Unfortunate Report on Motorsport Technology

[TheGillz]

I know that there are some vendors/sponsors here that use this company and I feel bad about having to write this post, but I also feel that when there is something positive to say about a company that others can use I do so, but conversely I feel that if I feel that a company treats me unfairly I am going to let people know of that also.

Recently and almost exlusively on the reputation about their products from this site and another I decided to purchase wheel spacers for an upcoming project from Motorsport Technology out of San Bernardino CA. I placed the order over the phone and was told about two weeks for fabrication and shipment. That commitment was met. During the order I was explicit that the shipping address was to be different from the billing address. The information was taken down and I had no pause in giving my CC #.

Well yesterday at work my wife told me that we got a box from them. I thought, "Oh crap did they not ship it 300 miles east to Rexburg like they were supposed to?" Well when I got home sure enough we recieved the package instead of it being shipped to my fabricator of the project. It turns out that they had written the correct shipping address on the invoice, yet when they filled out the UPS label they gave mine as illustrated in the following image.

Well that was not the end of the world, luckily we weren't in a position with the project that this delay was holding us up, I would just call them the next day and see about reimbursment of the shipping charge and I would go ahead and do it myself.

Now to the unfortunate part. Today I called them and I don't even know who I talked to as they didn't say their name, just "Motorsport" as they answered.

I explained that this was Clark that ordered the spacers from Boise and that we needed them shipped 300 miles east but that they had shipped them to the billing address instead of the shipping address. I said that the invoice had the correct address but the UPS label was wrong. "Long pause" (At this time I would have expected an apology from anyone versed in even the most rudimentary customer service skills)
I continued, I'm not sure what you want to do to correct this?
"What was your name again?"
Clark....
"OK, well let me know was shipping will be and I'll give you that, it shouldn't be more than 10 bucks"
Well I paid $25 to get them shipped here and now I have to go down and ship them myself, couldn't you just credit my card the $25?
"Look I offered to pay the shipping cost for you, now you can take that offer if you want."
(At this time I am HOT) Hey man I am really sorry to have inconvenienced YOU but you were the one that messed up the shipping.
"Hey I offered to pay the shipping you can take it if you want, *click*"

Hung up on me.

I called back in a couple minutes, Can I talk to the owner?
(same voice, still don't know the name)"I am the owner"
Boy this is a really great way to run a business, I know people that might use your products and you can rest assured that they will get my recomendation to not.
"Go ahead and tell all your buddies about us, I offered to pay the shipping"
Ok, sorry that I am inconveniencing you, *click* I hung up.

This is the invoice that they are going to get from me for shipping the product myself.

4.1 miles to UPS store, 8.2 round trip at 16mpg = .51 gallons@ $3.55 per gallon. Total: $1.81

5 minutes repackaging after shipment inspection

22 minute average traveling 4.1 miles through town

23 minutes in line/transaction at UPS store

22 minute average traveling 4.1 miles back home.

Total time charged 73 min. or 1.22 hours billed at $25 per hour for MY time = Total: $30.50

Shipping cost from Boise ID, to Rexburg, ID UPS Ground = $15.22

Total charge for shipping mistake by Motorsport Technology = $47.53

Here is the "10 shipping" invoice from UPS

I hope he was just having a bad day and will make it right, but I get the feeling they have business accounts that keep them busy and that I was "small timed" becuase I had one isolated order and they could care less about what I think...

Clark

 

[ExpoMike]

Man I feel for you and it sucks when this type of stuff happens. Good luck on getting "your" labor and gas money. I have never heard of this being done. If you are lucky, at least you'll get the shipping costs.

Reading this over, I was actually surprised they would ship to a different address then the billing one. In todays, protect the consumer from fraud, most CC paid shipments go to the billing address. It does make it hard to get things dropped shipped to the right location.

Good luck but hey, at least they got you the right parts in the time they said they would. That seems to be better then most places anymore. :littlefriend:

 

[oldcj5guy]

My billing address is one of those mailbox places. We went this route after my identity theft issues.... I ship stuff all the time to either the house or to my place of work with no issues. I have never had a company give me an issue over it. It was clearly their screw up and in the interest of customer service I would not have hesitated to correct it. It's amazing how fast a story of bad service can spread on the internet.

