Vendor's communication

[yomny]

I've been dealing with a few vendors lately gathering parts for my turbo kit build/install. As many of you may know this endeavor could be stressfull enough just trying to get the work done in a timely manner to get the car ready for work. This is mostly to vent guys so please bare with me and of course more than welcome to reply with experiences and or comments.

I feel that, and maybe its just me, most vendors here get their business through online sales and purchases. I also understand that most stores given that they're not "online based" dont have a communications department to answer just emails, Pms and or calls.

That being said, i think its unexacuseable when it takes you over two or three days to get back to someone with an important question. Important questions i consider to be things that could blow up your car, not "what color do you think is best". I've asked things like inventory status right before ordering a part, process for installing delicate and expensive parts, reason as to why certain items are missing in order/deliveries... and so forth, all of these without prompt responses or even a reponse at all. Asking a vendor for pictures of a part, pictures of a process...without a reply, or maybe a reply after three emails sent and a called placed. Come on!! seriously.. then you guys complain that most of these "online only" stores are taking you "real stores" business.. the reason is simple.. answer your damn emails quickly, and no i dont mean within minutes but damn. Some get orders taken care of quickly, but still fail to respond to emails. I'm still waiting on a response from a very popular vendor here, two actually, about a part being in stock so i could order, this is hundreds and hundreds of dollars you're losing because of a simple email. Also if i ask you three quesions please dont reply to one and call it a day.. copy paste if you must but answer the three.. god damn it.. i asked three not one. I actually worked at a very busy and reputable perofmance shop down here in Miami, so i do have an idea as to how hard it is to repond to over 100 emails in one morning while managing your daily tasks.. but still... if you're doing internet sales, then internet communicate!

Yeah i know whining is frowned upon but damn maybe these people would start listening if they're suffereing from the "these other stores are taking my business" dillemma, some others are just too busy with all the money they're making but trust me that could all end fairly quick.

[CSG Mike]

Perhaps we can help.

[yomny]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Perhaps we can help.

I'm sure you can Mike and you have, i've never had an issue with you guys.. Odered plenty of track items from you. As i've said before, i wish some vendors would sell everything.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by yomny

I'm sure you can Mike and you have, i've never had an issue with you guys.. Odered plenty of track items from you. As i've said before, i wish some vendors would sell everything.

It never hurts to PM @CounterSpace Garage and ask

[yomny]

True that.. i'll keep that in mind. I have my eyes set on a the RS-R coils, next upgrade.. so i'l lbe in touch. thanks

[GT86_PRAGUE]

Originally Posted by yomny

I've been dealing with a few vendors lately gathering parts for my turbo kit build/install. As many of you may know this endeavor could be stressfull enough just trying to get the work done in a timely manner to get the car ready for work. This is mostly to vent guys so please bare with me and of course more than welcome to reply with experiences and or comments.

I feel that, and maybe its just me, most vendors here get their business through online sales and purchases. I also understand that most stores given that they're not "online based" dont have a communications department to answer just emails, Pms and or calls.

That being said, i think its unexacuseable when it takes you over two or three days to get back to someone with an important question. Important questions i consider to be things that could blow up your car, not "what color do you think is best". I've asked things like inventory status right before ordering a part, process for installing delicate and expensive parts, reason as to why certain items are missing in order/deliveries... and so forth, all of these without prompt responses or even a reponse at all. Asking a vendor for pictures of a part, pictures of a process...without a reply, or maybe a reply after three emails sent and a called placed. Come on!! seriously.. then you guys complain that most of these "online only" stores are taking you "real stores" business.. the reason is simple.. answer your damn emails quickly, and no i dont mean within minutes but damn. Some get orders taken care of quickly, but still fail to respond to emails. I'm still waiting on a response from a very popular vendor here, two actually, about a part being in stock so i could order, this is hundreds and hundreds of dollars you're losing because of a simple email. Also if i ask you three quesions please dont reply to one and call it a day.. copy paste if you must but answer the three.. god damn it.. i asked three not one. I actually worked at a very busy and reputable perofmance shop down here in Miami, so i do have an idea as to how hard it is to repond to over 100 emails in one morning while managing your daily tasks.. but still... if you're doing internet sales, then internet communicate!

Yeah i know whining is frowned upon but damn maybe these people would start listening if they're suffereing from the "these other stores are taking my business" dillemma, some others are just too busy with all the money they're making but trust me that could all end fairly quick.

I have same issues all the time and not only in car industry.
It is the new age I suppose

[FutureFT86]

I feel your frustration. Sometimes I don't even get a reply when I'm placing large orders upwards of 800-1000$. Usually if a vendor does not reply I assume they don't want or need the business and I will go elsewhere. It's happening more frequently now so I don't know what going on...wake up vendors!!

[yomny]

At the moment i'm awaiting a reply to an email for a price confirmation to buy parts in excess of $500, what do you make of that. I understand things can't be within 12 hours but when it comes to sales and any service i think you should be able to respond within 24hrs. I'm with you on the feeling received from non-replying vendors.. i do the same, you don't reply i'll take my business else where, there are plenty of vendors out there.

