As far as you "Deffending Vendors" do you think it is acceptable and good business behavior to charge a customers account (months in advance) and pool the money together with others which delays the delivery of the goods?

There is a term used in business and taught in school called "Floating and/or kitting", the buisness practice I'm seeing posted all over these sites reguarding this company are similar to what most regulating authorities would consider unethical.

Has anyone checked complaints posted with the BBB?

I will just say it, and not post any more, I personally will not purchase from this company based on all the information.

Plenty of members will continually give the flip side to this.

Brett

Frank,

I've been thinking about this more since my last post, and I think it would be in both of our best interests to simply terminate the remainder of our transaction and go our separate ways. I'm pretty riled up after dealing with this all day, and I imagine you are pretty fed up with it too...

So assuming that parts aren't already in transit, how about you refund me for the outstanding items that I'm owed, and we'll both move on with our lives. That would include the transmission kit and shipping charge(minus the bellhousing that I've already received), the oil cooler adapter, and the deposit on the wheels. If the transmission kit has already shipped, then so be it, but we can terminate and refund the other items.

Peace?

I was hoping - and expecting - that this would have been resolved during business hours yesterday.

:rolleyes: Dang, dude. Ok. No need to swear.

http://gonzogeek.files.wordpress.com...joe-dirt-4.jpg

I spent the day yesterday trying to solve this problem and it won;t happen in one day. I did not have all the anbswers yesterday so i did not call Bryan. I will talk with Bryan today. If his final answer is he is done, then we will refund him.

Ok, so bottom line is there are parts on BO for the transmission and nothing I can do will make it ship complete today. It is going to take 4 to 5 days to complete it. Bryan and I will talk today and see what he wants to do.

The wheel centers are ready, we just simply need back space on those.

I think there might need to be a new type of perspective put on this. I have been a customer of Prodigy Customs. My first purchase for my car was through him. Was the purchase 15K, no, but is was around 2k. Was it a smooth trans? Not as smooth as I was expecting, however, in the end, I am a satisfied customer.

Now, the perspective I offer is from someone that purchases parts everyday. I buy things from the major companies; Cummins / Bosch Rexroth type companies to the mom and pop machine shops that produce the everyday build items that most people don't think about.

Frank is a mom and pop company (in my opinion Frank, not a slam) that can do the things that the major companies don't want to do. He also has some great knowledge because he has built many cars over the years. Either he documented things really well, or has a good memory when it comes to building these things.

Mom and Pops don't always have all the business tool or people to take care of all the things for daily business. But they manage most of the time to get them done. For all we know, Frank probably has to clean the toilets there at the shop.

The big companies have alot of the tools for business, but sometimes those tools get in the way to make sure their customer gets what he needs. It seems I can not win in some of these situations.

All companies have problems, from the big to the small. Communication is key, but is not always there. I actually had a vendor tell me this week that I could not visit to try to get answers on ship dates. That did not seem to go well for them. That was fun:lol:

Frank has replied. He seems to have tried to make it right, and I do have respect for him in that. Is he having growing pains? It seems so. I too have noticed he is not on here daily, so I believe him in saying that he is not trying to drum up business,but still taking orders as they come in. Someone stated that he should not be taking orders if he has all these problems. Hello, he still has a business that needs to pay the bills. I have no vendor that would turn away orders, even knowing that they will not provide on time. It's just not the way things are done in my business.

Frank, keep trying, there is no company that can make everyone happy. You'll die trying.

Customer, keep holding the vendors feet to the fire. But unless you are dealing straight with the manufacturer, know that someone like Frank is their customer and they may be giving him the run around also.

I hope some of this makes sense, I know I understand both sides.

HEEP

Excellent post...a very accurate and relevant summary of the way things are in the real world.
It doesn't diminish this particular problem at all, but it does clarify that these kinds of problems are not neccessarily unique to this market, vendor or customer.
Professionally, I will add that we have about the same amount of problems with small vendors as large ones...they are just a different color. Fortunately the overall quantity of problems is small. Maybe that's why they stick out like a sore thumb!

I agree with the above post as well. Very well written.

Darren

Am I missing something here? Do.Not.Charge. A. Man. For. Parts. And. Drag. it. Out. for. Months. Period. Tell him you can't and tell him how long until. If it's Twinkies or car parts.

When you hang your shingle out for business and you agree to serve the public with your wares, seems to me any business with a man's money and that man months without it (the cash or the goods) has the right to be pissed. Anything less is doubletalk.

Good luck Frank.