What would you do in this situation?
 

THE BELOW IS A DIRECT COPY OF WHAT I POSTED IN THE PREMIUM SECTION:

Hey guys, need some help with this one. I have been working with Lou over @ Amplified Motorsports, the guy has been a great help in locating and ordering a set of Volk TE-37 SL's in 19x9.5 +22 and 19x10.5 +12. I originally paid for the wheels the last week of April and was told the wheels would be shipped to me by the first week of June. We are almost into the last week of June now and still no word on these wheels from Lou, I feel like a jerk for bugging him every couple days but I am getting nervous here. I have not been able to contact him for over a week now and he had said that they would ship last friday. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? I know how difficult it can be to get wheels from overseas these days and the wait involved, but I feel like I am being strung along.. any input is appreciated, thanks!

David

UPDATES:
I called Amplified on..
06/21 two times, one answering machine, one message left with an employee
06/22 three times, two answering machine, one message left with same employee was told that Lou would call me right away and he had no access to sales info
06/23 four calls, three times went to answering machine, one message left with THE SAME employee, this time he said Lou was in the shop but on another line and would call me momentarily, never heard back, I did miss a call from a private # that day a few hours later but not sure if it was Lou
06/24 one call so far, left message with the same employee who was "shocked" that Lou had not called me back about my wheels.

ALL I WANT IS A STATUS AND ETA FOR MY WHEELS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE THREE WEEKS AGO!!!

I would like to add that prior to the past few weeks, Lou had been nothing but helpful and very nice during the transaction, this is also what throws me off about the current issue.

Also, I tried to call a few times between 06/01 and 06/20 for updates and there was no answer most of the time, the majority of these calls are being placed after 12pm PST.

I am really wondering if my set came in as scheduled and was sold to a higher bidder while I wait for another ordered set, I really dont think Lou is the type of guy to do this, but I do not know what to think anymore.

Oh I was in a similar situation with another vendor but everything turned out well. You should check with your bank to see if you can get your money back, just so you're prepared. But Lou is a reputable guy so I'm sure you will get your wheels. But I know what it feels like when a vendor doesn't return emails and calls.

my bank said they would help me if I need it, but I need to work with the vendor before going to them, which I totally agree with, and all in all I would MUCH rather just get these wheels than my money back..

dealt with Lou countless times, always left his shop satisfied. He runs a reputable and pretty popular shop (a lot of members go to him for parts and installations).
He is hard to contact in the mornings so i always call after 2-3pm.

this makes me feel better, I just wish he would return one of the calls I made

Nismo, I'll tell you first hand that he's a good guy to deal with. Sometimes a little slow on responses, but that's because he is very busy and his shop doesn't actually have a lot of employees.

He's not a vendor you should worry about blowing you off. :tup:

cool thanks chris

:tiphat:

Lou's a good dude that's worked on my car serveral times. He will definitely come through on your order. I would be shocked if he didn't. Good luck, and keep us posted once your wheels arrive.

While I understand your apprehension, I think if I was a vendor and I had someone calling me a zillion times, I'd kind of lose patience with them. I'm not being a jerk, just saying it's not always a good idea to "pester" a vendor. Based on a lot of the above remarks, I'd just cool my heels and wait for awhile.

If you are fed up, call and say you want to speak with him now and if he doesn't than you will stop payment with your bank (depending how you paid). Money talks.

or just wait!

^BWHAHAHA

Either go nuclear, or just roll over and take it! I love it! Great suggestions!:bowrofl:

Edit:nismodreamr, I know its difficult, but relax a little. Joe has been a supporter of this forum for some time now, and I've nevr heard of him ripping anybody off, FWIW.

Keep us updated tho!

:iagree: Lou always comes through. A little patience goes a long way thou.

He should have a rough idea where your wheels are at, in Japan, waiting in Japan to be shipped, at sea, in u.s. customs. You have a lot of patience. After 48 hours of not getting a reply I sent a final email requesting my money back. But everything turned out for me just a misunderstanding.

thats the American way isn't it:icon17:

He is very busy and runs an outstanding business, but he is pretty slow to respond to calls and messages at times. I am still waiting for any updates on my base 18 wheels that he is selling for me that he has had since May but I definitely trust him.

Plus however many on Lou as a reputable decent vendor to work with.
Looking at the time frame, I think that the projected delivery date might have been a little optimistic if the wheels are coming from Japan. I know I waited 16 weeks for build and shipment of a set of Volks that I put on my previous car.
I'd chill out a little and inquire once a week or at the beginning of the week and at the end of the week if you don't hear back from him, but not three times a day every day.

Man, I don't know what industry you guys are all in, but I know at my office, missing a due date and not keeping in contact one way or another, we'd be losing clients left and right...especially during times like these. It's not so much underestimating the delivery date, but at least let me know something either way, even if it was a 10 second update or PM. Extra customer service is what puts us ahead of our competition now a days, even if we cost a bit more.

That being said, I've been PM'ing the OP and can vouch for Lou on being a legit guy and vendor, just as lots of other guys can. He'll come through...

+1 on the importance of communication. It only takes a few seconds and would put the OP's mind at ease, negating the "need" to call every day (multiple times). I get it, I really do. When I lay down $, I want to know where my money went to. I get obsessive about it as well. Perhaps not to the point of calling/emailing multiple times per day, but I definitely get anxious, especially if I'm told one thing and experience another.

I suppose the moral of all this would be the following:
1) Set the customer's expectations early. If the shipment is going to take three months..tell the customer it'll be four. That way you'll end up the Hero when it comes in early, yet not the tyrant when the delivery falls behind!
2) Communicate with your customers on a routine schedule, just to let them know how things are coming along. You may not have any news, but sometimes no news is better than not hearing anything at all.

