Gtm motorsports crazy video on youtube! :eek:

SAM@GTM

We have been doing business for a very long time and we do understand that problems in business transactions will happen from time to time. It is simply part of doing business. What really counts is how a business reacts to a customer's concern in solving their problem.

The notion that we would intentionally send damaged and/or used parts to anyone is ludicrous. In the past couple years, we have dominated the forced induction section of this forum and this market segment of the aftermarket industry. We didn't get to this point by luck or with shady business practices. We believe that when a customer pulls the trigger and invests in a forced induction system, a serious long term relationship will be established between the customer and the shop. Repeat business and our reputation is everything. Getting a couple thousand dollars from someone is way too short sighted in our opinion and is something that our competitors seem to do. We are in it for the long haul plain and simple. We have far too much passion and pride in what we do. Sure, we need to make money to feed, clothe and house ourselves, but that is not the end all be all motive of our company.

That said, there is an interesting twist to the story. What makes a customer go to this extreme and start a smear campaign like this?

Did we tell him to go screw himself? Did we cheat him out of money? Did we not take care of his concerns? Did we not go above and beyond to take care of him?

You be the judge.

A guy named Joe called us and wanted to order a turbo kit for his 370Z. The gentleman is in the armed forces and we could not ship via FedEx or UPS. For the first time we made an exception to our policy and made an arrangement to ship an $8000 turbo kit via the United States Postal Service. To add to the dilemma, he was stationed in Guam. The arrangement with Joe was to divide the turbo kit into multiple boxes due to the weight and size limitations of USPS shipping. What does that mean for us? Extra time, five trips to the Post Office and the risk of the parts never arriving. It was agreed and understood by both parties that we will ship one box at a time to ensure that Joe gets all the parts. In the event that the first box did not arrive, then a different logistics strategy would have to be implemented. That is the only reason why it took as long as it did to deliver the product.

Joseph started receiving the multiple shipments and then on the 3rd package, he indicated that some of the parts were damaged. I asked him to send me some pictures to verify his concern. Once I saw the pictures, it was very clear to me that such damage would have been done by someone dropping the intercooler, something running over it, or something went wrong with shipping. There is no way we would send anything out in such a condition. The thing that really got me concerned that Joe had stated that although these parts are damaged, there was no physical damage to the outside of the box. We started discussing options and within a two minute conversation, it was clear that Joe would like us to send replacement parts (intercooler and piping). Two points that we would like to clarify:

1) There is no company in the world that will send you replacement parts worth $2,000 before receiving the original parts, but we did!

2) We could have said "sorry Joe, these parts were damaged and we'll have to file a claim with USPS". We bought insurance for the shipping and had that as a legitimate option. But instead, we focused on taking care of Joe.

3) They requested for us to pay for the shipping of the damaged parts and they would not ship them back until they received the money. We agreed to do that.

We honestly thought it was a bump in the road, and that it is a big inconvenience and all we could do was focus on getting this resolved as quickly as possible and moving forward.

Everything was on track for a successful resolution until a friend of Joe's decided to post in our White Dragon thread. I happened to be working in the shop that Sunday when I saw that post and picked up the phone and called Joe and I expressed my disappointment and asked him verbatim "what gave him the idea that we're not going to take care of this?". Keep in mind this happened after we agreed on the terms of resolution. His exact reasoning behind it was that "it wasn't me, it was a friend". While I was on the phone with him, a female voice interrupted the conversation and introduced herself as his wife and that Joe needed to go to work. For the most part, it was a pleasant conversation and she expressed how heartbroken Joe was over the delay. In a nutshell, I got the impression that sending replacement parts was not good enough for her and that we would have to do something more than that. After listening to her complain over and over again about Joe's disappointment, despite it being out of our control, I offered to give them a Defi boost gauge, free of charge since Joe was looking into buying one.

