Keith, first off, not that 4 months is better then 6, but your paid on 11/29 and it was to be a 2 month process. The motor was there on Jan 29,

Only thing you bought in October was your wheels which made it there in 4 weeks.

As for not responding? There are tons of emails, phone conversations, It is not like we have not spoken twice a week according to you own statment, and you say

"No response was received. Not cool, man"[/B]


I called immediatly after your demand letter and we discussed where we were with front drives and ECMs, and transmission.

Keith, again, I am surly not trying to lay this on you. But it is not like we have been in constant communication through this entire ordeal. We talked Thursday, everything was fine and you was going to let me know what else showed up for the transmission.

I really don't want a pissing match back and forth

As for working on follow up. You bet were on it. It is going to take people and I have them coming. Simply said, the business has got too big for me to answer every call, take every tech call, handle every order, every PO, make sure every supplier sends a complete order. I have reached my limit and then some. I have taken measures to help with this already. I already reduced my phone hours so I can work on orders and fullfillment at night. I have more people starting soon and space to house them in the works very soon. By May 1 I will have one person that does nothing but follow up on POs from drop ships and locate other vendors when items are not available. And we will be in a much larger facility May 1 so we can stock a lot of this stuff that is a such a problem to drop ship.

I and most likely others here appreciate you coming forward and explaining the issues you have been having. It seems like your realizing your business is getting a little out of hand for you, Lisa and Michael where you need to hire staff to keep things moving efficiently. Although this can be a hard discission I can assure you once you find the right people you wont regret it. I tryed controlling every aspect of my businesses for years and it took awhile for myself to realize its more than one can handle. You'll have somewhat a lower stress level also lol.
The question that I have is were you the vendor in the "vendor not coming through" posts recently. Your explanation stated here may have resolved a lot of disputes in the other thread. If not, again I appreciate you being open and hopefully that particular vendor does the same.

Guys, I don't want to come across as just rushing to the defense here, but I'd like to point out one aspect of this kind of stuff that has painfully become obvious to me recently.

I'm a customer of Franks. I've bought a bunch of stuff from him in the past, and about 5 weeks ago ordered and paid for an order of about $2000 which was supposed to drop ship from the manufacturer in 3 days from the order.

It didn't.

When Frank realized it was not going to ship, he immediately called me. Now, I'll admit, he got my voicemail on a Friday and I didn't actually find out that the parts had not shipped until Monday - which resulted in my losing some scheduling time. But, Frank deserves credit for trying to let me know ASAP. Sometimes I'm just too picky.

So the manufacturer then says the parts will ship early that week. They don't. Then they say the beginning of the next week. They don't. By this time, Frank realizes I'm getting frustrated. He doesn't ignore me - he calls the manufacturer and pressures them into calling me directly. They do.

This particular manufacturer (who we ALL know their product and they are sponsors here) apologizes all over themselves and blames it on ineffective forecasting (frankly, I think they're full of BS because of what happens later). They promise to ship in a few days. They don't. So then they promise for the next Monday. They are so screwed up that they call me back later that very same day to apologize yet again and admit that they're just not going to make next Monday either. Truth is, this particular manufacturer, who at least 35% of us have their products on our cars, is clueless about their supply chain and manufacturing schedule. For FIVE WEEKS they continue to miss dates on stuff that would normally be sitting stocked on shelves. They "claim" the parts shipped last week. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. We'll see. I sure don't have them yet. They didn't even offer to expedite shipping unless I'd pay for it - after I'd waited ridiculously long for parts they "claimed" up front were in stock. My trust in this particular manufacturer cannot be fixed. I'll use their products, but will always question them. Let me be clear. The manufacturer has totally and completely admitted that they are totally at fault here. And they have done so about 5 times now. With the same parts. Unbelievable.

Point is, I don't care who I would have bought these particular parts from. The same thing would have happened. Or let me amend that. I would not have gotten the parts any sooner - but may well have ended up being delayed even more, as I absolutely know Frank put some pressure on these guys. How do I know this? Because I called all over gods earth trying to find ANYONE having this product. Nobody did. And I mean, Nobody. Is Prodigy perfect? Heck no. Nobody is. Sometimes it can be tough to reach Frank because he's so busy. Remember, sometimes the mark of a competent guy is that he's real busy. But every time I've ordered, I've gotten exactly what I expected, and at prices measurably lower than anywhere else. So we all need to realize that getting that extra little discount may be because operating costs are lower, meaning that it's tougher to reach Frank or it may take a little longer sometimes. I too think it's time for Prodigy to grow a bit in order to handle the demand, but I'm not complaining in the meantime.

