[ModernMuseum]

Frank,

Yes, you have made everything right with my order. The OP should not be worried about getting his parts, but the timeliness of order completion is just as, or even more important than receiving the parts themselves. However, the extensive delays incurred with my order will leave me finishing my project in an un-air conditioned garage in the heat of the Houston summer. I'm not stranger to the heat, having worked a few years in the Middle East, but if I had received my parts in a timely manner, my project would be finished right now.

Yes, you have sent me a few parts that you did not charge me for, I’m guessing as a peace offering for my belated order. Either way, thanks for that. I will, however, be sending you some return parts that I do not need. To be honest, I really don’t feel comfortable receiving anything that I didn’t pay for.

Let me paint a picture concerning how users of this forum, and customers of yours in particular, see a Vendor (Prodigy Customs in this case) in this type of situation.

When customers send messages that are not responded to, that makes them irritable and bewildered regarding what is going on with their order. When their messages go some time without a response, yet they see you posting on the forums, soliciting sales, offering advice, etc., irritability transforms into disturbing. If you have time to post on forums (yet are working until midnight?), you should have time to expedite customers’ orders and more importantly, let them know the status of their parts.

In addition, if Prodigy Customs is backed up with orders, is in the process of moving to a new location and has limited communication due to this move, why on Earth would they still be taking orders if they cannot be delivered in a timely manner and maintain throughput? Waiting 6+ months to receive parts that are not specialty in nature is inexcusable. “Extremely busy” is not a reason.” “Moving” is not a reason. The reason why they are not valid excuses is because they were most likely planned events or predictable situations.

A better business move would have been to decline an order than cannot be delivered as promised so your customers can order elsewhere. This way, you would still be on good terms with that particular customer and eligible for future orders. The business strategies that you employ are confounding.

Example: If my boss gave me 5 things to do and increased my workload to the brim, and then he came back later with a 6th and asked if I could deliver this item along with the previous 5 (and there was no way that I could), it would not benefit me to take on the task and tell him that I could deliver. Come time for delivery, if I said that I could complete the task, when in fact I could not, would leave me with my pants down and my tail between my legs. To further worsen the situation, my boss could no longer fully trust that I could deliver when I said that I could, ultimately diminishing my credibility. The better business move would have been to decline the additional work, allowing my boss to distribute my work to someone else with a lighter workload, meeting the schedule and executing the project successfully.

The only situation where “busy” is an excuse is the one where you decline to take on new work. Using “busy” as a reason to not deliver as promised is retroactive and ill-considerate of customers.

Frank – I will say this again. You need to find a way to confirm the logistics of everyone’s parts. If you call and place and order to a sub-vendor, I don’t think you should place 100% trust in them to get the parts to YOUR customer in a timely fashion and maintain the entirety of the order. This is too much risk on your part.

Bryan – the reason you don’t have your parts is most likely because they have not been ordered. In tracking most of my parts that I received from Frank, they arrive with receipts stating order placement dates and shipping dates. The shipping dates are always pretty close to the order dates.

Also, I am speculating that there are more customers just like those that have posted that are still refraining from posting because they think their parts are coming in “next week” or “soon.”

Again, as always, if someone would like to challenge anything that I post, feel free to do so. In most cases, I can provide images scans or screenshots to support my statements.

Bryan – I truly hope you receive your parts soon so you can finish your project and enjoy it.