LifeAfterRx8

iTrader: (17)

If I were the OP, I would delete this thread before I continue to make a fool of myself.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

^qft
I've worked many jobs, and customer service is actually worse than any other job experience I've had to date. I'm not being dramatic or over-exaggerating, either.

Giustino

iTrader: (2)

Honesty AND Professionalism could of both been shown here. But i understand the possible cultural and language barriers here with a vendor from a non english speaking nation, i could of shown more patience initially.

Agreed, but they have changed their tone and i think this may turn into a good guy thread soon enough

I agree, i understand things go wrong, i work in furniture sales as a part time job, if something is damaged, we repair it/replace it. why should the car market be any different?

Sorry mate, the customer is always right, that means you have to show professionalism regardless of what your frustrations are as a vendor. This was no means a FIT, but i agree with your earlier post, i could of handled this a little better in the emails, bad week and was pretty frustrated.

You sir are the fool for thinking that deleting this would make anyone look any better.

Worked customer service too and it does suck. But every customer does have the right to get a product that matches the description. And unfortunately there was no disclaimer saying that there is a high possibility that the coolers would come with bent fins.

d walker

No, thats a saying that unfortunately has put many businesses out of business. The customer is often wrong. It is on the vendor to educate the customer and to do their best to meet their needs, but that doesnt mean you go out of business, cut your own throat, or give away the farm because a customer is unhappy. Thats going to happen.

Lets take your case, there were a few bent fins from a screw packet. Same thing would likely have happened if you had ordered the bit from Mazda directly. There was nothing wrong with the packing, its just one of those things that can happen. The "damage" isnt even damage, as you are likely to bend more fins just installing the part, and from road debris.
So rather than just install your part and then straightening the fins, you decide to go for a complete replacement.... because you felt abused? Like the vendor didnt care about you?? Well whatever reason, the vendor wisely told you that you CAN file for insurance but are highly likely to get bent fins on the replacement part.
Do you accept that and move on? No, of course not. You come on here feeling abused. No doubt you have leveraged this thread and the vendors good nature for some discount/freebie/etc.. And why? because of a cosmetic defect that means nothing to the performance of the car and takes literally 2 minutes to make disappear.

Just amazing to me...

Mazurfer

Can't say as I would've been happy. Probably would have shot them an E-mail with pics and voiced my displeasure, then I would've straightened them out and got on with my life.
They always treated me pretty well.

ninjajim4

iTrader: (4)

i usually agree with just about everything you say all the time, but not here...

there is a way to be honest without being a condescending @$$.

it's not a two way street. it's the price of doing business. if you want people to give you their money, you act right, and you get paid. you're asserting a false choice here (and in your later replies): either give the store away for the sake of customer service or 'fire' your customer. there's a way to draw the line without sacrificing professionalism. the customer is the only side entitled to respect. the vendor is entitled to profit.

i don't feel sorry for vendors who take sh*t the same way i don't feel for cops, garbage men, janitors, waiters, so on... if you don't like it, find another line of work. when i was a kid, i did telemarketing, and it sucked, and i quit within the week and went and did something else.

d walker

There is so much wrong in your statement I dont know where to begin. Almost every business reserves the right not to do business with you. When you walk in with your money, you do not own the store, and no one needs to "act right". YOU need to act right or be told to leave the premises and never return. This is an attitude that is far too prevalent- that because you have money in your hand that a shop owner must bow to your demands- he doesnt and you should learn that. I personally respect businesses who have the moral fiber to stand up for themselves when a customer is wrong.

You dont feel sorry for the people you very likely bitch about charging too much etc. taking ****? Well then you need some character improvement. You should respect everyone until they give you a reason not to, and an item damaged in shipping and a reasonable response from the vendor DESERVES your respect. Get over yourself and stop being an entitled *****. And before you respond, you should realize that I feel sorry for no one, practically impossible for me to feel sympathy towards people. What I dislike strongly however, is this sense that someone owes you something. Like a shop owner owes you respect because you choose to favor him with your business. You should be glad that someone has taken the time, energy, and dedication to opening shops and becoming vendors and otherwise taking the risk to provide you with a service. Respect will get you a lot further than being a condescending ***** or a raving lunatic because you feel entitled to something. You arent.

Also, when will all this bitching and crying end and these half-assed rants about non-issues ie the RB thread and this one, stop? Is it not time you just sacked up and handled your business like men and not crying about it all over the internet? Most vendors should institute a policy that if a customer goes crying on the internet before an issue is resolved, they stop all efforts to satisfy the client. It would stop the endless online bullshit threads (like the one against Skunk2 recently) meant to do nothing more than extort and blackmail shops and vendors.

Giustino

iTrader: (2)

I have not and will not use this thread to gain any discount or freebies, it's not who i am.

This thread was ONLY to ask the opinions of other rx8 owners what they would do in this situation. Nothing More.

I have no motivation to bad mouth JapanParts or any vendor, I have been around these forums long enough to know that no vendor is perfect, I have had plenty of both good and not so good purchases, doesn't stop me returning as a customer if throughout that time, communication is both polite and efficient.

In my opinion, initially Japan parts were far from polite when dealing with a customer, this could well of been cultural or language barriers as I mentioned earlier, either way the tone has changed, and this will be rectified shortly.

Thanks for your opinion.

ASH8

The "Customer" IS always right...

