Hello, all -
this is going to be a bit of a rant, and I apologize in advance for this post's length. This rant will focus a bit on high-performance tuning but, in truth, these ideas will apply to your interactions with any Mercedes service shop or repair center, as well. SO, without (any more) needless build-up, here I go:

When you send your car to a tuning firm - any tuning firm - you need to keep 1 idea at the very front of your mind. That idea is: YOU ARE THE CUSTOMER.

I can't speak for all creeds and cultures here, but in these United States in the early part of the 21st Century, being a customer entitles you to a position of power. The company that you hired to tune your car is offering a service, and you are paying for that service. If you do not receive the specific service or level of service that you were promised or led to expect before you purchased it, you have every right to complain.

Which brings me to "pulling back the curtain". I called this post "pulling back the curtain" as a reference to the Wizard of Oz. When the movie's heros meets the great and powerful wizard, they pull back a curtain to reveal a small, weak little man turning control knobs. The wizard is an illusion. An act. A con.

Similarly, some shops will use the fact that they've been in the business "x" number of years or that the owner has a European last name as a sort of "curtain", hiding behind these things and exploiting consumers' unfamiliarity with tuning, dealership politics, SEMA right-to-repair laws, and OEM warranties to artificially hike up their prices and bully their own customers into keeping quiet about builds that don't live up to client's expectations, don't run properly, or take weeks (even months) longer than they initially indicated.

Don't get me wrong - sometimes, things happen. You might promise a customer 2 weeks, then get the car on the lift and realize that it needs a new [random part] which is on a 3 week back-order. When that happens, though, it is the responsibility of the shop to immediately COMMUNICATE the situation to the client, offer to take photos, and even - dare I say it? - give the customer a choice to either keep going as planned, or stop the build and wait to make sure the repair is made properly and any problem is fixed before introducing new variables.

What brought on this rant? I'm glad you asked.

Over the past few weeks, I have received more than one call about cars that, at various shops, been sitting for weeks without making any real progress. These guys asked me how long "x" should take and how much power they should expect from "y" engine with "z" mods, etc. The common thread was a lack of open communication from the shop, and a lack of access to shop management.

One of these callers - no names, of course - had been waiting months and months for his car to be finished while this or that part was being built, or tested, or ordered, or was stuck in transit, or whatever. He'd been given more excuses than results and the shop had already taken (what I consider to be) huge amounts of money from him. I explained that, in my opinion, his "next move" was to draft a nice, professional letter to the shop he'd sent his car to that explained his position: his car had already been in their hands several weeks past the initial promise date, and he was unhappy with the level of service and support he'd received. He didn't feel he was being dealt with honestly, and he felt that (after so much time had passed) he should receive some sort of reasonable discount (I mentioned 20-25% off retail) for his troubles.

His response totally shocked me.

To paraphrase: "I don't even want to do that, because I don't want them to get pissed off and never finish it."

I asked: "Well, have you gone on the forums and spoken out? That usually gets attention and generates a 'sense of urgency' at shops to make things right."

The response I got back was: "I'm afraid that if I go and start trouble for them, they'll mess up the car and then not help me fix it later."

Really? REALLY!!?

To everyone who has read this far, repeat after me: "I am the customer. A company, any company, needs to work hard to earn my business and keep my business." Now, follow that up by repeating: "As a customer, I have certain rights which entitle me to receive fair and honest service for my money." and finish the mantra with: "As a decent and hard-working individual, it's my responsibility to make sure that other decent and hard-working individuals do not get taken in by this shop, which has taken my money, ducked my phone-calls and emails, and kept my car and my money for months and months beyond what I originally agreed to."

Guys, your tuning firm is just a company. The guys you are dealing with are just people. Don't let them act like prima-donnas or virtuosos on your dime. Demand better.

I think that's enough for round 1 of the rants. As far as the rest of it goes - the dealership politics, SEMA right-to-repair laws, and OEM warranty stuff I mentioned before - I'm going to make those separate rants before I start to flip out like that dude from the Shining and and just start writing "All work and no play ..." over and over again.

In closing (for now), I'd like to thank you for reading through all this. I want to invite anyone and everyone to comment, PM me, email me, whatever. These are all ideas that are very important to me - and to Marcin, which is a big of the reason that I'm here working alongside him at Speedriven.

Thanks.

Jo Borras | Speedriven

 

Hear, hear. Ever since I've started modding my car, I've just been given the run-around, bull**** excuses, and crap customer service from multiple shops and vendors. I've worked with maybe about 6 or 7 vendors through my light modding and out of those, 2 delivered satisfactory service. It's getting so exhausting to deal with these vendors/shops, I'm nearly at the point where I don't even want to mod anymore for fear of getting left out in the rain.

I never post in AMG forums (as I don't have one), but this post coming from a vendor is refreshing and just wanted to say thanks for a great post; it restores some of my faith in the aftermarket world knowing some good guys (though far and few between) exist both on forums and in the real world.

 

Thanks for the kind words. Marcin and I ran out of faith completely, so it was either do our own thing and sink/swim as best we could, or give up the business entirely and go push pencils in a cube somewhere.

Sorry you had bad experiences. I hope your next one is better.

 

I am the customer. A company, any company, needs to work hard to earn my business and keep my business.As a customer, I have certain rights which entitle me to receive fair and honest service for my money. As a decent and hard-working individual, it's my responsibility to make sure that other decent and hard-working individuals do not get taken in by this shop, which has taken my money, ducked my phone-calls and emails, and kept my car and my money for months and months beyond what I originally agreed to

 

!!YES!!

