914 shocks and struts, My dealings with PMB thus far Options

[AndyB]

So, I finally got back to working on Scarlet, and my wife let me order my shocks last month. Where do I go? PMB they are great people and awesome service. At least that's what I was told. Tried ordering boge shocks and struts from the web site where the boge shocks were listed. I received a call and was told that PMB can no longer get them. So I went ahead and upgraded to Bilsteins. This should of been a red flag, but I gave PMB the benefit of the doubt. Finally the shocks come in, with no perches. I asked several 914 owners about their bilsteins, to see (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) is going on. Well the drop ship company forgot to send them. WHAT? So another weekend has gone buy no perches for my shocks. To make things even better today I discover my 914/911 shocks that I purchased from PMB have no places etched in the shock housing for the perch. So once they finally open at 11:00 or 11:30 pence again to find out WTF is going. BEFORE YOU JUMP IN TALKING ABOUT WHAT A GREAT GUY ERIC IS REMEMBER THIS, I DID NOT BUY THE SHOCKS FROM ERIC, I BOUGHT THEM FROM PMB. This has been my experience so far.





AndyB

[jd74914]

The two cars use different rear shocks and those look to be for a 911...

I've only bought a few things from PMB and thought they were very slow given the rave reviews, but everything has always gotten here.

[Mikey914]

All business have a hiccup here and there, it's what he does to make it right. You obviously know his reputation, and made your purchasing decision based on it.
There is no doubt in my mind that he will take care of you.

[ConeDodger]

Eric got back late yesterday from a road trip to California to buy cores... I'm sure he will be on it today. One of the difficult things about business is having to count on someone else. My employee will just randomly close once in a while making me look unreliable.

I'm sure he'll take care of it...

[AndyB]

At what point did I say I bought them from Eric? I expected two of you to speak up that did. Business is business even when one person is not around. It's not like 914 rubber where Mark works a real job and rubber is his third or fourth gig. But sending me the wrong shocks incomplete and lack of communication make for a poor customer experience. Yes I chose PMB because of reputation. However, with no return calls, I now find myself questioning the purchase and reputation. However if only one person can make decisions then that's a poor business model, unless it's a garage. It's not like Eric was unreachable, hell I am pretty sure that ear piece never leaves his ear.

AndyB

[914_teener]

So send them back and call someone else.

Call Clint at Rebel Racing.

[Eric_Shea]

Andy...

1. Those shocks were drop shipped directly to you from our supplier.
2. I was made aware of the spring perch issue Friday morning (as best I can tell based upon your e-mail of 3/31 at 9:10AM).
3. Dalton has been in contact with you 2x so far regarding resolving this incident (within 24 hours). You agreed this was true just now on the phone but, yet you say here that nobody has contacted you... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)
4. The shocks were mistakenly ordered as 911 part numbers. It took us a while to find out what happened there vs. chasing around missing perches. Again, you've been contacted twice in attempts to resolve.
5. We've contacted our supplier to pick up those shocks. The supplier has yet to get back to us with a call tag or RA number. I will take responsibility for that.
6. We will have this resolved today and give you your money back on those including the shipping on the entire order.

At this point this is the best I can do. I apologize that we have inconvenienced you thus far.

Regards...

[mepstein]

Andy- I'm sorry about your frustration. I don't think this is something to go to the internet. I can appreciate when an order doesn't go right. It's certainly an annoyance. But nobody was hurt and a person or company should certainly have a chance to make things right before the incident is made public.

[BeatNavy]

Andy- I'm sorry about your frustration. I don't think this is something to go to the internet. I can appreciate when an order doesn't go right. It's certainly an annoyance. But nobody was hurt and a person or company should certainly have a chance to make things right before the incident is made public.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Mistakes DO happen in business. What counts is how the business responds in the end. Give PMB a fair chance to make it right.

[Eric_Shea]

Also... Boge shocks and inserts are NLA. We've since removed them from our site as soon as we found out the problem. We are too small of a market for Boge to continue to create shocks for.

[Eric_Shea]

Money refunded. Call tag issued.

Sorry Andy. I realized you were pissed because you hung up on Dalton just now but I made the call to no longer do business with you. Yes, It was because of this public post and the timeline.

I have a very good staff now and they've been trained well. Last year was a bitch with growing pains and bad employees. These guys are good and they try hard. Dalton tried to communicate as best he knew how. I think two out-calls within 24 hours to get to the bottom of the issue is pretty damn good. We were initially told the perches weren't included and we were chasing that down trying to get the supplier to send those out. Then I made the call to just send the right shocks and we were waiting for the supplier to respond this morning (their offices are in CA).

I've given you your money back "ahead" of getting the product back and, I've refunded the "entire" freight from the order which included the freight on the front inserts.

