Andy Neuman said:Reminds me of the time I ordered custom valved suspension and was told 8-10 weeks. Luckily I ordered at the end of September when the next autocross was in March....
I received them after the first event in march after continuously being told soon or in the next two weeks.
Fat Cat? lol
In reply to z31maniac :
I'm not going to say. I just like when people are honest about lead times and/or are preemptive about delays.
Like the other week I ordered something that ended up being delayed by hurricane Harvey. The company sent out an email to let me know of the impending delay.
Keith Tanner said:I frequent the shop that makes stuff happen. But I don't think I'm being unreasonable when I ask for next day air if your your website shows "in stock" so if you are drop shipping from a supplier who does not do NDA... that is on you. Don't make promises you can't keep and I won't ask for unreasonable deadlines.
(forum formatting fail here)
Having something in stock and promising to ship next day air are not the same thing. If you call up and say "this is on you" because you have come up with an arbitrary rule like that, you will find that I am far less likely to make your emergency my problem.
Work WITH your suppliers, not against them. This is me admitting to being a real person, not the PR friendly face of FM I have to be all the time.
The "But I need it for an event this weekend!" happens more often with roll bars than anything else. And the website DOES very clearly say it can take 2-6 weeks. If it's a real problem like a blown shock, we'll do what we can. If you're an ass about it, then what we can do will be less than if you're polite. I understand the difference between an emergency and a lack of planning, and the latter usually comes with more attitude on the part of the customer.
I would dismiss the rollbar NOW crowd. You know that isn't a real need. Nobody suddenly needs one of those - they are just jacking for a quick delivery. But being antipathetic (and I am in no way suggesting you are) to a guy who has a real race this weekend is a recipe for being the 3rd or 4th place they look when they need something and are not in a hurry. And racers do not look for deals at the last minute so there is no need to fight over coupons. They pay - and again for shipping to get what they need. How do you tell who is real? I have no good answer. But, I am always polite - but almost never exclusive. I spell out the dilemma and if you can't - well you can't. And frankly we are not discussing you at all since I have no Miata(e)? so I shoud use "they". I order from a few places and install the one that shows up first. I either stock the others or ebay them. I trust no one the first time. If that's you who delivers two or three times in a row... then that's good business and maybe I get all misty for your company but ... I only have two of those in 20 years who have been rock solid. Everyone else has said they would ship NOW and then didn't. So, cut some slack to the distrustful... they often have good reasons.
I once had a customer get very upset with me because a major blizzard across the US had shut down shipping everywhere. He just could not understand why I couldn't send more parts overnight to Florida to replace the ones that were in transit.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
That is not a reasonable person.
Have I not yet made it clear that there is a distinct difference between a failure to plan and an emergency? I understand the latter, I've been there like every racer.
But failure to plan is not my emergency. The call that set me off today was suspension. Not "I need a replacement shock", but "what do you mean I can't get this race suspension tomorrow so I can finish building my car?" Very different.
I did next day a set of replacement brake lines today because there was a problem and he has a legit event coming up. Cost me $60 in shipping, but I did not want him out there on the setup he had.
Huckleberry said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
That is not a reasonable person.
Agreed. He did not get his way.
Dusterbd13 said:rustybugkiller said:thatsnowinnebago said:One of the best things the IT guy (also friend) at my last job would say was "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." I thought it was much funnier than upper management did
I could use this everyday at work!!
I do!
Every. Holiday. Weekend.
However, I am all but completely apathetic to these types of situations.
My business operates around specific service intervals which basically make these types of requests are more akin to "My oil is 3000 miles overdue for a change, and I'm supposed to drive to Argentina this weekend! What do you mean you don't have time to fit me in?!?!"
Wait, is needing to overnight parts from Japan considered "unreasonable"?
Only after you spend about 10 grand.
Or if will fit in a carry-on.
Although, would still probably end up around 10k.
thestig99 said:Wait, is needing to overnight parts from Japan considered "unreasonable"?
Not if you put it on your tab at Harry's.
noddaz said:I need to. Every day, "What do you mean you don't have X in stock?". And X could be anything from a light bulb to a power steering pressure hose for a 1996 2.5 TL. I had that call today...
I didn't know there were any of those left on the road!
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
I use that line on my students. They hate it.
