RaceRoots: Feedback
 

October 9th 2009, I bought a TURBO XS FULL EXHAUST at Fluidmotorsport and sent Brice $ 989 as payment. He got my money 3 days later.
So far……..I still have no exhaust!!

I’m currently having Jeff (MAZDAMANIAC) tuning my accessport. I’m gonna have him tuning it (and pay for it) by Jeff again when (and IF!) my exhaust arrives…..

I bought greddy turbo kit for my rx8, I bought many parts from USA and other countries but never had a problem with anyone except for Brice and FLUIDMOTORSPORT/RACE ROOTS.
I understand that problems might happen but I’m definetly running out of patience and seriously thinking that I’ve been frauded!

I’m from Italy and don’t usually write on RX8CLUB because of my bad English (a friend is helping me now) but I’m a member of RX8 TRIBE (the Italian forum about our car, www.rx8tribe.com) and want you to be aware of this unreliable company!
I hope you guys can tell me what you think and suggest. Thank you for your help.

A mailing exchange report between Brice and me follows.
-BRICE to ME (10nov2009) : It just came in from Turbo XS so it will be shipping this week. Just waiting on tracking on my shipping dept.
- BRICE to ME (24nov2009) : They only sent the catback and no race pipe so I am getting that straightened out now. My apologies for this inconvenient delay.
- BRICE to ME (8dec2009) : Midpipe is enroute
- BRICE to ME (11jan2010): I am still patiently waiting from TurboXS, I think the delay is because it is coming in a bulk order thru my supplier.
- BRICE to ME (13jan2010) after I asked Brice to refund my money : I have already paid in full for the exhaust, because of an issue with the vendor not fulfilling the order like they are supposed to.
- BRICE to ME (19jan2010) : I am waiting on a reply email and phone call from TurboXS as to a exact date.
- BRICE to ME (28gen2010) : We just got a reply from TurboXS yesterday, they are out of stock and their eta is 3 weeks.

Brice dont need to steal your money. He makes a ton by selling parts to poeple like me.
It takes a time to get parts that are on backorder. Just like it takes time for people in the usa to get parts from japan ect.
Look on the bright side, there are people who waited a year to get a turbo :rofl:

This must be a fluke.. Brice has never had any problems shipping stuff to me! just be patient my friend :)

Hell i think 90% of the stuff on my car came from Brice

The Catback is here, TurboXS or my distributing supplier made a mistake as I had ordered it with the midpipe but it never came, after constant emails back and forth I had it straightened out. At that time they were currently out of stock for the midpipe so now we wait for the midpipe.

If you want I can ship the catback now, when the midpipe comes in you can pay the additional shipping.

Really out of my control, my apologies.

Let me know.

Brice is legit

this is a first ive dealt with brice a lot and never had a problem ... he even lent me a fuel pump tool to change the pump he sold me once

I had no problems with RR either but I will say, Lack of communication and/or excessive wait times for products seems to be a HUGE issue with many of vendors here.

+1 he let me send 2 separate payments because i was broke that week

That was swoopes tool he was kind enough to let you/me borrow it, I was merely helping out.

Yeah every situation is different, my suppliers give me xyz date I estimate, I make mistakes they make mistakes.

I try my best to estimate in this case with the exhaust Either Turboxs or my supplier failed to communicate the need for a midpipe, who knows. All I know is it didnt come in my shipment and the customer needs it.

Fact of the matter is I can kick and scream all day at both of them it is not going to fix the situation or make them move any faster or not make mistakes.

Wish I could be perfect and stock 100% of the inventory we sell, no company can support that. Even my suppliers that are industry giants like agency power frequently run out of their product and have looong wait times.

It just happens planning and timing is everything.

I second that.

brice is a goodguy, you just have to understand he runs this business himself. Bought coils and plugs off him before and recently bought a gauge setup off of him, took a while to get shipped because out of stock but I would gladly do business with RaceRoots again anytime I need something.

brice is a good guy just got my evo r end links from him and the sway bars just sent out today.

Brice is legit. However, Brice, please do right by Robert205. If you can ship the catback now, you should pick up the additional shipping when the midpipe comes in and ship at your expense. If that means you lose money on the deal---OH WELL. That is customer service.

Please keep in mind that I am on your side. Your reputation is not worth any small loss you have on the additional shipping. If any thing, a reputable resolution on a mishap that was not your fault will only promote your vendor status.

Make us proud! We need to keep and have great vendors for the RX-8 platform. It keeps me excited about the car I drive.

Just my two cents.

Thanks for the comments guys! :)

The customer is waiting to tune so he will need the midpipe regardless - it would have been a kind offer though.

This line was the one thing that bothered me in RaceRoot's side of things:

You are the Vendor - you are to take care of your customer, not tell them their SOL and leave them hanging on potential extra shipping charges.