 

144 views and climbing. Wow - I can't believe that many people are reading all this. Thanks!

 

Thanks for ruining the movie for me.

 

i'll use the devil's advocate stance and say that this is nice to hear...but actions speak louder than words. i've heard this type of speech before from many vendors, new and old, as they try to bring on new customers. no disrespect intended, just consider me a tried and tested hardened skeptic who hopes you last longer than most in this business.

 

Listen, I totally get that people have been screwed, and that's exactly my motivation here. You're a hardened skeptic? You're probably a skeptic for a very good reason - and, hopefully, you'll advise others to speak out if and when a given vendor gets it wrong (even if that vendor is Speedriven).

 

Best response, yet!

 

Dangerous territory here guys....you are kind of giving the impression that you never have disappointed or unsatisfied customers.
I hear where you are coming from, and I know you are trying to help.
However I can't help but feel that a rant about your entire industry being loaded with dolts is a bit unprofessional.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles man..water under a bridge.

 

I would agree with you, but that's not at all how that reads to me when I read it back. At no point do I imply that ANY shop out there, in fact, "is loaded with dolts" as you put it (of course, "I know what I mean", you know?).

In any event, what I do say is that everyone in this business is human - for better and for worse. Humans make mistakes (I know I have), they let people down (I know I have), and they - ideally - learn from their mistakes (I like to think I have).

That said, I disagree that encouraging people to share their negative experiences - as well as positive experiences is "dangerous territory", and disagree that expecting people to demand straight answers from the shops they hire is "unprofessional". Quite the opposite, in fact.

So, I thank you for reading what I wrote up there - not sure where you got that I think everyone is a dolt, but I can tell you in no uncertain terms that I certainly do not feel that way, and can - in good conscience - refer you to a number of shops across the country and, indeed, around the world who are competent, capable, and communicative. In other words: utterly professional.

 

??

 

The problem with these threads (and many like it) is accuracy? Everyone ends up posting a version of what happened, all of which, are hearsay.

 

Of course it is, but this isn't a courtroom and we're not talking about evidence - the simple fact is that people feel intimidated by shops and get essentially bullied into silence. That's just not right.

 

good thread!

 

YEA GREAT THREAD! I can't wait to chime on something that I'm going through.

 

Agree...

...but that's a good point, too.

And, it's not always "bullied" so much as "guilt-tripped" at times, either directly or perhaps subconsciously. Because if you're working with a small shop who's become your buddy (real or imagined) along the way, the "yeah I'm a client, but he's my friend..." thought process enters into it... and sometimes people get taken for a ride because of it.

Overall, great thread, and great point. Hope people read it and think about it... but also keep the commentary above board.

 

This is definitely a good thread.
I've been burnt a number of times from various vendors. In turn, it thickened my skin and made me a wiser consumer.

I FULLY understand the message you wish to express. But keep in mind that many here got burnt (or are currently getting burnt) by vendors promises and shortcomings.

Expect some retaliation, but I urge you to try your hardest to overcome people's prejudice.
Maybe you can become the company that turns things around for the MB community.

We would all benefit.

 

Very true, but that "friend" thing is a double-edge sword, and the surest way to lose friends in this (or any) business is to do things on a hand-shake basis. Get everything in writing (an email will do) so that you can both always go back and see what was agreed to. That way, it'll never get personal - and if you meet with any kind of resistance when it comes to protecting your rights / money / interests, that's a big red-flag.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Quick question, and please don't take this the wrong way, since you're posting in the W211 forum what have you achieved on this platform? I know you're preaching customer service but we should all know what kind of service you're offering us here on this sub forum.

I also thought there was a point that people couldn't reach Marcin and it seemed as though he went MIA. Not returning emails, phone calls, and etc....How about Jody's car, wasn't it with you guys for a very long while? Once again, in no way am I trying to insult anyone here but I just heard a couple of different things other than what you're preaching. If I listed incorrect info please clarify.

 

I'm not here to become "the" anything - I'm honestly just tired of getting 20 phone calls a day, and having (no lie) half of them be calls about a customer that is getting taken advantage of.

If the MB community would get "worked up" over the guys that are doing it wrong and be willing to make that public it would give everyone a chance to come out ahead. The customer would get their issues resolved, and the shop would get another chance to earn that client's repeat business.

When people communicate, everyone wins.

 

Truthfully, I posted on the W211 forum because it was the most active, and I wanted to reach as many people as possible. If the mods want to move it, that's fine with me.

Regarding Marcin going MIA, that is why we initially started talking about having me come on board. Marcin was, for many months, a 1-man-show.

Speaking from experience at several firms and dealerships, even with a dedicated secretary, an office staff, multiple salespeople, etc., sometimes people fall through the cracks and messages get missed. Marcin was in a position where he physically couldn't develop the products, make the products, do the installs, scan the forums, answer emails, take calls, and make calls - there simply were not enough hours in the day.

That said, since I've come on board we have a new phone system in place, proper contact management, an office manager to handle the admin stuff (bookkeeping, purchasing, etc.), and shop staff to do installs and fab so Marcin can focus more on R&D and tech support.

It's a work in progress, but Marcin and I share the same goals. SO, yes - Speedriven was very difficult to get a hold of for a while. I'm here to make that easier.

 

Glad you like the thread, but that doesn't sound positive. Good luck!