Here's an e-mail we received from Dawn:

On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 10:44 PM, Dawn XXXXX <XXXXX@gmail.com> wrote:

Sam,
Thanks for taking the time to resolve the issues that we've been having with the GTM Kit that we received. It has take a lot longer than we liked or anticipated. Hopefully this can all be resolved in a timely matter. We did receive the tracking number for one product that you've recently sent( # CP890202589US ). Please keep us updated with the tracking numbers of all products sent. I'd also like to Thank you again for your offer to send us the complimentary gauge.
To keep things simple; until we receive our undamaged and properly packaged items. At this time we will not be making any further purchases with GTM. Once we have receive the Kit and gauge in satisfactory condition. We will reevaluate if we would like to continue to do business with GTM or not. In regards to the last email we received from you. I believe the item link in your email is the incorrect gauge. Below you will find the link to the correct gauge.

GTM Motorsports*::*ELECTRONICS*::*Gauges*::*Innovate DB-Gauge & LC-1 Combo

So please be sure to refund (for shipping)
Amount: $161.20

As soon as monies are credited into our account.We will ship you back the damaged items we received promptly.
Also,when you send the complimentary gauge listed above. Please email the tracking number as well.
Again thank you for you time. Have a pleasant day.

Please send a conformation email in regards to this matter.
Dawn

(we edited out the last name, e-mail address and phone number as any honorable business would do)

Details about shipping the replacement parts:

Since that was a hard lesson to learn, and we're out $2,000 worth of product, we decided to document the replacement parts, packaging, and condition of the parts so there will be no further questions regarding our integrity. Also, we attempted to ship these products by USPS Priority, but the Post Office only had one method of shipping due to the size and weight of the boxes. Here are some pictures of what we sent the second time around:


I truly thought that we did the right thing and went above and beyond what any other company would do in this situation. I spoke to Joe several times over the last few days regarding his tune, and to my surprise, this video was posted on March 8th. I sent an e-mail to Joe asking him what I am missing here, and here is the response I got from Dawn:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dawn XXXXXXXX <XXXXXXXX@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 7:12 PM
Subject: Re: You Tube Video
To: Sam Zawahra <sam@gtmpower.com>


This is Dawn and I haven't spoken with Joe today. You told me that you were sending his packages priority mail long before you actually sent the new pipes. He informed me that you sent the items as we call it snail mail. Not to mention. You have yet to wire the money into the account on the day that you said you would. If this has been the first time you've had bad customer service you are not handling it to you're best ability. At least I hope for your sake this isn't your best ability.
I was also informed of how you spoke to Joseph telling him that it was your word against his and that you have a lot of support because know you. I'm very unhappy dissatisfied and furious to say the least.If these packages don't get here before we leave. I assure you you will here from me again. I was informed about you not being to sure about giving Joe store credit. I'm sure you know only Joseph would ask for such a thing trying to give your company yet another chance and get the boost controller. You should know already, at this point in time, giving the current circumstance I am not so tolerant with your company.
Furthermore, I have no intentions of spending any money whatsoever with GTM. I'm sure you would like to sweep this all under the rug but that is going to take a lot more than empty words. I have done you the favor of not placing your name in the video,Sam. That was the nicest thing I could do for you at this point.

Dawn

Also, got an e-mail from Joe stating he did not post the video, but his wife did.

In conclusion, the damaged parts is an unfortunate scenario, but we stepped up to the plate to take care of Joe long before any of these issues were dragged onto the forum or YouTube. Despite our best attempts to rectify this situation the customer still decided to spin this in a negative light.

Sam

theDreamer

Good job GTM on fixing the problem, not much else to say.

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SoCal 370Z

I have two brother-in-laws in the USPS, and when I actually see them I always ask about the current horror stories regarding the USPS. I can assure you that the USPS could have caused some of the damage I saw in the photographs. If you look at the timeline it was the worst time to place an order to be shipped through USPS as it was Christmas/New Years holidays—the busiest time of the year with the most mail to handle. In one of my conversations with a brother-in-law he said that they were so deluged with packages that they were throwing and kicking packages across the floor into a large pile even if the package stated "Fragile" on the outside.

GTM made the mistake of going against their better judgment of using the USPS; the holidays are a bad time to send USPS, and to order custom goods such as a TT setup (people tend to have other things on their mind during these times); there are at least two stories to every side and truth resides somewhere in between.

Now, here's what do know: I salute Joe for serving our country as I come from staunch military family involved all the way, and including the Pentagon; I also respect the vendors making products for the 370Z as there are really so very few these days (even less making turbo setups).

