Getting ripped off by thieves and vendors (Sometimes at the same time)

[Doug1]

The last year has been unbelievable as far as losing money to vendors who don't come through. I lost 2 classic cars to theives who apparently had them crushed. One was supposed to be painting a numbers matching car for me. He got into drugs and had every car at his shop towed to the crusher for drug money. Warrants have been issued for his arrest so he'll be going to jail. The other car is not even of interest to the police. My brother had it stored at his shop and he reported it stolen. The police told him they would let him know if it showed up on the crushed car list after the fact. You'd think they would send the list to salavage yards showing the stolen cars VIN.

Now I am having problems getting a refund from a well known pro-touring vendor who shall remain anonymous, though infamous. I've spent a lot of money with them and EVERY order took much longer than it should have. Several times I spoke with the manufactures only to find out an order had not been placed and it was months after the fact.

Now I can't even get a refund for stuff I ordred LAST MARCH. I've been promised a refund in a bunch of emails, even had one where they issued a USPS tracking number but never mailed it. So I am out almost $4000 and they have been using my money for close to a year now. That is about ridiculous. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it was "UNFAIR".

[214Chevy]

Sorry to hear about the crushed car bro. I had a local painter several years ago get into drugs when I first bought my Chevelle and let me tell you...it was a messed up situation. I'm still out of $3000 from nearly 10 years ago that I know I'll never get back. I hope the lost money works out for you so you can at least get another project going.

[elitecustombody]

Doug , that is just sad and truly "UNFAIR".I wish you all the best to recover your money and find the stolen cars.

[takid455]

I understand the rob Peter to Pay Paul. Frankly, I don't understand why the middle man cant place the order when funds are presented. That way the funds are out of hand and they cant be used for something else.

Middle Guy - I have a GP on said product for a savings
Customer - buy one for me with this $$
Middle guy - Calls and places order

If customer changes mind or wants some one off thing and actual cost surpasses estimated cost, renegotiation needs to occur and or issue refund. Same goes for GP Stores that buy bulk and cant fulfill bulk quantities...refund $$ or renegotiate cost based on a lower quantity.

Never saw why this seems complicated to some. And yes, I have been the middle guy on numerous occasions.

[camcojb]

This is the reason why we've had to remove vendors in the past. It's too bad that it still occurs with some vendors, was hoping by now that things may have changed for them.

It can be difficult at times being the dealer between a customer and the manufacturer, did that for many years. The manufacturer will tell you an item is in stock, or will be shipped on a certain date, so you tell your customer that. When something happens and the part doesn't ship on time or is lost in transit you get the blame.

On the other hand, taking money for an order and then not ordering that part for weeks or months because you need the money to pay other bills is completely wrong and criminal as far as I'm concerned. Being self-employed for 25 years I see how it happens, but that does not make it right. And it's becoming too prevalent in the car parts industry. :mad:

I have a good friend who runs a warehouse for a motorcycle/jet ski/snowmobile parts warehouse. They are very large and very profitable. And they treat their customers like gold. I mentioned to him that his boss (who was looking for other write-offs and investments) should start an automotive side to his business, probably in the pro-touring side which is really growing. I think there's a market for a large vendor with good pricing, excellent customer service, who actually does what he is supposed to all the time.

[camcojb]

Frankly, I don't understand why the middle man cant place the order when funds are presented. That way the funds are out of hand and they cant be used for something else.





he should do that. The reason he doesn't is because he's been using the money for the current orders to pay for and order past paid orders that are now screaming for their parts. That or pay his rent, payroll, etc. It's a vicious cycle and if it's going on for a long period like this appears to be then he is not making money. He would eventually be able to catch up if he was profitable, but apparently is not.

If something doesn't change then a business like this will leave a ton of people screwed when they finally close their doors. It sucks, and I hate it when it happens to our community. In many cases building these cars takes months and years of savings to get your dream car built, and some dishonest or struggling dealer could take your money and end your dream.

[camcojb]

you should out the vendor to protect other members from falling into the same trap

There's enough hints in his posts to know who it is. They are not a vendor here anymore.

[scherp69]

you should out the vendor to protect other members from falling into the same trap

There are several strong hints that have been made that say who the vendor is.

[Matt@BOS]

you should out the vendor to protect other members from falling into the same trap

Not sure that would be too productive at this point. The company in question is no longer a vendor on this site. Besides, I think more than a few hints have been dropped...

Matt

[rjsjea]

This is the main reason I generally buy from the "walmarts" of the aftermarket industry anymore, Summit or Jegs.

Or pay more and buy direct from the manufacturer.

Hope this works out for ya, surprised he's still selling parts

[214Chevy]

you should out the vendor to protect other members from falling into the same trap

There's enough hints in his posts to know who it is. They are not a vendor here anymore.

There are several strong hints that have been made that say who the vendor is.

Not sure that would be too productive at this point. The company in question is no longer a vendor on this site. Besides, I think more than a few hints have been dropped...

Matt

I was the first person to post and I knew who it was immediately after reading the very last word of the last sentence of his thread. Now, there you go....another big hint.

[DRJDVM's '69]

The vendor is pretty obvious to anyone that cruises Pro-touring and here...

The biggest issue is the blur between being friends and and having an objective view on how a company runs itself. The vendor you mention has a lot of friends on both sites...he's a nice personable guy...he's helped out alot of people and is well liked on a personal level....but over and over he has shown a pattern of not running a trustworthy business.

But the personal connections and friendships make it hard for some people to open their eyes and see it for what it really is... their friend couldnt possibly be screwing people over...he's a friend... its hard for some people to look past that. So they will come to his defense over and over

Bottomline for me is that sporadic issues come up with any company you deal with...no company is perfect...but patterns dont lie and this vendor has shown the same pattern over and over despite all his excuses and promises that its a "hiccup" as his business is expanding/moving/changing computers etc etc....

[John510]

Do a search before you buy anything from Prodigy !!! He will screw you over!!

I was one of his victims before.

The only reason he is still allowed on pro touring dot com is because he built Larrys car for him.

Somebody needs to sue him and take his business down!!!!!

[camcojb]

I would like to say sorry if it sounded like a threat... but it is 7000.00 dollars. I will fly out and find the vendor ...and it is not one that has been mentioned YET Wes

is it a vendor on this site? If so please pm me with the info, I'll see what I can do.

[Yenko LS]

Have sent it...

[camcojb]

Have sent it...

OK, he's not a sponsor here. He is a sponsor on Pro Touring though. I recommend you getting hold of Larry over there and see if he can help you. I would think he can. I am not trying to pass the buck, but since he's not a vendor here I have no pull with him at all.

[Moose]

In a wierd way, I'm glad it wasnt just me. It happened to me twice. Once on a ricks gas tank, Next time on a moser 12 bolt.

Wierd thing, After waiting for parts for so long, I kinda lost interst in my car. I'm doing so many different things besides my car now, that its on the back burner. I'll finish it one of these days. Just need some motavation.:faint:

[Yenko LS]

I know what you mean . I have had 9 Camaros, a 57 chev ,A67 pro street nova..and i am done with the whole car thing... Wes

[geberhard]

Seriously, why not have a bad vendor or buyer thread? We have been using it for a while now on pirate4x4 (I am an admin there), and has worked great, we actually just helped a vendor that was having isues with a buyer $4000 guy in Canada. things get hashed and resolved.

Why not post the vendor info here? Seriously, if you got screwed, probably more people here that already go or will be getting screwed by the same company, so consider it public service. You got ripped off on a lot of money, step up and post who it is so other can hopefully avoid the same pitfall.

[geberhard]

you should out the vendor to protect other members from falling into the same trap

10% agreed. This protect a bad vendor thing is just plain BS, do the right thing and help us out. Most of us spend hundreds or thousands of dollars with vendors in our hobby. The act outs and rip offs without repercussions it just BS.

Sure, panties bundled in a bunch here, but I had to deal with vendors that tried ripping me off and other people off and lets say that was addressed.

[John510]

Yenko,
Tell us what vendor stole your 7K please!!! We need to know who to avoid!

[Simmo]

I'd just like to express my gratitude to those who start threads like this.

It's hard enough building these cars without this sort of BS. Being on the other side of the globe and having sent around 10K to the USA over the last 6 months I sh*t myself when I read stuff like this.

I'd just finished reading how great the new shop looked and how cool all the new projects coming out of that place were. Before reading this thread I'd planned to make an order at the next Forgeline sale...judging by the reputation the firm had I wouldnt have given it a second thought. Geeez, bit of a wake-up call.

Yenko...I'd be getting on a plane too...good luck to you and all the others who have been ripped.

[Yenko LS]

As far as buying off of vendors.. Always pay with PAYPAL or Credit Cards.
If it goes longer than 30 days call the supplier direct. If stories dont add up.
Cancel the order and get your money back. No wire transfers,no chexs. And the vendor i am waiting for better call today..because my air miles will get me and a friend to his state... Thanks Wes. Also i would like to thank Brett at RIDETECH , he is a amazing man .THANKS AGAIN

[jy211]

Do a search before you buy anything from Prodigy !!! He will screw you over!!

I was one of his victims before.

The only reason he is still allowed on pro touring dot com is because he built Larrys car for him.

Somebody needs to sue him and take his business down!!!!!

I've had great luck buying items from Prodigy so :thumbsup:

[HRBS]

I want it to be clear that the vendor is NOT Frank at Prodigy...Frank in my books has always done a great job.Please dont MUDDY this thread about Frank. He in one day does more technical calls then most GM hotlines.

Are you serious ?
You might want to re-read the OP. It IS about Frank... muddy or not.
You have 24 posts here at Lateral-G and 7 of them are in this thread. Thats 25% of your posts ranting about YOU and YOUR problem with YOUR vendor.
The OP has $4k out of pocket with said vendor. YOU have $7k out of pocket however came to the defense of said vendor and change this thread single handedly about YOUR vendor. Can you not see that you both have a similar issue? Why not post your vendor name so some other 3rd party can come to their defense like you did to Frank ? I know frank.... I like frank and I agree he gives alot of "free" advice and guidance. But thats not what THIS thread is about. These threads always turn into a he said, she said, and mine is worse than yours situation that will only "muddy" these boards if allowed. I agree that something needs to be done and I admit I do not have a suggestion. But its a constant pissing match of complaint vs defending.

:lateral:

[Yenko LS]

WOW ..I was making it clear that my beef was not with Frank. So yes my post was right. Guys like you make guys like me not want to talk about this stuff...so that being said back off.I was trying to give good ideas about how to fix this problem..dont bring up number of posts,thats why people are afraid of posting. Where i come from you dont point fingers and i was making sure that i wasnt doing that. Sorry if i seem cross..but i went out of my way to make sure it was fair to all..i am very sorry that people have lost parts and money to Frank...but i was just saying it was not him.. Wes

[GregWeld]

WOW ..I was making it clear that my beef was not with Frank. So yes my post was right. Guys like you make guys like me not want to talk about this stuff...so that being said back off.I was trying to give good ideas about how to fix this problem..dont bring up number of posts,thats why people are afraid of posting. Where i come from you dont point fingers and i was making sure that i wasnt doing that. Sorry if i seem cross..but i went out of my way to make sure it was fair to all..i am very sorry that people have lost parts and money to Frank...but i was just saying it was not him.. Wes

No -- Steve is right -- you jacked another guys post about YOUR issue... which has NOTHING to do with this vendor. Then you make big threats about flying and finding the guy etc... and it's not even a vendor on this website!

[Yenko LS]

Well i must say im sorry to all..good luck to all. I thought i joined a forum about cars. It really does not matter where the guy is a vendor,he is a vendor. As far as high jack sorry thought it was a discussion about getting ripped off. i joined in the discussion. By the number of people that PM'd me id say it was a good discussion. Like i said this is why people dont post....it has been real.. Wes

[Yenko LS]

Good luck Doug1 ,i hope all works out for you....bad carma catches up with everyone,your vendor will get his.. Wes

[bret]

I'm going to put an end to this particular problem. The problem is Perry Price at PTS.
I've had conversations with at least 4 customers who have ordered [and paid for] RideTech systems from PTS. RideTech has either not gotten an order, or is holding the PTS order waiting for their payment. I [and several of my staff] have also had several conversations with Perry on this subject and he has been told to fix it..."it" being the customers orders AND the perception that it is his suppliers fault that he can't ship parts.
I am allergic to exposing business issues like this but I have to put the considerations of our end customers [and future customers] ahead of the concerns of a single dealer.
There is NO doubt that many manufacturers [including RideTech] continually struggle to keep up with growing orders [especially right now]. This situation has been uneccessarily magnified by a dealer who is holding orders for whatever reason.

If you have a RideTech order pending with PTS, please let us know your situation directly. Danny Coultas at RideTech is handling this issue directly. His direct number is 812.481.4712. His direct email is [email protected]. I cannot do much about retreiving funds from PTS, but we WILL work with you as best we can to get you your parts. We are currently shipping well on everything but compressors. [compressors seem to be a worldwide issue right now].

To be clear...PTS is no longer a RideTech dealer, effective immediately. There are plenty of good RideTech dealers out there that will offer you good tech advice AND place your order promptly. If you simply cannot find one you are happy with, call us directly and we will process your order.

