Here we go again... I know there have been a number of posts in the past extolling the lack of customer service and uncareing (seemingly) at***ude of some vendors ,but my recent experience has led me to once again report that nothing seems to be improving despite the charade that. "WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS......CUSTOMERS COME FIRST..... BUY AMERICAN ," etc.that is consistantly marketed but seldom fulfilled. \case in point...tried not once, not twice, but three times to place a LARGE order with a southern california supplier of old truck parts. First two calls were .....I,ll transfer you to customer service... wait and wait ...15 minutes each time,grew impatient and hung up. third call...” just one moment and I will transfer you to customer service.” Hold on there Karen, we’ve been there and done that twice already. I asked if there was anyone working in customer service today and she said yes of course but they are extremely busy, you’ll just have to wait in the queue. She informed me that they are five people ahead of me. I don’t know about you folks, but if I’m running a business and I have people that are waiting five deep to give me money perhaps you should hire another customer representative for two! each time someone, like myself, gets tired of being treated like a customer at McDonald’s, and takes their hard-earned money and spends it elsewhere, you lose a customer. The customer may be $100 or he may be as in my case , several thousand dollars. Seems like they just don’t give a damn. I’d love to hear other people opinions on this. On top of all of this you want to try being a Canadian and building an old car in this environment. A ****py dollar value, exorbitant shipping costs, and then the government wants to bend you over at the border for your parts, not so much fun anymore.
Ordering online is the answer.I don't want to talk to anyone anymore! Good service used to be the norm but unfortunately now bad service is the norm.
I have had a side business since I was 16. I can tell you that from a business perspective, business tends to come in the door (or over the phone) in bunches at a time. There may be no person, or no calls come in for hours at a time, then suddenly you can get 2-3 or more customers, or calls come in, in a matter of minutes. Customer service was always a top priority to me, but a guy can only talk with one customer at a time, be it by phone or in person. That is the simple fact. The current minimum wage is now between $15 and $20 an hour (more in some places). A small business can no longer afford to have people standing around waiting for someone to call, unless you are running a very high volume shop. Often times its just the shop owner, or a wife manning a single, or double line phone. As a society, we have become a microwave society, we expect everything to happen in 30 seconds, until we get a hold of a real person, then we expect them to spend a hour talking with us uninterrupted, until we get every answer we think we need. Once we have the company person on the line, we don't care about who might be the next guy in line, nor do we care how long they have been waiting. If you walk into a shop, and there are 4 people standing in line to talk with an employee while he is talking with someone, we either wait our turn, or we leave and come back at a better time. Why doesn't a phone call get the same result?
Gene, I suppose I would have to agree with you. We as a society, and I include myself, have come to expect instant gratification too often. I did try again for a fourth time and I quite honestly got very good service once I waited my turn in the queue. I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here . Rome wasn’t Built in a day and neither is my hot rod going to be. Thanks for the replies
One thing that could help, is being informed; "you are x# in the que, please leave a mssg & your ph#, & we'll call you back in the order you are in, or you may wait if you wish, the ~time is x-minutes". If they actually do it... I have been given those choices on occasion, sometimes it works like it's supposed to, other times, it's... frustrating/irritating. I don't know what's worse, dealing w/a computer-voice that won't give correct(useable) options, or getting shipped to some foreign call center, whose "command" of the English(well, American) language is less than understandable. But, once in awhile, you get lucky & find someone who know, cares, & can actually help. Novel fkn concept, it is... . Marcus...
I have emailed a company 4 Times over a month hoping to give them my hard earned money, zero response. Asked a different company instant reply, just awaiting a shipping reply .
IMO, Here in the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin, the biggest problem with customer service is the shortage of help in Every area. St Germain Wisconsin is a tourist town/area and the major industry is tourism, boom time between Memorial day to Labor day, rest of year, short periods of busy, Fall/leaf peepers, Deer hunting 9 days, then Winter/Snowmobiling/ ice fishing, Spring/Fishing. We Love it here, Winter not so much anymore,. The beauty/serenity offsets the negatives. IMO The big change in customer service is we have become a throw away society, just replace items with new one as getting most anything repaired, takes too long IF you can find that service, then the money involved is crazy expensive, cheaper to replace. We/I are last of the DIY people, repairing our cars, hobby cars, home projects, etc. I will say I've dealt with some good people up here and it was the right decision for us to be Up Here, 34 years now, 16 full time. 18 years weekenders. At 78 now, our world has changed, it always has and will. For many years now " It is What It Is " has been a common statement for me. The HAMB, AM Coffee, All is Good ! Have A Great Day !
