I would add that these issues are not specific to this vendor. I've had similar problems with large, national-level vendors. For the most part the majority of internet-based retailers say something is "in-stock" when they really mean "we have agreements with our warehouse suppliers and usually I can get them to send it within the normal few days, but if for some reason THEY dont have it and can't get it from some affiliated supplier, then you're going to be waiting for a few weeks". If RR is running out of someone's house then of course they are subject to these same issues, which isn't necessarily a problem.

*BUT* This is annoying, but at least many of the better retailers I've dealt with basically tell you this ahead of time. The issue here with fluid / race roots is that he does not seem to want to communicate these issues with customers. He seems to have very wonderful communication and customer service when parts are available, which is why he has plenty of great reviews, so that's a good thing. But I think most people would agree with me is that the hallmark of customer service is how properly things are handled when something goes wrong, especially if that's not a really infrequent occurrence. The ongoing mazsport connection still concerns me as well (just earlier I saw a thread where he offered to convert an Int-X in the for sale section to the turbo version, which is slightly interesting). So there is more to a vendor and customer service than quick shipping 'most' of the time....


Edit: PS- Seriously though, anyone who buys car parts on the internet and does not know what "drop shipping" is just asking for confusion and disappointment.

@!!narotordo, why must you flame and act like a fan boy in every post? You are quite annoying.

I have had multiple problems with Brice, Fluid, and Race Roots.

Don't stop, believinnn!!

NANANA!!

Brice is a good guy, I've bought most of my parts from him, and yes, sometimes there are issues getting things in on schedule, but what's the rush? You know he'll get it to you, and he'll get it to you in great condition. If you have ANY questions or concerns or ANYTHING, just send him a P/M and he'll answer same day.

Meh, people just need to learn patience.

The OP doesn't really speak english so he needs somebody to translate :)
I will help me if he wants me to.

Since he asked for a refund (that's what he told me) i don't understand why people are still talking about resolutions and patience. Waiting for an "in stock" exhaust for nearly 4 months while asking for a resolution shows patience, especially when there's a tuning schedule involved.

Just remember the time frame:
I have personally never ordered from Brice but spoke to him on a couple of occasions where he politely replied so i can't share my personal experience.
What Rich would like to know is if he's going to accept to refund the 900 or so $ that he paid upfront. That's pretty much it, he doesn't like this way of dragging it on to avoid to refund him since he now wants his money back.

I hope that it makes sense.

I'm sorry guys but as bse said i don't speak english very well. I would be happy to see him helping me here to answer quick and try to solve my problem.

Bought a lot of stuff from Brice, overseas also and never had a problem. I haven`t realized that he changed the name to race-roots and i stopped buying stuff from the forum.

I still intend to send his exhaust, I am waiting on the midpipe from TurboXS.

I have other customers that have been waiting for other stuff as well and they have the patience and understanding to wait as they are informed.

Still here :) Haven't heard from you in awhile.

Brice,

Since you're still intending to send him his exhaust after 4 months and considering what your latest update was (bolded) can we make an agreement that, if within 10 days from tomorrow, you don't provide Rich with a tracking number you will then proceed with a refund for what he paid?
We can understand waiting from october to the end of february for a turbo kit or something like that but for an exhaust that was said to be in stock that's not acceptable.
He's not willing to wait further than your last ETA, that should be pretty clear.

Is this resolution ok for you? It seems to be a good old gentlemen agreement for the parties.

Feel free to pm me the details, thanks! Rich paid via paypal so his customer protection time is running low. He doesn't even want to use it, Brice's word here to accept the "conditions" posted above (Package shipped within the last declared timeframe or a refund) would do!

Honestly we don't want to start any kind of discussion about what a good customer service is here, we just have a little situation to be looked at with concrete answers and actions. Hearing that somebody received everything in time doesn't help either so please refrain from saying so.
Also keep in mind that doing what we think is the right thing to do would not make Race Root look like a poor business for we'd all rather buy from somebody capable to handle some kind of issue during a transaction than just hope that everything works out well!

i have had delayed expensive items from brice, but when he says he'll straighten things out, he really means it and does a good job at what he does.
its all about patients, you'll get your exhaust. he wouldnt fraud anyone.

