My customer experience with Prodigy Customs

[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.

[Efi69Cam]

I have ordered a few things from Prodigy (PRC rad and DSE subframe being the largest) and have found that they are great to deal with. The one bit of advice that I can offer is that even if you feel that your being a PITA call Frank. He is busy and he does forget things, but the squeeky wheel gets the grease. He will take care of you. I can honestly say that I would not hesitate to order from Prodigy again.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Bryan, i go all the way back to April 18 on my voice mail and call history. i do indeed see you number a few times, but no message.

Regardless, you are correct, it should not be your responsibility to call me about getting your parts, I did not want to infere that. But there were no calls from your area code yesterday or in the last week for that matter. I would have made another call if I had not had contact in the last 3 weeks. The last communication we had everything was cool and yes, I admit I totally forgot about your order and follow up during the move. I wish i could say with everything going on I could wake up every day thinking about everyones order. A email, message, anything would have triggered me and brought you to the top of the list.

As for the Mocal, i should have said a "free upgrade" abut $100 of upgrade from what we oringally talked about.

So in closing I am not putting any blame on you, but a call yesterday, email or message would have been nice.

We are working to fix all of this and making a serious capitol investment and commitment to this. I can't fix what happened yesterday, only what happens tomorrow. Space, inventory, people, are all coming.

And as soon as you make a final decision on your backspace or get me the information I need about the rear, your wheels will be assembled.

In the meantime I am sourcing the missing stuff wherever I can to fil the rest of the order.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Originally Posted by ModernMuseum

Frank,


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 .

Not a peace offering. I contacted you to see how everything was going, see how things was progressing. I wasn not sure if you would tell me to go f__k myself or what. I just was thinking about your project, and wanted to make sure you were doing OK. I also wanted to let you know in spite of your thread I was still available to you. I did not want you to think I closed the door because you called me out. My follow up email was nothing more then making sure everything was going smoothly like I do for 100s of other members.

As for the freebie stuff, you did not ask, but I sent you some stuff that I thought would solve the problem. It was used stuff that would have value if you had to buy it but was stuff that I do not mess around with selling. I did nothing here I have not done for 100s of members. The parts were things I had laying around and I knew you needed them.

At the end of the day, I will still be on the other end of the phone if you need help weather you spend another penny or not, just like the 1000s of hours of free tech I do for other members.

I only brought this up so others will know you got what you had coming and more. I cannot run from our mistakes, but I can resolve them best we can. And have a made a huge investment and commitment to do so.

[onevoice]

I have spent a few days hanging around Prodigy Customs with Frank when my car was being finished up. It is not an excuse, but Franks phone rings constantly, but he is not hard to get. If you have a problem, pick up the phone. I have never had a problem getting through. His phone number is in every post signature.

This kind of post makes people think something shady is happening, when it is in reality just a simple mistake. Frank is a straight up, no BS guy. He has hundreds, if not thousands of satisfied customers, and probably just as many he has given advice to that haven't actually bought anything. I have no problem recommending his shop to anyone, and I would assure you he will make any mistake he has made right.

[Mkelcy]

Originally Posted by barraza

I have spent a few days hanging around Prodigy Customs with Frank when my car was being finished up. It is not an excuse, but Franks phone rings constantly, but he is not hard to get. If you have a problem, pick up the phone. I have never had a problem getting through. His phone number is in every post signature.

This kind of post makes people think something shady is happening, when it is in reality just a simple mistake. Frank is a straight up, no BS guy. He has hundreds, if not thousands of satisfied customers, and probably just as many he has given advice to that haven't actually bought anything. I have no problem recommending his shop to anyone, and I would assure you he will make any mistake he has made right.

There is no reason to charge a customer's credit card long before a part has been ordered. I can see the need to assure that the credit card has sufficient capacity before actually placing the order, but the time difference between charging the card and placing the order should be days, not months.

I've concluded that the small savings aren't worth the worry.

[jocko124]

I think the biggest mistake vendors make is being too optimistic with delivery times--which I think is the exact opposite of what they should do. I actually ordered a part (without being charged for it) last November. I still don't have the part, but I'm not upset---why? because when i ordered the part, the guy told me it was a long lead time because there's not a big demand for A Body parts. Had he told me it was 3 weeks out 8 times in a row, I'd be very upset right now!

[jjump59]

I've had both good and bad dealings with Prodigy. Alot of people standing up up for them and I don't feel it's right to only hear about the good ones. Not gonna post all the details but same stuff as other guys that recently posted. Even when I wanted my money back that was a problem. Heard alot of excuses for not returning calls and or emails etc. I don't do business with them any longer. Good luck getting your stuff, hope it all works out for you.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Mkelcy

There is no reason to charge a customer's credit card long before a part has been ordered. I can see the need to assure that the credit card has sufficient capacity before actually placing the order, but the time difference between charging the card and placing the order should be days, not months.

And that quote perfectly summarizes my feelings about this situation and the reason for my original post: to let others know that this can, and does, happen. There is no excuse for these kinds of delays when these vendors, for the most part, are simply having parts drop-shipped from the manufacturers once an order is placed and paid for.

And while I would be best served to just leave well enough alone at this point, I'm too damned stubborn to do so... This completely irked me:

A email, message, anything would have triggered me and brought you to the top of the list.

Oh? So what were the communications that we had in February and March? And the phone call we had in early April when we discussed the wheels? How many more times do I have to bring myself to the "top of your list"?

So in closing I am not putting any blame on you, but a call yesterday, email or message would have been nice.

Perhaps... But being 'nice' isn't the point. You run a business, a business that in no small part utilizes the 'free advertising' that you get by posting in these forums. Yes, I realize you pay to formally advertise as well, but you get a lot of "word of mouth" advertising here too. The point of the original post, as I stated above, was to let other people know about this entire experience and allow future customers to make a more informed decision about where they choose to send their money. My choosing to contact you, yet again, rather than sharing my experience with others, would have served no one but you...

[67zo6Camaro]

Thank god Scott you man'd up. I have been reading similar post and stories and have also witness a similar account from my next door neighbor who has also purchased from Prodigy.

It is amazing how much protection this company has gotten from some of these sites.

It's about time someone lays it on the line as most of us can read between the lines.

Brett

Originally Posted by XcYZ

Frank needs to make this right or Prodigy no longer needs to be a part of this community. This is the 3rd time in recent months this exact story has unfolded with Prodigy, months of waiting, charging when parts were never ordered from the manufacturer, no communication (or flat ignored), etc.

Three strikes... Frank needs to make this right (like, Today) or he will no longer be a supporting vendor here.

I feel our community is being taken advantage of without regard of consequences.