My personal apologies for allowing this to happen. I will try to show more sack in the future to prevent these situations.

[skatinjay27]

"im take my toys and going home!"

[skatinjay27]

good to see you get involved bret!
and inform us all of the shady company referred to in the "jack"

[bret]

This is to expand and clarify my post above.

I don’t post on these forums a lot, even less about purely business stuff…and nearly NEVER about negative business issues. This forum is about fun with cars and I think it should stay that way.

I have to break that tradition now because there are some dangerous precedents being set that need to be addressed. Too many people have complained about dealers taking their money and not shipping parts for weeks or months. This type of complaint has seemed to cross all ranges of product…wheels, brakes, engine parts, interior parts, and suspension parts.

If you are a dealer [for any manufacturer] who has sat on an order [for any reason], you might be highly offended by our position on this subject. If you are a SMART dealer, then you should be encouraged by our position on this subject. Pick your level of offense.

Read the remainder of this rant as your leisure, but here is the main message:

• With rare exception, RideTech components are in stock and can ship within a day or two of the order. Also, with rare exception, we will ship the components that we do have and send the backordered component as soon as it is built, usually within a matter of days…sometimes a few weeks…certainly not months.

• We make a conscious effort to inform customer and dealers if any component is beyond a couple days availability and to notify them if that situation changes. Any customer can call at any time and get an accurate answer as to what components are actually in the building and which ones might be delayed [if any].

• We TRY to police our dealer base to eliminate dealers who cannot or will not provide our expected level of service to our customers. Part of that process includes the dealers knowledge that if they drop the ball, for whatever reason, RideTech WILL take care of the customer directly.

RideTech is one of the few manufacturers that still sells directly to the end user in addition to having an extensive dealer network. We do that for many reasons, the main one being convenience for the hotrodder. Most RideTech dealers do not mind this situation because they know that we NEVER undercut the retail price and we encourage the customer to deal with his favorite dealer. The relationship between RideTech as a manufacturer and our dealers is simple…the dealers get a fixed percentage discount for making an initial dollar amount buy-in, and supporting it with an agreed upon annual purchase level. It is also assumed that a RideTech dealer will provide a level of customer service that is appropriate to each customer and each market.


RideTech dealers have 3 main responsibilities:

1. To become knowledgeable enough about the product line to provide competent product advice in order to guide the customer towards the most appropriate equipment.

2. To process a customer’s order in the most timely and efficient manner possible.

3. To provide accurate and relevant technical advice on products after the sale.


As a manufacturer, RideTech has responsibilities as well:

1. To develop and manufacture the highest grade of product possible.

2. To maintain a pricing structure that is agreeable to both the dealer and the end customer

3. To manufacture and deliver product in the most timely and efficient manner possible.

This is not a complex relationship and it has not changed in the last 16 years of our existence…nor do we intend it to. From time to time we have had situations where a dealer has taken an order [and possibly money] from a customer and then delayed for some period of time in placing that order with us. These are rare situations and USUALLY it is worked out with a minimum of hassle for all parties. As our product line matures, there are some hungry dealers who are offering discounts to the point where they are making little to no profit with which to operate their businesses. We have no capacity to resolve a dealer’s business problems, but we do have the capacity to attempt to protect our customers from becoming a part of it on our behalf.

I could end my rant here and become cryptic and politically correct about specific dealers who have had problems in this area, but then there would be [likely incorrect] speculation about who I am specifically referring to. I cannot jeopardize good dealers standings by trying to protect one person.

Perry Price and PTS is no longer a RideTech dealer. If you have RideTech orders pending with PTS please call or email Danny Coultas at our shop and he will work with you to get you your parts promptly. Danny’s direct email is [email protected]. His direct number is 812.481.4712

If anyone has ordered from any other RideTech dealer and has waited more than 2 weeks for parts you may contact us as well.

OK…let the beatings begin.

[GregWeld]

I'm going to put an end to this particular problem. The problem is Perry Price at PTS.
I've had conversations with at least 4 customers who have ordered [and paid for] RideTech systems from PTS. RideTech has either not gotten an order, or is holding the PTS order waiting for their payment. I [and several of my staff] have also had several conversations with Perry on this subject and he has been told to fix it..."it" being the customers orders AND the perception that it is his suppliers fault that he can't ship parts.
I am allergic to exposing business issues like this but I have to put the considerations of our end customers [and future customers] ahead of the concerns of a single dealer.
There is NO doubt that many manufacturers [including RideTech] continually struggle to keep up with growing orders [especially right now]. This situation has been uneccessarily magnified by a dealer who is holding orders for whatever reason.

If you have a RideTech order pending with PTS, please let us know your situation directly. Danny Coultas at RideTech is handling this issue directly. His direct number is 812.481.4712. His direct email is [email protected]. I cannot do much about retreiving funds from PTS, but we WILL work with you as best we can to get you your parts. We are currently shipping well on everything but compressors. [compressors seem to be a worldwide issue right now].

To be clear...PTS is no longer a RideTech dealer, effective immediately. There are plenty of good RideTech dealers out there that will offer you good tech advice AND place your order promptly. If you simply cannot find one you are happy with, call us directly and we will process your order.

My personal apologies for allowing this to happen. I will try to show more sack in the future to prevent these situations.

Good to hear from you on this Bret!

I was a wholesaler for many years and had to cut many dealers off... They always blamed the vendor for their cash flow/credit problems. We always tried to work with them - but the minute a consumer called and said the dealer said it was our fault... instant death!

[GregWeld]

"im take my toys and going home!"



:rofl: :rofl:

[CornHusker4Life]

I would just like to thank everyone who has posted on this thread topic. Even if you do not know it, this helps people who are new to pro touring like myself. It is websites like this that make me feel comfortable about sending thousands of dollars to someone I have never met and expecting/receiving a great product. Thanks Again:thumbsup:

[JKnight]

I've never said anything about it, but it took Frank 5-6 months of hanging on to my 5 grand to get me a TKO600 and accessories. He blamed backorders on the trans, which I ruled out through contacting other distributors. While I did get it, eventually, it was quite the hassle and that burned me on his business. I was pleased to see that Scott eliminated his sponsorship here and that's why I spend all my time here, rather than the other place...

[nacnac]

All this bickering and no one can agree who the bad vendor is. Is it PTS or is it Prodigy? I have a pending order w ride tech right now (placed through Perry) and I'm one of the victims of the "world wide" shortage of compressors apparently. No big deal. I called Danny today, he has my order in his system, i've talked to Perry multiple times and never had a problem with him about my order. Now i did have a problem with ride tech years ago but rehashing that wont change anything. I'm sure I'll get my parts (i did before), it's just a matter of when. If my car was waiting to get on the road because of a compressor i might have a different attitude. Truth is i dont need the system for 6 months i just bought it because it was on sale.

[camcojb]

All this bickering and no one can agree who the bad vendor is. Is it PTS or is it Prodigy?

the guy who started the thread was talking about Prodigy. Another member sympathized and said he was going through a similar deal with a vendor; that vendor was PTS. So the thread is about both. Neither are sponsors on this forum.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Did the thead on PT disappear? I cant seem to find it anymore....

[dhutton]

Did the thead on PT disappear? I cant seem to find it anymore....

The thread about Prodigy got buried in the Marketplace forum. There is another thread about PTS in the open forum...

Don

[Stuart Adams]

If you order whatever thru a dealer and the dealer sais the order was placed today, you should be calling the vendor today to see if infact its true. Double check. If not cancel immediately and go thru someone else, period.

Or just call the vendor directly to see if you can go direct for the same price. Bypass the possible ponzi.

Don't be a victim by trusting someone else and not following thru on your own.

Kudos for Brett for booting a unethical dealer.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Found it on PT.... Good to have a separate forum for feedback but it's pretty buried unless you really look for it. Doesn't mention it in the marketplace description

When you place an order with a dealer you shouldnt have to double check by calling the supplier company to make sure you aren't getting the shaft... I don't have time for that

[PTS]

I'm going to put an end to this particular problem. The problem is Perry Price at PTS.
I've had conversations with at least 4 customers who have ordered [and paid for] RideTech systems from PTS. RideTech has either not gotten an order, or is holding the PTS order waiting for their payment. I [and several of my staff] have also had several conversations with Perry on this subject and he has been told to fix it..."it" being the customers orders AND the perception that it is his suppliers fault that he can't ship parts.
I am allergic to exposing business issues like this but I have to put the considerations of our end customers [and future customers] ahead of the concerns of a single dealer.
There is NO doubt that many manufacturers [including RideTech] continually struggle to keep up with growing orders [especially right now]. This situation has been uneccessarily magnified by a dealer who is holding orders for whatever reason.

If you have a RideTech order pending with PTS, please let us know your situation directly. Danny Coultas at RideTech is handling this issue directly. His direct number is 812.481.4712. His direct email is [email protected]. I cannot do much about retreiving funds from PTS, but we WILL work with you as best we can to get you your parts. We are currently shipping well on everything but compressors. [compressors seem to be a worldwide issue right now].

To be clear...PTS is no longer a RideTech dealer, effective immediately. There are plenty of good RideTech dealers out there that will offer you good tech advice AND place your order promptly. If you simply cannot find one you are happy with, call us directly and we will process your order.

My personal apologies for allowing this to happen. I will try to show more sack in the future to prevent these situations.




Brett you are completely out of line and F.O.S. I am emailing several customers that will come on here explain what has happened. Here it goes...

1. I received a COD order from you guys day before yesterday and I was over charged $1031.25 and Danny knows about this. Do you? Same order in the beginning was sent to me with airbags and should have been select series coil overs. Do you know about this? I ordered and gave the parts numbers and still a screw up.

2. Customer Gary received a order and all the parts powdercoating was beat and gouged along with missing parts. Ruth tells my customer I have to file a damage claim. Do you know about this?

3. Customer Renee order a rear G body coil over kit and receives air bags. Again do you know about this.

4. Customer Lenie orders Ride Pro e3 with 5gal tank and airpod cover yet receives 3gal kit with no cover. Also you billed my credit card recently for the upgrade and he still has not received his order.

5. Customer Tony orders Ride Pro part# 303334000 and you still have not shipped his parts due to no air compressors.

The only orders I have still pending are as follows:

1. Customer Lenie from above that I have paid in full.

2. Customer Tony from above with that has not shipped due to no compressors.

3. Customer Renee from above that received the wrong parts again paid for in full and we are waiting on the replacements from you.

4. Customer Wes that cancelled due to personal reasons that I refunded.

5. Customer Rich order I have in hand after Ridetech says I never ordered it. I can provide a picture of your invoice and the cashiers check I gave the freight company.


What else Brett? I have spent alot of money on overnights, discounting, and refunds. If I sit here and think about it you actually owe me money and a huge ass apology but screw that as you already stated I am no longer a dealer and hell I just realized you did me a favor...

Perry
PTS

By the way you have called me once in the past year!

[PTS]

This is to expand and clarify my post above.

I don’t post on these forums a lot, even less about purely business stuff…and nearly NEVER about negative business issues. This forum is about fun with cars and I think it should stay that way.

I have to break that tradition now because there are some dangerous precedents being set that need to be addressed. Too many people have complained about dealers taking their money and not shipping parts for weeks or months. This type of complaint has seemed to cross all ranges of product…wheels, brakes, engine parts, interior parts, and suspension parts.

If you are a dealer [for any manufacturer] who has sat on an order [for any reason], you might be highly offended by our position on this subject. If you are a SMART dealer, then you should be encouraged by our position on this subject. Pick your level of offense.

Read the remainder of this rant as your leisure, but here is the main message:

• With rare exception, RideTech components are in stock and can ship within a day or two of the order. Also, with rare exception, we will ship the components that we do have and send the backordered component as soon as it is built, usually within a matter of days…sometimes a few weeks…certainly not months.

• We make a conscious effort to inform customer and dealers if any component is beyond a couple days availability and to notify them if that situation changes. Any customer can call at any time and get an accurate answer as to what components are actually in the building and which ones might be delayed [if any].

• We TRY to police our dealer base to eliminate dealers who cannot or will not provide our expected level of service to our customers. Part of that process includes the dealers knowledge that if they drop the ball, for whatever reason, RideTech WILL take care of the customer directly.

RideTech is one of the few manufacturers that still sells directly to the end user in addition to having an extensive dealer network. We do that for many reasons, the main one being convenience for the hotrodder. Most RideTech dealers do not mind this situation because they know that we NEVER undercut the retail price and we encourage the customer to deal with his favorite dealer. The relationship between RideTech as a manufacturer and our dealers is simple…the dealers get a fixed percentage discount for making an initial dollar amount buy-in, and supporting it with an agreed upon annual purchase level. It is also assumed that a RideTech dealer will provide a level of customer service that is appropriate to each customer and each market.


RideTech dealers have 3 main responsibilities:

1. To become knowledgeable enough about the product line to provide competent product advice in order to guide the customer towards the most appropriate equipment.