This should be seriously reinforced on all good guy / bad guy threads....

I sincerely hope that Brice is not out to screw us up, that's why Rich didn't file any dispute but asked him some resolutions. If something is said to be in stock or has a delivery time you have to inform the owner and at least offer him the possibility to choice.
I hope to see him posting here saying that he accepts our proposed agreement (If he doesn't respect the last ETA he refunds Rich), showing that his company is reliable enough to take care of troubles.
If he struggles to do so Rich will be forced to seek legal action since the 45 days of paypal's customer protection are now over and Rich has been so kind not to use it, trusting Brice and his delivery promises.

Guess we'll have to wait and see. Where are you Brice?

October -> Feb.. 5 months for an exhaust...

Agency Power (went to them direct for my exhaust) Took me 7 months, and it shipped with bent exhaust tips..

Shit happens with car parts man..

The fact is that first Brice stated that the midpipe was en-route and then said another thing. We're here trying to work out a resolution so please don't try to teach us that it may take a long time to receive parts. We already know that, thanks.

Shit happens, i agree. By the way since this item was never shipped it is up to the reseller (he's not a distributor, just a reseller) to work things out. If it was lost by the postal service we would be blaming them and not his company.

Brice is apparently not posting here either, ignoring the issue and our resolution proposals. Other companies followed the same lines in the past so i will stop posting if not to reply to his messages here that will hopefully follow soon.

i've had several good experiences buying from brice. it's usually very quick. but if it is going to take a little longer, he let's you know in a courteous and professional manner, and he demonstrates his dedication to completing your transaction.

one thing he might do is try to keep his site updated with time of delivery estimates. that might seem like a lot of work, but you could have 3 categories.

there's stuff you know can always get quickly and some stuff you have in stock.
there's stuff like certain exhausts that you know are more difficult to get or otherwise take a bit longer to acquire for the customer.
there's stuff you think you might be able to get, but you need to check on availability.

that would solve a lot of this i think. maybe not. people (customers) are crazy.

i stil haven't picked my exhaust exchange up from the dealership brice worked a warranty claim with for me. that was like 7 months ago. and everything is still cool. i can go pick up my exhaust anytime.

Brice wont' issue a refund on this without lining up another buyer first because then he'll be stuck with a Turbo XS exhaust that he might or might not be able to move quickly

If an item is labled 'in-stock' then it should be delivered in a timely manner
If Turbo XS misinformed Brice then that's BRICE'S problem and he needs to figure out how to resolve that with Turbo XS and keep his customer satisfied. If this is typical of TurboXS, then maybe RR/Fluid needs to reconsider who they want to do business with as it'll only continue to negatively affect THEM and their customers.
Ignoring the customer's CONSTANT requests for refunds is not an appropriate way of handling this but it is Brice's normal pattern.
For anyone who doubts that, simply see Brice's old Group Buy thread on Tein dampers where I repeatedly asked for refunds only to be ignored. He's done it before (that was years ago when he posted under BluMonstrRX8), he'll continue to do it.
https://www.rx8club.com/group-buy-center-85/group-buy-tein-hood-dampers-116734/page6/


I hope this gets resolved because waiting 5 months for an exhaust is ridiculous.



216

I just PM'd TurboXS directly here and asked them what the ETA was for the midpipe, INSTOCK! was their reply.

So I can only imagine what has happened along the lines of communication between everybody.

I am on the phone as we speak with my supplier to get this issue resolved and get the customers long over due order shipped out. ASAP!

Thanks

Brice

Brice, curiously enough i contacted TurboXS as well and they said that they knew nothing about this delay.
I won't blame you since you're just a reseller and not a distributor BUT do you agree with our proposal that if you can't meet the last ETA you will refund Rich?
Especially since the exhaust never were on backorder and all this bullshit Rich wasted 4 months when a fast call to TurboXS would have solved this.
I do know that they had them in stock all the time by now so you either didn't call TurboXS directly but relied on your supplier OR invented your phone calls etc. I firmly want to believe that your supplier is an asshole :)

So... do you agree?

