This is a follow-up story to the story I posted yesterday about the problems I was having getting a supplier of parts for classic Pontiac Firebirds (and Chevy Camaros) I’d sent a part – and money – to some six months ago to send me the part or refund my money.
I’d spent about a month prior to yesterday attempting to reach the supplier, whose representative had assured me a month ago that the part would be headed my way. It never arrived and – despite multiple attempts to reach the person I’d been communicating with – no communication from her was forthcoming.
Until this morning.
I got a text from her advising me that my money had been refunded. Coincidentally, this text arrived about 24 hours after I published the original story detailing the ghosting I’d been on the receiving end of for about a month now.
I am happy she decided to respond – and that I have gotten my money back. But I am not happy about the fact that it took me publicly sharing my story with you – with tens of thousands of others – to get a response out of F Body Warehouse. And my money back.
I was able to leverage my ability to let lots of other classic car people know what happened to me. But most people aren’t car journalists and lack the leverage to hold a supplier that doesn’t supply – and refuses to refund – accountable. I think it is likely that were I not a car journalist and if I did not have a web site viewed by thousands of people each day, I would never have heard back from F Body Warehouse and never have received my money back.
I say so because of the fact that until I published the story, they were not the least bit interested in making things right. But – just like that – they were.
It says a lot.
I’m also still out my original part, by the way. The one I sent them to be restored that got lost in the mail or lost at their warehouse. I suppose I will never know. So I didn’t come out of this whole. I now have to find a replacement part, either a new old stock (NOS) or a “good” used part that can be refurbished. This will likely cost $80-$100 bucks or so.
But I’m not mad about that so much because sometimes things do get lost in the mail or misplaced after they arrive. That is understandable. And easy to forgive. What’s really not forgivable is what happened. Yes, I got my money back. But only under duress. Not because it was the right thing to do. F Body Warehouse wanted me to shut up and go away. And to let you know that they did refund my money.
But you know what it took to get them to do that.
And that’s something that ought not to be forgotten.
. . .
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I’ve been dealing with my own little customer service issue this week. I’ve been messing around with different control surfaces that promise to make audio, video and photo editing easier, as well as setting up one-button macros for just about any application. After dealing with inexpensive solutions that aren’t really up to the task, have limited support or just don’t work as claimed, I splurged and bought a very expensive but highly rated device. Out of the box it looks great, feels nice and seems to be easy to program. But the big reason for buying it was that it had templates for all the software I use. So I started looking around their “marketplace” and couldn’t find anything. I reread the instructions… nope, just not there. So I fill out a support ticket on their site, not really expecting much (as many people seem to have had problems being ghosted by tech support). Imagine my surprise when I got an email this afternoon explaining the problem. Apparently the new version broke compatibility with the program I specifically bought this device for, and one that they splashed all over their marketing materials. The response included instructions for how to downgrade to the older version that would still work.
Really? One of the most popular video editing applications, that your company specifically promotes on your web site, but ver. 6.0 broke it. Great job guys!
That IS sad, Eric. “We will refund your money, but only because you bitched to high hell about it”. What a motto for a business.
And, no coupon!
‘Be the squeaky wheel.’ — eric
Currently a debt collector is pursuing me for alleged unpaid tolls to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority in Austin.
Pretty sure I know what happened. They mailed the original toll invoice to my street address, in a town where USPS only delivers to PO boxes. I know this because months later, USPS randomly delivered a CTRMA letter sent to my street address (despite it being ‘undeliverable’), with eighty dollars of penalties tacked onto the original ten-dollar toll bill which I never received.
So, three times, I’ve demanded in writing a copy of the original misaddressed invoice from the debt collector. They can’t produce it. And frankly, it’as not worth their time to produce it. But I’ve established the paper trail to defend against them in court — which is also not worth their time. Nobody gets sued for a hundred worthless Biden bucks.
Debt collection is a mind game. You can stiff unsecured creditors without consequence, except to your credit record. Although my credit rating is good, I have no mortgage and don’t need credit. So debt collectors can kiss my ass. And if they dare to confront me in court, I’ve got the paper trail to demolish them.
Molon Labe, bitchez. 🙂
Amen that, Jim!
Another perk of not having debt and not needing it is you are immune from threats levied against you regarding your credit. Serfdom is not a good deal.
Good for you Eric,
Pretty much how most of the radio and tv consumer advocacy people work. You will be ignored until it’s splashed all over for everyone to see, and embarrasses the company into doing the right thing while coming up with some half-assed excuses for why it took so long.
According to the USPS if you have a tracking number they record date, time and delivery location. Looks like incompetence or fraud, probably the former but still worth involving a postal inspector. Online reviews are a cheap way to tell the world also.
Thank you Eric for posting this.
I’ve got a disused 91′ F body vert in my back yard, and if I put $3000 into it, would probably be worth $10K. Currently doing nothing with it because it’s not depriciating in it’s current condition, 100K miles and a few mods. It would make a good project for anyone looking to keep up with it. Fine like it is given it has a replacement T5 and possible engine swap for my current vehicle in it.
When you get down to car specialty sites needing a part, I know you are not normally spoiled for choice.
People go to these kinds of places to avoid this sort of stuff which can happen on eBay.
Usually you can find a better price, because now the way eBay works is the buyer is always right, and puts a lot of pressure on the seller.
Nobody likes a situation like this, but what says a lot about your business is how you remedy these things.
Nobody wants to be gaslit about parts that are unobtanium these days.
Glad to hear you atleast got something back under duress.
We figured out ultimatly mistreating people will come back to haunt you, and cost you more in the long run. That’s called Karma and people voting with their dollar.
Sometimes it’s easier to have stuff that can’t be replaced fixed locally.
Computer went out in the 4.0HO jeep last month, and a friend was able to re-soldier new caps in it at his house with better parts than the eBay repair services probably would use. Had it back the next day!
You know how you go on ranting that older cars demand more of the operator… Sometimes they want you to learn with them.
F-bodies did that a lot.
I’m glad they somewhat resolved your issue, at least. I cannot fathom what makes some people, let alone businesses, behave in this way.
Keep in mind, Eric, you have considerable reach and clout, and might have dealt them a fatal blow, or at least may force them to change their company name.
The enthusiast websites have saved me from the mystery of unknown online vendors. The haywire ones get called out immediately and the good ones of course get a loyal following. The Harley forums are invaluable. My son in law has several Land Rover sites he visits.