2. To process a customer’s order in the most timely and efficient manner possible.

3. To provide accurate and relevant technical advice on products after the sale.


As a manufacturer, RideTech has responsibilities as well:

1. To develop and manufacture the highest grade of product possible.

2. To maintain a pricing structure that is agreeable to both the dealer and the end customer

3. To manufacture and deliver product in the most timely and efficient manner possible.

This is not a complex relationship and it has not changed in the last 16 years of our existence…nor do we intend it to. From time to time we have had situations where a dealer has taken an order [and possibly money] from a customer and then delayed for some period of time in placing that order with us. These are rare situations and USUALLY it is worked out with a minimum of hassle for all parties. As our product line matures, there are some hungry dealers who are offering discounts to the point where they are making little to no profit with which to operate their businesses. We have no capacity to resolve a dealer’s business problems, but we do have the capacity to attempt to protect our customers from becoming a part of it on our behalf.

I could end my rant here and become cryptic and politically correct about specific dealers who have had problems in this area, but then there would be [likely incorrect] speculation about who I am specifically referring to. I cannot jeopardize good dealers standings by trying to protect one person.

Perry Price and PTS is no longer a RideTech dealer. If you have RideTech orders pending with PTS please call or email Danny Coultas at our shop and he will work with you to get you your parts promptly. Danny’s direct email is [email protected]. His direct number is 812.481.4712

If anyone has ordered from any other RideTech dealer and has waited more than 2 weeks for parts you may contact us as well.

OK…let the beatings begin.

Brett,

I just got off the phone with Danny and we went over everything. You need to get with him and see what else we discovered that has potentially costed you thousands on retail orders on your site...

RE: I received an order COD for $4106.25 and a retail customer can buy for $4100.00. Something is wrong and its costing you!!!

[Blake Foster]

If you order whatever thru a dealer and the dealer sais the order was placed today, you should be calling the vendor today to see if infact its true. Double check. If not cancel immediately and go thru someone else, period.

Or just call the vendor directly to see if you can go direct for the same price. Bypass the possible ponzi.

Don't be a victim by trusting someone else and not following thru on your own.

Kudos for Brett for booting a unethical dealer.

This is a good idea. To a point, as the MFG if your dealer has called or not called and placed or not placed the order and then 10 minutes later you ( the dealers customer) are calling the MFG to check up on the dealer it becomes a case of the dog chasing it's tail, you get multiple ppl working on the same thing and often time it causes more problems than it solves, not to mention the time it takes to get all the stories straight.
To that I think that if you have a pending order and after a reasonable amount of time you have not had communications with your dealer then it is probably time for a phone call to the MFG. Now don't get me wrong it is not like we are going to not try and help you when you call. But everyone does need to be reasonable. we have had this problem crop up a couple time with different dealers as well as vendors (that we buy from) we have dropped dealers and vendors and it sucks, in a perfect world everyone would have everything in stock and shipping would be FREE! I think a little common sense
goes along way
I agree with Bret about selling/ buying direct from the MFG.Speedtech has the same process as Ridetech and we encourage customers to deal with who ever they are most comfortable with.
:cheers: :lateral:

[ironworks]

If you order whatever thru a dealer and the dealer sais the order was placed today, you should be calling the vendor today to see if infact its true. Double check. If not cancel immediately and go thru someone else, period.

Or just call the vendor directly to see if you can go direct for the same price. Bypass the possible ponzi.

Don't be a victim by trusting someone else and not following thru on your own.

Kudos for Brett for booting a unethical dealer.

I can agree with what you saying some what, But then what is the purpose in even having dealers. The fact is don't let price be your only choice in determining who you order your parts through. If it is, your always going to get what you pay for in customer service. Just because the dealer is willing to cut his own throat to get you business does not mean you should let him sacrifice the customer service you are demanding but not willing to pay for.

Nobody can offer the best customer service and the lowest prices. If you don't believe me go to Walmart and ask a question about a product. Let me know how that works out for you.

[Stuart Adams]

Bottom line is pretty simple, if you care that your money is being spent on what you ordered, and not providing funds for the last guys order, then follow up. Having no time to call is BS unless your willing to go thru what others have already on this topic.

Don't assume jack.

[PTS]

I agree. We have a damn good reputation and never had a problem the past 16 months. Its funny that a decision was made against my company like that. Really I am not upset and by all means if a customer feels uncomfortable I will without question refund their money. I think the decision was a man staring in the mirror talking to himself...

[Stuart Adams]

No offense to you PTS. I'm stating an overall opinion.

Also if you follow up and things are ordered as promissed, then that just reassures your trust in the dealer.

[John510]

The thread about Prodigy got buried in the Marketplace forum. There is another thread about PTS in the open forum...

Don


They put it in there so they can moderate the responses. He built Larrys car so he's protected over on that site.

[Lenie]

Brett you are completely out of line and F.O.S. I am emailing several customers that will come on here explain what has happened. Here it goes...

1. I received a COD order from you guys day before yesterday and I was over charged $1031.25 and Danny knows about this. Do you? Same order in the beginning was sent to me with airbags and should have been select series coil overs. Do you know about this? I ordered and gave the parts numbers and still a screw up.

2. Customer Gary received a order and all the parts powdercoating was beat and gouged along with missing parts. Ruth tells my customer I have to file a damage claim. Do you know about this?

3. Customer Renee order a rear G body coil over kit and receives air bags. Again do you know about this.

4. Customer Lenie orders Ride Pro e3 with 5gal tank and airpod cover yet receives 3gal kit with no cover. Also you billed my credit card recently for the upgrade and he still has not received his order.

5. Customer Tony orders Ride Pro part# 303334000 and you still have not shipped his parts due to no air compressors.

The only orders I have still pending are as follows:

1. Customer Lenie from above that I have paid in full.

2. Customer Tony from above with that has not shipped due to no compressors.

3. Customer Renee from above that received the wrong parts again paid for in full and we are waiting on the replacements from you.

4. Customer Wes that cancelled due to personal reasons that I refunded.

5. Customer Rich order I have in hand after Ridetech says I never ordered it. I can provide a picture of your invoice and the cashiers check I gave the freight company.


What else Brett? I have spent alot of money on overnights, discounting, and refunds. If I sit here and think about it you actually owe me money and a huge ass apology but screw that as you already stated I am no longer a dealer and hell I just realized you did me a favor...

Perry
PTS

By the way you have called me once in the past year!

Hey would you looky there, my name is mentioned in line 4 and then again in the following line 1... hmmm, man these kind of threads never do anyone any good as there are always two sides and there are people on here who have alliances w/one or the other so the truth is rarely ever really found but still a lot of damage is incurred along the way deserving or not. I'm on this site and over at pro-touring because I really love cars and the main reason is because of the people behind the cars that I get to know and hopefully become friends with one day. Growing up in my dads house, he has always stressed accepting responsibility. You're only as good as your word and your last name is attached to it. If you shake hands it's a done deal, no passing the buck. We have read plenty of these types of threads and I don't ever remember reading anyone actually accepting responsibility. Usually the thread is closed by moderators so in the end, what good has come out of it? I have several orders out through different vendors since black friday all w/the same status but I will tell you about the one with my name on it above. During black friday I placed one of my orders with Perry of PTS for a five gallon airpod as mentioned above w/2 compressors:unibrow: Perry has been very good about keeping me informed on the status of my order as it was delayed weekly waiting on Ridetech to build the airpod who subsequently were waiting on another manufacturer to build the compressors needed to build the airpod. I can see it now, Perry calling Ridetech being told the compressors are one week out and Ridetech calling the compressor manufactures being told they were one week out and each week when the compressors weren't available, the story would have to be retold. As frustrating/tough I know it has to be on both of these businesses, Perry has manned up and made the phone call to keep me informed on his dollar and in my world that goes along ways. I'm not blaming anyone here because neither of these business are truely in control of the final outcome, and yes, I've called both parties along the way and all stories match up. I'm merely pointing out, until someone actually steps up in any case and accepts responsibility for there actions, these threads create more harm than good. Still, Perry calls me weekly and Ridetech's receipt of the compressors is one week out. Unless in the end someone actually has stolen money from me, I'm going to try and not lose sleep over it and yes I will go through Perry(PTS) again as he has made every effort.... here's to the people of Lateral-G and cars:cheers: :thumbsup:

[LILBuzzy]

damn Canadians....why do you have to be so freaking reasonable?:thumbsup:

[fleet]

damn Canadians....why do you have to be so freaking reasonable?:thumbsup:

As the kids like to say, they chill out. :lol:

[Blake Foster]

damn Canadians....why do you have to be so freaking reasonable?:thumbsup:

Thats the way WE roll EH! :thumbsup:

a Little saying that i like to spew every now and then.

"Price, Quality or Service....................

Pick any 2"

[novanutcase]

Easy Fix...

You find a kick ass deal and move on it.

The distributor/dealer must submit a copy of the confirmed order from manufacturer to you within 48 hours with a prospective delivery date on it. Now you have proof that the distributor/dealer has in fact placed the order and the burden is now squarely on the manufacturer to deliver.

If no such paperwork is submitted to you within that time frame you call your CC company or whatever payment system you chose, such as Paypal, and reverse the charges. Deal over and no one gets burned.

Don't ever pay with a check or cash. It's way harder to recoup your money from scumbags when you do it that way.

John

[LILBuzzy]

Thats the way WE roll EH! :thumbsup:

a Little saying that i like to spew every now and then.

"Price, Quality or Service....................

Pick any 2"

we hillbillies do appreciate it when you treat us right:bow:

[Fluid Power]

Easy Fix...

You find a kick ass deal and move on it.

The distributor/dealer must submit a copy of the confirmed order from manufacturer to you within 48 hours with a prospective delivery date on it. Now you have proof that the distributor/dealer has in fact placed the order and the burden is now squarely on the manufacturer to deliver.

If no such paperwork is submitted to you within that time frame you call your CC company or whatever payment system you chose, such as Paypal, and reverse the charges. Deal over and no one gets burned.

Don't ever pay with a check or cash. It's way harder to recoup your money from scumbags when you do it that way.

John

I own a distribution company. (for industrial products) this is standard operating procedure for us and everyone I have ever dealt with (vendors AND customers). I have a lady who's job it is just to make sure our orders are confirmed with vendors and my customers orders with me! My fax machine and email is full every morning with confirmation PO's from vendors we have placed orders with (if we do not have it in stock!) The confirmation has the ship date (the actual ship date) We then load the information into our system and an order acknowledgement is sent to the customer with that date. We do not buy on COD we have established lines of credit. They wouldn't do business with us in any other fashion. This entails having an established relationship with a bank, a line of credit with them and cash on hand. All the things it takes to run a business correctly. This isn't rocket science, just good business.

It ****ing blows my mind that this is not SOP for anybody else in this type of business.

Makes me want to open a car parts business. It can't be this hard to run. It just can't.......

Darren

[ccracin]

I own a distribution company. (for industrial products) this is standard operating procedure for us and everyone I have ever dealt with (vendors AND customers). I have a lady who's job it is just to make sure our orders are confirmed with vendors and my customers orders with me! My fax machine and email is full every morning with confirmation PO's from vendors we have placed orders with (if we do not have it in stock!) The confirmation has the ship date (the actual ship date) We then load the information into our system and an order acknowledgement is sent to the customer with that date. We do not buy on COD we have established lines of credit. They wouldn't do business with us in any other fashion. This entails having an established relationship with a bank, a line of credit with them and cash on hand. All the things it takes to run a business correctly. This isn't rocket science, just good business.

It ****ing blows my mind that this is not SOP for anybody else in this type of business.

Makes me want to open a car parts business. It can't be this hard to run. It just can't.......

Darren

This is what I have been waiting for someone to post Darren. This is how most any good business is run. The other point I will add is that things do sometimes go south and either we or our vendors may make a mistake or have a problem that is going to make an order late. It is our policy to inform our customer as soon as this information is known. We can then work with the customer for the best possible outcome. We consider ourselves failed if we miss a ship date and our customers have to call us to find out where their parts are. We also have a network of dealers around the country that rep. our products. We expect them to work as an extension of us with the same values toward customer service. If they do not, they do not continue to represent us. It is just that simple. Great info Darren! :thumbsup:

[greg5436]

well since i just read thru all the posts i am going to tell you my latest BAD dealings with frank.back in july i saw frank had some deals on radiators and i ordered 2. they showed up with no problems. scott griffen started on a 69 camaro for me. i was talking to frank and he said let me take care of everything you need and assured me that he had his act together and could take care of it quick. i wired him 36,000 and told him i needed all the DSE parts first and everything for the chassis shop to get my car rolling.he said he ordered the parts the day i wired the money.2 weeks later i had not received anything and talked to DSE and said he had never placed the order. i knew i was in trouble right then.after a few calls my DSE parts started showing up.after going over the order 5 times. i could not believe someone could get so many things wrong.i also ordered Baer brake system with floater rear end.i talked to matt at moser in mid august and asked about the rear.he said there was no order for it yet. i told frank just send me the rear housing with the baer floater and DSE brackets installed i would wait on the axles and 3rd member later. he said the send out the rearend complete.3 months later the the rear shows up all unassembled and the wrong gear ratio. i went over the gear ratio 3 different times with frank and 2 times with matt at moser but didn't seem to do any good.in the meantime i had to buy a different rear end housing and a floater setup from GMR. then my calipers showed up and they were the wrong color. the guy at baer said send them back and he would exchange them. i sent them back and someone from UPS stole them before they arrived.what a nightmare,been shipping boxes for 30 years and never had a problem.the guy at baer took alot of time finding this package.i had sent it back in their original box with the Fedex label on the inside. i guess there was a lot of heat over this package that someone reversed the labels and gave it to fedex and it shipped back to me a month later. the man at baer figured this out. finally a happy ending on that story. there are 10 other things that i ordered and i had to call,e-mail and keep track of everything myself. i still don't have everything. if this is what you have to do to save some money i rather pay list price for everything and have it sitting in my garage.

i wish some of these large companies did not have a middle man and would sell at a fair price to all.i have been in the transmission business for 30 years and i don't have any middle men and i deal with over 150 shops and customers right off the street and it has worked for me.

people need to watch out for frank, he is not out to help you at all.
greg5436

[Blake Foster]

i wish some of these large companies did not have a middle man and would sell at a fair price to all.i have been in the transmission business for 30 years and i don't have any middle men and i deal with over 150 shops and customers right off the street and it has worked for me.

