Not sure what this is about - we are fair to all customers and charge the same price for any part we sell.Feel free to drop us a line if you think you've been wronged and we'll do our best to make it right.

Regards
Chris
[/quote]

Earlier this summer I had an order in with you / your shop for:

(1) Novi 1200 Blower with an upgrade to "polished" instead of your typical black
(1) SOS 3.2" Pully
(1) SOS Super Charger belt - for use with 3.2" pully
(1) SOS Adapter Mounting Kit / Backing Plate upgrade for the Novi-1000 conversion

Even though you had advertised the mounting kit on your website for $275.00 and had them listed as a normal "Add To Cart" item.....

When I called to try to place & pay for the order.....you told me that you had to have a minimum order for at least (10) of the mounting kits to make it "worth your while". Obviously I didn't need (10) kits......

Instead of just taking my order, and placing any remaining mounting kits from your order into stock.....you told me that to order just one would cost me $800 for the "set-up" and "run" of just one part....and told me quote "Take-It-Or-Leave-It....it is what it is"

That's total BS.......not only were you misrepresenting product / availability on your website, but you were also trying to get me to cover the cost of front loading your inventory for you. I work in manufacturing & distribution, there's no way you were going to place an order for just one of the mounting plate kits....

It is likely that you would have placed an order for at least 5 - 10 of them attempting to cover the set-up & run costs all on my back, and then would have some surplus inventory at your shop "in-stock" that you didn't have much inventory dollars invested in.

Either way it cost you the order for your bad attitude, poor customer service, misrepresentation of price & product, and plenty of bad press & ill will. I continue to share this story with any and all who have inquired as to why I changed from Super Charged to a Turbo set-up.

I certainly expected better / more from a long time S2ki sponsor, and personal friend to a number of S2k members right here in the Pacific NW.

Best of luck to you & your business in these difficult economic times....perhaps you are doing better than average & it's "OK" to freely take advantage of customers.....and from your statement above "we are fair to all customers and charge the same price for any part we sell"....that certainly doesn't seem to be the case.

...and BTW, you asked
[/quote]

Thank you for your feedback. However, here is some clarification.

Around the same time you called in we posted a poll on S2ki.com questioning members if the development of such a product would be worthwhile. We did not say the product was available or advertised it anywhere as being so at the time. It was our intentions to not only offer a great product, but help out a few customers who had called recently about their Novi 1000s going bad stuck with out their cars running because replacements could not be found. We had a minimum number of units we had to manufacture (10-20) to amortize the setup and tooling costs to achieve our price target of $275.00. When we received enough interest, we added the product online for members interested to complete the sale (which was offered at a discounted price for pre-purchasing). Well, when it came to people actually coming through to place orders, we have only two interested. We were willing to absorb a significant amount of costs to make this product, but with only two actually interested, it was decided to not produce the product. When you phoned in, we explained exactly this in some detail (I am the one you spoke to). You pushed us and asked if we were to produce only one, what would it cost. The quote I gave you at $800.00 was OUR COST to produce only one. I made it clear that this was not a part we could reasonably produce without any interest and this would be a one off for you. I apologize if you took this as a bad attitude, however, the fact is unless we can amortize fixed costs over multiple units, producing just one part is very expensive. I can certainly understand that a price like this would be shocking and could be misconstrued as us trying to "take advantage" of a customer, however setup costs are a fact and unavoidable. The product was taken down off the catalog at that time.

Only recently did we receive enough interest to actually produce a production run, and we're sitting with enough plates in inventory to last us probably a year with the small amount of demand of the product. However, we decided although it would not be a great success in sales numbers, it was worthwhile having around because when someone really needs it, they are very thankful such an option is available.

Again I apologize for the circumstances. I hope the explanation above provides some understanding.

regards,
-- Chris

regards,
-- Chris

 

Not sure what this is about - we are fair to all customers and charge the same price for any part we sell.Feel free to drop us a line if you think you've been wronged and we'll do our best to make it right.

Regards
Chris
[/quote]

Earlier this summer I had an order in with you / your shop for:

(1) Novi 1200 Blower with an upgrade to "polished" instead of your typical black
(1) SOS 3.2" Pully
(1) SOS Super Charger belt - for use with 3.2" pully
(1) SOS Adapter Mounting Kit / Backing Plate upgrade for the Novi-1000 conversion

Even though you had advertised the mounting kit on your website for $275.00 and had them listed as a normal "Add To Cart" item.....

