Thunder Racing issues
12-06-2010, 07:30 PM
#1
Thunder Racing issues I will start off by saying that my experience with Thunder Racing has left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Hopefully my experience was an isolated incident and others have been well taken care of but overall, I was displeased with the customer service.
I ordered a clutch for my TA and specifically chose Thunder Racing over another company assuming they were more reputable. The price was a little more but figured it was worth spending the extra $$. Anyway, after the order is placed over the phone, credit card charged, I asked for an email invoice or confirmation of the order. It took multiple attempts via email and twice over the phone before the invoice was received. The TR rep informed me that it will likely take a week for the clutch company to build and ship the clutch. OK, no problem there.
A week goes by and I request a status on the order, not getting a clear answer, I decide to call the clutch manufacturer themselves. Turns out they have not received an order from TR for weeks. I immediately called TR and expressed my concern but the sales rep informed me they would need to call me back as they were unclear on what happened with the order.
I never received a call back that day so had to follow-up once again on my order. Turns out either the order was not received by the rep at the clutch manufacturer or maybe TR forgot to send the paperwork. This is still unknown but taking TR's word for it, I asked if the clutch manufacturer would potentially expedite shipping. I was informed that they typically would.
Over the next few days, I still needed to call and follow-up on the order myself even after multiple requests for TR to call me. Turns out the clutch manufacturer is waiting on a few parts to build the clutch. I'm told it will should ship before Thanksgiving. As you can expect, this didn't happen due to a delay with the truck delivering parts to the clutch manufacturer. Being it was a holiday week, I did't get too worked up over it.
So Monday rolls around and the parts should arrive that day or tomorrow per TR. Feeling like I am getting the run around, I call the clutch manufacturer and they inform me it's being built and should be shipped Tuesday. I asked if shipping would be expected from standard UPS ground to maybe 3-day select and I get a swift "NO". The clutch manufacturer felt they did nothing wrong and have no need to expedite the shipping.
Annoyed, I called TR and the rep informed me that his boss would contact the clutch manufacturer to get the expedited shipping worked out. Supposedly, they had "pull" due to how much they order with them. OK great, I ask the sales rep to call me back and let me know they say. As typical, I never get a call back which has been a consistent problem with TR.
I got a hold of TR the next day and I was told shipping would be expedited. GREAT!! I ask for the tracking number and told that they don't have it at that time. I go ahead and contact the clutch manufacturer once again and get the tracking. Guess what......the clutch was not shipped by 3-day select but standard ground.
I don't like being lied to so I contact the same rep at TR and ask for the tracking number just to make sure I have the same one. Sure enough I do and inform him of the shipment issue. The TR rep informs me that he will call UPS and see what he can do to "speed it up". Now I'm being insulted. I've never heard of anyone speeding up a package mid-transit and I let the TR know the same. He mentioned that he will see what he can do. I request he calls me back within the hour since I'm not happy.
Again....no phone call back and I just didn't see a need in calling again.
Overall, the TR crew was friendly on the phone but just horrible with follow-up. Maybe the rep I was working with just had a knack for being unreliable. If I knew this would have happened, I would have cancelled the charge on the credit card and purchased through someone else.
Based on this experience for what I consider a higher dollar item ($1k>), I am no longer comfortable trusting TR with my money.
Again, just stating my experience and hopefully others were better assisted with their orders.
I ordered a clutch for my TA and specifically chose Thunder Racing over another company assuming they were more reputable. The price was a little more but figured it was worth spending the extra $$. Anyway, after the order is placed over the phone, credit card charged, I asked for an email invoice or confirmation of the order. It took multiple attempts via email and twice over the phone before the invoice was received. The TR rep informed me that it will likely take a week for the clutch company to build and ship the clutch. OK, no problem there.
A week goes by and I request a status on the order, not getting a clear answer, I decide to call the clutch manufacturer themselves. Turns out they have not received an order from TR for weeks. I immediately called TR and expressed my concern but the sales rep informed me they would need to call me back as they were unclear on what happened with the order.
I never received a call back that day so had to follow-up once again on my order. Turns out either the order was not received by the rep at the clutch manufacturer or maybe TR forgot to send the paperwork. This is still unknown but taking TR's word for it, I asked if the clutch manufacturer would potentially expedite shipping. I was informed that they typically would.
