A note about vendor bashing.

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I have not had any problems either, but if someone has had a bad experience or did not like the product they got, damit I want to hear about it. Let me make my choice with the facts.

If a vendor messes up they should get negative feedback, hey it happeneds. If they do good they get positive feedback....

We need something that people leave feedback and vedors get a rating like ebay...That is the only fair way. Also if you really care about what you are doing you will always get a good feedback. There are vendors on ebay with 60K transactions and they still have a 95%+ rating...

Just a thought..
 
jurgs01 said:
I can't even name a GOOD vendor who has been pushed away except for DG Motorsports (and they are back).


Just remember this from now whenever a new member jumps on says "who makes a supercharger for my car?" and your response has to be..."Thomas Knight Turbos". :rolleyes:
 
We do have a feedback system but a large group here decided to crap on it and not take it seriously so now there is no rhyme or reason to it. I for one take my reutation point seriously as I do offer a product here. However, 9 times out of 10 I am getting point or loosing them because someone is board at work not because of what I have done or said.

The other topic is posted feedback like in threads ect. I can not speak for Ken and T3 directly but I do not feel that they are trying to block peoples comments. If you have a problem with a vendor, then I think it should rightly be posted. However it has not been uncommon to see people over exaggerate or post a problem that they never even brought to the vendors attention.

Now, being a quasi vender here, I feel that there is a bit to much being asked by both sides. First of all, any vendor should not only expect they should know that if there is a flaw with there product that they don't tell people about up front, then that flaw is going to get discussed and probably not kindly. ESPECIALY if it cost the customer more money. If a company knows something else may be needed to properly install there product, it should be supplied or atleast disclosed to all customers.

Several times we have seen less the perfect products come out, some with serious draw backs. However, other times, that draw back is radicly over stated to make a point. So we have a hard balancing act here. As a whole, customers need to understand that vendors need atleast a chance to make a situation right. Also, customers need to be truthful about the situation instead of throwing hissy fits. Additioanly vendors need to ask for customer feedback with every sale so that they will be the one to hear about an issue first.

Something like the intercooler mess Kens mentioning is unfortunitly not uncommon. Often customers are just unreasonable. I don't know why for sure, but luckily I have never had any such interaction with any customer. All of mine have been very nice to work with and very understanding. However, I feel I might be taking steps others aren't. First of all, if there is a going to be a delay in shipping, I call the customer, they don't call me. Keeping a customer informed is incredibly important. I don't think alot of vendors do this, but then again they have alot more customers then me. Also, as a customer, I never feel its ok for a vendor to estimate a shipping time or take an order when they don not have the product in hand or control of its arrival to them.



Just some random thoughts. I think unfortunilt it the extream case of lousey vendors that put customers on edge and the extream case of insane custmers that drive off vendors. As a site, if everyone is truthful and realistic, neither should be more then a slight irritation.
 
"However, I feel I might be taking steps others aren't. First of all, if there is a going to be a delay in shipping, I call the customer, they don't call me. Keeping a customer informed is incredibly important."

This is the core of customer service. I have read tons of stuff here about vendors and shipping problems. The above quote is it plain and simple. SOME or MOST of the bulls*** with vendors is because vendors do not take the time to call and say "This is what's happening".

Customer service is dead. Everywhere you go stores, retail, gas stations, everything. People/companies who want to provide a service need to be held to a higher moral/service level. We as paying consumers deserve it.
 
Super Matty P said:
Just remember this from now whenever a new member jumps on says "who makes a supercharger for my car?" and your response has to be..."Thomas Knight Turbos". :rolleyes:

You seem like a good guy Matt, but you chose to jump in and state your opinion a lot. I do the same thing as you, but I am not selling a product nor am I sponsored by any vendors I am representing. Just saying that if you want to sell a product you need to chose your battles. I personally would love to see a supercharger on the market. I think you should continue to develop it. You definately need to stop jumping into flamewars if you want it to be a sucess though.
 
