PopcornPlaya

iTrader: (6)

First off, I didn't know whether to put this in mem rides talk or here, so i put it here, anyway...


Here's the story:

My pops got me some stuff for my car for christmas. new fenders, new spoiler, and a new front, and new skirts, and rear. We ordered the front first, a Ground Designs 2000 Black Widow. It was ordered on December 11th, and is still not here. I was told by the lady I ordered from it would be here by Christmas. As of now, it is still not here. I called daily after a weeki in a half all the way up through Friday. I have spoke with almost everyone there. I have been told that it has been shipped, it hasn't been shipped, this has happened, this hasn't happened, etc. I spoke with managers, I spoke with the sales lady I ordered it from. I talked with everyone. The deal is, I put my car in the shop to begin my body work the monday after christmas, expecting the kit to get here. Well, almost all of the work they are currently doing has been done, and they have been waiting on the front, for quite some time. And my car is taking up a bay in their shop. I know these people personally, and have a good customer relationship with them, and they do all ofmy body work, and the owner is going to help me get my car in a few magazines when it is completed, using some connections he has. He is also helping me find sponsors as well. Yet, he is getting irritated as well waiting on the front, and will have to start charging me a storage fee if it does't come soon. I have been trying to get a tracking number for over 2 weeks. And last Tuesday, I was told it was scheduled to go out wednesday, and i could get the tracking number first thing thursday. I called, and the manager was not available, and my sales lady was not available. I haven't had a problem with the sales lady yet, mainly cause she is never there when i call. so i left a message for the manager, which i had done several times in the past two weeks, with no return call. Anyway, she never called back that day, and so i'm thinking wtf. So i call first thing friday. And finally get the manager. She then informs me that they haven't recieved payment from the credit card company, which i knew they had. I tell her that they had in fact charged the card, and that they need to ship my front. (im getting kind of irritated at this point, they've been giving me the runaround for two and a half to three weeks). She says i have to get an invoice from the credit card company on paper and fax it to her where it has been payed. pissed off as i am at this point, i explode on her. here's what i say "look lady, i have been nothing but nice to you people the whole time during this ordeal. i've been patient with you, i even am having this shipped to a business to make it easier on your freight company to deliver. i have made arrangements numerous times to have the body work postponed, even though i will more than likely miss my first show this year, because of your company's neglegence. i have made numerous attempts to contact your company to get information on my delivery, and frankly, i am fed up with your crap. its not my responsibility to prove payment, it has been payed, you have charged the credit card, and you should have shipped my part, and it be here by now. yet, you have failed to do anything. you find the credit card payment, and you get the information you need to ship my ****ing part. (i normally do not cuss at people, but enough is enough). you have ripped me off, and caused me a lot of problems. and frankly, your company is the worst manufacturer i have ever dealt with directly." at this point, she is crying and apoligizing, but i am relentless, and still pissed off. so i continue " and furthermore, i am going to contact the credit card company, and will find out the exact date and time when you were paid, and i am not going to tell you, because you already have that information, and can find it your damned self. i have ordered body kits before, three to be exact (all two from vis, and one from nopi), and have never had a problem of this magnitude. hell, i ordered new side skirts, and rear, fenders, and a spoiler, a week and up to two weeks after ordering from you, and they are already here, and on the car. what's your ****ing problem. tell you what, you find that information and call me back."

so i then call the credit card company, the payment was authorized december 11th, and they were paid december 15th. they then asked if i wanted fraud charges filed, and if i wanted to file a dispute, i told them not yet, i'll call you back later.

i then wait for a call from the ground designs lady, two hours pass, and still no call. so i call them back. i ask to speak with the manager. same lady gets on the phone after me holding for about 10-15 minutes. "hey lady, this is XXXXXXX you got my info yet, and began to start shipping it yet?" evidently, she talked to someone and grew some ***** or something, and she starts on me " nope, and if you can't provide me info, then your part wont be shipped, ever." along with a bunch of other bullshit i can't recall. so here's what i said " i have contacted the credit card company, i have provided you with my customer id with your company, and the order confirmation code. which, if i am not wrong, means that the order has been confirmed, and that it is being processed to ship. yet its still not left there. i got the credit card information, and you were paid, december 15th was the date you were paid. now, you can figure out which credit card company it was, and verify that or whatever, and ship my ****ing part." she then berates me, and tells me that she will not ship it until next week even if she finds the information. this is when i tell her about filing the fraud charges, and the dispute of payment. she then says, "thats rediculous, you cant do that." and hangs up on me, the paying customer. i am furious at this point.

