Reviews of Companies and People you have done Business with.

[CURVES]

Maybe, maybe not.
I've been waiting for months for parts from a fairly high profile vendor on this site.
I chose to do business based on glowing reviews throughout the forum. If I were to comment now, it would not be pretty.
I'm fairly experienced and know what to expect and when I finally do get the parts I'm sure I will be happy.
So I guess my point would be that this vendor's reputation did not help except to raise my expectations and ultimately compound my dissapointment.

[ArisESQ]

To be honest, I feel that one of the selling points of being a member of a forum such as this one IS the fact that you have a small window into the practices of some of the larger vendors, and that you get to see the experiences other forum members have.

It's true, this COULD get out of control very easily, but the fact is that most people that have a bad experience go ahead and make a new thread anyways.
And I think the benefit of having a system like this on a forum is that the reviews are not anonymous, as they typically are on ebay and most other sites. Anyone who has something to say about a particular vendor would typically have to have a damn good reason to post, otherwise they'd just be tarnishing their own name if it's an unnecessarily negative review.

The key is to try and keep it clean and not get overly emotional and worked up about things, in order to preserve a sense of professionalism which I think we would all appreciate.

[NOT A TA]

I also think having a section of the forum for feedback would be a bad idea. All hell would break loose. It would start with the big things being revealed and slowly work it's way down becoming more and more loaded with people bitching about the tiniest little things as more and more people got comfortable with it. More people would post complaints than would post good experiences, thats just the way people are. If everything goes well they just move along but if they're upset or waiting for parts and have free time to type they'll be posting up a storm.

This hobby is loaded with small parts manufacturers who have low volume production runs. The industry is plagued with backorders and unavailability, parts brought to market quickly, and unrealistic delivery dates for services rendered. Compound this with a customer base that expects the timely delivery of exceptionally high quality products and services at the lowest prices they can get and naturally there's going to be dissatisfaction at some level. Right now it doesn't get aired unless someone is really upset but with a forum section people will start to use it to their advantage with the "squeeky wheel gets the grease" theory. Posting that they're waiting on parts so theirs get shipped first or their car gets painted next etc.

People who aren't members may join the forum just to get a quick shot at discrediting vendors for various reasons, whether they were dissatisfied long ago, fired former employees, direct competitors, or whatever. It would be very hard to control.

Members will stop coming to the forum when they wrongly call someone out and are embarrased to be found wrong themselves or will stop coming if they aren't satisfied with the outcome of their post. At the same time some advertisers will be upset by comments made or the way things are handled and will pull their ads.

The way it is now the people who have small to medium complaints don't post because they know there will be 5 people who will immediately defend the vendor or service provider. In the long run, are the small/med grievences things we all need to know about? Probably not. Someones part got lost in shipping or damaged because of poor packing. Someones car wasn't ready for the big show. Someones part didn't fit as well as they hoped it would. Someones paint or other finish wasn't quite the color it looked like on a sample chip. Do these things really matter all that much in the grand scheme? There's a lot that goes on behind the face of the forum that isn't going to benefit anyone or the forum itself being public knowledge. A few cases have been aired and we've seen what happens.

Glowing endorsements are often given about certain shops or vendors by favored customers, people with influential positions in the industry or media, and friends who all may be getting preferred treatment or discounts etc. from the business so how much faith would we have that the general public is going to recieve the same level of service they get?

[monza]

Really can you say anything bad about the SHAMWOW it's absorbs 12 times it's weight in water and the Germans made it....

[Spiffav8]

Originally Posted by monza

Really can you say anything bad about the SHAMWOW it's absorbs 12 times it's weight in water and the Germans made it....

...and you know the Germans make good stuff.

Scott,

While I think it is important to take care of our members as well as our sponsors, I don't see a rating system being a good thing for the site. Yes there are those who will bash a vendor to death over what they consider a bad deal. We've seen that and I think the community will call B.S. when they see it. We've also seen just the opposite, where a vendor or shop has done a customer wrong. Again the community picks up on this and word spreads quickly. I don't see a rating system improving that at all.

