Jason Chen

I think its kinda stupid that whenever a new company shows up on AW that is competing against a forum favorite, everyone starts questioning their Customer Service abilities. Nobody ask about how is their delivery abilities or even how much cheaper things will be. Isn't it all about the money?!??!?! Why should anyone care about CS and how nice they are to you? If I charge you 50% more than the next guy, I better damn well be kissing your *** from every angle!

OTOF

$80 less than Strat, but are they there when the part doesn't work to replace it for free. Just look at what happened to me on the way back from TT-East. A faulty set of spacers ruined my StopTechs...did Bob Lee do a big cop out on the brakes saying it was my spacers fault...no, what he did was FedX a new set of rotors to my office so that they could be installed in my office parking lot because he wanted them to be perfect...that's customer service and in my book, worth paying more for...same from Strat, they FedXed sets of spacers and didn't even charge me for a thing until they knew I was using a set they sent to my office...in my book, you definitely get what you pay for. Go for the discount, but if they don't follow up, you are out the whole price of the item...

hoTTub

I want the product at a good price in a reasonable amount of time. I expect a reasonable amount of customer service but not at the expense of a 40% markup on products that they are already making good money on...

Jason Chen

nobody even cares about the 40-70% markup anymore. The point of the post is that nobody ask about price or delivery anymore. Only CS.

Jason Chen

Yikes, your the last person who I expect to agree with me....

OTOF

discount on my Bilstein Sports....hey, you get a deal where you can.

Lloyd of the Rings

bad memories of dealing with poor service.

ttdude

I HAPPILY support companies who charge more but offer good service.

Example: I won't use UPS unless there is no way around it. So, let's say I'm looking for a new whiz-bang-gizmo, which I can get cheapest online, I will choose someone I've dealt with before, or the least expensive vendor who can meet my shipping needs, even if the total cost is higher.

It's not always about the money. I don't always select the highest paying job, but rather the least stressful.

VenTTed

It's not ALL about the money. If it were, we'd buy knock off macaroni and cheese, generic soda's, and private label beer and be happy about it. While Wal-mart exists for a reason, so too does Smith and Hawkin, and Tiffany's.

The area of customer service that you always seem to want to discuss is the money engle. A more broad definition for me centers on the entire buying experience. As a consumer I want the entire ball of wax... ease of ordering, products that are within my economic grasp, friendly sales folks, solid technical experience, AND the more nebulous, warm fuzzy.

I pay more for all of these things and will pay extra for the warm fuzzy too. Doesn't mean I am expecting that someone will "kiss my ***", but if they do, I like that too. If she's cute, she can throw in a... nevermind. :-)

Question for you... do you mind if there are vendors that sell to persons willing to spend more for the 'kiss'?

Jim TT

My rant along a similar line is that Audi World Links has dumped all the parts suppliers. Maybe Audi World wants a fee but for whatever reason they are gone and there were about 75 links I used and have now lost and I'm not happy about it. On your point I do think price is important but I do want at least a modicum of customer service. JIM