Let me know what you think about this situation.
I sold and shipped a set of TT2's to a forum member here. The customer called upon reciept of the wheels and said one wheel had damage probably from shipping and the other 3 had problems of one kind or another. We asked for pic's so we could see the damage and he told us he did not have a digital camara or a way to send pics.

We agreed to send call tags and we were going to send replacements. He did then send a pic of one of the wheels that had some of the welding splatter that was not cleaned off that was the reason he said it was a bad wheel. I looked at the picture and the splatters were not on the face but were in a spot that once the wheel was mounted they probably would not be noticed. He stated that acceptance of the wheel was debateable but he did want it replaced.

Based on the fact that it would not be very noticeable and that it would have been a quick fix with a little sandpaper and polish (Customer works at advance auto and has access) but the customer still said it needed to be replaced I decided not to risk sending another set. I agreed to a full refund on the wheels and the shipping on all wheels. But since there was a chance that he would find a problem with any or all the replacement wheels I chose not to ship them.

At this point I am coverring all expenses and am out about 150 dollars for all the shipping and the customer is out nothing. Then the customer gets upset because I am not willing to ship him another set that he might find a problem with and that I would have to eat the shipping on again. He says that he will come here on the forum and let everyone know what terrible customer service I am giving since I would not send the other wheels. It was my opinion that terrible customer service would have been to stick him with the wheels or the shipping. I felt that me coverring all expenses on what may or may not have been some problem wheels was pretty good.

Sorry for the rant here but I sort of wanted to know what someone else here on the Forum would expect as we do stand behind our products here at Tomzwheels and I felt like we had taken care of the customer as best we could. Let me know what you think.

Tom

 

i would agree, the problem you describe is the inherent problem behind buying/selling items over the phone/internet, the customer often has no opportunity to physically inspect the product prior to purchase, so if there is a problem the shipping "tag" begins.

That said, i do not think you are unreasonable in not shipping another set to this customer (he may disagree with me) as it is your decision related to "willing buyer and willing seller." He certainly could not be faulted for just wanting a refund and not a replacement, especially if he were footing the bill for the shipping costs like you are now. I also think that it is good of you to eat the shipping as this does lean towards good customer service when a customer is not satisfied with a product.

On the customer's end, i can somewhat understand not wanting imperfections (visible when mounted or not). Everyone is different on this kind of thing, some are more picky than others.

that's just my two cents.

 

You've given the customer a full refund plus shipping. I think you've done more than enough.

Unfortuanely you are in a no win situation.

 

I agree, you worked with him to get the wheels back, and paid shipping both ways. That goes far and above what most places would offer. Its not like you are building the TT2 wheels at your shop, so the customer can't blame your quality control.

Besides, TT2 wheels are CHEAP. You really can't expect perfection if you are buying some inexpensive wheels. I don't think I've ever seen a perfect set of TT2 wheels.

Tony

 

9 ball is raking in WAY too much money when he says that a thoussand dollar set of wheels are cheap

 

I've bought three sets of wheels from you and have nothing but good to say about your service. That guy is definetely out of line.

 

They're cheap in that they aren't inspected when made. I had a set and the looked good but if you really wanted to there were a lot of minor imprefections that you could nit pick. There was a guy on another forum who had some Torques and he went through 3 different sets and wasn't happy and ended up going with Cragars instead(still a cheap wheel) I'd be glad to have been able to send the wheels back and be out zero dollars as a customer. Some people like to think they're more important than they are by going crying on the internet about bad service. They obviously have never had bad service.

 

What I do not understand is how you can expect a customer who has just spent the amount of money on a NEW set of wheels to use sandpaper to repair a manufacturing defect.This is supposed to be acceptable customer service?

 

He did not manfacture the wheels and he said it was in a location that woudln't be noticable when mounted. If the customer was that picky then he could have sanded the welding spatter off. Cheap wheels like AR don't take the time to clean this off. Step up to someone like Billet Specialties or Budnik and they make true perfect show wheels.

