So, your saying that because TA didn't give him back all his money, only half,,,, he shouldn't buy from TA again!! I could see him not wanting to buy from TA if he was getting crappy parts,, that's not the case. Sorry, TA has a return policy like everyone else. If TA chooses not to refund all his money after the policy is up, TA should not be held at fault. 90 days is more than enough time. There are rules and policies for a reason. You chose not to run your company with any policies, which is fine, that is how you like to do business. TA or any other company should not be held at fault because they don't run their place like you. Sorry ,, , the customer is not always right. In this case he waited way to long to try to return an item. He did get some of his money back and should be happy with it.
To all - As I tried to say initially I do not have a problem with TAs return policy. I have a problem with the fact that they have someone answering the phone who did not know their policy. At that instance, Jan was representing TA (yes - 1 person can represent an entire company). I trusted his word! Thus I sent the parts back. This time it was $20 lost for a returned part next time it could be you. However, it may be a bad recommendation for a cam, headers, or assembly instructions all of which will cost more than $20. I spoke with Virginia. After getting no where with her, I asked to speak with Mike. She came back and said that BOTH Mike and Sheri said NO!!! This is why I decided to make the post.
I am not telling anyone to "black ball" TA. I just want to make my situation known. Please read my post again. As I said initally I am not bashing TAs quality or commitment to Buick performance. So, don't be offended becuase you have happend to have good luck with them. Not everyone has!!!!
Ray, next time just list parts you did not use in the parts for sale section of this board. For new items you will get most of your money back and the buyer will pay the shipping. :TU: Did you have your receipt? I am sure it has a return policy statement. But if you called and asked and they (T/A's phone person) said yes return it maybe T/A should have resolved this one with the promised refund since it is not much money and would have prevented this post. T/A could resell the unused part and would not be out any money and would have a happy customer. Most of T/A's customers have several or many Buicks and will be return customers if treated fairly. Jegs and Summit will both refund 100% for 90 days and 90% for 1 year. Year One will refund 100% of original cost for ever on new unused parts (according to their ads). :shock: Mike
ok,, you only had bad luck with the shipping issue. This return issue sounds like your just not happy with the fact that you didn't get all your money back because the person on the phone goofed. You seem to be ignoring the fact that you goofed too. Again, you should be happy with only being $20 in the hole. Like you were told you shouldn't of even gotten a return # because it was so old. Consider yourself a head on this one. Yes, the person on the phone was wrong, but it sounds like you just want to take advantage of someones mistake. I think TA is do right... you got some of your money back. When after a year you shouldn't have gotten anything back.
That's why for parts that I can obtain locally, I do. For instance Advance Auto has motor mounts for $29 per pair, Pioneer Prods. 602291. AutoZone has them for $26 per pair, part # 2291. Aluminum heads, that's a different story.
I guess now you know this board is not the place to post negative or unfavorable comments or poor experiences about/with TA Performance, however truthful they may be. Shame on you!
Now that you have explained that, I'm all for you airing your grief. From this point, the reader can decide for themself whether you were treated fairly or not. My only contention was that there was no indication that you had talked to management. And, that you may be shooting yourself in the foot by complaining about the business on the BB before you had exhausted all avenues to repair the problem. I guess I'll buy my Indian-made motor-mounts elsewhere. But just like Scott, I already did!
Man thats the truth. TA screwed up and gave Ray the wrong return info. When he sent it back, TA didn't give the refund they had promised. If TA would have said no to a refund in the beginning this whole mess would have been avoided and Ray would probably have recouped almost ALL of his money by selling it either on ebay or here on the forums. Explain to me how this is not TA's fault again?? Ray did what anyone would have done as a first step. Call the company and see if they take refunds. If the answer is no, move to step 2 and sell the parts. If the company says that they will return the parts for a full refund, who wouldn't send em back?? TA owes this guy his full PROMISED and AGREED ON refund. Otherwise TA should send the parts back so Ray could at least resell them... which is exactly what TA will end up doing with those mounts. I agree that TA supplies the Buick community with good parts that we would possibly not be privy to if not for them, but that doesn't mean we should all follow lock step in blind allegiance. You guys are attacking Ray for getting screwed over by TA because the person REPRESENTING THE COMPANY he talked to DIDN'T KNOW THEIR OWN COMPANY'S RETURN POLICY. ou:
Jim,,, that's just wrong. If he was to say Finish Line, Poston or anyone else did this to him he would get the same response. He returned an item that was a year old. When people go the wrong way about dealing with a situation and get on this board and just bash them,,, ya expect people to jump all over you for being wrong. God forbid anyone stands up and says your wrong and it's not TA.... you must be in Mike's pocket. There are people out there that have never dealt with TA and they won't buy from there,, because "someone said". 9 times out of 10 that someone never even went to Mike with their problem.... just wrote off TA and got on the board and bashed TA. If you don't want to buy from TA for what ever reason,,, Don't! But don't get on the board or flap your lips bashing. Unless there was something done really wrong, there is no call for that, NO MATTER WHAT COMPANY YOU ARE DEALING WITH. Why is it ok for people to post bashings about TA, but if someone says that TA is not bad, they are wrong?? I still don't think TA was wrong in the way they handled this situation. Ray was late on getting the return taken care of. If it was one month I would be more on Ray's side,, but it was 9 months after the 90 days expired. Maybe his post should of gone more like this..... Hey guys.... learn from my lesson. Find out what the return policy is on your parts. Because if you wait a year and find out it's not the right part, you might be stuck with a part you don't need or only getting some of your money back. In this whole thing Ray didn't take any blame for dragging his feet, but put it all on TA. Sorry that's wrong I don't care what company you bought your part from.