I do like the idea of educating our members. It is the best defense one can have to keep from getting taken. We have some amazing shops and members here that are always willing to jump in and answer a question when one is asked. I would like to see more of this. How to go about it is the question. Some vendors have their own forums and will answer questions about their products there. Others chose to post more in the general forums. Honestly, the ones I see being the best in this area at the moment have been made by Chris Fessler. He has a few threads on cars that have been brought to his shop for repair only to discover a disaster. Disasters that the owner could have possibly avoided had he known. I am sure that most all of our vendors have stories like these that we can learn from. I see threads like those being very educational. I would love to a thread that gives more info on what a buyer should look for and be aware of when buying a project car. And another that gives really good info on what to look for when choosing a shop to work on it for you. I see this information coming mainly from the vendors and shop owners. There's a long list of people that help us regularly. All have different information to contribute. So if LG wants to do anything that will help members while rating vendors, I say start a forum where the vendors educate us. Those who contribute will earn their ratings by educating all of us. It's pretty much already happening, but putting it in a forum might be a good way of narrowing it down. Just a thought.

[tyoneal]

To All:

I have had this happen Twice.

Took my car to have something done, and it either wasn't done correctly, or I was over charged, or they were just terrible to deal with.

Money is tight and getting tighter, most if not all of us can't stand to take a huge beating by some jerk and not ruin the hobby for us.

It would seem in people's best interest to have a "Safe" place where you could go and use the vendors knowing that they are good and have a good track record with the people there.

Fortunately, all the vendors here, and on Pro-Touring.com have been fine so far. I like to think that the people here have been members long enough for people to know they are probably safe using someone to work on their cars. Especially if it requires you sending your car off to another state and spending 1000's of dollars.

Would it be easier for people to list a couple of vendors to the group, and people who have had a good or bad experience can send them an email about the vendor in question?

For instance, I will be doing a lot of work to my car in the near future. These are the vendors I plan to use whether in a small or large way. To make sure people are getting some help from the group, the person asking can ask the group about, "These" people. If they don't receive any help, the person asking can add to his post that he has not heard from anyone yet. If they have enough information, they can inform the group thing are good.

This way it would keep the "Bitching" off the main board and private. If there was something terrible going on, the person who was the customer could file a complaint with the AG of the state of the Vender.

Once someone has filed the complaint (Which they would probably do anyway if it was something big) then the problem could be announced to the group. False complaints can get into deep you Ca-Ca, with the AG.

I know this is long winded, but it would give everyone a chance to learn about the vendors, it would make the customer go out on a limb with the AG to keep the BS down to a minimum, plus alert people of the problem.

Thoughts??

Thanks,

Ty

[MarkM66]

I trust buying off ebay. As much as buying from Summit, Jegs, etc.

I was burned once by a seller on ebay, they never sent the item, paypal refunded my money, and seller is now no longer registered. I take part of the blame because I made a quick buy, and didn't even look at the poor seller rating.

People act like ebay makes poor products, or falsely advertises items. Ebay also doesn't make people buy cars without looking at them first. Due deligence is the buyers job.

Ebay is an advertising site, that's all.

[GregWeld]

Personally -- I don't want to see "vendor" reviews -- or sponsor reviews...

If I want to "check out" a shop or supplier - it's real easy on here for me to PM or email folks that have done business with them. I've PERSONALLY DISCOURAGED folks when I've seen a post about what they're thinking or about who they're thinking of using etc. It was real easy with a PM.

I think it will bring out the WORST -- and start a bunch of dissension on what for me - is the best board on the planet... (have to thank Al Moreno for that one of these days )

Let's just use the post by Fessler about the Mustang that broke in two.... and people start posting crap and then people take sides etc.... HATE THAT KIND OF STUFF... If I want to read that kind of stuff I can go to "chevy talk" or somewhere like that...