Mistakes happen and for that, I apologize. I hope the $64.50 freight credit will help with the pain of boxing those up for the call tag and help you in your plight to get the products you need.

[AndyB]

Andy- I'm sorry about your frustration. I don't think this is something to go to the internet. I can appreciate when an order doesn't go right. It's certainly an annoyance. But nobody was hurt and a person or company should certainly have a chance to make things right before the incident is made public.

Actually I disagree. This is exactly what other 914 owners need to be aware of. If it was AA not one person here would say anything good period.

[jmitro]

Actually I disagree. This is exactly what other 914 owners need to be aware of. If it was AA not one person here would say anything good period.

haha, agree with that! funny how people are selectively biased for/against vendors.

i agree with AndyB. I ordered the entire 5lug upgrade package AND had all four calipers rebuilt by PMB. while I eventually received everything I ordered, it took multiple phone calls, I had to correct an overcharge on their part, and I STILL had to buy my own front hub bearings because PMB left them out of my order. Minor inconvenience, but still unacceptable


EDIT - PLEASE SEE FOLLOW UP BELOW

[AndyB]

Andy...

1. Those shocks were drop shipped directly to you from our supplier.
2. I was made aware of the spring perch issue Friday morning (as best I can tell based upon your e-mail of 3/31 at 9:10AM).
3. Dalton has been in contact with you 2x so far regarding resolving this incident (within 24 hours). You agreed this was true just now on the phone but, yet you say here that nobody has contacted you... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)
4. The shocks were mistakenly ordered as 911 part numbers. It took us a while to find out what happened there vs. chasing around missing perches. Again, you've been contacted twice in attempts to resolve.
5. We've contacted our supplier to pick up those shocks. The supplier has yet to get back to us with a call tag or RA number. I will take responsibility for that.
6. We will have this resolved today and give you your money back on those including the shipping on the entire order.

At this point this is the best I can do. I apologize that we have inconvenienced you thus far.

Regards...

1. Yes they were.
2. I am sure you were.
3. Dalton contacted me the first time about the boge shocks, that was his only call. All other contact was made by me. For example once again I contacted PMB today, left a message, called back got a real person and then PMB decided to part ways.
4. Yes that is correct.
5. Ok.
6. Ok.
7. When someone has a problem with a member vendor or good experience it should be noted so that everyone knows who or what they are dealing with.

AndyB.

AndyB.

[Eric_Shea]

Andy...

1. Those shocks were drop shipped directly to you from our supplier.
2. I was made aware of the spring perch issue Friday morning (as best I can tell based upon your e-mail of 3/31 at 9:10AM).
3. Dalton has been in contact with you 2x so far regarding resolving this incident (within 24 hours). You agreed this was true just now on the phone but, yet you say here that nobody has contacted you... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)
4. The shocks were mistakenly ordered as 911 part numbers. It took us a while to find out what happened there vs. chasing around missing perches. Again, you've been contacted twice in attempts to resolve.
5. We've contacted our supplier to pick up those shocks. The supplier has yet to get back to us with a call tag or RA number. I will take responsibility for that.
6. We will have this resolved today and give you your money back on those including the shipping on the entire order.

At this point this is the best I can do. I apologize that we have inconvenienced you thus far.

Regards...

1. Yes they were.
2. I am sure you were.
3. Dalton contacted me the first time about the boge shocks, that was his only call. All other contact was made by me. For example once again I contacted PMB today, left a message, called back got a real person and then PMB decided to part ways.
4. Yes that is correct.
5. Ok.
6. Ok.
7. When someone has a problem with a member vendor or good experience it should be noted so that everyone knows who or what they are dealing with.

AndyB.

AndyB.

You are correct. We made a mistake. Noted herein. I hire humans.

[ConeDodger]

Andy...

1. Those shocks were drop shipped directly to you from our supplier.
2. I was made aware of the spring perch issue Friday morning (as best I can tell based upon your e-mail of 3/31 at 9:10AM).
3. Dalton has been in contact with you 2x so far regarding resolving this incident (within 24 hours). You agreed this was true just now on the phone but, yet you say here that nobody has contacted you... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)
4. The shocks were mistakenly ordered as 911 part numbers. It took us a while to find out what happened there vs. chasing around missing perches. Again, you've been contacted twice in attempts to resolve.
5. We've contacted our supplier to pick up those shocks. The supplier has yet to get back to us with a call tag or RA number. I will take responsibility for that.
6. We will have this resolved today and give you your money back on those including the shipping on the entire order.

At this point this is the best I can do. I apologize that we have inconvenienced you thus far.

Regards...