I'm just sayin'!

PS. I've learned the value of item number 1 over the years with my wife and my anticipated departure from work! I used to tell her what I thought she wanted to hear "I'll only be another five minutes" and then had to hear the dissapointement when I did not come through. Now I just tell her "I'm not sure...maybe an hour?". And all is good when I show up in half the time! What can I say, I'm just keeping it real..and keeping the "customer" satisfied! :tup:

This seems to have turned into a discussion about what the vendor should have done and I think there's a big problem here. It doesn't really matter if Lou is a standup guy to 99% of the people on this forum, if you are running a service based business then you should be chasing after customers and returning their calls within hours after TELLING them that you'd call them back, certainly not weeks after.

If I'd been waiting this long for wheels the final straw would have been weeks ago when he stopped returning calls. It's not a matter of patience. If he gave a proper ETA and even a corrected ETA everything would be fine and I would wait however long it took assuming I deemed the time frame reasonable. It's the lack of customer care (in this instance) that will immediately lose me as a customer. Proper customer service will never bring in new customers but it will certainly lose them. The customer shouldn't have to chase the vendor, it should be the other way around.

/\ This is true. You cannot expect to maintain or build your customer base if they (said customers) have to feel that it's necessary to chase you down for information about your purchase order.

Amen to the last 2 responses! Makes business sense.

So, based on the last to responses, the vendor is at fault here for not maintaining good communication. That's pretty indisputable.

Now, to answer the question of what the OP should do... He can either be patient and have faith that the vendor who has his money is going to pull through and deliver the product or he can pull out and start the process over with another vendor that he thinks is going to do a better job. At any rate, both options will require a certain degree of patience, especially if he decides to start the process over with another vendor.
Or he could be impatient and call the vendor three times a day. Or he could forget about waiting for Volks and get a set of Rotas or even take a rattlecan to his stock wheels.
The options are infinite. I don't know what I'd do in this situation.

Wow, this many problems getting the merchandise, the question should be....what will service be like if the product is received and there is a problem with the order....just something to also think about.

That's an excellent question.:ugh2:

One would think that the vendor would take care of the client perhaps for the initial communication, but then might drop out after the re-order has been placed...you know...during that waiting phase?

Updating the customer is always easier, faster and cheaper than dealing with an unhappy one.

Not saying that this guy is doing malicious stuff, but even with an extremely busy day, you have to find some sort of balance to take time and return phone calls and answer emails.

Being up front and honest with the situations will never put you in the wrong.

Good luck to the OP!

qft, 100% right

UPDATE TO ALL:
Lou sent me a very nice PM on here, he has been extremely busy and was not able to get back to me for awhile, hence this thread, but my wheels are in and will be shipping out early this week. Lou was GREAT to work with, the only thing that threw me off was the lack of communication for the last couple weeks, but I was a bit paranoid as well.

relief huhh?!:tup: lol. glad your wheels are in and are that much closer to being put on your Z!:happydance:

yeah I feel about a million times better now, I know I probably called 2 many times but I was getting no response to my voicemails and it freaked me out. Also, Lou's shop is short-staffed at the moment so this is obviously playing a huge factor in the issue, so I can understand it being a little difficult to get back 2 me.

UPDATE:
So remember my last post above this one? I was told the wheels should ship out on or around the 1st of July. Well I called on the 6th of July because I still hadn't received any information. was told the wheels were still at fedex and were not able to be picked up until later in the week because the shopwas 2 busy. OK FINE. I called again on the 8th, wheels were at the shop but they did not have time to ship them yet. "They will ship today and I will send you a tracking #". Today is the 12th, no tracking #. I just think it is frustrating that wheels sit at fedex for an extra week and then at the shop for a week and ahalf, for all I know they are still sitting there. call me impatient all you want, I was quoted the first week of June. Somebody make me feel better..

I know some people have experience with this seller and all but if a business can't get out a product when they say they will, or even worse within a month and a half of that date, then they're too busy for my money.

sorry to hear, but thanks for the updates. your experience will aid me in my future purchases for sure. im a businessman myself and i dont take 'too busy' as a valid reply.

agreed. :tup:

The bad thing is I really like the guy and he has helped me out by getting me a good deal on the wheels, but why can't you follow through with what you say you are going to do? even things as simple as calling me back in the same week? or typing a tracking # into an email or PM or text and sending it 2 me? come on. I can totally understand not being the most helpful when the wheels are on a boat in the ocean, but not when they are sitting in your shop. sorry I am venting. lol

Well you can't really expect a vendor to ship out a product right away when it comes in stock. I wasn't really impressed with his price quote and I think he took many days to get back to me with his quote.

The good thing is very soon you will have your wheels and all will be forgotten.

I agree about having getting my wheels and moving on, that will be a great relief, but I do expect a vendor to at least take delivery of a product from a shipping company in the first day or two that it is available, they sat at fedex for over a week, and then why not just take delivery for his shop's inventory then flip back to fedex and ship out? maybe I am naive but they have sat on the floor at the shop for an extra week as well! :icon14:

that's if they are using some budget carrier where they need to call for pickup 48hrs in advance, make an appointment, have a trucker come and pick it up maybe on day 3. :ugh2:

but i believe we are talking FedEX here. should not take more than 24hrs to get the packages re-labled and shipped out.

here is a funny concept, I will be in southern california july 20th through august 8th, if my wheels don't show up by then, I will be @ Amplified Motorsports to pick them up, tell me that isn't messed up.

update, called in yesterday, was told that the wheels were dropped off at UPS monday, asked for a tracking # but was told he did not have it with him, I CALLED THE SHOP, not a cell phone or anything. was also told that ups would send me an email with a tracking # in it, but I have never given them my email or anything and still have no tracking #. COME ON!