The shop is the middle man? your just the manufacturer in this case
There are alot of manufacturers here that will sell direct. :cheers:

[214Chevy]

...There are alot of manufacturers here that will sell direct. :cheers:

I know and I hate it when I call a manufacturer to buy from them direct and they won't sell to you, forcing you to go thru a dealer.

[Bucketlist2012]

I have no input other than sorry to the guys who get taken...

I am not here to fuel any fires.

I have been lucky thanks to people telling their story..

I was fortunate to find a great shop, with an honest Guy, and all the parts came in and were installed right.

Tough to right a 5 figure check for parts without having some trust in who you are dealing with..

Been near enough horror stories to not end up in one...

Sure there are two sides to every story, but when one story gets told by many people, caution should be used.

We cannot afford to buy things twice..

Or worse, pay for parts and labor twice.:cheers: :lateral:

[novanutcase]

I wish some of these large companies did not have a middle man and would sell at a fair price to all.

I know and I hate it when I call a manufacturer to buy from them direct and they won't sell to you, forcing you to go thru a dealer.

Unfortunately, dealers/distributors/middlemen are a necessary evil when you're trying to get the word out on your product. Without them many manufacturers would have to charge much higher prices as the volume sales that they enjoy from this sales force structure helps keep their pricing competitive through mass manufacturing. Without them they would not have the exposure they need to make it feasible to manufacture on that large a scale.

Keep in mind that even manufacturers are beholden to their raw materials/parts suppliers. If their suppliers are not able to deliver the parts needed for whatever end product the manufacturer is producing then they are, in effect, in the same boat as their dealers in terms of being able to deliver on time. That being said, to try and run a business with a supply chain that only has one supplier in that respective category is just asking for the problems that we are seeing. This is where management is at fault as they are not doing their jobs correctly. ALWAYS have a back up plan!

We cannot afford to buy things twice....Or worse, pay for parts and labor twice.

So true! I know how you feel as this has happened to me also! Still waiting on some parts I paid for to be shipped to me.........

John

[Bucketlist2012]

Unfortunately, dealers/distributors/middlemen are a necessary evil when you're trying to get the word out on your product. Without them many manufacturers would have to charge much higher prices as the volume sales that they enjoy from this sales force structure helps keep their pricing competitive through mass manufacturing. Without them they would not have the exposure they need to make it feasible to manufacture on that large a scale.

Keep in mind that even manufacturers are beholden to their raw materials/parts suppliers. If their suppliers are not able to deliver the parts needed for whatever end product the manufacturer is producing then they are, in effect, in the same boat as their dealers in terms of being able to deliver on time. That being said, to try and run a business with a supply chain that only has one supplier in that respective category is just asking for the problems that we are seeing. This is where management is at fault as they are not doing their jobs correctly. ALWAYS have a back up plan!



So true! I know how you feel as this has happened to me also! Still waiting on some parts I paid for to be shipped to me.........

John

Actually, the good news for me is that it never happened... I found the right shop the first time...So I cannot imagine having that happen to me..Mine went like clockwork form A arms to wheels...

In fact , the shop I am at , does many do overs that someone else did not do right..

So, that is why the guy is crazy busy because of repeat customers and referrals. quality work and honesty.

But I feel for you guys... :cheers: :lateral:

[214Chevy]

....Keep in mind that even manufacturers are beholden to their raw materials/parts suppliers. If their suppliers are not able to deliver the parts needed for whatever end product the manufacturer is producing then they are, in effect, in the same boat as their dealers in terms of being able to deliver on time.
John

I agree with you wholly John, but I think the matter at hand here with 95% of the people was monies that were taken and orders never replaced or parts not received as a result of never being placed. I'm sure others would agree and probably be more willing to wait on product if their orders were at least placed and it was a legit deal and they were assured they were placed by an order number or confirmation number. We all know and understand the business of parts available can be slow at times. I know many on here have said Frank was a good guy. He could have taken a million dollars from a guy, but if the guy called 10 manufacturers and all 10 said we have your order and it has been paid by Prodigy, but we are having a hard time getting materials from their supplier, the guy would be 100 times more understanding than if the company said we have no such order from a Prodigy Customs and never have received a million dollars. That's where the doo-doo hits the fan. Lastly, even after all of this...at least be able to refund a guy his money in the end. No matter if a vendor "so-called" forgot to place the order, the order was wrong, etc. Don't have a guy waiting on money and never get it back even 6, 9, 12, 18 months later.

[camcojb]

When an order is placed and paid in full with a dealer, the dealer should immediately place the order with the supplier. There is NO EXCUSE for not doing so. NONE!

In the case of a group buy where a certain number of orders are required to get a discount, then the dealer should not be taking payment in full up front. He should either get a list of customers wanting in, maybe a small deposit to hold their place, but full payment should not be made until the order is being placed with the supplier.

Any dealer that has a pattern of taking payment in full and holding the order for weeks/months has severe cash flow problems. You can forget once in a long while I guess if things are hectic, but when it's an on-going issue over dozens and dozens of customers and several years there is a big problem.

[novanutcase]

I agree with you wholly John, but I think the matter at hand here with 95% of the people was monies that were taken and orders never replaced or parts not received as a result of never being placed. I'm sure others would agree and probably be more willing to wait on product if their orders were at least placed and it was a legit deal and they were assured they were placed by an order number or confirmation number. We all know and understand the business of parts available can be slow at times. I know many on here have said Frank was a good guy. He could have taken a million dollars from a guy, but if the guy called 10 manufactures and all 10 said we have you order and it has been paid by Prodigy, but we are having a hard time getting material from their supplier, the guy would be 100 times more understanding than if the company said we have no such order from a Prodigy Customs and never have received a million dollars. That's where the doo-doo hits the fan. Lastly, even after all of this...at least be able to refund a guy his money in the end. No matter if a vendor "so-called" forgot to place the order, the order was wrong, etc. Don't have a guy waiting on money and never get it back even 6, 9, 12, 18 months later.

Agreed! This thread was originally pointed at dealers but I wanted to at least give a fair shake to manufacturers as they also encounter problems that hold up production. It's just a fact of life when it comes to manufacturing.

I guess my point is that, on the dealer side, customer service is their lifeline and that is what needs to be paramount in regards to the transaction at hand. They have no control over what the manufacturer does but if they aren't even placing an order? Well....that's where the 48 hour order confirmation comes into play.

I only mentioned the manufacturer issues because they were also mentioned as part of the problem in terms of not being able to supply their distributor with the required parts.

IMO when a customer calls a dealer to order a particular part, either, the dealer needs to have an up to the minute inventory from his manufacturer(not likely), or, he needs to make a phone call after the order is placed with him but BEFORE he charges the customer. This way he gets a definitive answer from his manufacturer in respects to part/kit availability. If they have it in stock he then runs the customers credit card. If not he calls the customer and gives him the scenario at hand. Let the customer decide what he wants to do. Once the amount gets approved he then calls the company and places the order. Once the order is placed the manufacturer either emails or faxes a copy of the order to the dealer. The dealer blacks out whatever pricing info is on the order confirmation and that gets emailed or faxed to the end customer. This is standard operating procedure for most any major supplier/dealer. It's not a hard system to setup and maintain and will instantly boost customer service while dramatically reducing the time spent in dispute with customers that "fall through the cracks".

Time is money but, more importantly, if you are able to service your customer they will come back. Re-orders are the gravy for any business.

John

[Vegas69]

In todays society, you just can't run a business this poorly and expect to stay in business long. Frank, you're running out of mulligans.

[Fluid Power]

I know and I hate it when I call a manufacturer to buy from them direct and they won't sell to you, forcing you to go thru a dealer.

Here is the difference. I distribute for a lubricant manufacturer. I buy product by the skid and sell to the end user one or two at time. I sell a ton of lubricants. Imagine my manufacturer dealing with the 1000's of phone calls and emails from people buying 1 can or just 1 case. They would rather sell to me at a discount and make me buy it by the skid. Plus, they have a built in sales force with my guys in plants pushing product. It costs them NOTHING to have my sales guys working for them.

[Fluid Power]

Keep in mind that even manufacturers are beholden to their raw materials/parts suppliers. If their suppliers are not able to deliver the parts needed for whatever end product the manufacturer is producing then they are, in effect, in the same boat as their dealers in terms of being able to deliver on time. That being said, to try and run a business with a supply chain that only has one supplier in that respective category is just asking for the problems that we are seeing. This is where management is at fault as they are not doing their jobs correctly. ALWAYS have a back up plan!


It does happen. Happens almost every day. The way we work is we always build a little 'fudge' in the delivery date to our customers. My manufacturer says 7-10 days, we quote 14-18 days. When it shows up early, nobody calls us complaining, they call to thank us!

Now in a situation that is competitive, or somebody has a machine down in a plant, then we get or demand a drop dead date from the manufacturer.

It really boils down to communication between the manufacturer, the distributor and the end user. Plain and simple. Nobody likes surprises.

My saying around the office is: "Under promise, Over Deliver."

I wish I had thought of that myself, but it holds true....

[mrr1999]

I wonder if any of these vendors realize that taking payment in full and not completing a transaction without just cause and communication opens up a non-performance suit, which can quickly snowball into a class action. Not to mention if they are paid by Paypal or CC, they can lose their payment gateway if enough non-performance cases are filed.

The sad part is once the ball is rolling (and the consumer rarely knows it is), the operation can be shut down and the owner forced into bankruptcy. At that point all who are waiting for refunds sit on a list - many times forever without remedy.

Unless you have a crystal ball or ask for a financial statement every time you want to place an order:_paranoid , it comes down to luck when dealing with small to medium vendors. I hope it works out for all who got stuck in the middle of this.

[novanutcase]

It does happen. Happens almost every day. The way we work is we always build a little 'fudge' in the delivery date to our customers. My manufacturer says 7-10 days, we quote 14-18 days. When it shows up early, nobody calls us complaining, they call to thank us!

Now in a situation that is competitive, or somebody has a machine down in a plant, then we get or demand a drop dead date from the manufacturer.

It really boils down to communication between the manufacturer, the distributor and the end user. Plain and simple. Nobody likes surprises.

My saying around the office is: "Under promise, Over Deliver."

I wish I had thought of that myself, but it holds true....

Couldn't have said it better myself!:thumbsup:

John

[JustinB]

At the end of the day all these threats about law suits are meaningless. If you force a so-called class action suit, they file BK and good luck getting your money. I think bringing it up on these sites, when warranted, forces the dealer to act. Making threats about law suits or I am flying down to (insert empty threat here) is not going to help anybody out. Obviously money is tight or the dealer would not be in the position in the first place. Finding several thousand dollars in an empty bank account to refund a customer might take a few days to work out. They know they are getting beat up, give them a couple days to work it out. If they still don't remedy the problem, you are either screwed all together or have to wait until they can find the money to fix the problem. It sucks but its the reality of the situation.

[Yenko LS]

Justin.. I hear and respect what you say.,BUT it is not a "empty" statement to say oneself would fly out for thousands of dollars. And the vendor should not have to "scrape"any thing up because no parts where bought from his supplier so he did not pay so the money should be in his bank..RIGHT?

[Rybar]

Man these kinds of threads are really starting to get out of hand.

I am middle man myself, owning a retail furniture store. The second I take a 50% deposit the order is immediately placed with the supplier who then sends me a confirmation. I try to relay order status continually to my customers as information arrives to myself. Once in a while customers call the suppliers direct to get updates or sometimes complain.

The only thing I can guess (and I don't know the auto part industry) is that Frank is obviosuly offering some better prices. He must take full deposits and then wait until he has volume orders to then place at the manufacturers so he can get the volume discounts and then pass that savings onto the consumer. This has to be why he is so hush hush on his business problems. If he were to admit this secret then people would most likely stop buying from him all together UNLESS the guy was up front with people saying: "I can get you said price, if you are willing to pay up front AND wait approx said amount of time"

I ordered about $10k worth of parts from him a 1-2 years ago, he was a good salesman and offered some good suggestions. But have to say his logistics and followup in regards to orders and mis-shipment of parts was a real pain in the ass as I had to call and deal with the manufacturers directly myself. IE he provided barely any after sale support unless I was calling/emailing him and busting his balls reminding him which in my experience is NOT what the consumer is supposed to be doing. That is the dealers job NOT the manufacturer. The manufactuer should only step up and get involved if theres a delivery problem, or actual problem with thier product.

