[QUOTE=Ummgawa;347562]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.



X2!!!!!!!!

Jim, that is real simple but it was not a plan to take this long. A lot of the problem with these big orders has been coordinating all the products and trying to get everything to ship around the same time. and coordinating stuff to show when it is convenient for the buyer. You get a part on back order from one of the 20 suppliers, and it throws a wrench into everything. Postpone ordering part of a order so it does not show up too soon, then things get forgotten. 200 other things are happening at once and the ball gets dropped.

I lay NONE of the blame on any supplier. Here is the deal, up till now we have drop shipped 90% of what we sell. But the entire industry is one "doo doo flows down hill" backorder. I deal with the presidents of biggest companies in the business and everyone is complains about back orders. We drop ship almost everything, it is really hard to keep up with what shipped and what did not. Then if you try to time a order and delay ordering a part because you want it all to show up at once, it is easy to forget when your doing EVERYTHING.

A perfect example, today, all the money in the world and red labels cannot make the transmission kit ship complete today. Could this have happened during the last few months, yes it could. Did I totally forget about it, yes I did. Is that excusable, Nope. But it is what it is.

I said it already I cannot do much about yesterday but have made a huge capitol investment in tomorrow.

So here is what we are doing about it.

We bought a 9,500 square foot facility with 1800 sq ft office space. We DID NOT buy the bigger shop to do more car builds, the extra space is for the parts business. The office space is for more people we are hiring just to answer phones and for order / back order follow up and logistics. As we speak we are installing a computer network and invoicing / order program that is much more detailed then our previous program that will automatically do things we do manually now. We are also integrating that new system with our store which up to now is not integrated. We have finished building a large parts area that will house inventory for hard to get items and also inventory support items that go with out kits. There is room to grow with another 4500 sq ft of mezzanine that will come once we settle in and then even more inventory.

It will take a while to get used to for those that are used to Frank answering every call. That will not happen anymore and the cell phone number will be moved to a land line on a rotary with 4 lines. As barraza mentioned, my phone rings off the hook for technical calls. Many of those calls just free advice with no purchase. I love that, I like helping people out and there is no person that can say I have ever suggested they must buy from us for using my services. In fact there are many that can tell stories of me telling them where they can find a better deal then I can offer. So that tech will still be available, I just won't answer every order follow up, telemarketer, call that comes in. I am going to learn to delegate.

Guys, I can't do anymore then I am doing.

As a vendor now and a part buyer also I know how both sides are feeling.As a vendor it is real hard to please everybody all the time.As a parts buyer I also feel when my check clears the bank my parts should ship soon after.But in the real world some times thing's don't alway's happen that way.I have and will again placed large order's w/Frank.My wheel's showed up on time when he said they would,My brakes were Back ordered from the Mfg/but came in soon after.It's not hard to meet deliverly times when you are in control of your product's,but when someone else is doing the handling and shipping some times thing's go arey.I think there are alot more happy customer's w/Frank than there are mad customer's.I like speaking w/ someone I know on the phone.Now I will have to start all over again.We all call Frank because he save's us alot of dough.We don't want to call the mfg. direct because they usually don't give us that smoking good deal.To me it's worth waiting a little longer if I will save a few buck's.If you/anyone else as a part's buyer are unhappy w/Frank there are a ton of other vendor's to call.As a vendor and a part's buyer both just slow down give the vendor a quick call or email the explain your problem's and give some time to call back.Scott M.:thumbsup:

What I don't understand is how a person is being charged yet the parts aren't being ordered from the manufacturer that same day... in some cases the order isn't placed with the manufacturer for months.

I guess since I don't understand it, someone needs to explain it to me.

something shouldn't be paid for until it has shipped. My business doesn't get charged for anything till it is shipped. being a reseller, the dealer should be set up on terms with their supplier, usually net30, so they arent being billed either till the product ships. the dealer gets/dropships the goods, gets paid from customer(credit card)immediately and walla everyone is happy. the dealer then has plenty of time to pay for part and possibly take a early discount if offered.

