ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

I have come to a realization:

This is simply not going to happen just yet. Probably never!

Today I had my first dis- satisfied customer in 7 years. It all basically stemmed from a modified cam gear that did not get sent out on time.

The whole transaction was out of hand, and I refunded the customers money PLUS 25 bucks for his trouble and waiting. (did this immediately after reading his email, and without him even knowing it)

It was MY fault, as I'm the one who said that I could send the part out, and I'm the one who made the goof. I have zero tolerance for goofs, especially when I make them! This transaction opened my eyes up to the real way that many enthusiast will treat a transaction! Thank GOD this happened now!

It was also my fault because I do not have a "professional" to handle the parts sales YET (don't need one now) and thought that since I can send out a complete engine on time that I could send out a cam gear- I was wrong.

I can see that I'm not destined to have this type of business ran from my shop, and I cannot deal with situations like this, taken to this extreme and still build engines.

All the parts that are in the works, still are. BUT they will be sold by another vendor TBD at a later date, OR USED ONLY IN MY ENGINES so I don't have to put up with whiners and crybabies that tell me that I'm sitting on my butt in an email.

So, long story short- Its all over with before it had a chance to give me a bad reputation for customer satisfaction.

Like my dad always says " a little bit of good comes out of something bad" thats exactly what happened here. The bad opened my eyes, the good kept me from making a big mistake.

Sorry to rant. I guess what makes me even madder is that when you try to help someone they get even madder at you....

I'll stick with what I'm doing now, and thats providing the best aircooled complete engines in the world!

Pity ... damn cryin' shame .

Whoever it was, I hope he/she is completely satisfied with this eventual outcome.

Damn shame ...

Yeah, that does suck. But I would rather see you building badass engines then selling parts. Maybe you could get John C. or Charles from LN to manufacture and distribute the parts you've designed.

Steve

Well that sure sucks. Please at least sell your parts through someone else like aircooled.net.

Many doors are open right now. ONE is closed.

Jake,

I'm really sorry to hear it. I was looking forward to getting quality parts from someone trustworthy and thus eliminating guesswork. However, I'm glad that you realized that it wasn't in the cards before you had too much to lose. You'll be happier in the end.

best of luck,
Matt

p.s. some people are just jackasses that are impossible to please, so don't take this guy's actions personally

Well I do take it personally, because it has my name on it.. I have to, else I'm like everyone else.

What I wished for is simply not possible.

it really is a bummer though

Guess this means i'll be going type1, anyone have GEX's phone number?? J/K
...

Maybe I'll just sell it all on EBAY!

hi
this is a bit of a turnround the only thing is jake even if you have a "third party" doing your front end you know where the blame would still lie if somebody became unhappy for any reason dont you ?

i really do see what your trying to do and upholding a good name aint easy but you will have to do some serious organising if other people are to sell "jake endorsed" parts you see what im getting at ?

and of course another party means the price invariable goes up not good because you then dont sell as many so the manufacturer loses interest its a spiral downwards.

i think you should reconsider what you should do is sell parts not as an open to the web type of shop but "choose" your customers mayby.

i can say all of this real honest like as your selling stuff is never likely to affect me as you where allways loath to ship out of the usa anyway

sometimes a step backwards first can lead to a good stiff brisk walk forwards

Dude you let one guy close your online store???

Jake...

As a fellow busines owner I feel your pain.

If you can learn from my mistakes please listen. Get a REAL accounting system set up (one that REALLY tracks inventory -- creates purchase orders -- issues invoices etc) along with a contact management system before going live. It's all the small details that multiply when working in distribution.

It's not selling 200 pieces a year (or engines)... it's buying several hundred line items from 20 vendors for 1000 customers. Doing the math there's a matrix of millions of potential mistakes.

Contact me personally if our company can help yours -- we've been in it for 65 years... and still making honest mistakes

Takes a big man to learn from his mistakes -- bigger man to point them out in public ... prudent flaming yourself before the customer started it.

Timmy

PS... Someone asked if you could have John C at Aircooled sell your stuff -- please don't do this... contrary to the many accolades he gets for reselling California Imports Parts, his technical support, follow up, communication and dedication is not on your level --

i see where Jake is coming from. he tries to be nice and sell parts before he has someone to take charge of the operation and this happens. he is nice and someone whines when hes not perfect along with nice. remember this whoever you are. he didn't have to even sell you the parts. he has sold some of us parts to be nice, not becuase he has to. i say release the name Jake lol. nah dont have to. thanks Jake for your kindness.

SAM

Man, sorry that happened Jake. All of us were stoked about the Type 4 Store, and what it could offer the VW/Porsche community, but as stated before, it's better that it ended now instead of while you were waist-deep in developing parts, selling parts, and building engines.

Whoever it was couldn't NOT be satisfied with how you handled the situation. You were MORE than fair.

Good luck!

Joe

Give us some time. I spoke to Jake this afternoon and I can feel his pain. I am better set up to handle the phone/email traffic that such a "type 4 store" would generate and I am interested, as I told Jake, to make this happen. Might take a month or two, but well worth the wait!

Charles Navarro
LN Engineering
http://www.LNengineering.com
Aircooled Precision Performance