Good luck everyone and I hope these vendors and manufacturers in Question can somehow step up and take some accountability for their problems and from my personal experience this is getting worse and worse in every industry. Everyone is happy to make the sale and collect the money, nobody gives a damn to help out and sometimes LOSE money to get the customer what they ordered and keep them happy.

Ryan

[Flash68]

Justin, I partially agree.

A class action is actually counter-productive in this case because, as you mention, the more that pile on the more likelihood of a BK filing. I have been in 2 similar situations actually with much larger dollars at stake so I do have some bckgrd here. You do want to push just hard enough to try to get some money out, but if you push too hard, and you pile on the plaintiffs, you may all get nothing. It's a case like this where I think "strength in numbers" backfires and is detrimental to the individual cause.

But the stronger individual threats, whether they carry any weight or not, should do a lot more to get a guy paid back than the guy who is silent and sends a polite email once in awhile. Squeeky wheel gets the grease?

If the company is intent on staying in business, and in this case it certainly appears so, an individual suit for $5 or 10k won't take them down.

[JustinB]

It is. What is it going to accomplish? If there is no money, there is no money. The reason you have not received your refund or parts is because there is no money. Showing up and getting into an pissing match is not going to magically make money appear out of then air. I feel bad for all involved. It sucks and I am not making excuses for anybody. I really hope the dealer involved takes care of you guys.

[JustinB]

Justin, I partially agree.

A class action is actually counter-productive in this case because, as you mention, the more that pile on the more likelihood of a BK filing. I have been in 2 similar situations actually with much larger dollars at stake so I do have some bckgrd here. You do want to push just hard enough to try to get some money out, but if you push too hard, and you pile on the plaintiffs, you may all get nothing. It's a case like this where I think "strength in numbers" backfires and is detrimental to the individual cause.

But the stronger individual threats, whether they carry any weight or not, should do a lot more to get a guy paid back than the guy who is silent and sends a polite email once in awhile. Squeeky wheel gets the grease?

If the company is intent on staying in business, and in this case it certainly appears so, an individual suit for $5 or 10k won't take them down.

Agreed on the squeaky wheel gets the grease. But that is my point. Outing the situation in the places where the dealer drums up most of there business is a REALLY good way to force the dealer into action. I think once you cross the line and say I am going to do .......to you, you negate your point and your complaints with fall on deaf ears. Basically all I am trying to say it, play your cards right. Don't screw yourself because you lost your head.

[mrr1999]

A class-action is actually counter-productive in this case because, as you mention, the more that pile on the more likelihood of a BK filing.

I completely agree. Although I said they are open to legal action in that fashion, class-action lawsuits only work when the company being sued has EXTREMELY deep pockets. In any other case, it actually assures that you will never get your money back because you force the vendor out of the game and can never recover financially. That's why you see law firms filing class-actions against drug companies, insurance companies and automakers - not the corner speed shop.

[Stuart Adams]

The person spending others money is dangerous business. It takes a lot of risk for ones family and wellbeing. Back in the day or in today's world, cross the wrong person or family or connection, it could be brutal. I'd be scared crappless if I had others dough, if you get my drift.

[sevillaz28]

It really sucks to hear these things happen. Money should be given and service or product should be recieved, thats it. I have been in business for a long time as a Home Builder and I'm amazed at how some people run their business. I have one vendor for my car projects and the only one i use for parts purchases is Mats Classic Bowtie in Dublin here in Ca. I have been buying from them for almost 8 years and have never had a problem. They have been part of about 50 of my car builds and the communication is Excelent and just a great group of people.

There is also the business lien option where you lien the assets of a company, those assets are sold at auction and money is disbursed accordingly. I think thats how it works but not totally sure.

[LILBuzzy]

Is this a Greg Weld thread? Four days with almost 6000 views and close to hunnert replies. Just saying.

[novanutcase]

There is also the business lien option where you lien the assets of a company, those assets are sold at auction and money is disbursed accordingly. I think thats how it works but not totally sure.

That only works if you are a secured creditor. In my experience, putting liens on companies when you are an individual is a waste of both time and money if said company goes under. It's the big boys that get paid first meaning the banks and lawyers, then the big ticket accounts and so on and so on. By the time it gets to you all you get is a swift kick in the 'nads!!:mad:

John

[Flash68]

You can file a complaint in court and get a judgment for amount owed. Then you can create problems for the business. But it's the cost of the complaint and filing that is hard to swallow, unless your fiancé is an attorney like mine. let's just say I've collected a lot of money I've been owed since I hooked up with her. Lol.

But seriously, there are ways to drum up your money before the other guy. Abd frankly (no pun intended) it appears to be every man for himself here.

This really really sucks for you guys.

I guess there is safety buying from Summit and Jegs.

[geberhard]

At the end of the day all these threats about law suits are meaningless. If you force a so-called class action suit, they file BK and good luck getting your money. I think bringing it up on these sites, when warranted, forces the dealer to act. Making threats about law suits or I am flying down to (insert empty threat here) is not going to help anybody out. Obviously money is tight or the dealer would not be in the position in the first place. Finding several thousand dollars in an empty bank account to refund a customer might take a few days to work out. They know they are getting beat up, give them a couple days to work it out. If they still don't remedy the problem, you are either screwed all together or have to wait until they can find the money to fix the problem. It sucks but its the reality of the situation.

VERY well said

[geberhard]

I guess there is safety buying from Summit and Jegs.

Yes, just placed a nice order through them for Ridetech stuff. Sure I can order them from other vendors, and will give them a shot (and I tried but not hearing back on a timely manner just lost my business). I.e. I love the fact that Matts and the crew are very cool people and local, good prices and all, but customer service and turnaround can improve (pretty much the perception of a lot of local buyers buying through them). Again I prefer supporting a local business that supports our hobby and sport.

As long as they are responsive and follow through I want to give them a shot at the business first. If I make a call, e-mail, and do not hear back within 24 hours, I will move to the next channel and so on. I am a hobbyst and not a shop or high end builders as several here, but have worked on multiple cars with sizable orders and basically expect to be treated the same way that someone ordering in the thousands. No excuses. If they want to stay in business customer service, honestly and quick turnaround is basic stuff and key.

[214Chevy]

....
I guess there is safety buying from Summit and Jegs.

...Sure I can order them from other vendors.

I order 75% of my stuff from Jegs and have been for nearly 10 years now. Take my T56 Magnum for example. When it was first released, I called lots of vendors and they were giving me the run around about how hot of a ticket it was (and it was), but I got tired of the kits they put together being overpriced. Sure, the Tranny was the same price everywhere (per Tremec MSRP), but they tried to make extra money on the kit parts like the clutch, bellhousing, etc. So, I politely gave Jeg's a call and put together my own kit. Did the same with my 6 piston Baer brakes. Save nearly $400 on the front Extreme kit. And that was a vendor on here trying to upsale me.

[GregWeld]

I will tell you that anyone that is talking "CLASS ACTION" lawsuits is just blowing smoke out their ass... It's obvious you HAVE NOT talked to an attorney... They are extremely difficult - need court approval and on and on... So while this "sounds good" it's just BS.

Sorry... but it had to be said.


If you need to a file suit -- just do it... don't talk about it.

[ErikLS2]

And, if you file a lawsuit you might not see your money but you will get a judgement. A judgement alone wont get you your money either and the court wont help you collect but it will go on the defendant's credit and prohibit them from obtaining any new credit. I get judgements all the time on rental property tenants that I have to evict and I never see any money but once in a while they pop up when the person is trying to rent a TV or buy a car or something and I just have to chuckle.

At some point there must be laws that are broken too aren't there? I mean, large sums of money, across state lines and all that, must be something there I would think.

[GregWeld]

Erik --- EXACTLY -- you might get the judgement but good luck getting any money.

Further -- Wire fraud -- by definition has nothing to do with the fact that you "wire transferred funds".

You would have to PROVE that he/she set about to defraud. Doubtful that you can prove anything like that against a merchant that is in business and simply offered to supply you with goods -- but failed to do so. That is NOT wire fraud.

WIRE FRAUD
18 USC 1343, makes it a Federal crime or offense for anyone to use interstate wire communications facilities in carrying out a scheme to defraud.

A person can be found guilty of that offense only if all of the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

First: That the person knowingly and willfully devised a scheme to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false pretenses, representations or promises; and

Second: That the person knowingly transmitted or caused to be transmitted by wire in interstate commerce some sound for the purpose of executing the scheme to defraud.

It is not necessary that the Government prove all of the details concerning the precise nature and purpose of the scheme; or that the material transmitted by wire was itself false or fraudulent; or that the alleged scheme actually succeeded in defrauding anyone; or that the use of interstate wire communications facilities was intended as the specific or exclusive means of accomplishing the alleged fraud.

What must be proved is that the person knowingly and willfully devised or intended to devise a scheme to defraud; and that the use of the interstate wire communications facilities was closely related to the scheme because the person either wired something or caused it to be wired in interstate commerce in an attempt to execute or carry out the scheme.

To "cause" interstate wire facilities to be used is to do an act with knowledge that the use of the wires will follow in the ordinary course of business or where such use can reasonably be foreseen.

Each separate use of the interstate wire facilities in furtherance of a scheme to defraud constitutes a separate offense.

[Bucketlist2012]

Cliche's are so often used, but are often right...

How are you going to get Blood out of a Turnip ??? You are not...

Judgement Smudgement.... Big words... As people said, there is a cash flow problem, and the cash is gone...

I don't know anything about the vendor or any situations, but simple rules and cliche's apply here...

The horse is dead...Why is the horse still being hit ???

Again, I am a very Lucky man to have found the right shop and owner, the first time..:cheers: :lateral:

[Flash68]

I will tell you that anyone that is talking "CLASS ACTION" lawsuits is just blowing smoke out their ass... It's obvious you HAVE NOT talked to an attorney... They are extremely difficult - need court approval and on and on... So while this "sounds good" it's just BS.

Sorry... but it had to be said.


If you need to a file suit -- just do it... don't talk about it.

You are right Greg. Lots on here talk a big game but have never been party to a real lawsuit.

It's easy to spew words on the internetz. :D

[RickM415]

well thats why I have B of A lol...you don't get your parts ..you call n they refund you your money in 24hrs ,hold it for investigation for like 90 days n if there is no response with any kind of real proof from the other party then you are all good,all that lawsuits and all that other stuff its just a waste of time ,u show up to the police station with a fraud complaint they gonna laugh at you n make u fill a paper that they will probably never investigate lol.bottom line its that when we buy a car part we aint trying to buy no sad story with it on why we aint getting our parts ...save that drama for your momma lol

[ProdigyCustoms]

Lets start with Doug 1, the OP. Doug was part of a group buy for seats I could not make happen. By the time he and others and I decided we could not wait out the GP, it was to old a transaction to refund to his card. (refunds can only be put back on cards sometime for 90 days, usually no longer then 180 days). Doug was patient and wanted to wait out the process as well as a couple others (who have been refunded already) and waiting put it went outside the boundaries of being able to refund to the card. We promised to send a check and as he mentioned he did not get it. However, before he posted this thread he was sent a check and should have that in his hand and in the bank.

No, the post did not make that happen, I did not even know about the post until Weds.

Anyway, Doug is a good guy who has been screwed to death this year.

[ProdigyCustoms]

So, there are 5 people complaining about us in this thread, and 3 of the 5 are more then a year, even 2 years old.

Doug1, the OP I addressed in the thread above

John510 is over a year old. His problems were 100% our fault, we admitted that in a thread he started and handled his issues. In the meantime he has had a vendetta against us. PMs potential customers, happy customers tell me about his PMs although when he realized he was tip toeing on torturous interference and slander that PM campaign does seem to have stopped. But he won't resist a opportunity like this.

Jknight is a good guy, unfortunatly he was caught in a shortage of TKO 600s I think 2 years ago? But we stayed in constant contact and got him everything he needed. However I suspect these types of thread make one rethink????????? For what it is worth, JKnights deal put me out of the Transmission kit business and made me find a supplier that could handle those orders. I realized it was way to hard to put the pieces of the puzzle toghether and found a supplier (s) i could let do what they do. I won't go into how hard that has been, but lets just say I do not sell transmission kits unless I have to.

Ratman, Ratman is in Columbia, South America. Moved his car, even talked to us about finishing the car. He and I discussed the BS issue, I never ran from responsibility, and the trail went cold. First I have heard about it in a year? His Vintage Air took a extended trip, not his fault. His threat of a thread is true however the unit was to arrive the next day so the thread threat was not the determining factor.