I have dealt with various vendors and though I do not expect them to break their backs, if an estimated delivery time is known not to make it, an offer of a full refund will help a good deal. Still, the idea that the vendor values the customer over themselves is what is most important. It may be easier said than done but indeed their are vendors out there that follow this modo without leaving customers felt as if they're left in the dust.

Just some consumer input. I don't deal specifically in the car parts market but customer appreciation is king in any consumer's market, regardless of circumstances.

I haven't dealt with bryce directly but I will honestly say this won't deter me from doing so, either. Simply made a mistake, things will eventually be righted, people make mistakes.

brice is good guy, i aint gonna lie like 98 percent parts on my car is from him...

There are lots of creative ways to mitigate things beyond one's control: Throw in an extra set of spark plugs free of charge. Or, better yet----What better money spent in marketing than sending a no charge sales sample to Italy of one your your custom pieces like your shift gate stopper? Sure, the customer is still held up from doing his tune but it sure lessens the sting. Plus he goes to his buddies and shows off some of his goodies from Race Roots.

Everyone realizes shit happens. When somebody gives a damn, that's when we stop and say, "Hey, that guy will do right by me if a transaction when awry."

I always realize how someone treats another is how I'll most likely be treated. The past is often indicative of the future.

Anyway, as stated---I have faith in Brice. I've seen him operate via these boards before and I've been impressed. He always seems to take the high road and I respect that.

I dealt with Brice twice. No problems what so ever. Good guy. I even referred two friends to him they haven't had any problems either. I would buy from him again.

I fully understand that there may be shipping complications due to your location(see my current location).... but you do know that the TurboXS sells for $500? Hell even on his site its listed as such. I hope to god you didnt pay $400 for shipping?

I have met Brice and his family. He is a stand up guy. I was wanting a set of Stance coilovers at one time and he told me up front that they were backordered and it would be awhile before he could get them. This was BEFORE any money swapped hands. He was also willing to price match anyones elses prices.
Any business is going to have a screw up sooner or later. Just let Brice take care of it. He will make it right.
OD

Ive had a few large shippments of parts from Brice. The first one was a situation like this. I bought a cat-back and intake, just shy of 1k. Parts didn't come in when expected, and missed out on a great opportuinty. I was bitter at first, then understood things happen.

I tried again back in May-June and spent close to another 2k in suspension parts. I gave him a timeline that I needed all of the parts by as I was driving the 8 across the country and it was going to sit for a year while Im in Iraq. I got most parts within the week and the only 2 that didn't show, Brice made damn sure I would get them in time for my install with the Seattle guys at the army base shop. They came in 2 days prior and everything went smoothly.

Since Ive been in Iraq, I made another $750ish purchase and had it shipped to my friends house. Everything came on time and I still ask about parts monthly and if he can get a great deal on them.

Take a breath and sit back. It will work out.

During the few purchases I bought from Fluid/Roots Brice communicated each day answering my questions as well as going over and beyond to fix an error. He corrected an issue where the wrong part size was sent and wound up putting my car out of commission for a day. Once I explained the problem and what happened he immediately sent the correct part overnight shipping for free so I could fix the vehicle and get it up and running the next day.

My point alike to others is people mess up, but Brice in my experience manned up and got the problem fixed pronto. That's customer support IMO and based on my conversations with him I don't doubt he's trying all he can to remedy the problem.

ouch .... i would be one of those guys and still waiting lol ....one day....one day

ive had a good experience with raceroots so far with no issues, fast and prompt and handled all my questions

I have made two separate orders from Race Roots/Fluid. The first was for a new brake set-up, the second was a set of RPF1s. There were issues with both orders not coming in as estimated (and I mean month(s) behind), some of which could have been reasonable and others certainly were not. However, my largest issue with the interaction, was the vendor's lack of communication and follow-up. To help curb the sting of the situations (after I had repeatedly PM'd), Brice offerred to send me free lugs for the new wheels which I thought was a decent touch to smooth things over. However, many months later, I have not recieved these either, and, frankly, it is not worth my time to pursue. Well over a dozen PMs had to be sent just to get ship dates or accurate order status on items which I paid for.

Brice is fully aware of my history, as I have spoken to him on several occassions. I will say that he seems to be a good guy, however, I will not be doing any further business (as much as I would like to) with Fluid/Race Roots due to the lack of service and complete lack of communication.

I feel that we need to separate something here: Brice is running a business. Brice may be the best guy in the world, but the business currently has some serious issues which need to be addressed. I do sincerely hope that these issues are remedied, and Brice is successful (or more successful). We need some reliable vendors, and I would love to see capitalism at its finest within our own rx-8 community.

Brice, I hope that I have accurately portrayed the issues which I had. I do not mean to throw anyone under any buses (you know that I have not publicly shown my distaste on any of these good guy/bad guy forums), but I felt that some accurate feedback was needed as an additional example in this particular thread. Best of luck. Handle this guy and turn the complaint into a positive, amigo.

Thanks.