When I read the title, I thought, "whatever the content, I bet it makes Keith look good."
I don't understand the drama since it's self-correcting. If "that guy" demands he have it tomorrow, and the $347 shipping charge isn't a problem, shrug.
If that guy argues that the shipping will take too long, politely suggest that he hire a courier service.
If that guy argues that two weeks for roll bar fabrication is too long, politely suggest he check elsewhere.
If that guy demands that it go out right now, charge him an extra $$$.
In other words, put the consequences of his own self-created shipping fiasco back on him and turn it into profit.
If it's possible but expensive, we'll charge them for it. No problem. If it's going to cost a lot of money to solve their problem and they're willing to pay, then the problem is solved. A real racer knows when it's time to throw money at a problem - sometimes it's just what you've got to.
But it's all the OTHER cases. It's always an unpleasant conversation, and never a short one. Whining does not make parts come in to stock or magically appear, saying the same thing over and over does not change the realities of shipping things a couple of thousand miles, abusing me continually over the phone does not make the blizzard go away. At the end, the customer doesn't get what they want, we're at fault because we didn't meet unrealistic expectations and I - being an actual human being - did not enjoy it at all. That's what motivated this. Don't ruin my day by being an idiot. This all may sound very petty, but if you deal with this every day for a decade and a half it really wears you down. Anyone is welcome to come take these calls if they want.
So this thread is a request. Plan ahead. You'll be happier. You'll be more likely to get exactly what you want instead of settling for what can be done on your very tight timeframe and budget. Your vendor will appreciate it. You won't be up until 3 am the night before the race, and you probably will finish better. Everybody wins. The only downside is that you don't get stories that make you sound like a heroic wrencher to those who don't know, and like an idiot to those who do.
Whoops, Keith jumped in there before I could respond...
This IS the problem. "That Guy" does not understand reasonable. "That Guy" will still think the vendor is not doing enough. Or charging too much. Or has a bad attitude, no matter how reasonable and polite you are. I once took a class through the parent company of the dealership I work for. It was a customer relations class. And part of the course was how to properly tell the customer "No". Being able to tell the customer "No, I am sorry. I am not able to do that for you." seems to be forgotten these days.
Then there are vendors that just fail. Like the machine shop that has the head for my M3. They told my mechanic they'd have it done in 2-3 weeks. Yeah, that was SIX (!!) weeks ago and they still haven't delivered it to the shop yet.
There goes my complete season. Shop can't do anything about it, so that leaves me frustrated and disappointed.
Pete Gossett MegaDork
9/15/17 6:03 p.m.In reply to Dusterbd13 :
FYI yes you can drive home with an unmounted Hard Dog rollbar in your Miata with the top down.
Little known fact, you can also fit a miata roll bar completely within a Tercel coupe when your miata can't make the trip.
Bad? That's not bad. Ever deal with a body shop? My 9C1 was in paint jail for 10 months.
I work in the repair parts department for a company that makes big industrial machines. I deal with "that guy" every day. The call goes something like this
"OMFG OUR MACHINE JUST WENT DOWN!!!!! ITS SHUTTING DOWN AN ENTIRE LINE!!! IF WE DONT GET THIS PART HERE RIGHT NOW WE WILL START LAYING PEOPLE OFF AND AUTOMOTIVE MEGAMANUFACTUROR WONT BE ABLE TO MAKE THEIR HOT NEW BEIGEMOBILE!!!!!!!"
Me; " Calm down, i have the part you need. I can get a courier lined up and have it to you in three hours."
Them: "Courier? Whats that going to cost me"
Me: "Does it matter? I can get you a quote but it takes time. Do you want a quote or do you want me to get it on a truck?"
Them: "I guess send it"
Me: " Would you like to buy two so next time you have this problem its not an emergency? I noticed you havent bought any maintenance items for this machine in eleven years. Would you like to buy the maintenance parts to keep it up and running? Many times deferring the maintenance causes failures that can put you down for months."
Them: "ill get back to you on that." They never get back to me on that. I follow up, nothing. Then when the machine inevitably goes down in a big way we are supposed to move heaven and earth to get it going again. And when we do, and we get them a part in three weeks that normally takes 14, we are shiny happy people because "we had them down for three weeks"
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