USA vs Euro Tail Light Lenses Giveaway Options

[iankarr]

Catherine...

Happy to make suggestions.

Remember that nothing will improve without first admitting there's a problem and caring enough to do something about it. If George is unwilling to do either, then don't waste your time.

And, this community is small enough that you don't need likes on Facebook. Everyone you need to reach is here. Just do a good job and make people happy to do business with you. You'll be amazed at how far that goes.

Forget answering the objections. You'll never win. At this point, admission and actions are the only things that will make a difference.

Okay, I've given you enough free consulting. Do with this what you will...

[Big Len]

Catherine...

Happy to make suggestions.

Remember that nothing will improve without first admitting there's a problem and caring enough to do something about it..... At this point, admission and actions are the only things that will make a difference

Couldn't agree more.

[mepstein]

Catherine...

Happy to make suggestions.

Remember that nothing will improve without first admitting there's a problem and caring enough to do something about it. If George is unwilling to do either, then don't waste your time.

And, this community is small enough that you don't need likes on Facebook. Everyone you need to reach is here. Just do a good job and make people happy to do business with you. You'll be amazed at how far that goes.

Forget answering the objections. You'll never win. At this point, admission and actions are the only things that will make a difference.

Okay, I've given you enough free consulting. Do with this what you will...

They actually do need the likes. A business like AA burns and churns thrugh customers so they are always looking for new ones. Making up good feedback must be nessasary since they can't count on a lot of repeat business. Just like the employee turnover.

Unfortunately for catherine, the problem starts at the top.

[KELTY360]

cuddyk - Thank you so much for the constructive and concise review. As a fellow small business , we truly appreciate the magnitude of what you are trying to send across. We do not plan to spam any of you, we want you to hopefully stay up to date on items we get in stock, promotions, contests, events etc and we want your feedback. You could always unsubscribe if what we post truly does not speak to you directly. All we ask is that you give us a chance.


I love the suggestion -sometime soon we shall openi up a discussion on here about what our fellow 914 community members would truly like to see and what their past experiences have been specifically.

Stay tuned, this is only the beginning!

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Don't be offended Catherine, but we've heard the song and dance many times before. The AA reputation has been painfully earned and a little time learning the search function here will give many details of basic expectations and specific grievances from this community. When AA offers something of substance to make amends, instead of marketing promos to enhance their own image they might find a more receptive audience.

Being dismissive of 'vitriolic wrath' is a common trait of AA minions. Hasn't won friends in the past and probably won't now. I don't envy the steep hill you have to climb.

[timothy_nd28]

Back in the 90's, I had many great experiences with George at autoatlanta, he was very helpful with me on the phone with diagnosing my issues and giving me a good deal on replacement parts. After replacing the 4th failed airflow meter within 2 months, George refused to sell me another airflow meter until I found the vacuum leak which was causing the replacement AFM's to fail. Being that I was a highschool student at the time, armed with dads credit card, I will always appreciate the time George spent with me fixing my 914 any taking the time to do so during his busy day.

I too had read the bad customer service reviews on this forum. AA shot themselves in the foot over the last decade. It's hard to recover from so so many bad reviews over the last years. There seems to be a disconnect with the company employees relating or even caring about their customers. I never had this problem with George, but I did have a issue with some employee that represented AA on eBay. After waiting 6 weeks for a core pedal cluster, and 2 separate shipping's, my issue was finally resolved.

I will always be for second chances, I even voted in your FB poll. I'm hopeful that the non charismatic employees will be let go, and new caring employees to be employed. AA needs resuscitation, they need a new face representing what AA stands for. Are you this person Catherine? Post a picture of yourself and your team, it's nice to put a face on something you are potentially doing business with.

[relentless]

Geez, I understand bitterness over past bad deals but a promo for free is offered and some of you act like you've been taken (again)! And what has Catherine done to you personally - steal your significant other (jk)? Let's give her a chance.

I could use a free set of lens for one of my 914's!

[stevegm]

As a service business owner, I'm very, very concerned with how I treat my customers and fully believe that people who provide poor service deserve whatever they get. But I wanted to provide a few observations...