Over the next few days, I still needed to call and follow-up on the order myself even after multiple requests for TR to call me. Turns out the clutch manufacturer is waiting on a few parts to build the clutch. I'm told it will should ship before Thanksgiving. As you can expect, this didn't happen due to a delay with the truck delivering parts to the clutch manufacturer. Being it was a holiday week, I did't get too worked up over it.
So Monday rolls around and the parts should arrive that day or tomorrow per TR. Feeling like I am getting the run around, I call the clutch manufacturer and they inform me it's being built and should be shipped Tuesday. I asked if shipping would be expected from standard UPS ground to maybe 3-day select and I get a swift "NO". The clutch manufacturer felt they did nothing wrong and have no need to expedite the shipping.
Annoyed, I called TR and the rep informed me that his boss would contact the clutch manufacturer to get the expedited shipping worked out. Supposedly, they had "pull" due to how much they order with them. OK great, I ask the sales rep to call me back and let me know they say. As typical, I never get a call back which has been a consistent problem with TR.
I got a hold of TR the next day and I was told shipping would be expedited. GREAT!! I ask for the tracking number and told that they don't have it at that time. I go ahead and contact the clutch manufacturer once again and get the tracking. Guess what......the clutch was not shipped by 3-day select but standard ground.
I don't like being lied to so I contact the same rep at TR and ask for the tracking number just to make sure I have the same one. Sure enough I do and inform him of the shipment issue. The TR rep informs me that he will call UPS and see what he can do to "speed it up". Now I'm being insulted. I've never heard of anyone speeding up a package mid-transit and I let the TR know the same. He mentioned that he will see what he can do. I request he calls me back within the hour since I'm not happy.
Again....no phone call back and I just didn't see a need in calling again.
Overall, the TR crew was friendly on the phone but just horrible with follow-up. Maybe the rep I was working with just had a knack for being unreliable. If I knew this would have happened, I would have cancelled the charge on the credit card and purchased through someone else.
Based on this experience for what I consider a higher dollar item ($1k>), I am no longer comfortable trusting TR with my money.
Again, just stating my experience and hopefully others were better assisted with their orders.
12-07-2010, 03:33 PM
#2
First, I will say that I am the rep you spoke with. Here is my take on what happened in this particular situation.
The original problem we had was that there was a mix up between us and McLeod on the order. I don't know if they lost the order or if the fax never went through for the order. You did call up here and spoke with me on the phone. I called and got someone on the phone and got the order in and corrected. They did not inform me that day that they were out of hubs to finish making the clutch. A few days later we did call McLeod to get a tracking # for you since we did drop ship it straight from them, straight to you. We were then informed that they were out of hubs to finish the clutch up for you. Gene did try to call you back that day, because I was out with personal family issues for a week.
Once I returned from leave, I was informed from Gene of the situation. Yes you did call up here and asked if they had the hubs in yet, and for a few straight days I did get the same answer from McLeod saying it will be here tomorrow. I did tell you that.
Now as far as upgrading the shipping goes. I was told they would 3 day express it for you. They didn't do that. What I said was I have run across before with Fedex that you can request to upgrade the shipping up to a certain point, but there is a chance that it will slow it down(I have had this occur a few times), and suggested that it was not the best route to take. Once the part ships out, my hands are tied. I don't like it anymore than you did, trust me. I do spend 95% of my day returning phone calls and emails. I am usually the one that returns the hundreds of emails we get on a daily basis. If I do not return your calls the next minute, I genuinely am either trying to get an answer from the manufacturer or am tied up with another phone call than can take quite some time. Most of you that talk with me about camshafts or other projects like that know that I will spend up to hours with you on the phone just to make sure you get what you are looking for. Is that the best move to make money in business, probably not, but I do want to make damn sure that you get everything you are looking for. I will not EVER bs anyone just to sell a part. I am in no way avoiding yours or anyone elses phone calls. If you do remember I gave you a good discount on the clutch to begin with.
I will say that in no way am I blaming you for anything, I just wanted to say my side of everything. I do wish that we would have had a better understanding from the manufacturer on a time frame. I think that would have saved a lot of headache on both ends. I just think it was a bit extreme to say that you were never kept up on the situations. I was completely unaware you were this unhappy with us on this whole transaction. We spoke many many times on the phone, and this was never brought up to Me, Gene, or Angie. I would like to speak with you about this on the phone if possible. Give me a call.