No one is attacking Ray. It has just been pointed out that maybe Ray should be happy with what he got, because he screwed up too. But since the whole deal happens to be with TA , you guys have an issue with it to begin with.
I'm 100% with Joe on this one (however un-popular it might be). Bending over backwards for the customer and going the extra mile, however annoying it may be, can return 10 fold what you gain by not bending over. I know there are always two sides to every story, but I tend to always go with the customer. I have been in customer service for over 20 years and have run into ALL kinds of customers. You have to take certain situations on a case by case basis and see what the gains vs. losses are. In this case, the loss is worse than the gain for T/A in my humble opinion, as it would be for any vendor. I realize that it was far after the warranty time. I probably would have tried to speak with Mike too. In fact, I still would try it.
How did Ray screw up?? He purchased the parts from TA. He wanted to send them back. He phones TA and someone who WORKS FOR THE COMPANY gives him an RMA number and is told BY THE TA EMPLOYEE that he will get a full refund minus 10%. He sends parts back and his refund is only half of what he was told it would be. He calls and asks to talk with Mike to rectify the problem and is basically told to "shove off". Yea.....thats sounds like Ray really screwed up on this one. This has nothing to do with TA. It could be any company and Ray would have a ligitimate beef. I think that because it is TA that some people feel the need to defend the company no matter how in the wrong they are. If it was Postons, Jegs, or anyone else that did this, would Ray get thrown under the bus for airing his problems here about them?
I think this is going a little off the deep end on this thread. You are actually lucky you got anyting for the return after 9 months........ granted, the person you spoke to gave you a return number, the manager (Mike) has final say on the item. I am not siding with anyone here, just that dragging this out on this thread here over a few bucks doesn't shed a good light on anyone. It makes us Buick guys look a bit petty. TA, if they were smart, would have seen this little bit of pocket change as a "gimme" to the customer. The customer would have been real impressed and I am sure you would be on here praising them instead of complaining about them. This in turn, would mean repeat customer. I learned this a long time ago....... sometimes you might have to take care of a customer, and take a few bucks outta pocket to do it. It will come back in future business 90% of the time. Mike
this really needs to be in the feedback section. or,how about a new forum, called "the complaint department" ??
Your right.... Ray kept the part for a year before wanting to return it, he's not wrong at all. He shouldn't be held accountable for the fact that the 90 day return policy had expired 9 months. He shouldn't compromise at all. Yeah, who ever was on the other end screwed up,, I never said they didn't. But I guess you guys have never made mistakes. You guys don't see it as Ray got some of his money back. You guys see it as he should get all of it back because someone made a mistake,,,, take full advantage of it. From what I can tell... TA said that he shouldn't of gotten a return # to begin with because it was past the 90 day return. He was given some of his money back. As far as I see it they already met him in the middle for their employees mistake. If he wasn't happy about not getting his money back in full, he should ask for the part back. Maybe he can sell it on the board or ebay. Maybe that person will want their money back after a year. Ray should give it back in full. Cause even if he says it's being sold "as is" "no money back" "no warrenty" ect... he should still give back all the money. Cause his policy doesn't mean squat from what you guys are saying. What would Ray like done about this?? What would clear this issue up and make good with him?
Ahem. Still waiting for my $5.00 catalog from them. uzzled: I agree with Joe regarding what real customer service is. I have at times reprinted jobs even though all the evidence would show that the errors were on the customers end. I could stand my ground and say "Hey! you proofread it and signed off on it! Tough luck!" But, if I want to continue to have a good relationship with that customer, and want their refferals, then sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to make them happy. Quite often, we come to an agreement to split the costs. So, my company at least gets the labor and material costs out of it. Think long term. Just how much money will this customer spend over a 10 year period? Is it worth losing that over this one order that went bad? No. Some of my biggest accounts started out as a problem. Once they knew I would take care of them and look out for them, they then sent me ALL of their business. And when other printers knock on the door they tell them to get lost! I suppose all of us will have to order parts from TA under an assumed name now. :bglasses:
T/A has a business. Ray doesn't. Ray would probably sell the part "as is, where is". Ebay is different. It's like comparing Microsoft with Joe's computer shack. When and if Ray would ever go into business, I would imagine he would probably be more understanding of a customer's needs because people who expect outstanding customer service, give outstanding customer service. People who settle for average to sub-standard customer service, most likely provide average to sub-standard customer service because that's what they believe in. (I'm not necessarily talking about T/A here either) With customer service, right and wrong is a very gray area. Customer service is all about going the extra mile. When you piss someone off (whether they are right or wrong is irrelevant), it hurts you not only by losing that person's business, but by possibly losing all the people's business that he's going to tell as well. It's called good business practice. I'm not saying you give ten's of thousands of dollars away; you just do what's best for the customer as often as possible without hurting the business and everything takes care of itself. In this case, T/A should have made good even though it was the fault of the Cust. Serv. Rep. to give wrong info. That's WHY they should have honored it. Then they could have at least said that next time they wouldn't honor such a long overdue warranty. Then that way Ray understands and is happy, and more likely to go back the next time. I bet Ray wouldn't have had as big of an issue with it if she had said to him from the beginning that they could not give a refund at that point, but the yes/no thing really sucks. You can't do that when you have a business, you have to eat your mistakes and move on.