I agree Scott, if your C.C. is charged then the part's should ship.If the vendor calls and place's an order and is told the part's are backordered or not in stock then the customer should be called and told of the delay.And when part's are ready to ship and only then should the C.C. be charged.

I couldn't agree more, and that was a big motivation for my post, to let people know that this was not happening (at least in my instance). People need to be aware that this happens, and hopefully they can avoid the frustration that I have experienced by having this knowledge. If I have brought some awareness to any potential future buyers with any vendor out there, then hopefully I've helped others in some way.

Any dealings that I have in the future with any vendor will absolutely not be allowed to occur this way if there is anything that I can do to prevent it. I can understand a vendor requesting a deposit in some situations, but payment in full before completed shipment is simply unacceptable.

And to update the status for everyone else, Frank and I discussed the balance of my order today and have decided that he will complete the transmission delivery but we will part ways on the wheels. So someone else can get a great set of Forgelines pretty quickly as they are available for immediate assembly.

I've built businesses from the ground up so I understand about the wear all the hats/outrageously busy mode. What I learned from those businesses is that when you are ramping up due to the popularity of your business ALWAYS leave the apparatus you originally had in place until you are confident that the new one will be able to seamlessly integrate and enhance the one you already have. Otherwise, this is the mess that you will have on your hands!

In my business, for me to tell my customer "I forgot" or "I'm really busy doing X" would be suicide. They don't care and, in all honesty, they have every right to not care. They have enough going on in their own businesses without having to do the job they've contracted me to do. That's why they pay me.

I, like Frank, spend countless hours on the phone with people who I will never make a dime on but, in retrospect, have seen the ripple effect it has as word of mouth from the "Freeloader" get's to someone else that has cash in hand and is ready to spend so, really, those hours did yield me business and that is why I continue to do it so to say that those hours are there to serve the community and you don't make a dime off of it is not entirely true.

I'm sure Frank's intention has been honorable and he would like nothing better than to be able to resolve this matter but at the end of the day it's business so good intentions or not it's just bad business to do what has been posted by the OP. Charging the credit card and then not ordering just makes things more suspect. None of that issue can be attributed to "too busy" or "not enough people". You obviously had enough time to run the card!!

Like I've said before, the customers job is to write the check and make sure it clears. That's it. The vendors job is to deliver on what he promises regardless of his supply chain issues. It's the vendors job to stay on top of his vendors to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do not the customer. His job ended when his check/credit card cleared.

John

there is something that seems to be getting skimmed over. It's not just that orders are being charged immediately even though they may be back ordered from the manufacturer. And it's not that he's holding some orders after being paid for to try to synch up the deliveries. What is also happening is that on some orders, even for single items like a set of wheels, the money may be taken immediately and the order may not go in for months. Literally.

In defense of Frank he has always delivered at some point. To my knowledge nobody has been ripped off. But it's a major red flag when someone uses your money for some other reason than placing your order with the manufacturer.

It pains me immensely to post this, but I feel a major obligation to our members to get the info out there. He did this exact thing to a very good friend of mine recently on a set of wheels, and it was a real eye-opener for me. :(

Bottomline for me..... don't charge me for parts that arent ready to ship right now. Small deposit to reserve my spot in line for the order....no problem. But unless my parts are ready to go, I shouldnt be expected to pay the full price. Chances are that I put the order on a CC, and I pay off my CC every month....so I may have paid that $$ out of my pocket weeks or months ago, but dont see the actual part for months??? Not cool....

I just dealt with this when i ordered a hood for my Cuda (not from Frank)..... was told 6-8 week lead time....no big deal. Was told they would contact me when it was close to being done and then they would verify and charge my CC at that time....no problem. Get a call 3 months later... they act like my hood is next...charge my CC..... another couple of weeks go by....no hood..... contact them and am assured my hood will be done soon. Another couple of weeks...same deal. So basically the hood finally ships almost 6 months after my original order and my CC was charged over 2 months before the hood was actually done and shipped. In the meantime I paid the bill on my CC 2 months ago.

I've ordered stuff from Frank and its gone okay....not great, but the parts arrived as promised, maybe alittle later than promised, but overall I have no major complaints.