I have to say, that while we do not manufactur any products we have had great success with the members of this forum. No company has a 100% satisfaction rate but how the problem is handled will make or break your reputation. Weve had issues before but have done our best to correct it asap and i think my customers realized that.
I have seen and had conversations with other vendors on here about thier frustrations regarding how the board has treated them, r there some that deserve it, probably, r their some that got bashed that didnt deserve it, for sure.
In my personal opinion i think posts that are bashing vendors should be moderated more closely and closed until the individual with the complaint can provide proof (or thier word) that they have tried multiple times to resolve the problem privately. Too many threads get started as soon as the problem comes up and before the vendor gets the chance to resolve it
 
Actually what seperates me from other vendors is that this isn't my full time job. I make plenty of money working my regular 38hrs a week. I do what I do because I love these mazda cars and I want to show people that if you set your mind to it (and have half a clue) you can really innovate.

If I have a problem it's my inability to just let stuff die. I say what I think and I'm bluntly honest with people. Some people can deal with it, some can't. I could care less if people don't like my bluntness. I don't get online to try to sell products....I post the info and interested people can come to me. I've never put any weight in this forum after I first signed on and attempted to sell my cat-less MSP mid-pipes and was flamed because "Apex" was $10-15 cheaper. I knew then that this community was just whiny broke kids (for the most part)...they just want high quality parts at budget prices.

I should've gotten into a community whose vehicles are a little more expensive....people who can afford a more expensive car usually don't b**** so much over $15.
 
jurgs01 said:
I can't even name a GOOD vendor who has been pushed away except for DG Motorsports (and they are back).

i guess Protege Garage and Flyin' Protege were not 'good vendors'? :rolleyes:
 
I agree that the "younger" more impulsive members are usually the ones that do the "bashing". It's mostly because they feel they were not told the total 100% truth about the product (or whatever it is they thought they needed to know before they made their purchase) or that it took too long to get the product (due to long wait lists or shipping problems), or lack of quality in the product (bad fitment, etc.).

No matter what my personal opinion is of the actual person selling the product, I will buy according to customer service, total product satisfaction, competitive pricing and overal performance of the actual product. I wouldnt factor "they said it would take 5 days to get it to my door and it took 7!". Or "it was 3mm off and I needed to make a slight adjustment by placing the O ring closer to the sleeve." Or nonsense comments like that. Now if someone says "my hood was 2 inches off on the right and left side." or "the CF weave was slanted the whole way through",or "I had to cut one of my pipes so the FMIC would fit"... etc. then they have valid concerns that may not have originally been addressed when the buy took place. While I'm a big advocate of getting better and more access to additional products for our cars, I'm also a big advocate of having quality products for them as well. It's better to have 5 vendors that do great work and have limited products, then 50 vendors that make bad products and lots of them.

All in all, no matter how good the product or company... there will always be complaints. You cant make 100 people happy 100% of the time. Which is fine. The ones that dont buy will be made up by the ones that will. Not everyone on here is "poor", but they will save their money for something that will work. One thing that I've learned on here.... people have money... they are generally interested in ANYTHING that comes out for their cars... they will buy your products... they are just scared of blowing the car up or buying something they either may never see or that just wont fit.... period.
 
jurgs01 said:
jurgs01 said:
T3ase, gimme a break. The point of a forum is to get information out to new members who have no idea about modding and those who want more information. If you think people on here should keep their mouth shut about the quality and possible consequences of a product then you don't need to be a moderator.
You're taking my original point of this thread and twisting it all around. If you read my initial post, I say I have no problem with making problems or quality issues known.

jurgs01 said:
Cmon, driving vendors like Joep, Ion, and Essentialspeed out of here because people bash them? Who really cares?
Jurgs, keep in mind we're very close to losing another major supporter of this community which WILL piss you off when it happens.