As a Retailer or any Seller what would you prefer....
1. A satisfied happy buyer who tells all their friends how good you are.??
2. Or an unhappy buyer who tells all their friends how bad you are??
3. Or no business, or sales at all??

One does not have to sacrifice profit to satisfying their customer who spends their $$'s with you.

This is the difference between GOOD/Excellent Retailers and those who are so so, and have we not recently seen the results of poor vendors here.

Some will just never get it..

Naturally there is a limit to how far any good retailer would and should go to satisfy their customer.

9.99 time out of 10 customers are 100% happy.

The customer is always correct.

ASH8

Giustino, I know where you are coming from...

However, I would do the minor repairs and move on M8.

Giustino

iTrader: (2)

Agreed 110%, but there will always be people who think good customer service is just a burden on the bottom line, and cannot see the long term benefit of a positive name within society/community.

Yep moving on, will straighten the fins and install.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

How many businesses have you started or run at the highest level of responsibility?

Giustino

iTrader: (2)

I once ran a lemonade stand, does this count?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

one of the worst customer service vendors here got away with it for years, only to be undone because he ripped a few people off by not delivering their product

another vendor here with the best customer service barely makes it by hand to mouth

you have also overlooked all the satisfied customers who disagree with you

your idealistic premise has no basis in reality

ninjajim4

iTrader: (4)

go back and read what i said. it had nothing whatsoever to do with standing up for themselves or not.

no, actually i don't b*tch about them, i just shop elsewhere. the wonders of the free market.

yes, that's exactly what i'm saying. maybe not respect so much as appreciation. we'll survive without them. will vendors survive without customers?

is this a joke? you honestly think vendors are the mother theresas of the RX-8, just trying to provide a service? you see any 403c vendors with .org domains running around here?

this is exactly my point. are the customers truly in the right? My personal sentiment mostly is they aren't, though i certainly sympathize with a lot of it. but are the vendors above reproach? no. you don't see a problem with that. i do.

the truth is, if they'd acted like professionals start to finish, they could hold themselves as exemplary, even in the midst of a not ideal situation. they failed.

i've said it before... pretty easy for everyone to be happy when things go right -- it's when things go south that you either rise to occasion or not.

well said. some people will just never understand that the "customer is always right" isn't literal.

several

i don't think it can be argued that the vendor mentioned here could have been wildly more successful if he'd adopted a better attitude towards customer service. even the "ripping off" was questionable (in some instances), but ultimately it was his own attitude that ended any chance of turning the situation around. i'd daresay customer service (or lack thereof) in the end is what truly ended his run here.

another case of false logic. the vendor you mentioned above had many satisfied customers as well. does that mean he didn't have any dissatisfied customers with legitimate complaints?

that's just simply not true. there are vendors here who live up to it

d walker

It is what you said, try to be consistent



Awesome for you. What happens when there is nowhere else to shop?



Obviously vendors need customers, but run enough businesses into the ground and the products you need and want wont be around long, or they switch to other pursuits where there is no drama. You, as a consumer, need to support the businesses that cater to your desires.


I am not referencing just the RX8 commnity, but the overall doing of business.


I never said vendors are above reproach, I am maintaining that BS bitching and complaining and online extortion needs to stop, and that the sense of entitlement customers display these days is rampant. For ***** sake there are guides out there published on how to get free movie tickets etc. by bitching about nothing.

They acted as professionals. They offered to help with his insurance claim and DID THE RIGHT THING by advising him that the replacement oil cooler might be worse than the original. That is the EXACT way to hanle that. Unless of course you expect something for nothing, in which case you would expect them to refund the payment in full and send out a fresh cooler at thier expense as well as offering a discount on future orders to secure continuing business. Right?

True, and in this case the vendor was RIGHT and the customer was WRONG. Period. I get that he is a good guy and was maybe having a bad week or whatever, thats cool. BUT, the vendor in this case handled this instance just fine.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

If JapanParts simply shipped the customer in question a Mazda OEM part, packaged by Mazda or their OEM supplier, why isn't Mazda or their supplier really the focus in this debate? Just wondering...........

ninjajim4

iTrader: (4)

actually it's not. since you either didn't go back and read or just don't understand, i'll say it again: i didn't say a vendor can't stand up for himself, i said he needs to do so professionally. ie. NOT being, to use your words, a "condescending *****."

then i'd have no choice to buy from them. not really sure what we're talking about here


again, you fail to see the distinction between standing up for themselves, and standing up for themselves while representing themselves as professionals. i.e. acting right.

I as an individual consumer don't need to do a damn thing except buy what i want, from whom i want to, at a price i'm willing to pay.

the general market for the products/good service brings support through demand.

the vendor is around for as long as people want his product, from him, and he thinks the money is worth the hassle. there's nothing else to doing business.

see above.

no they didn't. it's not about right or wrong. it's how a vendor handles it WHEN [they believe] the customer is wrong. either be an @$$ or show some class. when you do the former, you get threads like these.

i think it's a given that Mazda does a shockingly **** poor job of packing stuff, but he didn't order from Mazda, he ordered from Japan parts.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

I see. So failing to address the alleged "given" will help matters such as these in the future? If this is a recurring issue with Mazda, I wonder if anyone has bothered to register such a concern with Mazda, themselves, be they simply a customer or maybe a retailer?

I have addressed such packaging concerns in the past directly with the manufacturers with whom I have been dealing and they usually respond by quickly making improvements.

ASH8

OK, I think this has gone far enough...

Something I do not normally do..thread closed.