Just be sure, that when you do actually get a human that does their job and gives good service, to thank them and let them know you'll be back.
Hilborn were great to deal with over the phone. There are still some places that go out of their way to make the customer experience a good one... even if that customer is 6,000 miles away and speaks funny Aussie English. Stroud is a good example. Alky Digger are not bad either. Cheers, Harv
I have called a few companies where I actually got to talk to a real person instead of going through several menus. That was always a pleasant experience. The ones I can't stand are the ones that have some ****py quality recording of music that plays on an endless loop while I'm on permanent hold.
I have not purchased anything lately but will say, Never a problem with Speedway Motors, Summit Racing, Jegs Performance parts, Rock Auto, Harbor Freight, all good, also we have an O'Reillys, the owner is a car guy, very helpful. I've done a lot of business with Menards, Pukul building supply, Knits our local hardware store, Ace Hardware. So all in all I really can't complain, living here in the Northwoods, somewhat boondock ville. During the tourist season it gets pretty busy, the help shortage problem really shows up, but I remember back when I first came up here snowmobiling 1980, a World of difference for the better, a beautiful area, my Serenity now. LOL
This ^ is spot on correct. So, who's going to start the thread "Patience... A thing of the past"...? Waiting seems to be a lost art these days.
Tariffs stopped me dead in my tracks with my O/T Morris build. Just can't get vendors to ship stateside. No real vendors here with anything close to what I could get before. Parking it up for the time being and moving on.
I’ve had good luck with our local O’Reillys stopped in yesterday to get some new NGK plugs for my project. We talked for a while about spark plugs and their recommendations ,the guys and gals behind the counter are car people and know quite a bit. In talking with the counter guy I found out that the store is locally owned. I asked if I could check plugs to make sure they weren’t returned old plugs, he told me when that store gets ripped off it comes out of that stores profits and ultimately his paycheck. I had a cam reground by Schneider Cams, filled out the cam grind info card and talked a bit on the phone, very helpful. I spent a couple hundred and probably spent an hour on the phone with them. Our local NAPA and Car Quest are also very good. Support those who provide good communication and service, at times the prices are a little higher than on line so be it. Dan
@gene-koning thanks for putting it in perspective. I strongly dislike the computer menus, the receptionist that has no knowledge or the Leave a # style of service. I have and will go to the place with knowledgeable people over the closer, cheaper place with rat maze service. I have had great experiences with California Custom Roadster, Speedway Motors (phone) and Rock Auto (online) recently. Also the tech line at Holley and at an east coast carb shop I don't have in my head but could track down with paperwork. I will NOT deal with the local Autozone. NAPA is the same exact stuff on the shelf for 10-20% more and I haven't gone in with strange questions yet. I've chosen the local O'Rielly's due to pricing and staff on most stuff although they can't beat online pricing. Your Mileage May Vary, of course. Might as well give the good people a thumbs up so they are rewarded for good service.
Not only the lack of customer service, but a person that will speak and understand English. I drives me nut's when I wait 20 minutes and then get someone that I can't understand! I always tell them, I do not speak Spanish or Indian do you have someone at your company that speaks English? Couple that with wearing hearing aid's and sometimes I just hang up the phone.
I imagine that most customer service jobs haven't paid all that well for quite a while, if ever. When the customer insists on squeezing the last penny (or the last nickel now?) out of every purchase it only makes sense that real human customer service falls by the wayside. A quick and easy way lower a business's expenses is to reduce payroll and cut staff. It costs money to hire new people. It costs money to train new people and keep them trained. It costs money to keep people on the same job for the long term, and contribute to their benefits and retirement packages. And saving the customer a dollar or two is what keeps them coming back. They don't want to pay for customer service either. In other words it's sort of the self-fulfilling prophesy of the cheapskate syndrome. I wouldn't expect it to get better any time soon.