1) I've been a member of the World for less than a year. In that time, I haven't personally come across many (any) posts that provide specific examples of bad experiences with AA. But I've read lots of posts alluding to never buying from AA. That's not to say that there hasn't been a problem in the past year...just that the anti-AA sentiment seems (as a relative newcomer) to be based on the fairly distant past. Personally, I prefer to order from Mark @ 914rubber...but I have ordered from AA without trouble. And I find myself frequently referencing the exploded parts diagrams on their site.

2) We are a passionate, yet small community. We need each other...and we need parts to keep our addictions...er...cars...on the road. I have a 65 mustang and there are dozens of suppliers who sell parts for the huge numbers of them still out there. If one goes out of business, no biggie. The 914 universe is much, much smaller. Encouraging people to boycott AA might eventually cause them to close, which could be bad for us in the end.

3) Let's be constructive. Maybe being persona non grata has opened George's eyes a bit. I suggest we use this forum to specifically list the issues we have with AA and then let Catherine respond as to how those issues will be addressed. It couldn't hurt.

Catherine...one thing. This community is super sharp. The FB "like" thing might work for millennials who don't value their privacy, but I'm pretty sure most people on this site were alive when men (supposedly) landed on the moon and we can see right through clickbait. Given the reputation of AA here, I think a better contest would be to award the person with the most constructive suggestions for improving AA's service with the free lenses. Just sayin...

Sincerely,

Rodney King

I agree. We need everybody. And that need will only increase as these cars get older, and it becomes increasingly difficult to find parts. There are so many different people, AA included, that have invested so much time, money, and energy into these cars over the decades. All of the vendors are incredible resources. I appreciate all that each one does. Everyone doesn't always do things the way that everyone else thinks they should. But, that's life. What is most important is that we are all working together to preserve the car we love.

[Catherine at AutoAtlanta]

catherine is a combination of the following Auto Atlanta team members : Tom, Mia, Kiki, Lina (the poster). All of our combined ideas and visions will debut here first, you will always be the first to know. Thank you.

P.S: A photo is coming soon, possibly tomorrow

[Catherine at AutoAtlanta]

Thank you to all of those in positive spirits who have entered the contest.

[SirAndy]

There are more young people and women working at Auto Atlanta in the past year than ever

Good! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

many of them had not experienced the vitriolic wrath of the bitter portion of the members of this club before.

Just try to remember, what you call "vitriolic" didn't just condensate out of thin air.

Instead of blaming our members, i suggest you do a search here (you can go as far back as 2003) and see for yourself. You will find plenty of threads from real people that had real issues when dealing with AA.

Dismissing their frustration as "vitriolic wrath" is not going to help you with the uphill battle you are facing in trying to change the image of AA.
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PS: (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

[mepstein]

None of the other venders receive "vitriolic wrath" from the 914world members. There's a reason for that and it starts with you, not us.

[rhodyguy]

we shall see what is made of this discussion and the s.o.p in Marietta. Trust us, this is not a new development. Quite the opposite.

[Catherine at AutoAtlanta]

To my knowledge, nobody has blamed your members for being bitter that they have not earned themselves by being childish and bitter on a public forum. This is how you chose to portray your group.

As far as i am able to read, the original post states that there were issues with the lenses from the first run thus admitting blame for having made them that way and that the second run is our attempt to make a better product available to you. We are even trying to give away several pairs.

Yes, we asked you for likes, not your first born child...and the likes are not binding, what you like you can unlike if you genuinely do not like the content. And if you do not want to, just don't, it truly is your choice and I want to make that clear!

The easy thing for us to do would be to stick our heads in the sand and never post on here again, ignoring you along with your issues. No, we are facing you head on, responding to as many of you as possible. We cannot fix all of our issues in this one post in less than 24 hours, be reasonable.

[Catherine at AutoAtlanta]

Be the change you want to see! It starts with all of us!

[DBCooper]

Geez, I understand bitterness over past bad deals but a promo for free is offered and some of you act like you've been taken (again)!

