I've been reading quite a few threads about various vendors who have less than stellar customer service. A majority of the time it seems like these vendors are only providing their services on a limited part time basis. They do this because they can make some quick cash and offer a discount since they don't have the overhead like a brick and mortar store. Next add into the mix a few people from foreign countries and you have recipe for disaster. I have bought many parts from two major vendors here on Prime without any complications. I have even bought carbon fiber parts through eBay without complication.
The reason for this post is to try and find out why there are so many smart people here, yet they lack common sense when ordering parts. If you read about previous customer service problems, yet you continue to support those vendors, you have no one to blame but yourself. Furthermore, trusting someone with no experience in fabricating carbon fiber parts from a distant country is just pure ignorance. If I cannot call up and ask; "Where are my parts?", I'm sure as $hit not going to paypal thousands of dollars to them.
I feel bad for everyone who has lost even a single penny on a product/service that was never delivered. However, how is it that this keeps on reoccurring time after time?
I think it's worth noting the difference between buying parts from a
vendor, i.e. a business, presumably a brick-and-mortar establishment and sending money overseas for a "group buy" situation for newly fabricated parts being coordinated by someone with limited experience who is half a world away and speaks limited English.
Clearly, there's quite a bit of risk associated with the latter and personally I would be very certain of just who I was sending my money to in this case. That goes without saying. There's really no "solution" to this problem other than to be more careful about who you trust. Situations like this will always exist and there will always be a somewhat high risk. That just needs to be accepted.
Purchasing parts from a vendor is a little different. Clearly, I think we know which vendor is being alluded to in this case and they're a very good example. Anyone lurking around Prime for more than an hour will invariably stumble upon at least one horror story about them and it's pretty clear to me that anyone who orders from this company does so at their own peril.
There are some very strong pros and very strong cons to ordering with this company and to me, that's what it comes down to. I've said this many times before but regular in-stock items ordered from them seem have a much better track record of arriving as described and in a timely fashion. It's the unusual circumstances that seem to generate 90% of the complaints--things like backorders, returns and core charges. This has been a consistent pattern with them for many, many years.
Personally, I only do business with them because I live 10 minutes from them and know them. I would be much more reluctant to do so if that were not the case as I have done the research and quite frankly, it's shocking. I probably should not even support a company that has such consistently poor service but I know I will never have a problem and so I guess I'm selfish. Sorry. :frown: But you are 100% correct: based on the number of issues NSX owners have had with them over many, many years they should be boycotted altogether.
Obviously the free market should self-correct this issue but the free market also helps them because they have certain products and prices that often just can't be beat. And since the risk appears to be much less for simple, in-stock part orders it might not be that high of a risk for some. However I would never, ever do business with them if I wasn't close by and if the dealings involved any kind of backorder, return or core charge. Period. Anyone who does is a fool, plain and simple.
A company like this has a high enough success rate and low enough prices and stellar enough product lineup to keep getting business despite their questionable business tactics. What that translates to is that 1) they could be making a lot more money than they do and 2) their competitors will stay in business longer and continue to get market share in spite of their possibly higher prices and leaner product selections.
When the level of dissatisfaction rises enough on enough levels most people will stop doing business with them and they will go under but that hasn't happened yet. Clearly if they needed more business to survive they would have to increase service levels but this is a company with deep pockets, figuratively speaking (no rent, owner sees it as a hobby) so service will have to get real bad before anything changes.
Yes, occasionally, people will still get taken and the only recourse is to post it here and hope it gets worse and they go under but for now it is what it is. However I don't think anyone has a right to be shocked when they get screwed by them. Angry and frustrated, yes. But surprised? No. Everyone knows there's a relatively high chance of getting screwed by them.
What does THAT tell you about the rating system.