JoeP also left this community way before you were even a thought in his mind. However, the attitude you have towards him is a great example of why.

jurgs01 said:
I could make the products Joep makes in my garage. You can get those anywhere.
As stated in my first post... Do it. Take the time to design a product or even setup a "retail" store for us. Get all of the IDs, approvals, loans, connections, credit, websites; everything. Then offer some products and deal with whiny little people like you all day who apparently know so much more than the vendor and "could do SO much better out of their garage so **** them".

Were you even around back when JoeP originally released the "FPR" kit? While that piece was made out of stuff so simple that I'm sure you could whip it out of your garage in an instant, what about the FCD? Well, you say you could do that, too but yet you're still waiting for one with a flashing light? Get real, dude.

To everyone that's said 'screw joe and his stupid valve' and is making their own boost controllers from a Home Depot parts lists, I hope everything works out for you. I, however, am not going to skimp out a few bucks for the huge potential safety issue of a $20,000 car. You're a moron if you do.

That's almost as good as the people who buy racing seats off of eBay because they wanted to save some cash. It's just moronically stupid.

jurgs01 said:
We have great vendors like Turfburn, **********, MAM, dexter, 505zoom, Leadfoot, Delivery Guy, DG Motorsports and others who provide everything we need.
Give it a few months in the current condition you people act. I know at least four of those will be gone, and I know exactly which ones, as I've been in contact with them. Then you'll have to spend the extra time bitching about the subforums instead of calling out our vendors to prove who's penis is larger.

jurgs01 said:
I'm sorry warning people about putting a FCD on their car (which could lead to $3000+ damage to some unknowing kids car) drove a vendor who makes a valve and a cheap piece of electronics away.
If you had purchased the unit itself, you'd realize that JoeP provides one piece of paper including instructions and a warning on it. There are warnings all over the forum about it. I've wrote them myself. However, never have I been in a pissing match over it, which is exactly what you did. You weren't warning, you said something, Joe corrected you and there you were again, right back on his ass.

Let me explain something to you. Do you realize that I can name off the "large" vendors that I've seen on these forums? By large, I mean companies making turbo systems or large components that would be a very expensive investment but would make our cars SO much better.

Now do you also realize that I can also subtract the amount of vendors that the attitude received on the forum, their customer contacts, and just the general vibe of this scene, have left us? When I do, I'm left with around 6-7 companies instead of the 12-14 original. Think about that before you reply with a "so, you dont know me *snap* *snap* *snap*" reply.

We have a DISCONTINUED CAR. Everyone, not just you, please get this through your head. Whether the vendor is supplying a $3.50 switch or a $7,000 turbo kit, they're all valuable because of that fact. We need all of the help we can get if we want to keep our Protege scene going. Some of you who bought their cars last year just don't get this fact. You think you can feed out all of the immature bulls*** you'd give to a Honda scene and expect nothing to happen. You're wrong. The vendors we do have mostly make their money from other people, like I mentioned with MAM before. It'd be EXTREMELY easy for them to say look, we're done with the whining and stupid drama here. Do you not realize this?

jurgs01 said:
There is a vendor building a safer one that you can turn off and on and has a warning light.
A "safer" FCD? There is no such thing. That's like saying a vendor is building a "safer" turbo kit. A FCD is dangerous, regardless of who makes it or it's bells and whistles. If you think his FCD will be "safer", I urge you to go try it as soon as it comes out. Just don't post a thread about your engine blowing when you do.

One more thing on this note, I've got my FCD wired on an incabin switch which allows it to be bypassed. If you're so ready to jump up and make one out of your garage, why didn't you think of just adding a switch? Hmm.

You could probably also wire a LED in with the proper knowledge to know when it's active.

jurgs01 said:
I hope some kid new to the forums will read my post and think twice before buying something they otherwise would think as safe.
Again, it's all over the forum.

I'm so tired of reading these forums and these threads that seem to repeat themselves. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions here, with the exception of the few "gods" who have blown their s*** up and have now been forced to rebuild with all kinds of new goodies. It's sad that in order to be a "god" here, you just have to take responsibility intead of taking the car to a dealership and conning them in to fixing your s***.