 

[Cody]

I'm sorry you had a problem but.....come on. I mean, it's not like you've never made an honest mistake. It's not like he was intentionally trying to mess up your project, and it's not like every small little fab shop has the resources to employ a staff of front line customer service personnel to deal with these kinds of situations. This isn't Target. Small shops can't afford to bend over backwards because someone thinks they are entitled to the full massingil treatment. He should have been more polite, but I bet something in your tone caused him to put up a wall, and then it escalated. Take the reimbursement for your shipping costs as he offered, and go enjoy the sunshine somewhere.

I understand it's inconvenient, but if I was able to invoice someone for my time every time I felt they inconvenienced me, I would be a millionaire. Hell man, I just spent 5 minutes typing this...what’s your address so I can send the bill?

I would say either find something of value in your life that you can direct your attention and energy towards, or build a bridge and get over it. Life is far to short to get worked up over trivial crap like this. Don't buy there again. Problem solved.

Now go wheelin.

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

well even though you got piss poor service, the itemized bill you created is a bit silly.
We can't charge for our inconvienence, if that were the case, we would all be millionaires.

Shipping cost to you - $15.22
Charged by MST- $25

So MST owes you about $10.

I think it's enough that advertising the poor service is enough. They probably lost more than a few customers already.

 

[mountainpete]

"OK, well let me know was shipping will be and I'll give you that, it shouldn't be more than 10 bucks"
Well I paid $25 to get them shipped here and now I have to go down and ship them myself, couldn't you just credit my card the $25?
"Look I offered to pay the shipping cost for you, now you can take that offer if you want."

Clark,

Can you clarify something for me? Was he only offering to give you the shipping back to a maximum of $10? I would assume that if he gave you all of the shipping you paid back that would have been reasonably fair would it not?

No matter what, anytime a business hangs up on a customer for any reason other then verbal abuse is just not right.

Pete

 

[Cody]

I've been in customer service for over 15 years, and I've hung up on a handful of customers. I've also had a couple customers escorted off of my premisis too. Man do I have some good stories lol.

The customer isn't "always" right. There are some people that are unreasonable, and think the entire world revolves around them. People that think they can keep complaining up the chain of command until they get their way...I hate those people because eventually they might get high enough to find someone that just doesn't care, and will pay them off just to not deal with it. Then the customer is proud as a clam and thinks they won, and will do it again and again and again. I dont have any desire to do business with that type of person. Someone else can have their business. I wish we could have ******* ratings on customers personally because far too many people take advantage of the system.

If you have ever worked in CS, you know that you catch way more flies with honey. I'll never be rude to the person who is in charge of helping me. You wouldn't accuse your dr of mal practice prior to your quadruple bypass would ya?

 

[Martyn]

I'm sorry this happened to you, it's not a good story, and worse still there is not a happy ending.

I truly believe that the Internet and the phone can bring out the worst in us, it's as if our ego's take over. You had an easily identifiable problem that could have been resolved quickly.

We have a business relationship with Motorsports, and I have met the owner on numerous occasions in person. I've also dealt with him on the phone. I prefer to deal with him in person as sometimes he comes across as negative on the phone.

As a business they are incredibly knowledgeable and produce a top quality product. They can also be very creative when we have difficult combinations of bolt patterns and backspacing issues.

I'm not sure of the complete hierarchy of the possibilities below, but it's often what we have to deal with.

Pleasant person who produces and excellent product
Pleasant person who produces a bad product
Unpleasant person who produces an excellent product
Unpleasant person who produces a bad product

 

[TheGillz]

Just to be clear, at no time did I raise my voice, at no time did i curse or in anyway take a aggressive tone.

