really horrible business practice.

Ksdaoski

This is par for the course with them. Go Soul next time

rk-d

Seriously. If you look through the archives there are lots of these kinds of stories about Fabspeed. I thought it was common knowledge.

Skarz

I agree with the OP. While they may be involved, this is not about supply chain issues. This is about integrity. Fab speed has not shown any integrity to the OP.

4 Rings

totally agree John and Soul has been amazing to work with.

Drew46

This is why I use Amex. They have always supported me in situations like this. The sad part is that if they had been honest and said they were having real issues and needed another 6-8 weeks, the OP probably would have been sympathetic and gave them more time.

lucycan

The point about this not being a one-off is spot on and that's what I said to them. Certainly if they are this far behind in production they have another person in line for this? Sell it to them! This is not a custom piece for my car.

I'm just baffled at the whole thing. Its a damn shame because I really wanted that exhaust.

Domer911

They seem to struggle with the human part of the parts business. Not the first such experience shared on this forum involving them.

sechsgang

Thats beyond annoying to have something promised and then told one thing but having be a complete other with the timing...these guys have always done me well in the past though. The general supply chain delays exacerbate this and the potential for such a situation to arise. If the exhaust was done this week though, would you still want it or would you just tell them to keep it and the only thing you want is your money back? I'm sure there's someone here who'd buy it off you given the HUGE delays now anyways.

siberian

Well the issue really is by giving them a pass and being "understanding" and "oh my there's supply chain problems", COVID, shortage of (fish) and chips and all kids of excuses we're really rewarding crap CS and penalizing those who do a good job, who go above and beyond in salesmanship and honesty.

As an engineering manager for years I kept telling the folks under me, sitting on a f*ck up rather than telling me is the best way out of the door. Sh*t happens and the sooner we know about it the sooner we can get a handle on it and rectify the situation.

What was done here is dishonest and no amount of "understanding" or other excuse sets this right. Two dealers I bought new Porsches FUBARed things to oblivion and then had the gall to act surprised I gave them a ZERO in the follow-up questionaire. When they called "amazed" I said, "If I give you a ten for the crap salesmanship and follow-through you exhibited, there are two things apparent. One is that you will just take your f*cked up method to the next client and will have learned nothing but more importantly, Two I'm not rewarding those dealers who do go above and beyond". One of them just recently contacted me asking if they could buy back my 992C4S. Right, let me get back to you on that

File with BBB and move on, plenty of other good, honest businesses around.

Sorry to have had this happen to you

siberian

boosted305

What surprises me is the myopia of companies that would rather dig their heels in the sand than just do the right thing...because in the end, how many potential customers are lost when a story like this hits a forum specifically populated by the target demographic?

IF a customer requests a refund after what is more than twice the original estimated lead time, AND the product has not even begun production at that point...the company loses nothing by agreeing to what seems to be a very reasonable request for a refund, especially when you factor in the months of deception...refusing to refund money on something that has not even begun production reeks of desperation...it's just a bad look imo.

IF the company had already started producing the product and had costs involved, then perhaps it would seem a little more reasonable to deny a refund...but in a market where everything is seriously backlogged, there is zero chance that the company could not instantly sell it to someone else who would be delighted to learn that they didn't have to wait 6-8 weeks to receive their order...in which case you satisfy two customers: you return the money to the unhappy customer who you have deceived for months, thus mitigating the reputational damage (hey that sucked, but at least they gave me my money back so ultimately no harm no foul)...and you make some other customer extremely happy with an instant product (wow! X Company was fantastic and delivered my product with no wait time!)...
Instead, you shoot yourself in the foot with hard-to-repair reputational damage...and more than likely turn-off potential customers.

Doesn't seem like a wise choice to me personally.