killshots

Wanted to let everyone know about an experience I had with RPI. Since they are ready to fight and are “keeping this email chain for their rebuttal,” I will save them the trouble and post it myself. Will stick to the facts, keep my opinions to myself and let you be the judge, except to state this: I am far more upset with the way they treated me than with the fact that they missed a deadline. AGAIN, I AM NOT HERE TO SIMPLY COMPLAIN THAT THEY MISSED A DEADLINE.

On 4/28, I ordered some fuel rail covers and a plenum cover for my C7, which I really wanted for a show on Saturday, 6/4. Their website said UP TO 4 WEEKS on custom painted parts, so I figured I might be cutting it close but would hopefully be OK. When I received the order confirmation, I was happy to see that it said 3 TO 4 WEEKS on custom painted parts. Maybe the production schedule changed and I had a little more breathing room, I thought. So I emailed them a couple weeks ago for an update and received a somewhat terse “Your order will ship the end of the month. Thanks.” Then, with time running short (last Friday) I sent the first email you’ll see below, which set off the trail of emails below it, all of which occurred this morning. Mine are in black, theirs are in red. Again, YOU decide whether you approve of the way they handle customer relational issues…

If there is any way this order can be shipped in time for me to receive by next Friday, June 3rd, I would greatly appreciate it, as I have a show on Saturday and would like to have these on the car. Your website says that custom painted parts can take UP TO 4 weeks, and I ordered on 4/28 to ensure shipment in time.

Thank you.

Hi

Shipping by Friday.

Thanks
Josh

That does not help.

Should I cancel it?

In the order acknowledgement, it said 3-4 weeks and your website says up to 4 weeks. You’re not shipping for over 5 weeks, which renders me unable to have the parts on my car for a show. No need to cancel. I’ll just put a post on Corvette Forum about RPI not being able to hit its quoted ETA.

Ok, we will cancel it. Not a problem. We said 4 weeks, and we are a little behind. You will be refunded right now.

*** This was followed by a CC’d email (to the bosses?). Their CYA was starting…

Don and Josh. Please see emails below. (customer) ordered 4/28, we were shipping 6/2. We missed the 4 weeks by a few days. (customer) canceled. (customer) has been refunded.

Customer is going to blast RPI on the forum, so please keep this email chain with our rebuttal that we did miss this order by a few days.

Thank you!

I SAID DO NOT CANCEL! Don't you listen? What terrible customer service!!!

We read it as cancel. You paid with PayPal and we refunded. Please resubmit payment to Joshlogitech@gmail.com and we'll get the order back into production. Send me a confirmation when you have completed this.

NinjamanZ51

LoL wow.

mschuyler

They were fine until you sent them this. And this is a direct threat. Perhaps they over-reacted, but it was a direct result of what you said here. To threaten them like that was really unnecessary, and they took it badly. I do not believe they are without fault, but you started it. I would still order from them after what you have said here.

ea327

I don't know, if it was me, and I wanted it by a certain date, I would have placed the order sooner in anticipation of the vendor missing the deadline.

killshots

I wonder how many times I'm going to have to reiterate that this is not about them missing a deadline, but about how they treated a customer.

killshots

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but "you started it" is preposterous. Did you not notice that, when I asked them politely for help, they asked tersely, "should I cancel it?"

WHAT? Cancel it? I was asking for them TO HELP ME, A CUSTOMER. Where in the world did "should I cancel it" come from?

I'm in outside sales, and it is my responsibility to constantly ensure that my customers are consistently delighted with my performance, or I don't eat. I'm certainly not afforded the luxury of "taking it badly" if a customer points out that I have performed poorly, and RPI shouldn't have that luxury, either. JMHO.

mschuyler

Listen, dude. You ASKED for feedback. You SAID "WE" should decide for ourselves. Well, I'm deciding. I'm not going to argue with you. If all you want is sympathy and people to agree with you, stipulate that and wait for the crickets. IN MY OPINION you started this, and if your reaction here is any indication, that's how you roll. You don't get the answer you want, you start yelling, just like what you wrote above.

As the previous poster said, you really cut this short and tried to sneak under the wire. Too bad, but don't expect much sympathy.

killshots

That's not my point, and I'm not expecting sympathy. Maybe I'm unique in still expecting good service. If only they had said, "We apologize, production has gotten behind and we should have notified you. I'll be happy to check and see if we can move it up but worst case, we can cancel and get you a full refund." If they had simply said anything to this effect, the entire situation would have changed. Am I seriously wrong in wanting a vendor to at least try to be polite and helpful?

mschuyler

If you want them to be helpful you don't act like a douche bag toward them. Enough. I don't care. I bookmarked them. Thanks for the referral.

C7-Beast

I have dealt with Josh for years. He has always done great work for me and delivered.

I never count on dates for any custom parts. 3-4 weeks means 4-8 to me. They missed by a few days? I think your expectations were a little unforgiving in this situation.

killshots

It's not about the delivery date. That wasn't a huge deal. When they said "should we cancel it?" it was like saying "we don't care" and it sent me through the roof. I think my main point was, shouldn't a vendor try to help? I guess I'm getting my answer from more than one person. Glad you had good experiences with them, but mine sure could have been handled with a little more care.

C7-Beast

FYI...RPI makes parts for other cars. Not just Corvettes. I have purchased parts for my previous 08 Mustang, 08 C6 and 15 C7.

pewter99

ordinarily I would leave it open to allow the vendor to respond with his side but you seem to have posted that for them.

I will close it and IF either side has more to add PM me