weirdsteve

I've been in the scene for around 5 years now at a local level and one thing that's always been consistent and a problem are the stunt products and shops. A few exceptions come to mind like HAI, Hohey, and a few other guys on here but the rest like Powers suck ***. It feels like whenever I buy something i wait the standard 3-4 weeks and then have to initiate a fuggin email/calling campaign to get what i paid for weeks ago. Then when i finally get my order, somethings always fucked up like it doesn't fit correctly, all thread is too thick to fit or too short, no directions, ect.......In my time I've bought from the big 4 cage companies (FI, SI, 905, Powers) and it seems like either the service, product, or both is always fucked up in some way. It's just a frustrating part of the sport that should change. Thanks for listening to the rant. -weirdsteve

Danger_Dave

well that applies to all businesses in general. nobody realizes how important customer service is and not to sweat the small stuff. like if the product is f'd up and you need to send it back so they try and charge you for the shipping for THEIR mistake, **** like that. or to be able to say "sorry the thing took so long its been getting powdercoated, heres a free tshirt" that dont take much. the stinkin tshirt cost 2 dollars and its free advertising and a walking billboard anyway. this little gook teriyaki place down the street, i love it, go there everyday, until i asked for extra sauce and the bitch tries to charge me .25 cents. theres definitely folks in the stunt industry making a difference. my boy waited almost 4 months for a powers subcage, calls up omr and got that **** in like a week.

weirdsteve

i agree the small **** goes a long way. and companies like powers can probably do a lot better if they got their heads out of their asses.

drgnazz

we are trying to make things better. a firm believer in customer service. if it takes longer than planned, we will let you know and try to make it up to you somehow.oh, "we" are Tandem Designwurx. all the bad PR from the other companies is part of why we started this shop.

t-dogg

yup..i just ordered a si cage and 12 an got no hardware for any of it...

CarpeDiem

I got lucky with powers when I ordered once I guess...

I have ordered from HAI multiple times now with EXCEPTIONAL service.

Tony L

**** gets messed up in ever business its harder for these smaller businesses to keep up with the overwhelming demand. just like at bike shops the return rack is huge at most of them for miss ordered parts etc. Be happy that people support s growing industry like ours and dont tell us to fab up our own ****. build our own sprockets, cages, handbrake setups that work, etc.

zride

ahhhhh yes......finally someone sees exactly what I do. The more corporate the business gets the more quality & customer service goes out the door. I am bring mom & pops back. I have over fifteen years in retail experience, plus a BS in Business Management, and now working on my motorcycle mechanics certificate...all to open a shop. Not just any shop...but a shop that is dedicated for stunt, street, N track....All Asian concentrated bikes with the main focus Stunt. Retail, Sales, Service, Maintnance, conversions, cages, subcages, sprockets, chains, brakes, lifts, tires changers, balancers, full engines servicing, suspension servicing, custom fab and design bikes per customer desire. I am going to blow it up and make customer satisfaction, quality workmanship, best selection at the best deals. Fully certified with Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, & Yamaha....and all the great brands Hopefully I would like alpine star, icon, fox, dvs, powers, tygershark, FI, sick innovations, vortec, sprocket specialisst, galfer, brembo, motion pro, ek chains, rk chains, did chains, Ho Hey Designs, Gp Tech, Full Throttle ........basically all the good stuff..... anyway thats just a piece of whats to come and I plan to support the industry the best way I can locally and any other way. I know things happen in business but its the willingness to fix the problem and understand customer satisfaction.

Danger_Dave

yup thats totally jewish. when they pull something like that with me they just lost a customer. and losing a customer is alot worse than losing a 1/2 ounce plastic thing of sauce when a box of 100 costs only 4 bucks. i was watching this tv special about walmart and they calculated how much money they lose by losing just one household of customers, $200,000 throughout the course of a lifetime if they wouldve shopped there on a regular basis. and this is why they have one of the best customer service departments and return policies around. theres a hindu store down the street as well, and when i swipe my card they charge a .50 cent fee. this is nothing new, visa is starting to rape businesses, but sure enough i dont go there anymore, i go to the chevron thats further away but no fee.

Vetter

you do understand youll have to go through places like tucker/western/parts to get the parts you want... (other than most the stunt stuff)...those companies normally do not go directly to dealer...

goes like this


manufacturer/company who has part manufactured
part distributer (tucker/parts/western/lockhart)
dealer


now... before you can even go straight to the manufacturer you have to be top tier within whatever distributors you go through.

good luck.

parts is real quick with shipping. tucker is slower... but is always accurate and is good with dealer relations... lockhart... pfft... i have never even talked to them, they dont seem very involved with their dealers.


now as far as the stunt stuff...

youll have to do "buy ins" before you can get the product at cost.