i call back in approximately an hour, to let her think about what she has done. heres how the call goes:

"ground designs 200, this is XXXXX, can i help you?"
me:"yeah, let me speak with your ****ing manager, right damned now."
"she's on another line, you want to leave a message?"
me:"hell no, you ****ers never call anyone back anyway, go in there and tell her that XXX is calling, and get off the ****ing phone, and answer my call now."
"hold please."
"hi this is XXXXXX, how may i help you?"
me:"look lady, you ****ing hung up on me once, now you shut the **** up, you're listening right now. here's the deal, you were paid, and i have th dates, the credit card company has authorized me to file fraud claims and a dispute on this account with your company. here's the deal, my part gets shipped today, no questions, you got that?"
"i found where it was paid, and will be shipping it first thing monday."
me:"look, here's the deal, my part get shipped today. its currently 4:00, you have until 6:00 to give me a tracking number where its been shipped. or the charges will be filed, and i will also purchase webspace and have a site created where every time your company is searched for or anything, that the person is directed to my site to inform them of problems with your company and that i have fraud charges pending, you got that?"
"it doesn't work that way, i can ship it today, but it'll be about 4 hours (they're on the west coast, im on the east coast) before our shipper picks up here. thats as soon as i can get it out."
"its a shipping company correct? not sure if you know much about shipping companies, but they have drop off places where you can drop a package off to be shipped. take my ****ing front end to one, and ship it, and give me a damned confirmation number by 6:00 on the dot, not 6:01, not 6:14. 6:00 at the latest. or im filing fraud charges, and putting up a website to show what your company does to its customers. i tried to be civil with you ****s, i even allotted time because of holiday shipping, and you still failed to inform me of a ****ingthing related to my account, until today. i have never had a problem with any other company, until now. your company has the worst customer relations of any company i have ever dealt with, and i have helped build and order parts for 4 showcars in the last two years (which i have), and yours is by far the worst i have ever dealt with. once this part gets here, i will never order from you again. i will sacrafice a look to prevent your company from making one ****ing penny off of me again. and another thing, you don't even ****ing include the grille mesh, which every other company i have ever dealt with does. i am reluctant to order from you, but i did anyway. and now i see that my first inclanation was right. get my ****ing part out, you have until 6:00. any questions?"
"i can't do..."
i interrupt here "im not asking you, im telling you what you're gonna do. you pushed my limits. i'm generally a pretty relaxed person, and don't cuss at anyone, but a person can only take so much. get my damned part out, no questions asked. 6:00 i have a tracking number, no later. i will have the credit card company on the phone on hold waiting so if i do not recieve that tracking number at 6:00, 6:01 the charges are filed. you got that. also, i need your name(which i already had), your boss's name, and the owner of your company's name."
-she gives me those names-
"now, you understand, i get a call with a tracking number by 6:00 my time you got it. its 4:37 here, you have an hour and twenty three minutes. i don't care what you have to do, that package gets shipped by then, or you're in a mess." i then hang up, that bitch hung up on me, so i hung up on her.