[ProdigyCustoms]

well since i just read thru all the posts i am going to tell you my latest BAD dealings with frank.back in july i saw frank had some deals on radiators and i ordered 2. they showed up with no problems. scott griffen started on a 69 camaro for me. i was talking to frank and he said let me take care of everything you need and assured me that he had his act together and could take care of it quick. i wired him 36,000 and told him i needed all the DSE parts first and everything for the chassis shop to get my car rolling.he said he ordered the parts the day i wired the money.2 weeks later i had not received anything and talked to DSE and said he had never placed the order. i knew i was in trouble right then.after a few calls my DSE parts started showing up.after going over the order 5 times. i could not believe someone could get so many things wrong.i also ordered Baer brake system with floater rear end.i talked to matt at moser in mid august and asked about the rear.he said there was no order for it yet. i told frank just send me the rear housing with the baer floater and DSE brackets installed i would wait on the axles and 3rd member later. he said the send out the rearend complete.3 months later the the rear shows up all unassembled and the wrong gear ratio. i went over the gear ratio 3 different times with frank and 2 times with matt at moser but didn't seem to do any good.in the meantime i had to buy a different rear end housing and a floater setup from GMR. then my calipers showed up and they were the wrong color. the guy at baer said send them back and he would exchange them. i sent them back and someone from UPS stole them before they arrived.what a nightmare,been shipping boxes for 30 years and never had a problem.the guy at baer took alot of time finding this package.i had sent it back in their original box with the Fedex label on the inside. i guess there was a lot of heat over this package that someone reversed the labels and gave it to fedex and it shipped back to me a month later. the man at baer figured this out. finally a happy ending on that story. there are 10 other things that i ordered and i had to call,e-mail and keep track of everything myself. i still don't have everything. if this is what you have to do to save some money i rather pay list price for everything and have it sitting in my garage.

i wish some of these large companies did not have a middle man and would sell at a fair price to all.i have been in the transmission business for 30 years and i don't have any middle men and i deal with over 150 shops and customers right off the street and it has worked for me.

people need to watch out for frank, he is not out to help you at all.
greg5436

And then there is Greg

This one may turn into a fight because I think Greg wants to. I will preface this with yes, we made some mistakes but not all is as stated.

And I do not owe Greg Any Parts as he says I do.

I will break this down a bit because half his issues are manufacturer related.

First off, I explained to Greg that I would send all the DSE stuff he need to get started (Which i have tracking shipped BEFORE the money even moved) and he DID recive that stuff immediatly (Mini tubs, connectors, stuff that needed to be welded in that was not heavy) and he knew that the subframe and Q Link were not going to be ready for a couple weeks. And that I was going to DSE to pick up 3 subframe, a couple Q Links and some other stuff for a stocking order and that I would grab his stuff while I was there. NO, there was not a order with his name at DSE, there was a order for multiple parts which after his call we verified. However after his freak out call to DSE, DSE and I agreed we would just break his stuff off and ship it right away as he was getting antsy. Which cost me way more for shipping, but whatever.

On the Moser, Greg got THE very first set of Baer Floaters on his rear that Moser had done. Greg knows there was HOURS of back and forth getting details so Moser could build the rear. And no, Matt at Moser did not have a "Order" (Purchase order details) because we was not sure what we was building. But as Greg stated he was in constant contact with Moser him self through the entire process. And Greg will have to say, even after reviewing with Me and Moser many times the gear ratio, Who covered all the cost of changing the gear.......Frank!

Greg's Nightmare with Baer and wrong parts is between he and Baer, however his mentioning it in his complaint about me makes it sound like I did something wrong. But in reality his Baer brakes were ordered before the money hit and Greg was privy to every email back and forth while we waited out the process.

There are other things on the list he did not mention, some went some, some did not. Some things definitely our fault, some definitely not.

I will take and accept the heat for what is our fault. Greg know how exorbitantly difficult some of this process was. And i am taking all the heat even for parts that was not my fault. but that seems to come with the territory

But if you have something is outstanding on this order Greg, please tell me, I need to know

[ProdigyCustoms]

OK, so there we have it. One original poster with a issue (now settled), and four issues 8 months to 2 years old which are all settled.

Yes I am aware there is another thread from someone wanting to find others for a Class Action suit. Good Luck on finding those people. It is not as wide spread as you might hope. And BTW, I refunded him his 100% refund for a set of headers that fit every other car on the planet but his. And am screwed for $700 on the deal. BUT, he is correct, I DID say I would refund him 100%. And no, accounting did not send it when I asked it be sent, long story there, not worth going into. But he has it on the way now. And for the record, he canceled his credit card so we COULD NOT post the credit back to the card. I won't fight it here, there is way more then 2 sides to the story.

And Class action suit? For what?

One of the reasons the other forums put this in a moderated forum is to keep this from festering. I know have customers calling wondering if were getting sued? For what? Check us out. Prodigy Customs has never been sued. has 1 Motor Vehicles compalint in 23 years and one BBB complaint. that is a pretty damn goo track record.

As for Prodigy? Again, last year sales grew again, up slightly more then 10% in spite of our move to the new facility we bought in March and losing almost 2 months business during the move.

And we did some 1700 orders, 1200 customers, 600 returning customers and 600 new. So 1700 orders and I pissed off a dozen people? Not great but things happen

And anyone worried about money? This is the wrong place to brag about money, but don't worry yourselves. Margins are up slightly also along with increased gross. Everything is just fine.

We are still 100% debt free except the mortgage on the home and the Building, no car payments, lease payments, credit card payments, I have a small Snap On bill is my only open credit. And we do not owe any suppliers one penny! And we spent deep into 6 figures cash on down stroke, our move, improvments. So it ain't money!

And I have to say, it blows my mind the way people jump on happy customers when they try to express their happiness with Prodigy on this forum. Pour Wes got molested and had to delete his post for trying to say he had a good experiance with us. Makes people afraid to say anything positive about us. I have 1180 HAPPY customers from last year!

There are plenty of angry Indians over here with no skin in the game at all. Many comments are from people with no experience with us. And some people with good experience even say they had good experience but go negative? (I had a good experiance but I won't deal with them anymore). WTF is that? It is the crazy-est thing.

Exactly why I did not already respond.

[Bucketlist2012]

OK, so there we have it. One original poster with a issue (now settled), and four issues 8 months to 2 years old which are all settled.

Yes I am aware there is another thread from someone wanting to find others for a Class Action suit. Good Luck on finding those people. It is not as wide spread as you might hope. And BTW, I refunded him his 100% refund for a set of headers that fit every other car on the planet but his. And am screwed for $700 on the deal. BUT, he is correct, I DID say I would refund him 100%. And no, accounting did not send it when I asked it be sent, long story there, not worth going into. But he has it on the way now. And for the record, he canceled his credit card so we COULD NOT post the credit back to the card. I won't fight it here, there is way more then 2 sides to the story.

And Class action suit? For what?

One of the reasons the other forums put this in a moderated forum is to keep this from festering. I know have customers calling wondering if were getting sued? For what? Check us out. Prodigy Customs has never been sued. has 1 Motor Vehicles compalint in 23 years and one BBB complaint. that is a pretty damn goo track record.

As for Prodigy? Again, last year sales grew again, up slightly more then 10% in spite of our move to the new facility we bought in March and losing almost 2 months business during the move.

And we did some 1700 orders, 1200 customers, 600 returning customers and 600 new. So 1700 orders and I pissed off a dozen people? Not great but things happen

And anyone worried about money? This is the wrong place to brag about money, but don't worry yourselves. Margins are up slightly also along with increased gross. Everything is just fine.

We are still 100% debt free except the mortgage on the home and the Building, no car payments, lease payments, credit card payments, I have a small Snap On bill is my only open credit. And we do not owe any suppliers one penny! And we spent deep into 6 figures cash on down stroke, our move, improvments. So it ain't money!

And I have to say, it blows my mind the way people jump on happy customers when they try to express their happiness with Prodigy on this forum. Pour Wes got molested and had to delete his post for trying to say he had a good experiance with us. Makes people afraid to say anything positive about us. I have 1180 HAPPY customers from last year!

There are plenty of angry Indians over here with no skin in the game at all. Many comments are from people with no experience with us. And some people with good experience even say they had good experience but go negative? (I had a good experiance but I won't deal with them anymore). WTF is that? It is the crazy-est thing.

Exactly why I did not already respond.

Don't know you, but thanks for posting such a detailed answer. That is all i needed to see.. I hope all this Irons out soon.. You sound like you are on top of things, and your post should clear up some mis information....Thanks..:cheers:

[camcojb]

OK, so there we have it. One original poster with a issue (now settled), and four issues 8 months to 2 years old which are all settled.

Yes I am aware there is another thread from someone wanting to find others for a Class Action suit. Good Luck on finding those people. It is not as wide spread as you might hope. And BTW, I refunded him his 100% refund for a set of headers that fit every other car on the planet but his. And am screwed for $700 on the deal. BUT, he is correct, I DID say I would refund him 100%. And no, accounting did not send it when I asked it be sent, long story there, not worth going into. But he has it on the way now. And for the record, he canceled his credit card so we COULD NOT post the credit back to the card. I won't fight it here, there is way more then 2 sides to the story.

And Class action suit? For what?

One of the reasons the other forums put this in a moderated forum is to keep this from festering. I know have customers calling wondering if were getting sued? For what? Check us out. Prodigy Customs has never been sued. has 1 Motor Vehicles compalint in 23 years and one BBB complaint. that is a pretty damn goo track record.

As for Prodigy? Again, last year sales grew again, up slightly more then 10% in spite of our move to the new facility we bought in March and losing almost 2 months business during the move.

And we did some 1700 orders, 1200 customers, 600 returning customers and 600 new. So 1700 orders and I pissed off a dozen people? Not great but things happen

And anyone worried about money? This is the wrong place to brag about money, but don't worry yourselves. Margins are up slightly also along with increased gross. Everything is just fine.

We are still 100% debt free except the mortgage on the home and the Building, no car payments, lease payments, credit card payments, I have a small Snap On bill is my only open credit. And we do not owe any suppliers one penny! And we spent deep into 6 figures cash on down stroke, our move, improvments. So it ain't money!

And I have to say, it blows my mind the way people jump on happy customers when they try to express their happiness with Prodigy on this forum. Pour Wes got molested and had to delete his post for trying to say he had a good experiance with us. Makes people afraid to say anything positive about us. I have 1180 HAPPY customers from last year!

There are plenty of angry Indians over here with no skin in the game at all. Many comments are from people with no experience with us. And some people with good experience even say they had good experience but go negative? (I had a good experiance but I won't deal with them anymore). WTF is that? It is the crazy-est thing.

Exactly why I did not already respond.

Frank, I appreciate you coming on the site and addressing the problems. I do have a question, that although mentioned in many of these threads has never been answered by you to my knowledge.

Why do we have so many people who say that they've ordered and paid in full for parts and months later they have not even been ordered from the manufacturer?

[Lenie]

:beathorse :beathorse :beathorse :beathorse :beathorse time to move on....

[garickman]

:beathorse :beathorse :beathorse :beathorse :beathorse time to move on....

I don't understand why it is time to move on. Why can't Frank just answer one simple question. He brags that he has over 1000 happy customers so that justifies the handful of people that he has ripped off for thousands of dollars, putting people through unwanted stress, causing projects to be delayed for weeks, months and in a few cases over a year. It isn't like these problems just crept up, it has been on going for a couple of years.

In the meantime he throws it in everybody's face that he is debt free with no mortgage payment, credit card or car payments. I would be debt free too if I was using someone elses money to pay all my bills. I have ordered through Frank before and although I got my item it took forever and I had to make many phone calls. I hear everyone defend him and say he is a nice guy. Sure he is a nice guy, have you ever met a con-artist that was an a-hole. The defination of a con-artist is a person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk, a person adept at swindling by means of confidence. Let the man explain himself.

[John510]

I just found another guy who was conned on pro touring during his March pulley system sale. The guy ordered parts and paid for them but Frank never ordered from March. This is from 3 weeks ago. Curious what excuse he has on this one.....

[Bucketlist2012]

I don't understand why it is time to move on. Why can't Frank just answer one simple question. He brags that he has over 1000 happy customers so that justifies the handful of people that he has ripped off for thousands of dollars, putting people through unwanted stress, causing projects to be delayed for weeks, months and in a few cases over a year. It isn't like these problems just crept up, it has been on going for a couple of years.

In the meantime he throws it in everybody's face that he is debt free with no mortgage payment, credit card or car payments. I would be debt free too if I was using someone elses money to pay all my bills. I have ordered through Frank before and although I got my item it took forever and I had to make many phone calls. I hear everyone defend him and say he is a nice guy. Sure he is a nice guy, have you ever met a con-artist that was an a-hole. The defination of a con-artist is a person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk, a person adept at swindling by means of confidence. Let the man explain himself.

Gotta say the man is right...Thanks Frank for telling us all about your debt free life and your dropping many hundreds of thousands of dollars on upgrades by choice..

Sure your customers that seem to be getting burned appreciate your heartfelt apology..

seems to me , too many people with the same story on this site, and one man, with a defensive and condesending response...

[ErikLS2]

I'd like to hear Frank answer Jody's question too. I'm another one, ordered my Vaporworx tank, got a good deal, waited a couple months at least and nothing. Called Hector, he had no record of the order, and I had my tank in a couple weeks. I would just like the question to be answered already.

[XLexusTech]

Why do we have so many people who say that they've ordered and paid in full for parts and months later they have not even been ordered from the manufacturer?

Why not just post a policy where by you guarantee parts will be ordered when paid for? Wouldn't this help? Would this be a smart thing for a vendor to do?

