Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

There is a saying that goes as follows: "The bitterness of poor quality lasts long after the sweet price is forgotten."

I mention this because it's come to my attention that some companies are prostituting certain product lines by selling well under fair market value. While a cheap price is nice, and we all like I deal I strongly urge you to look beyond the price and to other aspects that should be important when making a purchase. Service after the sale and technical support.

This particular issue involves Koni shocks. Koni North America has mandated that their product should not be sold for less than 30% off of retail. This is done to protect the integrity of product and the company. GM has found this out. They can sell cars when they blow them out, but not at or anywhere near MSRP like Honda or Toyota can. Their products have been prostitued. And when that happens vendors look for other products to sell where they are more price competitive. Koni will pull distributorships over this (and has).

I'm saying, buyer beware. You most likely will get exactly what you found for a sweet price. However, you must weight the one time price vs. other important details and information you should have (and get from me) like how to adjust the shocks, what alignments to run, what parts compliment the shocks, what help do you get if you have trouble, etc. This technical help is not useless information, and as far as our company is concerned it's part of the sale. We also have plenty of tangible and proven experience to back up the statements.

In short, I have to curtail the amount of advice I give publicly for a while until this situation is resolved. I will not give out information I've worked hard for and make my living with to someone looking only for the bottom line. I very much believe you get what you pay for.

I simply ask you consider the entire package when considering where to purchase you parts.

SJM Manufacturing Inc

iTrader: (5)

Sam,

I totally agree with you. Many times you do get what you pay for. Service is something some folks forget when purchasing products, especially on the internet. You do get what you pay for from us, that is quality products, outstanding service and backed up warranty.

If you purchase something at flea-market pricing, you may be getting flea-market service.

If a company is selling our products and is not an authorized dealer of ours, we will NOT warranty our wheels or other products we manufacture through us, you may be left in the dark. Check to see if they are a vendor of ours, if you are unsure, call us.

01 Red WS6

iTrader: (4)

I agree and understand. I would rather pay more and get good service than pay less and have problems and get no help from the company. I've always been a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" Hence that's why I bought my Koni's from Sam. His service was an A+

boosted1

I must totally agree on Sam's statement, I have purchased all my shocks, coilovers, and all brake parts and fluid from him and the time that he has spent on the phone with me telling me little things that will help me get the job done safer, faster and with the intended results is just what most other vendors wish they can offer. If you take that time (especially the before the sale questions and advice) and factor it into the price you are paying lets see how much money he lost if you dont buy from him, im sure the hourly rate will be VERY different at that point.

Sam, I have told you many times before and will always support your company, and your statements on the proper parts, and installation of everything you sell because you are a honest person, and a great business man. Many comanies out there have alot of catching up to do in their customer service to get near your level....

Im not the first or the last person to just say " just listen to Sam and you will be just fine..."

slawek

Mark A. Rogalski

iTrader: (1)

I do side with Sam on the value he brings. I will be the bad guy though and provide a counterpoint:

A $98mil settlement was reached with the FTC in the late 90's over the "minimum pricing policy" of music CD's created by Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, etc. and its retailers. If the "Koni North America....mandate...not be sold for less than 30% off of retail" is accurately stated then it sounds very similar to the above violation. Price fixing is against the law in the US as mandated by the FTC.

Also, just last month Samsung, Hynix, and Infineon were fined a total of $645mil for conspiring to fix the price of the chips used in personal computers and other electronic devices. Apple and Dell raised PC prices to compensate for this price fixing while others reduced the amount of memory installed in their systems. Feel screwed yet?

It seems Sam's success comes from the relationship his customers have with the him and the experience he provides. He's clearly in it for the long haul unlike the others who have nothing else to offer, but cheap prices, possible derived from large volume. "Curtailing your information until this changes" Sam would weaken the only way you seem to seperate yourself.

This struggle of Sam's is faced by every reseller who carries a product that virtually never changes, it just becomes another commodity. Right now the customer base is shrinking, their education level is rising, new resellers are being added, e-commerce, and future technology will most likely shrink Sam's market even more. (Electrically activated shock fluid for dampening)

So how do we help:
Start a "Donation Please" PayPal account. Put a link on your site, in your forum, and in every email you send to someone that requests information. I just sent mine to strano@stranoparts.com via PayPal.

Help you find some products that none of us know **** about, that you can test, race, and establish yourself as the "guru" on (again), and that we can buy from you.

Can you do both? Offer very cheap prices somehow, maybe create a subsidiary of Strano (DBA) that is just an online store like others do. Maybe offer several flavors through your main business like: Internet online (only email support), added fees for pre-adjusted per you cars specs, and maybe additional fees for pre-assembled. Hell I don't know but just don't let the cheap peeps get away. You are great at building relationships and will eventually have them as customer for life.

You can't fight capitalism and free trade.....you just have to take advantage of it.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Everytime you get a company undercutting others and trying to live on volume only, with no profit, it drives other vendors away. I'm not big enough to be able to sell an $800 set of shocks on a 5% margin. Whatever I sell, I immediately loose 3.3% of it to the Credit card processor for not having a card to swipe. You can't stay in business making no money. Also, I'm not going to risk losing Koni shocks over a few bucks. I mentioned this to make folks aware there are reasons you might want to consider other aspects than just the price, not that price should be ignored, which is why as a small company I work extremely hard to remain price competitive.

As for "new-tech". MR shocks like you point to are costly (you think Koni's are expensive??), require a computer to control them, aren't legal for most any class of racing. It's hard enough explaining and convincing folks that manually adjustable shocks that can do some bypassing on there own are so much better than "normal" shocks for performance use. And BTW.... Have you noticed that while some of GM's cars have them, the performance cars like the Z06 don't?

As a side note. I do not buy from Koni directly, but through a huge WD. They get a cut as well, unlike some larger places that can do a buy-in and get a greater discount. They buy cheaper than I do, sell for the same as I do. They make more money on the sale. They cannot and do not give the tech support I do either. That's what I want you guys to think about. That's all, and you can certainly disagree. However, don't come to me looking for help if you get in over you head.

I WILL NOT work only by e-mail. That's the easy way out. It's irresponsible. I won't sell product and not support it. And I won't sell something unless I know it's proper for the application. Some don't want any information, they are shy about speaking to a real person. That will always be the case for somone, but I will not compromise how I work for those relatively few people.

I'm not looking for money for information. I'm looking to have the opprotunity (not the certainty) to make a sale. Period. I'll give out information, but I'm going to do it more and more often by phone only. That way folks can talk to me and know where I'm coming from. Besides, I cannot give out anything all that solid by e-mail. Letters can never be as precise and cover as many issues as talking can (if only because it takes so much time). A lot of our success is based on tech support. But supporting someone else's product does nothing for my business anyway, so why do it?

I appreicate the $10, but I'm not accepting it. That isn't what this was about.