 

"What I do not understand is how you can expect a customer who has just spent the amount of money on a NEW set of wheels to use sandpaper to repair a manufacturing defect.This is supposed to be acceptable customer service"

I did not have a problem refunding the money on all the wheels and take care of all the shipping on all of the wheels. I was just unwilling to ship another set of wheels as this was an indication that this customer would keep looking until he found something wrong and I would run the chance of having to eat the shipping on more wheels. He would not furnish pics for the others and when the wheels get back maybe I will see that he had legitimate reasons for not accepting the wheels. If he would have sent pictures of all the wheels showing the problems and I would have known that it was not just a person being unreasonable about the condition of the wheel I would have handled it different.

I just got a little ticked when I agreed to pick up all the costs and lose about $150 in shipping charges and then he goes off on me. This was a little unusual and I blew off a little steam by coming here to the forum. Sorry for the rant here and be assured that we do stand behind our products here.

 

When you run a business, you have to balance customer needs with staying in business.

Step 1: IMHO, you should do whatever it takes to make this guy happy--even if that means going over every rim you send him with a magnifying glass. (I'm sure TomZ realizes some customers are more demanding than others.)

Step 2: TomZWheels needs to feed back their customers' quality concerns to the manufacturers. That normally results in improvements for the entire supply chain.

To anyone who says any wheels are cheap: the only cheap wheels you'll find are from a junk yard. TT-II's are not cheap by any measure except compared to "show wheels". (I doubt TomZWheels would characterize any of their products as cheap.)

I'm glad TomZWheels takes the time to come here and see what we think. It says a lot about where they want to go as a company.

 

Can't see how Tom is responsible for anything. He didn't build the wheels, he's just the guy in the middle. A magnifying glass over each wheel is a little overboard . The problem is with the typical 'snot nose' customer who spends a little money, thinks he/she is entitled to play the "I'm the customer" card if something is not to their 'standard'...give me a break. You get what you pay for. If he has an issue, tell him to call AR

 

Obviously you know dick about business.

In this situation you need to send him another set of wheels that you have personally inspected and/or prepped. If its so easy to clean them up you should have no problem doing so. Refusing to send him more wheels isn't gonna do anything but **** him off. Maybe you could send him pictures of the actual wheels you are going to send him to see if they are to his expectations? That way he will have a hard time saying they aren't in the condition he expected.

 

Sorry I pissed you off Trump...but if you think sending pictures of each wheel to hopefully please the customer before delivering them is how to do 'business' then your time is apparently worthless. Why the hell should Tom send another set of wheels based on someone's word that they are not 'acceptable'. The man offered up returning them at HIS cost, he did his part. You're not going make everyone happy.

 

Tom I think your in the right all the way. Willing to give a full refund and shipping both ways? What more could you do?

That reminds me. I need to contact you about some wheels...

 

How much for those "imperfect TT'2"? LMAO

 

well i orederd my set from tom and what i was told is that all the rims are suposed to be inspected befor shiped and we went to go balance them and they were complllllletly welded wrong or something because they werre waaaaaaaaay off so i kept the good ones and he sent me 2 new ones hated the wait but i got over it and they turned out fine...........now i want to sell them 1 month later to get some track tires skines ect.. ....however rrims are perfect!!thanks

 

the guy i bought wheels from made me agree that wheels are almost impossible to be 100% perfect when going through shipping/mounting procedures

 

My opinion... if you pay for something new that will affect the outer appearance of the car, then you should expect it to be done right. If there was something wrong with the wheels and was noticed by both parties, then something should have been done to correct the situation. Apparently you realized that the quality of these wheels could not hold up to the standards that this person has set. In that case, you agree to give him a full refund. I do believe that is the right thing to do. However, I don't believe having high expectations for a product that should be of good quality is unreasonable.

 

Tom has the right to refuse buisness. So if he thinks this customer he just going to dick him around, he doesn't have to do buisness with him.

I know the customer might get pissed, but he doesn't have to buy wheels from Tom. I mean just because someone wants to buy something from me, I don't have to sell it to him if I don't want to.

Same if you get banned from a walmart or home depot...

BTW I got my wheels from Tom on ebay before he was a sponser, he's a great guy to deal with.