so fast forward a little bit. im sitting by the phone at 5:30, and have my other phone there as well. im waiting on a call, as you know. 5:505, still no call, so i get the credit card company on the phone and give them the information, and ask them to hold for a few minutes. 5:59, my phone rings, its the manager of ground designs 2000, she has my tracking number, i ask her to hold for a second, and making sure the phone is where she can hear what i am saying, i tell the credit card company that i don't want to file fraud charges, i do however want to file a dispute over the shipping fees, and tell them thank you. then i get back on the phone with the ground designs lady. "ok, whats my tracking number?" "you filed a dis..." "yep, on shipping only, you're lucky you didnt **** me off enough by 1 hanging up on me, and two being a bitch and threatening not to ship it till monday. i'm not trying to get over on you, you made a gurantee, you didn't fulfill it, i repeatedly asked for information you failed to provide. you did not make any attempt to make ammends to the customer/company relationship, and so i am requesting my shipping charges be removed, got it. i don't care who pays for them, hell, if im lucky, you can pay for them. i don't really care, you are the rudest lady i have spoken with at your company, and i hope you get fired. whats my tracking number?"
she's crying at this point, for the second time " i've had a really bad day, and i guess i was rude, and took it out on you. im really sorry... please, don't get me in trouble..." me:"too late, you didn't take that into consideation when you were being an *** before, so why should i be compassionate? give me my tracking number and were finished here." "im really sorry... i..." "tracking number please?" "tracking number is XXXXX shipper is XXXXX... im really sorry..." me:"i hate it, and you should feel sorry, maybe you will once your boss and the company's owner hears about it. i wasn't trying to be an *** about the whole thing, but you took the customer out of customer service. i recieved no information until today reguarding my account or part. and i have spoken with you before, because i have the calls documented, and whom i spoke with each time. i recall you being rude before. this is your job, you should think about what your job is, and what it means to your company, and what kind of impression it makes on potential customers. i was going to order more parts from your company until this ordeal. now i will find other manufacturers to fulfill my needs. if you get fired because of this incident, i will not feel remorseful, i will feel gratified. matter of fact, in the back of my mind, im hoping you will get fired. at least get a demotion, and pay decrease. maybe next time you'll consider what your words and actions will do to damage a customer's thoughts of you or your company. i had no intentions of developing a nasty relationship with a manufacturer, yet this problem has made me develop negative thoughts of your company and its all because of you. so thank you XXX, you have ruined my thoughts of your company. you have anything to say for yourself?" her:"....... (sobbing is all i hear for about 30 seconds)" me:"ok, i guess this call is finished, hope you have a great rest of the day. and remember, your words and actions can influence what people think of you and your employer. be nice and you won't have any problems. hopefully, the next customer is treated with respect and dignity like we deserve. thanks" and i hung up.

now i did write a letter to her boss, and to the company's owner. yet, after thinking about what i said, and how it made her feel, i did not mail them. i am going to re-write them, and request that i be reimbursed for my shipping charges only. i will not include her name, being as she has something to think about now. i will give them dates, and inform them of information i recieved, yet i will not give details as to whom i spoke with. i don't want her to lose her job, i just wanted her to think of what customers see when problems occur, and let her analize how she should handle a situation. hopefully she will learn fomr this, and treat other potential customers with respect and show them courtesy that is needed to form a customer/business relationship. i will probably seek out their company as a sponsor when i get my car ready to show. i may not, that is yet to be determined. i feel that in order to benefit your customers that you should respect them. theyare spending money on your product, you aren't paying them to put your parts on their car. they keep you in business. and they should be treated with respect, and be thanked for their patronage. sorry that this is a long post, i just figured i'd post it so you all would have information about their company, should you decide to order some of their parts.

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

i finally got done reading the entire post and that is the longest post i have ever read. And i am glad that u posted that, cuz i am ordering the BW side skirts and rear apron from them when it comes out.

C2i0v0i1C

iTrader: (2)

good man

jfan

Wow, that was an intense 10-minute reading for me. I totally understand and sympathize with you, and for all the stuff that has happened to you with Ground Designs, you clearly acted in an appropriate way. And furthermore, even though it sounds like you were a little agressive, I think your intentions were good and that you are an even better person by not diming that lady out (although I kind of feel sorry for her, I can never stand to see/hear a girl cry). Hope you get your bumper!

PopcornPlaya

iTrader: (6)

it should be here wednesday at the latest.

PopcornPlaya

iTrader: (6)

btw, civic01vtecm the bw1 sides and rear are out. and they have them ready to ship. they asked if i wanted the whole kit, and i said no, only the front. i got the octane rear and skirts cause i didnt like the cual exhaust cutouts on the rear, and didn't like the boxy look the sides had with that front. i think their sides would look better with a dofferent front, but not theirs. but they do have the BW1 entire kit available.