IMO the way to make money in the biz s buying used part from random motorcycle dealership service departments and selling om forums or ebay.



customer service is key. but sometimes customers dont understand certain things like backorder... or the fact that the distributors ship **** when THEY want to ship it, and dealers cant help that. and thats why i feel dealers get the bad names they get.



I switched from bike sales to parts because didn't want to be a shark. i wanted to genuinely help cats that needed things for their bike.

when i put an order through.. i show the customer my screen (minus cost) so they can see what warehouse the parts are at...what approx shipping is...etc.


the problem with most retail transactions is the lack of straight forward communication between the buyer and seller. agree?

Vetter

as far as the stunt stuff goes...


i do sometimes feel like some places with the big names and the big following could do better.

like on 12 bars.. .i understand ***** got to be snug....but... measure the width at its WIDEST point (i.e. the welds).. not just the tubing... then the bar will go on easy...


or weld your ******* cages better than a 12 year old like some of the **** ive ran.

the best cage ive ran so far is one i built.... but it was a hassle to build...its nice to pay 200-250 for something that will work and just forget about it.


you know what would be cool to see?

if a cage manufacturer came on here and posted a thread on what people like and dislike about their product. get some REAL product feedback on their product and improve based on that. soem places have done that. the first on that comes to mind is FTI. didnt exactly make a thread but you can tell wth the release of the new FTI handbrake that he was reading... and listening... to what we had to say.... and came up with the best alternative in his eyes. unfortunately i bought a really diesel HHD setup and radial a week before FTIs setup was released... so imm fully setup and have no need to buy this so yeah...

i think the manufacturers should pay more attention to the negative feedback then the positive because the positive feedback will come if its a good product and some of the time if their is bandwagon products... which can lead **** astray.


for every 10 people that feel shtty about a product only 2 usually say something.. the rest usually live with and buy something else in the long run...

tdog

Man, who is that T-Dogg guy

kjtw73

I just love trying to get ANY parts without having to order them and wait weeks or months, let alone anything SPECIAL...

You guys hit the nail on the head regarding the customer service thing! HAI has done a great job for me, and they have a customer for as long as they keep it up! Even a few snags here and there will not cause me to go elsewhere. What gets me is SI...wow, what a mess there. Ordered a 12 bar and rear stunt pegs (along with cage sliders and some damned stickers) and it took almost a month to get them (without a word from them). I called a couple of times and got the "it should ship soon" thing and finally, I got the 12 bar and stunt pegs...still waiting on the cage sliders and frikkin stickers...go figure. And, when I called to let them know that I didn't get everything...they guy acts like I am lying and gets huffy with me...says fine, if you say you didn't get them, we will ship them out, maybe today or maybe monday...over a week ago...still nothing...still waiting...

I can understand if someone tells me that they are back logged with orders or items are on back order, but don't get nasty with me because you failed to ship something I ordered...for crying out loud, lie to me and tell me it is on backorder or something! At least that way I am not upset that you are just blowing me off!

Ahhh...now I feel gooder!

Vetter

well didnt you get an invoice?

if companies shipped **** out with detailed invoices that would be a simple fix.

old man roger

subscribed.......

kjtw73

Oh yeah, there was an invoice in the box when it came...same thing that I got when I ordered...nothing about back order, nothing about items not shipped...ugh...

Oh well, I am giving it another few days and will call them again. I really don't think that the guy that I spoke to had ANY intention of shipping ANYTHING...we will see...

Vetter

well if you saved your receipt or a copy of your money order you can jsut add it all up and send it to them to prove you didnt get all that you payed for.

weirdsteve

I like SI but i've had probs with them as well. the all thread was too short on the cage, so i had to buy my own which is . no directions and had to figure out that the spacers go on the left side more ....the round bar wouldn't fit so i had to cut it and re-weld to mount it. that being said the cage is SOLID and great quality for the price. It's a shame you have to remind them to send your product but at least they respond to emails which is more than i can say for powers. HAI is probably the only place i know of where you can order a part and expect it soon w/o having to put your email stalker cap on.

Don't Ride Dirt

I see this thread is geared around customer servise.

We're small but we ship and pack up until midnight so the orders go out the next day.

We ship USPS priority mail and only had one guy complain because his order took like 9 days to the U.K.

It would have made it a little quicker but it got held up in customs for a few days.

If your back ordered tell em!! and if they need to wait, offer a little better deal to keep em happy..

thats my 2 Cents on that..