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destinyZ

Thank you!

I completely understand what you are saying but...they made the mistake of poor packaging. TBO I did warn Sam and did say to be sure that the packaging is top knoch. He did say that they are "OCD" with shipping and is when I became confident I was in excelent hands.

SoCal 370Z

I also understand your personal time constraints regarding the military. Not an easy life.

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Kirei

You make a some valid points. When I spoke with Sam I told him instead of telling Joe the boxes would be the in about 3wk. he should have just said strait out. "I just want to point out to you in case you forgot. This a a busy time of year and I'm going to Hold off shipping till the second week of Jan"
Then to email Joe saying the last boxes shipped already. Then ship those last boxes a week later. fail. I'm guess that is why when Joe kept asking for the tracking numbers for the boxes GTM had no reply. Oh that right. Sam said his email wasn't working and only after I spoke to him and told him we need a stronger line of communication. He gave an alternate line of communication. I commend him for that. By that time his regular email was working fine.
Anyway,These dates 1/11/11 & 2/4/11 are the Dates that GTM Dropped the boxes off put the date next to there name and signed for shipping. If he had just been honest and upfront as I told him before. We wouldn't have a problem. Well as far as the shipping goes as for the rest...

Kirei

[QUOTE=SAM@GTM;977524]

That said, there is an interesting twist to the story. What makes a customer go to this extreme and start a smear campaign like this?
Did we not go above and beyond to take care of him?

@ SAM

Did we tell him to go screw himself?-SAM
NO, You said, No one will believe Joe. I know a lot of people that will back me up it will be my word against yours.

Did we cheat him out of money?-SAM
You said, **** happens. then took your sweet time sending the package. Mean while assuring him things will be done today. I didn't know today equals weeks. I guess if you add up all the todays that you said things were done and happened already,maybe. He still doesn't have the undamaged products. How many times was a refund asked for? Several times. And everytime and excuse and drawn out process or the response of "Oh it shipped already. Then the next day. Oh it actually didn't ship already."
GARBAGE.

Did we not take care of his concerns?-SAM
Well you started the process after a fire was lit under you. From the first forum and When I spoke with you over the phone demanding a refund. You told me when and how you would resolve the issue.As soon as I hung up with you. I sent you a calm and polite as I could be email that you so happily posted. Then your enthusiasm died shortly after. We heard nothing from you no conformation number nor any other confirmations that you assured me would be handled by certain date.

So I had to spend my free time contacting you to make sure you stayed on the ball. I spoke with you several times. Every time and excuse. By The 2nd of March (for you 3rd for us). I called you canceling yet again. Because you stated it had not been mailed because you forgot the guy who does shipping didn't work that day. I was very irritated because you knew that all day but failed to have someone else do it and you failed to even call me and let me know the situation.I had a feeling from your past actions although you assured me it would have been handled that day. It wouldn't be. So I called hoping the box was wrapped and just waiting to be taken to the post office. Maybe you just needed a nudge. To make some one get it to the post office before it closed.I called you at 3:11pm we spoke till 3:35pm(your time) you asked me to put it in writing. I emailed you the following.


Sam,*
We spoke on the phone today(3/3/11 for us) March,2nd at 3:11pm (your time). I informed you over the phone. That we/ I Joseph Farrell would like a full refund in the amount of $8,300.00 for the products(GTM 370Z TT kit) that were Purchased from you company on December 6, 2010. This is due to receiving extremely damaged products, which were also poorly package. Coupled the extensive length of time it took to receive the products and rectify this matter.*

I will get the shipping price for all of the products and email you promptly with the final cost. You already have the Bank, routing and account information. So there should be no problem or delay in refunding the full amount for the kit nor the wire transfer for shipping. I expect to hear from you soon.*
Thank you for you time. Have a pleasant day.

Dawn & Joe

After receiving this email your response was proceeded to try and sway Joe to get the kit shipped out anyway. Stating the boxes are small. That priority mail is not a problem. Then a few days later. Emailing us stating : Due to the size of the box, USPS allowed us to ship it only one way, there was no options .

You just said one thing and did the opposite too many times.

Lastly if Joe got great service and products from GTM. You wouldn't have any problem with us posting or making a video of that would you?