Call him until you actually get to talk to him and see how progress is coming along. And if all else fails contact Paypal, they run a very good business and will fully investigate the transaction for you. I use them all the time and I find Paypal to be a very good way of paying and getting paid. JC
If things don't work out with your current header builder, give Matt at Gear Drive a call. Good guy with very nice products. Also a HAMB Alliance Vendor. http://www.lakeheaders.com/Home.html Malcolm
Thanks all. I did contact PayPal and they say I have 45 days from payment to place a claim. Im going to try Monday and Tuesday to reach and actually talk to the man and see where hes at. At the end of the week if I don't have the answer I need I will start the long process of trying to get my money back. Last Time he responded was 2 weeks ago and said he was starting on my headers then. I understand Im not the only one placing orders, but if he truly started welding them together wouldn't you think he would have just finished welding them up and sent them on their way so he could start on the next order? Just frustrated, I can see being busy, but as a business man I would think you would want to let your customers know something, even if they aren't done, respond and tell me something!! Im willing to work with anybody as long as they are communicating with me.
If for some reason things don't work out, I will let everyone know who Im dealing with so they don't have to go through the same h***le. Just trying to give a business man time to make good on his end.
Unfortunately, this seems to be very common based on my experience lately. I just got my engine back after 7 1/2 months. I was told 6-8 weeks. I called over a dozen times and he said you will have it in a week or two every time. I just found out yesterday that some people who know him had asked him about my engine and he told them he'd only had it for a month. I also have an ongoing problem with a well respected Alliance vendor. He's had stuff of mine for rebuild for over a year. I've called so many times and been told so many things I can't even remember. It is incredibly frustrating. Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Ditto. It is probably a trustworthy shop, it's just that they have put your project on the back burner while they do some more lucrative jobs. While it is understandable if they have overcommitted a bit, there is no excuse for failing to return emails/phone calls. No more Mr. Nice Guy; it's time to politely but firmly motivate them to put you at the top of the list. If you want me to, I will go there personally and kick their ***es. Really I will. No charge. Free. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzU9FgNTYrU
Left a message today stating if I didnt have a tracking # by Friday I will be filling a claim with PayPal to get my money back.. guess we will see.. Side note, I have people sending me PM's on who it is. Not going to flat out tell anyone but will let you know who it isn't if you ask. Still undecided about saying who it is if they don't make good, because I don't want to be the bad guy and mess with a guys livelihood, but I do want to help protect fellow HAMBers.
I've always done Half payment up front. The other half when I get the part in regards to custom made stuff. I think you've been patient bonechip67. Especially since you've made many attempts to get an update on your parts and gotten no response. In this industry, word of mouth means a lot. If he doesn't respond with some pretty extenuating cir***stances, I think a good flaming might teach them a valuable lesson in regards to communicating with customers.
I totally agree with Don on the digital age taking away from personal communication but I also feel that if a company chooses to advertise and take orders via the Internet. They should be manned enough to handle the response they get from it, whether it be taking an order or responding to a question. I do agree though, give them a call again. Sometimes custom built stuff runs into snags and delays in the age of "buy it now and drop ship it from the Chinese distributor" people forget that.
I agree on one hand...on the other, if a business has a website, they should be fully equipped to answer emails in a reasonable amount of time. If you don't want to deal with email, don't have a f'ing website. BTW, email is nice some times because it leaves a "paper" trail.
For some reason I opend my FB account (which I hardly do) and there was a message from last night.. And A pick of one header. Said "he didnt mean to leave me in the dark but his laptop crashed." Under pic was " headers almost done" I have to give them benifit of the doubt, but still told them I needed a tracking # by Friday. My biggest delema is that my PayPal claim time runs out on Monday. If I dont file on or before I have no way of getting my money back if he bails on me. I also understand its not that easy running a bussiness and im trying to be understanding of the work load he may have. Im really pulling for this company, but doubt I will use them in the future.
I asked for a tracking # by Friday. I knew he wasnt done but was working on them from their Facebook page, so I let it slide. Got the tracking number on Tuesday and got them on Saturday. I will have to clean up a rough edge here and there but all in all they look well made and should last a long time. I do understand that good work takes time and Im glad I didn't say too many negative things, just think that sometimes a little more communication can go a long way when dealing with customers. I also know that sometimes customers take too much of the shops time by bothering/ nagging them... guess just have to find that happy medium where the customer knows they are working to get their product done, and the customer needs to understand that building custom parts of good quality takes time.. sometimes more that you would think. Thanks for all the posts.
The Jalopy Journal