When I called to try to place & pay for the order.....you told me that you had to have a minimum order for at least (10) of the mounting kits to make it "worth your while". Obviously I didn't need (10) kits......

Instead of just taking my order, and placing any remaining mounting kits from your order into stock.....you told me that to order just one would cost me $800 for the "set-up" and "run" of just one part....and told me quote "Take-It-Or-Leave-It....it is what it is"

That's total BS.......not only were you misrepresenting product / availability on your website, but you were also trying to get me to cover the cost of front loading your inventory for you. I work in manufacturing & distribution, there's no way you were going to place an order for just one of the mounting plate kits....

It is likely that you would have placed an order for at least 5 - 10 of them attempting to cover the set-up & run costs all on my back, and then would have some surplus inventory at your shop "in-stock" that you didn't have much inventory dollars invested in.

Either way it cost you the order for your bad attitude, poor customer service, misrepresentation of price & product, and plenty of bad press & ill will. I continue to share this story with any and all who have inquired as to why I changed from Super Charged to a Turbo set-up.

I certainly expected better / more from a long time S2ki sponsor, and personal friend to a number of S2k members right here in the Pacific NW.

Best of luck to you & your business in these difficult economic times....perhaps you are doing better than average & it's "OK" to freely take advantage of customers.....and from your statement above "we are fair to all customers and charge the same price for any part we sell"....that certainly doesn't seem to be the case.

...and BTW, you asked
[/quote]

Thank you for your feedback. However, here is some clarification.

Around the same time you called in we posted a poll on S2ki.com questioning members if the development of such a product would be worthwhile. We did not say the product was available or advertised it anywhere as being so at the time. It was our intentions to not only offer a great product, but help out a few customers who had called recently about their Novi 1000s going bad stuck with out their cars running because replacements could not be found. We had a minimum number of units we had to manufacture (10-20) to amortize the setup and tooling costs to achieve our price target of $275.00. When we received enough interest, we added the product online for members interested to complete the sale (which was offered at a discounted price for pre-purchasing). Well, when it came to people actually coming through to place orders, we have only two interested. We were willing to absorb a significant amount of costs to make this product, but with only two actually interested, it was decided to not produce the product. When you phoned in, we explained exactly this in some detail (I am the one you spoke to). You pushed us and asked if we were to produce only one, what would it cost. The quote I gave you at $800.00 was OUR COST to produce only one. I made it clear that this was not a part we could reasonably produce without any interest and this would be a one off for you. I apologize if you took this as a bad attitude, however, the fact is unless we can amortize fixed costs over multiple units, producing just one part is very expensive. I can certainly understand that a price like this would be shocking and could be misconstrued as us trying to "take advantage" of a customer, however setup costs are a fact and unavoidable. The product was taken down off the catalog at that time.

Only recently did we receive enough interest to actually produce a production run, and we're sitting with enough plates in inventory to last us probably a year with the small amount of demand of the product. However, we decided although it would not be a great success in sales numbers, it was worthwhile having around because when someone really needs it, they are very thankful such an option is available.

Again I apologize for the circumstances. I hope the explanation above provides some understanding.

regards,
-- Chris

regards,
-- Chris
[/quote]

Most of what you said above is accurate except for 2 things:

1. at no time during our conversation or mentioned on your website was it ever expressed or discussed that the backing plate item was simply a test the market..... feeling out peoples thoughts and not actually for sale.

2. you did not immediately take down item as for sale and eliminate it from your website.... in fact I'm not sure that you ever took it down. my engine build took nearly 4 months to complete and I checked back with your site for random other items and continued to see the backing plate listed as a for sale item for a number of months.

Lastly if you're going to stand firm on the story of the setup costs and fees.... I guess I understand, but during our discussion you told me that you did not want to sit on surplus inventory for years because that would just not make good business sense.

But somehow now I'm to believe that a bad business decision when you were speaking with me.... somehow turned into a good business decision a few months later... to go ahead and bite the bullet and just order excess backing plates as a standard item.... even though from your own comment above, you now have well over a years supply.

as I've already said, it doesn't matter now anyway

.....and many members here are very happy with your products & services.

 

Understood. Regardless, I am happy that the build of your car worked out and hope we can provide a better experience some time in the future.

Chris

 

 

Do you guys have a military discount on parts or labor, by any chance?