[Lenie]

I don't understand why it is time to move on. Why can't Frank just answer one simple question. He brags that he has over 1000 happy customers so that justifies the handful of people that he has ripped off for thousands of dollars, putting people through unwanted stress, causing projects to be delayed for weeks, months and in a few cases over a year. It isn't like these problems just crept up, it has been on going for a couple of years.

In the meantime he throws it in everybody's face that he is debt free with no mortgage payment, credit card or car payments. I would be debt free too if I was using someone elses money to pay all my bills. I have ordered through Frank before and although I got my item it took forever and I had to make many phone calls. I hear everyone defend him and say he is a nice guy. Sure he is a nice guy, have you ever met a con-artist that was an a-hole. The defination of a con-artist is a person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk, a person adept at swindling by means of confidence. Let the man explain himself.

Most of us have ordered from vendors and not always had positive outcomes. In this case Frank has been banned from this site for sometime now w/reasons readily available to read. Most of his business problems have been stated in fore mentioned post, yet we keep asking the same questions already pretty much knowing the answers. Do we really need to hear him gravel? You will never get the answers you're looking for. I believe the people on this site are better than that. It's good to keep members informed but it also helps to do your research on the vendors history before ordering and in this case there are plenty of red flags out there as this topic has been addressed several times in the past. Again there's really no need to push, push, push when you already know the answers. I wish you all the best of luck retrieving your losses as I have been in this boat before w/several vendors. The hobby is tough enough w/o vendors making it tough on us.

[brans72]

I will say I have order parts from Franks and had no problem on getting my parts. I did not spend alot was maybe 2k but I got my parts in reason amount of time. Just my.02 and hope this matter with everyone and we all just get along once again :D

[ProdigyCustoms]

Jody, I have taken my time answering this thread initially, and then after your response because I can give a dozens reason why this has happened on SOME orders and no matter what I say it will just fuel the fire. I could throw a employee under the bus, complain about being to busy, blame it on the way payments are received, blame it on bulk purchases, blame it on group buy, blame it on timing orders, blame it on automatic order system failures.

It does not matter what reason I give, I can break down every scenario as I have here and in the past and whatever that answer is will still be seen as BS by my witch hunters here. In the past I have accepted responsibility and explained every problem in detail only to get absolutely mugged for say "I screwed up"

How many orders is it? 10?50? 100? orders. We do THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of orders! And when I point that out someone jumps in and says I am bragging. Just last night I got my dinner completely botched at one of our favorite most consistent restaurants.

I cannot answer this and win. I try to give comfort in the fact we are debt free so people are comfortable we will be here tomorrow, and I get my head ripped off for bragging about being debt free.

I get accused of ripping people off but there is not a single documented case of someone getting ripped off and NOT getting what they paid for. Not one person has never gotten what they paid for.

I will tell you this, it is a small percentage of our orders. I will also tell you that not many people run out an brag about things that go as they as supposed to go, as expected. Not many people go into work and brag, "Just want to let everyone know I got my Egg McMuffin in 2 minutes this morning just like I was supposed to". But if someone gets their Egg McMuffin in 20 minutes that guy will bitch and bitch and bitch. Now if you combine that basic thought process and create a atmosphere where people are allowed to back slapped for saying something positive, like here on this forum, it makes it even more unlikely anyone will say anything. I have emails and text for people saying. i still love you man! hold you head up, but they are afraid to speak up because they will get mugged!

And I see you deleted Ummgawa's post, but when the moderators lead the mugging like they have in the past, they are leading the choir!

And you Jody in particular are 100% blaming me for something that is 100% not true and not as you state it to be, And I have emails to back it up. But you are carrying a torch for me for something that did not happen.

Jody, how many other orders did you and I do that went just fine?

So I will TRY to explain how someone can order something and the PO not be sent but the card is charged. This is a PERFECT example that can documented right here and now. I will give you a perfect example of how this can happen. The nicest guy in the world has posted in this thread a couple times and had a problem order he has not mentioned, in fact he has tried to slow the flame without bringing it up.

Lenie came to visit us at out new shop. Wanted to see the shop, wanted to buy some stuff while he was here. He hung out and we talked for a couple hours, My phone blowing up like it does all day, me answering every call all the while. Lenie commented many times on how amazing it is I take everyone calls, he stuck through it. All of a sudden Lenie has to go, we realize time is up, I also have to leave, Lenie wants to order some stuff real quick before he goes.

I write a hand written note, 10 items, multiple manufacturers. Give him some pricing, Lisa runs the card while Lenie is there, we all leave at the same time. hand written note on my desk. Lenie calls 2 weeks later, just checking on my stuff. Oh ****, where is that note? Can't find it. Find it 2 weeks later under a chair in my office, ceiling fan must have blown it off. Frank TOTALLY forgets because it is not in his face Monday morning. Call Lenie, Lenie is cool. We start getting his stuff to him, but I send Lenie a 69 dash instead of a 67 dash. Lenie calls, OK, I will handle it, phone rings. That gets forgotten.

BUT, 2 weeks later I DO remember literally in the middle of the night and write to Lenie, Lenie, I forgot about your dash. Lenie handled it direct with the company with out me even knowing. The point is WHEN I remembered, I tried to fix it right away.

So how does it happen. I wrote a hand written note, leave, lose, forget, transposed one digit and sent a 69 instead of a 67. In the end Lenie got everything he was supposed to get. And I think he is to nice a guy to mention he was not THRILLED with the way it went down, but I THINK he also understands how it happened as he was wittiness to just how busy we get. Lets forget the fact that I was probably the only person on the planet capable of specking out some parts of Lenie's order. Lets forget the fact I actually had living projects available for him to see exactly what he was wanting.

Let me tell you something else. A year ago there was a thread about not getting what boiled down to a transmission kit. It was the huge thread I said, oops, tried to time the order and no trans was available. No matter how hard i tried to accept responsibility, I got mugged! Well needless to say i jumped all over getting that transmission problem fixed. The OP was privy to every email between me and the supplier going forward. I specifically asked that this kit go complete, as it is too hard to chase little parts that do not show up to drop ships. Trans kit ships, shows up missing 4 or 5 parts. Send a note, 3 of 5 parts ship. It took 6 weeks to finalize that order and no matter how hard I tried I could not make it end. And the customer was courtesy copy on every email. When it was all done I said, OK, so you have got a snapshot of how damn difficult this can be sometimes. He never came back in and said ya know, I can see how this can happen. It is not the nature of the beast. But at the end of the day there was a SPECIFIC reason I had not sent that trans kit.

I will tell you another thing. There was another customer that jumped on that thread, has a almost identical problem, ripped my head off and pucked down my throat. And rightfully so. In the meantime in the year past I have made constant contact with that customer, checking up on him, seeing if things were OK, how his project was going. A issue came up he DID NOT mention to me 6 months later, I saw it in a post (Not in a negative way) hi m trying to solve the problem on his own. I found out it was something my supplier did wrong. I sent parts, and gave credit to cover the labor. I have bent over backwards after he blew my head off on the thread to give service after the sale, me initiating the service. It would have been real easy to bail on that one. Not many people get their ass whipped and come around seeing if they can help after the fact. And I do not expect him to say something, but you do not see him chiming in saying, got to hand it to Frank, he sees things through.

So in the end, it is a small percentage, I cannot give a satisfactory answer, and nothing I say will change the direction of this thread.

[ProdigyCustoms]

I just found another guy who was conned on pro touring during his March pulley system sale. The guy ordered parts and paid for them but Frank never ordered from March. This is from 3 weeks ago. Curious what excuse he has on this one.....

So there goes John again, FINDING someone through PMs. LOL! God I wish I had so much time on my hands.

Curious of my excuse. Very very simple. he ordered a brand new kit that was not available and was told from the get go it would be a few weeks as they were waiting for compressors. I was told they would be expected early last week. Customer saw this thread, called march and said he was worried his order was not placed because he heard rumors of us not placing orders.

My rep called me and said he explained to him

(1) That kit was a brand new kit and was not shipping yet, which he knew

(2) That is is not uncommon for dealers to place orders in bulk, and just because there was not a order, did not mean it was not getting ordered.

So, want a snapshot into my business John. To offer that discount, and to get free shipping, I have to place orders of $2500 or more. This order is barely over 1000 dollars, so I have been checking for statues of that kit and waiting to order it when it is ready with another kit which is always in stock.

That is how I offered the additional 5% and free shipping.

AND FYI, Lisa called that customer and left a message at the phone number on file at 11 O Clock soon as we checked in to see the availability.

So I wonder, if I bring March in to verify that conversation and what I say is true, will that end you witch hunt John? Will you stop PMing potential customers and WARNING them about us? Will you stop PMing customers who's deals are transparent in a thread and FOLLOWING UP on our orders?............No, probably not. it really is a bit sick!

[ProdigyCustoms]

I don't understand why it is time to move on. Why can't Frank just answer one simple question. He brags that he has over 1000 happy customers so that justifies the handful of people that he has ripped off for thousands of dollars, putting people through unwanted stress, causing projects to be delayed for weeks, months and in a few cases over a year. It isn't like these problems just crept up, it has been on going for a couple of years.

In the meantime he throws it in everybody's face that he is debt free with no mortgage payment, credit card or car payments. I would be debt free too if I was using someone elses money to pay all my bills. I have ordered through Frank before and although I got my item it took forever and I had to make many phone calls. I hear everyone defend him and say he is a nice guy. Sure he is a nice guy, have you ever met a con-artist that was an a-hole. The defination of a con-artist is a person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk, a person adept at swindling by means of confidence. Let the man explain himself.

Greg, I do not understand where you vengence comes from. You ordered your stuff and got it in 2 weeks later? Is that forever for a build item?

[ProdigyCustoms]

I'd like to hear Frank answer Jody's question too. I'm another one, ordered my Vaporworx tank, got a good deal, waited a couple months at least and nothing. Called Hector, he had no record of the order, and I had my tank in a couple weeks. I would just like the question to be answered already.

So Erik, that was in September 2010, long time ago. I do not even remember that deal or what happened. It was so long ago I cannot remember. But I do remember that was during a sale when I had a bunch of orders working.

I just reviewed you account and do have tracking for your other 2 invoices and they look like were prompt.

1 of of 3 is NOT a acceptable ratio, but it is almost 2 years old right now.

[Vegas69]

As the old saying goes, "You can't please everybody".

You naturally have more complaints due to your volume but they also tend to be really pissed off.

A couple suggestions:
Get an order system that automatically reminds your company to follow up with the manufacturer/customer. Take notes in the system.

If you take an order from a customer and you need to sell 5 kits to honor that price, disclose it up front. Don't hold onto their money for a month while you make your quota. I can see why people get pissed. It's basically a bait and switch.

Clearly we've done more business over the years than most. You have always taken good care of me. I just feel it's important for me to state my opinion for the future of your business than sit on the sideline. With that being said, I called and emailed you to buy a replacement radiator and ended up going through another vendor here on Lat G due to no response. If you're not servicing one of your best customers, you are doing something seriously wrong. You clearly need somebody else answering the phones and responding to emails. You can't be everything to everybody.

[ProdigyCustoms]

So again, this is the essential problem with this thread theory. I have to defend things that happened 2 years ago. And defend things that did not happen. And am spending 2 days thinking of a way I can answer this without fueling the fire even more. Because I can list the facts, acceept responsibilty and it won't end.

I am forced to divulge details about our finances, business model, to defend things a coupe years old.

Again, this thread is between me and Doug. At at the end of the day, even though Doug called me out in public, I will still help him going forward and I am 100% certain he will need some level of help going forward. And I will still be there for him.

The moderated one on one thread idea is so much better.

[camcojb]

Jody, I have taken my time answering this thread initially, and then after your response because I can give a dozens reason why this has happened on SOME orders and no matter what I say it will just fuel the fire. I could throw a employee under the bus, complain about being to busy, blame it on the way payments are received, blame it on bulk purchases, blame it on group buy, blame it on timing orders, blame it on automatic order system failures.

It does not matter what reason I give, I can break down every scenario as I have here and in the past and whatever that answer is will still be seen as BS by my witch hunters here. In the past I have accepted responsibility and explained every problem in detail only to get absolutely mugged for say "I screwed up"

How many orders is it? 10?50? 100? orders. We do THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of orders! And when I point that out someone jumps in and says I am bragging. Just last night I got my dinner completely botched at one of our favorite most consistent restaurants.

I cannot answer this and win. I try to give comfort in the fact we are debt free so people are comfortable we will be here tomorrow, and I get my head ripped off for bragging about being debt free.

I get accused of ripping people off but there is not a single documented case of someone getting ripped off and NOT getting what they paid for. Not one person has never gotten what they paid for.

I will tell you this, it is a small percentage of our orders. I will also tell you that not many people run out an brag about things that go as they as supposed to go, as expected. Not many people go into work and brag, "Just want to let everyone know I got my Egg McMuffin in 2 minutes this morning just like I was supposed to". But if someone gets their Egg McMuffin in 20 minutes that guy will bitch and bitch and bitch. Now if you combine that basic thought process and create a atmosphere where people are allowed to back slapped for saying something positive, like here on this forum, it makes it even more unlikely anyone will say anything. I have emails and text for people saying. i still love you man! hold you head up, but they are afraid to speak up because they will get mugged!

And I see you deleted Ummgawa's post, but when the moderators lead the mugging like they have in the past, they are leading the choir!

