My customer experience with Prodigy Customs

[carbuff]

I've been holding off making this post for a long time, probably too long, but it's time to share my experience with the rest of the Lat-G community... I'm doing so because I realized today that yesterday was exactly 5 months since the final payment was made to Prodigy for parts that were ordered in November. And while many of the items from my order have arrived, the biggest still has not, and I'm tired of my phone calls and emails over the last few weeks not being returned...

Since I'm sure folks will want some details, I'll try to document my experience as a Prodigy customer as best I can here. It breaks down into 3 separate purchases with a few modifications along the way.

My first purchase from Prodigy was for a Rick's / Vaporworx Gas Tank for my 2nd gen. I placed that order as part of the GP that was done right after these tanks were announced. Payment was made for that tank on September 30th. Frank told me that they had one on order for one of their own in-house projects, and he wanted to get that in (time estimate of 2-4 weeks) before he ordered the rest to make sure there weren't going to be any surprises or problems. Ok, that makes sense...

As the tank became part of a larger purchase, I won't go into the details here, except to say that as of March, I still didn't have my tank. After a post that I saw from someone else, I made a call to Rick's and spoke to Hector. At that time, Rick's didn't have an order for my tank! I asked him if they were actually shipping the tanks, and he told me yes, they had been since September. So I email Frank, and he has no idea that Prodigy hasn't even ordered my tank yet. Um, hello? This unfortunately becomes a pattern as I discover.

My second purchase was part of another Prodigy GP, this time their 20% discount for a set of Forgelines. I gave Frank a deposit for 1/2 of the set of wheels since I hadn't decided exactly which style or BS I was going to run. I was the holdup on these for a while, until recently. About a month ago, Frank posted here that he had a set of the GA3 centers for sale, and since that is the wheel I decided on, I agreed to buy them. After doing some research and measuring, I decided on what I wanted. I've since been trying to finalize this order to get the wheels done, to pay the remainder of my balance, and to get the wheels on the way to me. I've made 3 phone calls or emails in the last month... No reply or returned phone calls during this time. (and I just love reading replies to other posts saying "just give me a call" during this time. gripes me to no end...)

So then my third purchase, this was the big one. I was having conversations with Frank for a few weeks as I decided what engine, suspension, brakes, transmission, and other purchases I was going to make. I settled in on a large, although smaller than originally discussed, list that included a T56 Magnum kit, a V/A AC kit, an AAW harness, a PRC radiator/condensor/cooler, several DSE items, a Wegner accessory kit, and a couple of other small items. The first portion of that order was paid for on November 24th. Items were supposed to be charged to my CC as they were shipped. Over the next few weeks, Prodigy made the charges to my CC, with the final payment of the remaining balance on December 9th.

Over the holidays, I ended up needing a few additional items for my engine, so Frank handled drop shipping those items to my engine builder. Those were actually handled promptly, I want to give credit where it's due.

Within the next two weeks after final payment, some of the order arrived. The DSE parts, and the PRC radiator and condenser. So we were off to a good start. But then the shipments stopped. Between the holidays and some personal and work-related travel, I didn't pursue or followup with Frank until the end of February. But at that point, I was still missing a pretty long list of items. I emailed Frank to ask about the status, and his reply indicated that he had no clue that everything hadn't been shipped. Apparently he and Lisa had a miscommunication, each thinking the other had completed the order. Well, ok, **** happens. When I tell him how much of the order hadn't arrived, he replies sounding pretty surprised, and with my favorite quote so far: "I'm making this my number 1 priority". That was February 25th.

So again, a few items start showing up via UPS. The AAW, the missing oil cooler (which didn't come with the radiator originally as it should have), the V/A items. But still no transmission. I did receive the bellhousing somewhere in here. Frank tells me on March 3rd that the transmission should have already been shipped (and when I say transmission, I mean the whole kit: clutch, shifter, trans, etc...). After two weeks and nothing arriving, I tell Frank that I'm headed out of town for a few days and to make sure nothing ships while I'm going to be gone. I gave him the exact dates to work around. I emailed him when I returned, since I hadn't heard anything and nothing had arrived, and he tells me the remaining items can ship 'tomorrow'. That was March 30th.

That was the last email that I have saved from Frank about my order. We communicated via phone a couple of times regarding the wheels, and I've emailed him with some information and questions about fitment, but with no reply. I've called twice in the last month also, no returned phone calls. And as of today, May 10th, still no transmission/clutch/shifter/etc or oil cooler adapter which I'm owed. At least the Vaporworx tank did finally arrive a couple of weeks ago, 7 months after my order and payment...

I hear about all of the great customer experiences that people have with Prodigy. Perhaps I'm the only unlucky one and 99% of the orders go off without a hitch. Maybe it's because I had a relatively large number of items on my order. Whatever the issue, my patience is gone. I'm aware that Prodigy moved their facility last month, but that's simply no excuse. I'm owed a high-dollar item, one that should have been in my hands months ago before the move even started, and having to continually chase my parts down has led to a very dis-satisfying customer experience.

I'm writing this all down because I, in large part, made my decision to send this purchase to Prodigy based on the experiences that I read about from others here and on other sites. I think it's only fair to let other people know that things don't always go so smoothly.