Every time I see a blown motor thread or a new problem, it's "take your mods off and take it back". I had to fight and pretty much threaten legal representation when my Mazda dealership failed to put fluid back in the tranny after they fixed a previous issue. Would it have been such a big issue if we didn't have so many people trying to get the best of both worlds, stock warranty and modified car? I doubt it.

No one accepts responsibility for their own actions, here. We need a warning, we need a light, we need to not have this product offered, we need a better version, we didn't get our supersize. Come on, people. Your decisions affect your life. Deal with that. I swear half of you should be driving that Hello Kitty Protege posted on the forum a while back.

I've got 90psi compression in cylinder three. Will you see me running off to the dealership after taking all of my mods off to be sneaky sneaky and get a warranty claim out of it? No. That's stupid, pathetic, and the reason why you people b**** about Mazda not wanting to warranty ANYTHING with this damn car.

jurgs01 said:
I think you are the one who needs to grow up and realize that as an adult and moderator you have an obligation to warn people of the downfalls of parts that could damage their cars.
Again, warning about downfalls is one thing and that one thing has been done, many times. IF you didn't know this, you have failed to be observant or read threads. That's not my problem.

Warning someone of a vendor's known problems is that one thing.
Bitching at the vendor directly to try to prove them wrong or to complain about something that is truly out of their control (eg: daily at ProtegeGarage), is a completely different matter.

jurgs01 said:
I can't even name a GOOD vendor who has been pushed away except for DG Motorsports (and they are back).
Then, honestly, you're not part of these forums enough to realize what we've lost. If carbon fiber gas lid covers are more important to everyone here than engine modifications or turbo kits, I'll be looking in to selling my Protege sooner than I thought because it's all downhill from here.
 
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Guys, this isn't a simple concept of "you can't make everyone happy, all of the time". If any of you are truly curious about what I'm referring to, please contact a vendor or someone who was a vendor (Captain, dex) and ask them about their customers.
 
The best thing was when I called a guy a dick for being just that: a huge dick. Boy did that piss him off. Oh noes, you can never call a customer a dick! Sorry dude, money doesn't change my feelings and if you're being a dick to me you can take your money back, dude. I'm not going around to serve the servants.
 
One more thing I need to mention again. I have *no* problem with people coming out with problems. I have even encouraged iON to answer replies in a public thread instead of PM to clear up many worries. The fact that people are turning this in to a "he wants us to shut up about everything" discussion is yet another example of how hard headed and ignorant the people here are.
 
Honestly I've only dealt with 1 Vendor. DSMconvert on this AFC. His product was A+. Service was A+. Value A+. If he had more products I wanted, I'd do it again.


I've been around to see all the ION drama go down. And personally I don't like the way he does business so i don't endourse his products. But he is the only vendor I dislike.

But all the other vendor deserve credit for a job well done. Even Joe P may have a not so great product by itself but what did you expect when you wanted a device to get around a safty measure. His product was designed to work in conjection with other things in order to produce power. You misinterupted his product and slapped it on without the knowledge to make it work properly. It's like I sell you a knive to cut you seat belt when you are trapped in an accidently but you decided to cut your seat belt off for the fun of it and blame me for your injuries when you wreck.

Id-10-t users does not equal bad vendor.
 
t3ase said:
We need a warning, we need a light, we need to not have this product offered, we need a better version, we didn't get our supersize.

I didn't get my supersize either. I thought I was the only one. WTF, how many others were scammed?
 
noclue119 said:
Even Joe P may have a not so great product by itself but what did you expect when you wanted a device to get around a safty measure.
His product works fine and *is* great, despite the fact it doesn't have a flashing LED light to add to your rainbow of dash colors. It does it's job but it's being blamed for the owner's ignorance, which is also unfair.
 
Velkome to Ameddica. What's responsibility?


Sadly, people will put more effort into suing/defaming/bashing others than doing a little bit of research and making an informed purchase.
 
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