Brick and mortar locations find it increasingly harder to compete with online retailers, Most customers today expect online pricing with live customer service over the phone, a good compromise is a live internet chat with a real person regarding questions about placing an order. Jim
Minimum wage in PA is, criminally, still $7.75 That's a pre-tax whopping $15500 a year Much of the problem is political and I WILL NOT go there but you can look up who is in control of the legislature if you want although I strongly recommend playing outside instead.
People have so much to say about Speedway but I have had nothing but good things to say about them! During Covid I placed a large order with them included a tubing notcher it was on backorder with no restock date. As were many things at that time! About two weeks later I discovered All Star Performance had them in stock I ordered one, and it slipped my mind to cancel my order with Speedway. About a month and a half/two months later I received a call from Speedway aking if I still needed the tubing notcher I had on back order. I thanked them and said I order one no longer needed it. Many companies would have just sent it and billed me or just ignored it all together! When I was building my ch***is, I was ordering parts about every or other week. At that point there hold song was The Beach Boys Good Vibrations. It was so loud I had to hold the phone about 6" or 8" away from my ear and it could be heard in another rooms in the house! After I placed my order, I said something to the women who took my order. The next order I placed the Beach Boys were at a reasonable volume. Was I the only one to mention it who knows but clearly, they took note and addressed to issue. I have also had very good experiences with Summit! Thread Link- https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/summit-racing-a-great-company.1090715/
Yea... Chats... About that... . As far as I'm concerned, if you've got time to tap away at a keyboard, you've got time to talk on the Fkn ph - & I mean: "live". Or the damned chat is a bot/AI. I don't type fast, & *hate* chat(s). It's gonna be a can't-live-w/o-it situation before I willingly use that damned chat "feature". &, btw, I *do* take time to thank any *good* or helpful folks I stumble onto from some-or-another business that I have to deal with. I've also found that when forced to deal w/a foreigner whose American is not 1st language, & I can't decipher what they are trying to say, I'll nicely ask for someone in the States, that can speak American(was told this trick by an American-speaking (supervisor)rep awhile ago. Seems to work ok). I also tell them I use hearing-aids, making things extra difficult. Some accents/etc aren't hard to work with & kinda interesting, but others... Marcus...
I've had nothing but good experiences with Speedway. As an example; I needed a heater core which in the catalog had a note saying "may be copper or aluminum depending on stock". I needed a copper core as I planned to modify it and had to solder a new inlet and outlet on. I spoke with a friendly and knowledgeable woman on the phone and she called the warehouse and had someone open the box and confirm that a copper one was in stock. I ordered it on the spot and was shipped the one inspected. That's customer service.
Some parts suppliers now don’t have a customer service phone number to call if there is an error or they shipped the wrong part. You have to do all of it online and important to keep all do***ents in case of the back and forth. I’m right in the middle of that now as they shipped the wrong part and there is, besides the ($145.00 part charge ) there is a $500.00 core charged to my credit card and they do not have the correct replacement in stock. I was given the option for a credit or a “store credit for future purchases” ( which I find interesting as there is no store.) I chose a credit so we will see. I just sent off the bad part yesterday to that parts supplier and we’ll see what happens this next week. I should get a credit. I’ll keep your fellas posted. I will always share positives if they are positive and negatives if they are negative. I won’t say who it is yet, but it is a large national online parts supplier. In the mean time, I’m going to try to rebuild the existing part.
I have no problem paying more from local parts stores for their service. I was in the multi- billion dollar Industrial Corporate Supplier Marketing and Sales profession for 50 years and local relationships/ inventory and service is of value to me. I prefer it. The part that I needed, no one had locally, or for that matter nationally did not have in stock, except the one part supplier that I purchased online from, stated they had it in stock, only to find out what that they shipped out was in error and the part I actually needed was in fact, not in stock. So now I shipped back the incorrect part, with pictures of what I ordered online of that part they said was in stock, picture of my OEM part and a picture of the part that they shipped in error with their form, that I want credit for the part as well as the core charge. We are talking 145.00 for the part/ 500.00 core charged/ 16.00 freight and about 45.00 in tax. So…..over a $700.00 plus credit should be coming. Will let you fellas know.
Guy working at the fone store hung up on a couple Bombay girls till he got one he liked while I waited. I commented, he said Oh they don't mind getting hung up on, gives them a little respite while something reboots.
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