What would you do in this situation?

SP00LN

Man, I don't know what industry you guys are all in, but I know at my office, missing a due date and not keeping in contact one way or another, we'd be losing clients left and right...especially during times like these. It's not so much underestimating the delivery date, but at least let me know something either way, even if it was a 10 second update or PM. Extra customer service is what puts us ahead of our competition now a days, even if we cost a bit more.

That being said, I've been PM'ing the OP and can vouch for Lou on being a legit guy and vendor, just as lots of other guys can. He'll come through...

happytheman

+1 on the importance of communication. It only takes a few seconds and would put the OP's mind at ease, negating the "need" to call every day (multiple times). I get it, I really do. When I lay down $, I want to know where my money went to. I get obsessive about it as well. Perhaps not to the point of calling/emailing multiple times per day, but I definitely get anxious, especially if I'm told one thing and experience another.

I suppose the moral of all this would be the following:
1) Set the customer's expectations early. If the shipment is going to take three months..tell the customer it'll be four. That way you'll end up the Hero when it comes in early, yet not the tyrant when the delivery falls behind!
2) Communicate with your customers on a routine schedule, just to let them know how things are coming along. You may not have any news, but sometimes no news is better than not hearing anything at all.

I'm just sayin'!

PS. I've learned the value of item number 1 over the years with my wife and my anticipated departure from work! I used to tell her what I thought she wanted to hear "I'll only be another five minutes" and then had to hear the dissapointement when I did not come through. Now I just tell her "I'm not sure...maybe an hour?". And all is good when I show up in half the time! What can I say, I'm just keeping it real..and keeping the "customer" satisfied!

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--Brantly--

Vapiano

I think there are a ton of good points made in this entire thread, being in sales myself, setting and managing expectations via clear and concise communications is paramount and works both ways, especially as a customer if you are spending a good amount of your hard earned money.

A quick reply to any of your messages updating you on the status would have eased your mind and cleared any doubts of "now I have your money, you will get it when you get it" or "I bet I have been suckered."

Each vendor does things differently, it's just how some do business, it won't change a thing whether they gain or lose a customer. Buyers have different expectations as well. I am sure some forum members will read this thread and think nothing of it and some will say...hmmmm. Whether they choose to purchase or not is up to them. After reading it myself, my expectations have been set, I know not to expect a ton of response and I need to be very patient if I were to purchase. Patience is not one of my strongest attributes...

I get it, I see where you are coming from and have been in that position before, it sucks! I waited 10 weeks for wheels, when they arrived, they were the wrong wheels! Talk about pissed, in the end; I got what I wanted, but the overall negative buying experience took away from the enjoyment of getting the product.

I hope things work out for you in the end.

V.

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dP3NGU1N

This seems to have turned into a discussion about what the vendor should have done and I think there's a big problem here. It doesn't really matter if Lou is a standup guy to 99% of the people on this forum, if you are running a service based business then you should be chasing after customers and returning their calls within hours after TELLING them that you'd call them back, certainly not weeks after.

If I'd been waiting this long for wheels the final straw would have been weeks ago when he stopped returning calls. It's not a matter of patience. If he gave a proper ETA and even a corrected ETA everything would be fine and I would wait however long it took assuming I deemed the time frame reasonable. It's the lack of customer care (in this instance) that will immediately lose me as a customer. Proper customer service will never bring in new customers but it will certainly lose them. The customer shouldn't have to chase the vendor, it should be the other way around.

happytheman

/\ This is true. You cannot expect to maintain or build your customer base if they (said customers) have to feel that it's necessary to chase you down for information about your purchase order.

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--Brantly--

z man

Wow, this many problems getting the merchandise, the question should be....what will service be like if the product is received and there is a problem with the order....just something to also think about.

SP00LN

Amen to the last 2 responses! Makes business sense.

LunaZ

So, based on the last to responses, the vendor is at fault here for not maintaining good communication. That's pretty indisputable.

Now, to answer the question of what the OP should do... He can either be patient and have faith that the vendor who has his money is going to pull through and deliver the product or he can pull out and start the process over with another vendor that he thinks is going to do a better job. At any rate, both options will require a certain degree of patience, especially if he decides to start the process over with another vendor.
Or he could be impatient and call the vendor three times a day. Or he could forget about waiting for Volks and get a set of Rotas or even take a rattlecan to his stock wheels.
The options are infinite. I don't know what I'd do in this situation.

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happytheman

That's an excellent question.

One would think that the vendor would take care of the client perhaps for the initial communication, but then might drop out after the re-order has been placed...you know...during that waiting phase?

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--Brantly--

TypeOne

Updating the customer is always easier, faster and cheaper than dealing with an unhappy one.

Not saying that this guy is doing malicious stuff, but even with an extremely busy day, you have to find some sort of balance to take time and return phone calls and answer emails.

Being up front and honest with the situations will never put you in the wrong.

Good luck to the OP!

6spd

qft, 100% right

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nismodreamr

UPDATE TO ALL:
Lou sent me a very nice PM on here, he has been extremely busy and was not able to get back to me for awhile, hence this thread, but my wheels are in and will be shipping out early this week. Lou was GREAT to work with, the only thing that threw me off was the lack of communication for the last couple weeks, but I was a bit paranoid as well.

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RC 370z

relief huhh?! lol. glad your wheels are in and are that much closer to being put on your Z!

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nismodreamr

yeah I feel about a million times better now, I know I probably called 2 many times but I was getting no response to my voicemails and it freaked me out. Also, Lou's shop is short-staffed at the moment so this is obviously playing a huge factor in the issue, so I can understand it being a little difficult to get back 2 me.

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nismodreamr

UPDATE:
So remember my last post above this one? I was told the wheels should ship out on or around the 1st of July. Well I called on the 6th of July because I still hadn't received any information. was told the wheels were still at fedex and were not able to be picked up until later in the week because the shopwas 2 busy. OK FINE. I called again on the 8th, wheels were at the shop but they did not have time to ship them yet. "They will ship today and I will send you a tracking #". Today is the 12th, no tracking #. I just think it is frustrating that wheels sit at fedex for an extra week and then at the shop for a week and ahalf, for all I know they are still sitting there. call me impatient all you want, I was quoted the first week of June. Somebody make me feel better..

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2011 370z Touring+Sport Magnetic Black 6MT
Michelin - HKS - Titek - BC Racing - Volk TE-37SL - Stillen - PWJDM - Seibon