Bottom line here is that there were a few posts suggesting that the delays were deliberate as a result of cash flow - using customer B cash to pay for customer A parts, then customer C cash to pay for customer B parts. I strongly take issue with statements like that being made about ANY vendor without some strong basis of proof. Those are the kinds of rumors that can hurt people and we don't need that. I've never met Frank in person - only my money has :) but I just thought people ought to get another perspective. He's ordering and getting product from a bunch of manufacturers, and with the economic downturn, increased operating costs and uncertain 2011 demand, I'm seeing a large number of manufacturers simply not meeting their obligations this year. Frank is dealing with this on a daily basis. It is a trend I really don't like.

Going through this forum my heart started to pound harder and harder, until Frank came in and told his side of the story. I have also been waiting on some parts for quite some time now, and feel a little more at ease knowing that it is not a case of getting the money and running from the customer.
Thanks for owning up Frank! I want you to know that you have not lost any of my business. I think most of us can relate to being busy at times, and not having enough help, or time in the day to do all the things that might be on the table.:cheers:

Better watch out guys or the moderators will shut this discussion down as they did with my complaints about Driverz Inc.
This will be the last post I put on this forum for those people that appreciate us and our work you can find us on our website .
Good Luck and good bye
Shane

Sad to hear Shane, I always look forward to your posts.

Catch you over at usmuscle.com.au

Greg

I agree it's great to see Frank step up and answer the around about questions posted. I don't believe these un named posts do anybody any good. I haven't posted on any of these topics before, because everybody loves a drama, and want to get a lynch squad together strait away.

I to am waiting from parts from Frank ( manufactures he represents ) for quite some time, actually many months, I also know that the parts I am waiting for are being held up by the supplier, as others have said Prodigy aren't perfect , but I find them genuine. I have 1 email from a supplier telling me 3-4 weeks delivery and 1 Frank copied me in from from the same supplier saying 6-8 weeks, same company Rep, Same day, actually 15 min apart.

I also spoke to an engine parts company at SEMA with Frank and I placed an order for a block and heads, the heads where still having the CNC program done and would be ready in January, there still not ready.

I guess what I am trying to say is get all the facts before you start to pass judgment.

Greg

You have the same manufacturer at Wmhjr. And because of waiting for other orders we are waiting on, we caled in advance befoire accepting the order.. Good news is Wmhjrs order did ship, but he only needed half of what your getting. I expect yours will ship this week................I hope.

As I mentioned, I am too busy and make mistakes because of it. But not everything that ahppens is within my control. I am badly understaffed and because of the way the business operates today it causes so much extra work, we screw up other things.

The entire industry is one huge back order right now. Suppliers are only quoting what their subcontractors tell them, they tell us, we pass along what we hear. On a daily bases we are forced to drop ship incomplete orders to get SOMETHING in a customers hands. But being understaffed and having to ship incomplete orders makes it extremely difficult to follow up on every drop ship.

Case in point, this one is a future possible nightmare that will require MANY hours to make sure it is not the biggest disaster ever due to the location of the customer. Tonner is in Australia.

Tonner (Greg) mentioned this issue. Greg has something very custom we are having built for him from (Supplier 3) and he is looking to add a part from one supplier (supplier 1) that is required so another supplier (supplier 2) can make a custom part that goes with another custom part another supplier (3) makes. So Prodigy in Florida sells to Greg in Australia a part that requires 3 suppliers parts. So besides us in Florida there are 3 suppliers, one in the south west who has to send a component to another supplier in the northeast who has to send it to the final supplier in the northwest so supplier 2 can send their finished product to supplier 3 for final fitment. Then supplier 3 has to ship it all to a container in California to forward to Greg in Australia so it can go on a truck to Greg's house!

So obviously supplier one is controlling the process. Greg has a few questions about supplier 1s product and schedule and and ask direct to them some tech questions and how long it will take to get it? They tell him 3 to 4 weeks. In the meantime I am emailing the exact same person, at the exact same time, at the exact same company and explain the intricacy of the entire process and how their part will hold up Supplier 2 and ultimately hold up supplier 3, and how this stuff has to go into a container on a specified date, and they tell me 6 to 8 weeks.

That all went down 3 weeks ago. So here is the killer, I last week I have another customer interested using supplier 1s part on suppliers 2 part (this one ends at supplier 2. I send a note to supplier one looking for another of these parts and schedule...................I get a email 4 to 6 weeks until they ship the first parts! So we are already possibly 10 weeks out on what Greg was told would be 3 to 4 weeks out
So now guess what were going to do?

All this would put supplier 3s stuff out 4 months. So now to speed things up we are going to send the final supplier 3 goodies minus supplier 1 and 2 goodies. And we are crossing our fingers Supplier 2s part with supplier 2 part fits supplier 3s part! But Supplier 3 REALLY does not want to send it incomplete without supplier 1 and 2 part. But Greg is dying for a piece of supplier 3s stuff to continue. So we are pressuring supplier 3 right now telling them it will all be fine!

My fear...it turns out like Keith's Front drive!

It's OK Frank if it all turns to Sh!!t, I will hop on a plane for 18 hours and pay you a vist, lol :yes:

Greg