[Infamous Performance]

If customers paid retail price, they would get overall better service. Unfortunately the average customers expectation is to buy at 10% over cost. This leaves profit margins so thin that any time spent on the order beyond simply processing it is money lost.

It is a sign of the times.

[yomny]

My reason precisely for not shopping around too much. I understand a business(note this response isn't towards you or anyone directly) has to have its profit otherwise it'll stop being a business.. I dont usaually shop around for the best prices then try to get vendors to compete.. that in my opinion is time wasted just as vendors not replying to my contacts. I pay what's asked for all my products and thats why i expect proper communication(customer service). I'm sure rationally speaking iit is not lack of "interest" on the vendors part to sale but something needs to be done otherwise a business little by little wil cease to exist. I'm not pointing fingers and at the end of the day if a business sticks to this pattern then like me, many others will replace them. I've dealt with Full blown, FT86speedfactory, Jon Motoring, Gnome Tuning, JDL, Ptuning... and pretty much every vendor here so is not as if i were picking at the cheapo ones. As mentioned in my previous post its going on three days without a response to an email that said "please confirm price to make purchase", still waiting. I know maybe placing a call would help, but i've done so and at this time.. i just dont have the time, business need to be more efficient.

Regardless its good that at least i've caught someone's attention and this leads me to learn who's out there listening

[Koa]

At the end of the day, a good amount of performance/botique auto businesses are ran by serious wrenchers or auto gurus that typically don't have a love for office administration and marketing outside of being able to piece together custom kits, run group-buys, and face-to-face. This is speaking in generalities and whatnot but in the aggregate it is what it is, and there are lessons to be learned from observing a fast-responding, high performing retail team at work. As per Katzenbach & Smith and their landmark work, "The Wisdom of Teams", the high performing team is rare, and conversely businesses that niche themselves will have all a manner of quirks and (in)efficiencies... certain queries and approaches/tones work better for some and worse for others.

As stated before, we live in a very fast-paced world that has allowed the customer to query and compare like never before, giving them more power but also increasing in aggregate the amount of tire kicking. In response, vendors have veered away from catering to this and have increased the threshold of what they consider to be high importance/timely.

[yomny]

I'll have to agree with the first long sentence... and as understanding as i try to be i also need to remind myself that the one paying is me and the ones needing to do the understanding is them. Then again this attitude would probably prevent me from working or meeting great people/techs/fabricators. I wish i lived closer to some of the vendor shops around here but unfortunately we dont have any down in Miami. I could relate to one specific example of a vendor here that i've dealt with and does excellent fab work but their 21st century communication skills are lacking. These guys are a mom and pop shop with a couple of guys trying to handle all the media, queries(as mentioned) and jokers out there as well as getting orders moved. I'm symptathetic with the situation but like i said a lot of us(consumers) are on tight schedules and that be the motive for searching and shopping online, conveniece, practicallity and selection/compention.

Regardless and on a side note, i opened this thread to voice my frustration, hence the lack of "mentions" or references. Most if not all vendors here that i've dealt with have behaved as expected, maybe not by my expectations but my general public standards, "ok". My objective is to let some of these guys here know that they're missing out on a good source of income which could skyrocket they're "mom&pop/guru" status by simply hiring some one to deal with the e-correspondance, heck if they're paying for a vendor account and are not hanlding it, thats a bad move on their part.
Cheers and on to better things.

[Infamous Performance]

I understand the perspective of the consumer. But... the point is being missed. Its not the "I live at home in my moms basement selling parts to my friends for cost" that is the biggest problem. It is Amazon (and Walmart and the like) that have created a business model of price slashing to the point of non-profitability. For instance, Amazon sold $100 billion in volume in 2013, ZERO profit. $100 billion in sales and ZERO profit!!!

With no profit to be made, vendors wont expend the energy to answer tech questions, respond to quote inquires, etc. Not when a $1000 sale equals $50 or less of actual after tax profit.

I make a living working on cars, not selling parts online. I admit there a very frustrating days when a majority of my time is spent answering tech questions and responding to messages requesting quotes (that I know I wont win the business because I have real overhead to cover before making any profit).

Honestly this forum is one of the biggest offenders of non-profitability. The "wild west" antics of this particular forum are what kept me from advertising here for over 1 year. I was warned by other vendors and wholesale distributors that this particular forum was extremely bad for anyone attempting to make an actual living selling parts. Still after over 1 year of advertising here, I have to gauge the viability of advertising on this forum month to month. Other forums I pay 1 year in advance.

An "FYI" from an "inside source".

[AznKirby]

Giant corporations are making it hard on vendors, so the paying customers have to suffer?

If prices are cheaper on Amazon, but service and communication is upheld at a particular "mom and pop" vendor, I'm definitely going to buy from said vendor.

But if it's cheaper on eBay, and the "mom and pop" vendor doesn't even want to give me the time of day because it isn't profitable, there's no reason why I shouldn't buy it from eBay.

There's no way you can win the prices war, but you can separate from the masses by being a source of information, or a reputable shop with good customer service.
Mike from CSG, for example, has largely contributed to the pool of knowledge on these forums, and I'm sure many people appreciate it and have bought from them because of it.

Just my .02