1. Yes they were.
2. I am sure you were.
3. Dalton contacted me the first time about the boge shocks, that was his only call. All other contact was made by me. For example once again I contacted PMB today, left a message, called back got a real person and then PMB decided to part ways.
4. Yes that is correct.
5. Ok.
6. Ok.
7. When someone has a problem with a member vendor or good experience it should be noted so that everyone knows who or what they are dealing with.

AndyB.

AndyB.

You are correct. We made a mistake. Noted herein. I hire humans.

Seems like he's not happy getting all of his money back and an RA for the incorrect shocks. Perhaps you should execute someone Eric? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

AndyB, you should give AA a try. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[boxsterfan]

Community - a group of people living together in one place, especially one practicing common ownership.

The world is an imperfect place. The 914World is actually quite small when you truly think about it. There's a ton (and I mean a TON!!!!!!) of great advice given here for various projects, aspects, troubleshooting, etc... of these cars. I've never run my own business that ships parts, but I can only imagine that it looks a lot easier than it is.

My car is still in the works, but when the time comes, I hope that PMB is still around for me to order parts for my 914.

[Eric_Shea]

Actually I disagree. This is exactly what other 914 owners need to be aware of. If it was AA not one person here would say anything good period.

haha, agree with that! funny how people are selectively biased for/against vendors.

i agree with AndyB. I ordered the entire 5lug upgrade package AND had all four calipers rebuilt by PMB. while I eventually received everything I ordered, it took multiple phone calls, I had to correct an overcharge on their part, and I STILL had to buy my own front hub bearings because PMB left them out of my order. Minor inconvenience, but still unacceptable

I think it's unacceptable as well.

I don't think people are selectively biased AT ALL. I think it's because vendors like Stoddard, Pelcian Parts, 914Rubber and me try our hardest to make things right vs. not giving a damn if you got the wrong part or didn't get what you ordered. That's why I'm here. The difference is simple... you will NEVER see AA here or anywhere offering to make it right. I'm pretty sure that helps answer that...

Now, that said, custom machined parts can take time as I generally only stock $10,000 worth of my money in 914 5-lug conversions at any one time. This means that sometimes we have to wait a long time for the machinist to cut the rotors and hubs for us. Right now as an example, we have an order for a 5-lug kit but, a large number of customers have not returned their cores. The machinist cuts rear hubs 10 at a time so, in order to even attempt to expedite this order, I need to find (purchase) 4 more pair before we can get an order in with the machine shop. Your order was last year and it did take a while to get everything together (as it can as you can see here). I have notes on your account saying "Tracking# for bearings - 9405511899223818427499" so if you didn't get bearings, this is the first time I've been made aware of it and hence, it would be my first opportunity to make it right.

Of the seven employees here, I have 2 that were here last year at that time. MAKE NO MISTAKE: this has been very hard on me as I started this business by making people happy. Hiring people these days and keeping them off their phones and out of the parking lot "vaping" is a difficult task. I had (and you won't find this coming from any vendor out there) a flawed business model. It was a mistake on my part. I was hiring from the shallow end of the gene pool. I've spent the last six months with morning meetings, daily training and afternoon debriefings to make it right. Our latest focus has been communicating with customers at virtually "every" step of the way. I have a good crew.

Please tell me how much you paid for your bearings and the freight and I will issue a refund check to you today.

Our ultimate goal written across the white board in the war room here is "99% Customer Satisfaction"... realizing that some people are just angry and need to be that way, we try our best. In the end, we're not Amazon. We are people trying to help people. When you get a tracking number, it was put on that invoice manually by a human being. When you get an e-mail, for the most part, it's not an automated reply. We get it right "most" of the time. Do we get it wrong? Hell yes, there's a few issues a week if not a few issues a day sometimes. Case in point herein; Andy was disappointed for all the right reasons. Airing it out here prior to us even having a physical (time limitations) "CHANCE" to fix it didn't sit well with me and... yes, I'm human too, complete with good and bad emotions.

Again, please tell me what I owe you for bearings and I'll send you a check today.

[Optimusglen]

Good on Eric and PMB.

[mepstein]

Andy- I'm sorry about your frustration. I don't think this is something to go to the internet. I can appreciate when an order doesn't go right. It's certainly an annoyance. But nobody was hurt and a person or company should certainly have a chance to make things right before the incident is made public.

Actually I disagree. This is exactly what other 914 owners need to be aware of. If it was AA not one person here would say anything good period.

Nope, totally different. George has been going out of his way to screw 914 owners for years. If it was just me, I wouldn't care, but it's friends of mine and other 914 owners I've become friendly with. For George, it's just about getting the money.
I've become friends with just about every 914 vendor. Guys I would invite to my house, meet my family. They might have made some mistakes, not as many as me. I don't care, it my hobby and I want to have fun. If I've needed to vent on them, so be it. It's done in private. I'm still very happy that when we see each other we shake hands and talk about cars.