I too have been in customer service most of my adult life, and 7 years with my current company, maybe that is the downfall of this whole situation. I expected him to act to me like I would to MY customers. I expected one of two things to happen:

1. He would just put the 25 he charged on my card back, and I would do all the leg work and get it shipped correctly.

2. He would offer to send UPS back to my house to pick it up and ship it correctly.

I paused several seconds after explaining the situation calmly and friendly waiting for either an apology or a "lets fix this" offer on his part. When I didn't get either I suggested that he credit the shipping charge and that is when his tone changed (and mine as well, i'm sure) and he said go find out how much it is to ship and I'll reimburse that. It was at this point that the whole conversation changed to where it was me that was being inconvenient to him. Rather than yell and cuss when I called back and asked for the owner I chose to hang up and tell my story.

I don't expect anyting from my "invoice" except to make a point that both our time is equally valuable.

 

[TheGillz]

Clark,

Can you clarify something for me? Was he only offering to give you the shipping back to a maximum of $10? I would assume that if he gave you all of the shipping you paid back that would have been reasonably fair would it not?

No matter what, anytime a business hangs up on a customer for any reason other then verbal abuse is just not right.

Pete

He did not say maximum of 10, just that that's what he figured it would be.

I think if he would have apologized and sounded like he cared, and taken ownership of the problem, then I could have been convinced to do that. Or if he has an account with UPS, to just have them come pick it up and get it there...

 

[teotwaki]

Call your cc comapany and dispute the charges....??

 

[TheRoadie]

Reading this over, I was actually surprised they would ship to a different address then the billing one. In todays, protect the consumer from fraud, most CC paid shipments go to the billing address.

You can get a number of alternate shipping addresses added to a credit card (I've done it with Amex) so I can send gifts to relatives, etc. You just have to call Amex first to add the alternate addresses so the charge will get authorized. And I did the same with Paypal - not just work and home, but other addresses can all be pre-authorized. Haven't tried my banks for Visa and MC.

 

[adventureduo]

Who did you talk to over there? We dealt with Junior. He's a young kid that may be getting cocky because he's getting a ton of orders. I don't know. I went to their location to pick up my adatpers and they weren't ready when they said they were going to be, i had to wait 1 hour after driving 40 miles to get them the day before a trip. I called 2 hours previous to this and they said they were sitting there ready. Nobody knew who i was when i arrived and it was a tire/wheel store with people running around everywhere. Also, I flew right past it when it didn't say Motorsports Technology outfront. Later to find out they work inside the same building as the tire/wheel place or owned by the same people - dont know.

Im sorry they screwed up your shipping, but i can totally see it happening at that shop. There were orders all over the place just stacked. People would walk in and the guy at the counter would ask, what are you hear for, did you have a order to pick up? I can see how things get screwed up. I double-trip, quadriple checked that my adapters were correct ever before leaving the place.

Only good thing about the whole deal was they gave me free lugnuts (which for the time i waited, BFD, they should have) and they came out absolutely perfect.

One thing i want to mention is.. Junior would go out of his way for me if he could. If time permitted he would get the adapters made in 2 days and deliver them to my office for free cause they were in the area. His schedule for his drivers didn't allow it when i placed the order.

If i had to choose, i probably WOULD go with them again.. i just think they're in over their head and need some better management. Sounds like Junior needs to crack the whip on his donkeys. They're product is good, their quality is good, their customer service is lacking - they need some ladies in there to run the office so they can just stay in the back manufacturing great parts.

 

[TheGillz]

Your post reminded me that my box didn't come with any lugs. I didn't recall them saying that lugs would be included so I didn't meantion it before. I don't know if it should have come with them or not. I imagine they should have since one set can't hold on spacers and wheels. Oh well. I emailed them the two photo's and we'll see if I get a credit for the shipping.

Oh, and I dont' know who I talked to, he didn't introduce himself when he answered, but said he was the owner when I called back and asked for such.

 

[Martyn]

Your post reminded me that my box didn't come with any lugs. I didn't recall them saying that lugs would be included so I didn't meantion it before. I don't know if it should have come with them or not. I imagine they should have since one set can't hold on spacers and wheels. Oh well. I emailed them the two photo's and we'll see if I get a credit for the shipping.

Oh, and I dont' know who I talked to, he didn't introduce himself when he answered, but said he was the owner when I called back and asked for such.

Adapters don't usually come with lug nuts.