And you Jody in particular are 100% blaming me for something that is 100% not true and not as you state it to be, And I have emails to back it up. But you are carrying a torch for me for something that did not happen.

Jody, how many other orders did you and I do that went just fine?

So I will TRY to explain how someone can order something and the PO not be sent but the card is charged. This is a PERFECT example that can documented right here and now. I will give you a perfect example of how this can happen. The nicest guy in the world has posted in this thread a couple times and had a problem order he has not mentioned, in fact he has tried to slow the flame without bringing it up.

Lenie came to visit us at out new shop. Wanted to see the shop, wanted to buy some stuff while he was here. He hung out and we talked for a couple hours, My phone blowing up like it does all day, me answering every call all the while. Lenie commented many times on how amazing it is I take everyone calls, he stuck through it. All of a sudden Lenie has to go, we realize time is up, I also have to leave, Lenie wants to order some stuff real quick before he goes.

I write a hand written note, 10 items, multiple manufacturers. Give him some pricing, Lisa runs the card while Lenie is there, we all leave at the same time. hand written note on my desk. Lenie calls 2 weeks later, just checking on my stuff. Oh ****, where is that note? Can't find it. Find it 2 weeks later under a chair in my office, ceiling fan must have blown it off. Frank TOTALLY forgets because it is not in his face Monday morning. Call Lenie, Lenie is cool. We start getting his stuff to him, but I send Lenie a 69 dash instead of a 67 dash. Lenie calls, OK, I will handle it, phone rings. That gets forgotten.

BUT, 2 weeks later I DO remember literally in the middle of the night and write to Lenie, Lenie, I forgot about your dash. Lenie handled it direct with the company with out me even knowing. The point is WHEN I remembered, I tried to fix it right away.

So how does it happen. I wrote a hand written note, leave, lose, forget, transposed one digit and sent a 69 instead of a 67. In the end Lenie got everything he was supposed to get. And I think he is to nice a guy to mention he was not THRILLED with the way it went down, but I THINK he also understands how it happened as he was wittiness to just how busy we get. Lets forget the fact that I was probably the only person on the planet capable of specking out some parts of Lenie's order. Lets forget the fact I actually had living projects available for him to see exactly what he was wanting.

Let me tell you something else. A year ago there was a thread about not getting what boiled down to a transmission kit. It was the huge thread I said, oops, tried to time the order and no trans was available. No matter how hard i tried to accept responsibility, I got mugged! Well needless to say i jumped all over getting that transmission problem fixed. The OP was privy to every email between me and the supplier going forward. I specifically asked that this kit go complete, as it is too hard to chase little parts that do not show up to drop ships. Trans kit ships, shows up missing 4 or 5 parts. Send a note, 3 of 5 parts ship. It took 6 weeks to finalize that order and no matter how hard I tried I could not make it end. And the customer was courtesy copy on every email. When it was all done I said, OK, so you have got a snapshot of how damn difficult this can be sometimes. He never came back in and said ya know, I can see how this can happen. It is not the nature of the beast. But at the end of the day there was a SPECIFIC reason I had not sent that trans kit.

I will tell you another thing. There was another customer that jumped on that thread, has a almost identical problem, ripped my head off and pucked down my throat. And rightfully so. In the meantime in the year past I have made constant contact with that customer, checking up on him, seeing if things were OK, how his project was going. A issue came up he DID NOT mention to me 6 months later, I saw it in a post (Not in a negative way) hi m trying to solve the problem on his own. I found out it was something my supplier did wrong. I sent parts, and gave credit to cover the labor. I have bent over backwards after he blew my head off on the thread to give service after the sale, me initiating the service. It would have been real easy to bail on that one. Not many people get their ass whipped and come around seeing if they can help after the fact. And I do not expect him to say something, but you do not see him chiming in saying, got to hand it to Frank, he sees things through.

So in the end, it is a small percentage, I cannot give a satisfactory answer, and nothing I say will change the direction of this thread.

Frank, as you know, I have first hand experience of you taking money and holding it months before placing the order with the manufacturer. You did it to me. The fact that my other orders went well doesn't matter.

I have no problem with you making a mistake here and there. You're busy, you're human, it happens. You'd think that you'd come up with a better way than "writing notes" and stuff to eliminate the issue, but that's not the real problem. The real problem is that in many cases usually involving large dollar purchases you have taken the money up front and held the order for a long period of time.

Here are the facts that I have personal knowledge of. Not second hand knowledge from a member in a thread. There are tons of those if a person wants to read threads here and on other boards.

You held the $5K order from my friend and I for 2 months before placing it, even with us checking on the progress along the way. (could not have been a mistake in ordering)


I have spoken directly with other manufacturers/dealers who have had the same scenario done to them on orders they placed with you.


There are other examples, but the point has been made. I've been self-employed for 25 years of my life. I know what cash flow issues do to a business. I spent over 10 years with my own speed shop and working retail and wholesale in the performance car parts industry. I know exactly how difficult your job is, I know you'll get blamed for things that are not your fault. But we are talking about something different here.

I hope you are truly over the hump with your business, and you've corrected whatever was causing you to do this. If so, these threads will disappear. Otherwise, we can expect this to be an on-going issue.

[XLexusTech]

FWIW this is what used to be common practice in Body shops... part of why they get a bad rep.... age only rule.. never ever pay in full up front your car will sit there forever.... they use your money to order parts for other cars or make payroll or whatever.... then your stuck.... Not saying this is what's happening here...

[ProdigyCustoms]

As the old saying goes, "You can't please everybody".
If you're not servicing one of your best customers, you are doing something seriously wrong. You clearly need somebody else answering the phones and responding to emails. You can't be everything to everybody.

Your right man, 100% on a few things.

I am sorry i missed you rad deal, i was to slammed to get back with you. Guess I was complacent! but yeah, I do leave enough business out there to support another entire business.

Yes, I clearly need someone else answering the phones. The business has gotten way bigger then my cell phone can handle.

One thing under review right now is my unlimited tech service all day every day. I am getting slaughtered with calls. And to make it worse, some competitors have taken to selling BELOW cost (they are going out of business as we speak). But none the less, the more and more I find myself doing all the tech, project planing and then they going somewhere else to buy because the deal is so good. One of the posters in this thread did exactly that and is trapped now.

I might have to limit tech calls to a time period, maybe between sometime and sometime. I have NEVER insinuated someone be forced to buy from us in exchange for tech service, I get me share. But a recent scenario is making me rethink this theory. I will get off topic a minute

Guy writes to me, Frank I need suspension. I answer, I have 7 brands and systems, what are you doing, what are you using the car for, bla, bla, bla.

I have 9 replies 2 to 6 paragraphs long over 2 weeks going into great detail of why the system is best for him and convince him a specific product is right for him. He writes back, how much? I give him a price, he writes back, "best you can do", I answer yes?

Next day there is a new thread,

"Huge props to XXXX, I got the very best deal on XXX, I recommend him to everyone for XXX"!

Not a thread that says,

"I wore Frank out for all the information, Frank spent the time to EXPLAIN why this is the product for me, but I went somewhere else because another dealer is selling UNDER COST!"

So I guess that will happen and as i mentioned that business is all but gone now. But the reason I brought it up is to explain again why I had to assure everyone we are profitable. If I do not make a profit, I will be next!

So Todd, this business continues to grow and I will have to deal with the growing pains as they come. I may have to make some changes in my accessibility, give people something new to bitch about, LOL!

But again, except for the OP, everyone in this thread is more then 8 months old deals!

[XcYZ]

Oh and I'm not even going to waste my time reading franks endless posts of endless excuses. Its been the same story over and over and over. We're just numb to it.

[ProdigyCustoms]

You held the $5K order from my friend and I for 2 months before placing it, even with us checking on the progress along the way. (could not have been a mistake in ordering).

Wrong, i been waiting for this

You placed your order on 10 / 08

Here is the transcript of you DIRECT email exchange with Scott at Forgeline

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: wheel order
From: Scott Main <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, January 05, 2011 7:05 pm
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Cc: Prodigy <[email protected]>


The wheels we built were with standard assembly hardware, not blind bolt.
I have a rush order in the pipeline to make a set of blind bolt wheels for you.
Sorry for the confusion.


Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 4, 2011, at 6:30 PM, [email protected] wrote:


Scott, hate to bug you but these wheels still haven't shown. Any idea what is happening? Like to be able to tell my friend something.

Jody Bernard
Lateral-G







-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Main <[email protected]>
To: camcojb <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Nov 19, 2010 12:02 pm
Subject: RE: wheel order


Should be ready next week.


Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports
3522 S. Kettering Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45439
800-886-0093 ext. 11
Fax 937-643-0070

www.forgeline.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 2:20 PM
To: Scott Main
Subject: Re: wheel order

Yes that would make sense. My name is Jody Bernard so Frank would have used that as they're shipping to my house.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Scott Main" <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:14:00 -0500
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: wheel order

Hi Jody,
Is the name on the order Bernard?

Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports
3522 S. Kettering Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45439
800-886-0093 ext. 11
Fax 937-643-0070

www.forgeline.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 10:53 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: wheel order


Scott,

this is Jody (camcojb) from Lateral-G. Ordered a set of 18X12 and 18X9.5 or 10 SP3 wheels, charcoal centers, and hidden hardware from Frank at Prodigy. Came with tires mounted and balanced, think they were PS2's. Figured it would be faster to get the info through you............. :)

These are for a friend of mine who's car is at my place. Should have been ordered around Oct 10th or so, but it's hard to say for sure. It's been about 5-6 weeks and just wondered if you knew where we were at on them.

Thanks.

You were in direct comminication? I cannot for the life of me see how I am to blame?

[ErikLS2]

Frank, I don't want to see your business fail and I'm sure you're a decent guy. You would be better served I think by leaving these threads be and take all the time you spend on these responses and invest it in some kind of training or class on organizing. They do exist. I don't know if you remember what I do for a living but I have had customer satisfaction beat into my head for the last 20 years. The customer is always right and service is remembered long after price is forgotten. Maybe you should forget being the Wal-Mart of this industry and beating everyone by 5% and increase your prices, increase your margins and focus ALL your energy on an organized customer service system. All the people seeking a 5% lower price are also the first types of people that bitch and moan the minute things go wrong. And, send all your customers some sort of survey on their experience after they place an order and use that feedback to get better.

[camcojb]

Wrong, i been waiting for this

You placed your order on 10 / 08

Here is the transcript of you DIRECT email exchange with Scott at Forgeline

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: wheel order
From: Scott Main <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, January 05, 2011 7:05 pm
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Cc: Prodigy <[email protected]>


The wheels we built were with standard assembly hardware, not blind bolt.
I have a rush order in the pipeline to make a set of blind bolt wheels for you.
Sorry for the confusion.


Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 4, 2011, at 6:30 PM, [email protected] wrote:


Scott, hate to bug you but these wheels still haven't shown. Any idea what is happening? Like to be able to tell my friend something.

Jody Bernard
Lateral-G







-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Main <[email protected]>
To: camcojb <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Nov 19, 2010 12:02 pm
Subject: RE: wheel order


Should be ready next week.


Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports
3522 S. Kettering Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45439
800-886-0093 ext. 11
Fax 937-643-0070

www.forgeline.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 2:20 PM
To: Scott Main
Subject: Re: wheel order

Yes that would make sense. My name is Jody Bernard so Frank would have used that as they're shipping to my house.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Scott Main" <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:14:00 -0500
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: wheel order

Hi Jody,
Is the name on the order Bernard?

Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports
3522 S. Kettering Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45439
800-886-0093 ext. 11
Fax 937-643-0070

www.forgeline.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 10:53 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: wheel order


Scott,

this is Jody (camcojb) from Lateral-G. Ordered a set of 18X12 and 18X9.5 or 10 SP3 wheels, charcoal centers, and hidden hardware from Frank at Prodigy. Came with tires mounted and balanced, think they were PS2's. Figured it would be faster to get the info through you............. :)

These are for a friend of mine who's car is at my place. Should have been ordered around Oct 10th or so, but it's hard to say for sure. It's been about 5-6 weeks and just wondered if you knew where we were at on them.

Thanks.

You were in direct comminication? I cannot for the life of me see how I am to blame?
Frank,

Do the math. Ordered 10-10, first set completed 1-4. 3 week build time as per Forgeline. Asked them what the build time was in Oct 2010.........3 weeks. November and December.................. 3 weeks.

Explain to me how the wheels you ordered in early October weren't done until January 4th when Forgeline verified that they had a 2-3 week build time from date of order. It's simple........... you didn't order/pay for them until some time in December, which was verified via phone between myself and Forgeline.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Frank,

Do the math. Ordered 10-10, first set completed 1-4. 3 week build time as per Forgeline. Asked them what the build time was in Oct 2010.........3 weeks. November and December.................. 3 weeks.

Explain to me how the wheels you ordered in early October weren't done until January 4th. It's simple........... you didn't order them until some time in December, which was verified via phone between myself and Forgeline.

So Jody, tell me why they would tell you next week in mid November? Am i making this up? Did I fabricate this drect email exchange?

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Main <[email protected]>
To: camcojb <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Nov 19, 2010 12:02 pm
Subject: RE: wheel order


Should be ready next week.