Well, actually now that you mention that, yes, I've been taken advantage enough times already. You know the saying, "fool me once...." I've done more than once, so no more.

And what has Catherine done to you personally - steal your significant other (jk)? Let's give her a chance.

"her"? What do you mean "her"? There is no "Catherine," that's fake.

I could use a free set of lens for one of my 914's!

Yeah, I don't go that cheap.

You know the stupidest thing? I'm still pissed off, twenty years later, because I was stuck with a twenty dollar freight charge because of AA's mistake. Twenty bucks! Not the mistake itself, everyone makes mistakes, AA even grudgingly admitted it ws their fault but they still weren't going to make it right and if I didn't like it I could go somewhere else. Then the next year, idiot that I was, I did it again, second chance, stupid of me. Fine, now we're done. In the twenty years since then I've bought thousands of dollars of parts but not one cent from AA. So tell me, how much has that twenty bucks he swindled me out of cost George since then? Ridiculous. And what has it cost me? Absolutely nothing.

Things have changed. Back then there was no internet, there was only AA's catalog. Every 914 owner bought one, we didn't know where else to go, and George could mistreat individuals without anyone else finding out. But now the internet, we can all talk, and I see my same story being told over and over again by other people, getting screwed like it's still 1999. Except that now we can compare notes, and now AA's business ethics and practices are revealed. And more short-sighted stupidity? AA's attitude opened the door wide for new competitors, who do just fine, thanks.

I'm not interested in giving AA a second chance. Life is too short for me to deal with that kind of aggravation and crap, but like anything else this is a free country, so go for it. Maybe you'll get some free lenses, right? And who knows, maybe "Catherine" will be able to convince someone to replace all those lenses from the previous go-round that didn't fit. Or maybe not. Want to bet?

[SirAndy]

To my knowledge, nobody has blamed your members for being bitter that they have not earned themselves by being childish and bitter on a public forum. This is how you chose to portray your group.

As far as i am able to read, the original post states that there were issues with the lenses from the first run thus admitting blame for having made them that way and that the second run is our attempt to make a better product available to you. We are even trying to give away several pairs.

Yes, we asked you for likes, not your first born child...and the likes are not binding, what you like you can unlike if you genuinely do not like the content. And if you do not want to, just don't, it truly is your choice and I want to make that clear!

The easy thing for us to do would be to stick our heads in the sand and never post on here again, ignoring you along with your issues. No, we are facing you head on, responding to as many of you as possible. We cannot fix all of our issues in this one post in less than 24 hours, be reasonable.

It only took you one day to get annoyed, you're not off to a good start ...
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Again do a search here, it may open your eyes. This goes *far* beyond the last lens group buy.
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[rhodyguy]

The frustration builds. It shows in your tone. It's not going to get any easier. In fact, worse. Then page after page of horror stories. Bad press for new owners to read. You'll be better off just letting this thread fade into the sunset. The bell can NOT be un-rung. Trust me, I'm here to help you navigate these dangerous shoals.

[DBCooper]

As far as i am able to read, the original post states that there were issues with the lenses from the first run thus admitting blame for having made them that way and that the second run is our attempt to make a better product available to you. We are even trying to give away several pairs.

OK, Catherine (Tom, Mia, Kiki, Lina), a test. You've made and sold what you admit is a faulty product, so what do you do now? You now have a corrected product, made right, so you're going to replace all the bad ones, right? "Make good", so to speak?

[colingreene]

"they dont fit as well because they are not hella lenses"
Why not try to get that same fit and finish, if they were as nicely made as the hella parts im sure you would sell a lot more of them.
simply saying we arent hella but heres some lenses anyway sort of wont fly.
considering these cars rust, and having a lens that wont fit is a great way to let water into the car...

[iankarr]

Catherine (or whomever is posting). Wow. I now know that I totally wasted my time responding to you.

You have no clue how to repair this relationship...and appear to not want to. If you did, you'd accept responsibility for the past, apologize, come up with a plan to begin winning back our trust, and above all, not engage in pointless flaming.