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

the 4dr kit is out..i need the 2dr kit

I don't like the front bumper, so i got a Blitz Bumper, but i love that rear apron. And i agree, the sides are a little boxy, i am waiting to see what it looks like for the 2dr. I might go with octane or bomex side skirts.

dirtySAMURAI

iTrader: (31)

wow...she was an ***, you were an ***..

payback's a bitch, ain't it?

C2i0v0i1C

iTrader: (2)

actually i have a similar story,

my pistons and rods

considering they were custom order
January 03 order month, May 03, where the hell are they, i ordered from a performace shop that i do not patronize any more do to situations like this and their uncooperativeness. anyways, i got the number to the distribution company that they order all my parts through, called them up, i get BS answers like u didnt order them from us so we cant say anything, whatever bye, so i call up JE, get a real nice guy on the phone, actually helped me out, he sat there and looked for a order from the DIST co i called, no luck, **** heads must have put it under a personal name. so no luck. so i went back and forth with the local shop and the DIST. while in the middle of the hassle i had my car relocated to another shop that did all the work i currently have, told him my story, he was like dude ur in luck, bc the DIST co u been calling goes straight to the people that i order from, so he called them up bc hes waiting on my parts to build the motor, my **** didnt get ordered til may 28 03, wtf, i was heattttttttted more than ur bumper order, u waited a month imagine 5!!!! so i call back the DIST co, i stopped bothering with the local shop (useless) im like why THE F*** did my **** not get ordered til two days ago, "UH UH UH UH UH UHU HUH HUH UHHU HUH UHUH" me " i want that **** OVERNIGHTED TO MY SPECIFIED ADDRESS AND I WANT THE TRACKING NUMBER" ull have to go to local shop and they will have the TRACKING number me" MOTHERF***ER" click.

RSXtypeIvtec

iTrader: (11)

wow, that was intense, and def. the longest post i have probably read....lol

PopcornPlaya

iTrader: (6)

i originally wasn't an ***, i just had a breaking point, and i got to it. as far as the 2dr being available, they offered them to me for my 2dr. they may have lied, like they did about a lot of stuff, but they did tell me they had them in stock ready to ship, cause they were pushing for me to order the whole kit. which i repeatedly denied. call this number, this is their direct number, i swear they told me they had them ready to ship. 1-877-PHAT RIDE. that's ground designs direct number. arnell or a chick will probably answer. ask to speak with melanie, she was the sales associate that told me that they had them. she's usually not there till 11:00 am pst. she's the one that told me they were available (no she's not the bitchy manager)

RSXtypeIvtec

iTrader: (11)

wow, 5 months!!

C2i0v0i1C

iTrader: (2)

yea they milked the custom order to the max

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

They may have the kit out for 2drs now......it's been awhile since i last called them.

Guess i will have to do that 2morrow.

Dasica

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear all that, I've had bad luck when ordering parts got screwed over for $736 from another company. But I decided to try Ground Designs 2000 they shipped everything on time like they said they were even a day early. But I'm taking your side man they screwed up huge. But when you do get the kit fitment is awesome, body shop will have no problems at all. Suggestion for the back skirt the body shop made brackets for the part closest to the back tire b/c it felt so flimsy. Make billet brackets or something like that you might get show points, but I'm not a show person. I just did it to make it more solid. Check out my member rides for the pic of the front end, well crapy picture.

Mr.Modify

iTrader: (3)

aahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhm y eyes...but yea glad it came out okay.

FaLKoN202

^wow one word for the company: "PWN3D!!!"

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

Thanx alot playa......i called and asked for melanie. She wasn't in and but they took my # and she called me back. I told her that i needed side skirts and rear apron. She said that they are $399 a piece but she can go $300.....i was shocked and said i will take them. So, she is saving me 200 bucks. So, i will see how shipping goes.

JCiv03

iTrader: (15)

Whooaaa! this is like the neverending post... just when you think you're about to get to the end, there's a couple more paragraphs! This thread was very informative, and overall pretty interesting. i enjoyed the dialogue. THanks!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

Wow. Something similar happened to me on ebay. There is only so much we can take. There are some people that just should not be in business if they can't even treat customers with respect.