I dont consider my supplier an a-hole they are one of the biggest in the industry if not the biggest they are way beyond too busy. And yes I was relying on only talking thru my distributor.

Just got off the phone and it has been ordered. I will be getting it mid next week and we can finally ship out everything.

It will be shipping Fedex so the customer will have it sooner than later.

Well, i hope that by next week we'll have a tracking number then. Anyway keep this in mind:

Now you finally said that you only spoke with your distributor... Then why you lied?
TurboXS? Out of stock? Eta? Turbo XS was never aware of this problem and they had the exhausts.

Please be honest next time, blaming a company that is not even involved isn't fair.
Maybe it's also time to change distributor, big or not they show a lack of communication.

Anyway what happens if you can't get the exhaust during next week?

Thanks for the replies,
Giorgio

I never lied, a response from Turboxs is not possible to be said a response from Turboxs if I did not get that message thru my supplier?

These messages change on a frequent basis and I go off what I am told at that moment, either thru the phone, AIM, or email with the corresponding supplier that I am getting it thru.

It is obvious to me what happened and well I am less than pleased I dont see why you continue to harp on the subject. The issues has been addressed and will be resolved shortly.

I'll poke my head in for a moment. . .

I know I've said this before in another thread about Raceroots (formerly fluid). . .

In my opinion, it should be known to the buyers/customers that Raceroots does not have the product in stock in most cases. . . It just doesn't seem like there is that transparency and many buyers. I just feel they should be aware.

In most cases, Customer orders from RR; RR orders from supplier. . . 3-5 days later, customer gets product.

However, with this middle man comes back orders, delays, and mis communication. So every now and again someone gets caught in the middle of the supply chain finger pointing.

I've purchased from fluid/Raceroots a few times now, for my AP exhaust being the largest item. It was fine, great price, etc.
However, I personally don't like the business model. . . as the company receiving the end user's money directly, RaceRoots should stand behind the product, service, and shipping of the products they sell. Not point the finger on back at their suppliers or manufacturers.

Raceroots is a solid company, and isn't out to screw anyone and I feel will do the right thing in the end, regardless. I just wish that they were a bit more upfront with their business model, because every couple of months, something like this seems to happen.

I'm sorry be the advocatus diaboli and i'm just trying to make things clear as to know what went wrong.
If you never lied then your supplier did because they said that an item was on backorder with a long wait when it was actually ready to be ordered.
Apparently your supplier didn't even contact TurboXS for this matter since they were not aware of this delay!

Now that the issue has been addressed, as you say, can you please explicitly say what will you do if we don't receive a tracking number in the next ten days (should be enough, right?).
We all want to believe that you are really taking care of us so please reply. You avoided answering this question in the previous posts.

Thanks,

Giorgio

@Vyndictive: I agree with you but apparently small companies like Race Roots have only got the possibility to stock a limited amount of items at a time so they MUST rely on the dealers and suppliers. Nothing wrong with that!. The difference generally stands in how a company deals with the problems that may arise in such circumstances. Clearer replies and further invastigation would have solved this issue in a week. We waited 4 months and didn't receive the exhaust yet :)
There are companies that directly contact you to give you informations about the delays spontaneously offering to refund the money if the delay is unbearable.
Race Roots apparently lacks this kind of communication with the products manufacturers and parts supplier.

Agreed, but I don't feel Raceroots is very open that this is their standard operating procedure. . . I don't know how aware most customers are that Raceroots often times doesn't order the product that they've purchased until AFTER they've paid for it. . .

Its just a question of transparency I guess.

Agreed again. The problem with is that another company went bankrupt for the same reson (plus others but that doesn't matter here) and left somebody without both money and products.
What i don't get is why Race Roots still replies here saying that he's sorting everything out but keeps refusing to tell us what happens if he doesn't get the exhaust in time.

It's not the wait, the problem is the reason why you wait 4 months for a part that is in stock :)
That's the reason why i'm very picky about the companies i buy from :)