John
The original problem we had was that there was a mix up between us and McLeod on the order. I don't know if they lost the order or if the fax never went through for the order. You did call up here and spoke with me on the phone. I called and got someone on the phone and got the order in and corrected. They did not inform me that day that they were out of hubs to finish making the clutch. A few days later we did call McLeod to get a tracking # for you since we did drop ship it straight from them, straight to you. We were then informed that they were out of hubs to finish the clutch up for you. Gene did try to call you back that day, because I was out with personal family issues for a week.
Once I returned from leave, I was informed from Gene of the situation. Yes you did call up here and asked if they had the hubs in yet, and for a few straight days I did get the same answer from McLeod saying it will be here tomorrow. I did tell you that.
Now as far as upgrading the shipping goes. I was told they would 3 day express it for you. They didn't do that. What I said was I have run across before with Fedex that you can request to upgrade the shipping up to a certain point, but there is a chance that it will slow it down(I have had this occur a few times), and suggested that it was not the best route to take. Once the part ships out, my hands are tied. I don't like it anymore than you did, trust me. I do spend 95% of my day returning phone calls and emails. I am usually the one that returns the hundreds of emails we get on a daily basis. If I do not return your calls the next minute, I genuinely am either trying to get an answer from the manufacturer or am tied up with another phone call than can take quite some time. Most of you that talk with me about camshafts or other projects like that know that I will spend up to hours with you on the phone just to make sure you get what you are looking for. Is that the best move to make money in business, probably not, but I do want to make damn sure that you get everything you are looking for. I will not EVER bs anyone just to sell a part. I am in no way avoiding yours or anyone elses phone calls. If you do remember I gave you a good discount on the clutch to begin with.
I will say that in no way am I blaming you for anything, I just wanted to say my side of everything. I do wish that we would have had a better understanding from the manufacturer on a time frame. I think that would have saved a lot of headache on both ends. I just think it was a bit extreme to say that you were never kept up on the situations. I was completely unaware you were this unhappy with us on this whole transaction. We spoke many many times on the phone, and this was never brought up to Me, Gene, or Angie. I would like to speak with you about this on the phone if possible. Give me a call.
John
Last edited by ThunderStruk; 12-07-2010 at 03:41 PM.
12-07-2010, 06:04 PM
#3
John,
As I eluded to in my initial post, you were not short or expressed any negative attitude towards me when we spoke on the phone. My biggest issue was the lack of follow-up when I was told I could expect a call. The call could have only taken a moment out of the day to let me know you are getting the same response from the clutch manufacturer and we are stuck. I did not expect you to call me multiple times throughout the day as that is certainly unreasonable.
Again, biggest issue was the follow-up and regarding the shipping, that was just the kicker. I can appreciate your perspective on the transaction and I did appreciate the healthy discount off of the website pricing. Another sponsor has the unit cheaper but I felt dealing with TR was worth a little extra. My impression is if the clutch order was followed up better initially by yourself or other TR staff, the misplaced order could have been handled resolved promptly. If I had not called to inquire after a week went by, I'm not sure how long it would have taken to receive the clutch.
The hub issue was the clutch manufacturer and thats certainly something you can't control. Regarding my dissatisfaction which did not come through on the phone, I don't believe in screaming or yelling to get my point across. Since there was nothing that could be done over the phone regarding the standard shipping, I didn't see a need to continue the conversation after we last spoke where you were going to check on the expedited shipping.
Feel free to give me a call at your convenience and I will be happy to discuss the situation further.
As I eluded to in my initial post, you were not short or expressed any negative attitude towards me when we spoke on the phone. My biggest issue was the lack of follow-up when I was told I could expect a call. The call could have only taken a moment out of the day to let me know you are getting the same response from the clutch manufacturer and we are stuck. I did not expect you to call me multiple times throughout the day as that is certainly unreasonable.
Again, biggest issue was the follow-up and regarding the shipping, that was just the kicker. I can appreciate your perspective on the transaction and I did appreciate the healthy discount off of the website pricing. Another sponsor has the unit cheaper but I felt dealing with TR was worth a little extra. My impression is if the clutch order was followed up better initially by yourself or other TR staff, the misplaced order could have been handled resolved promptly. If I had not called to inquire after a week went by, I'm not sure how long it would have taken to receive the clutch.
The hub issue was the clutch manufacturer and thats certainly something you can't control. Regarding my dissatisfaction which did not come through on the phone, I don't believe in screaming or yelling to get my point across. Since there was nothing that could be done over the phone regarding the standard shipping, I didn't see a need to continue the conversation after we last spoke where you were going to check on the expedited shipping.
Feel free to give me a call at your convenience and I will be happy to discuss the situation further.
