robert is a great guy and good friend of mine. He is the only one that works on the cars so he gets backed logged and his squirrel fido cant do everything. He has helped me with my car and vice versa. He is the ****.com and he does know his ****.

P.S. im going to ampm for a burger and drink

 

I've never dealt with Robert before, so I can speak from experience, but to me, he seems like a decent guy, just a little overworked. I think it IS his fault for taking on more than he can handle, but then again, he has to make money in order to support himself. Part of it could be that maybe someone that supplies him with stuff isn't being very reliable, but I also don't know that for a fact.

I would also be angry if I had problems with shipping, broken promises, etc., but try to see it from his point-of-view. If you had bills to pay and your job was to provide parts/modify parts for people and ship them out, then wouldn't you try to get as many customers as possible? (Again, I've never dealt with him and I don't know him personally, so this is all just an assumption)

I know that's a loose argument, but next time, try searching a little bit on the vendor's reputation and plan ahead in case something goes wrong.

 

I agree with moonchopper. I have not had any experience with Robert either but I do know that when you modify something, it sometimes takes longer than it should or what you had planned. Even if you have done the same thing numerous times. There is always a snag.

 

Robert needs the proper adult supervisionfrom someone like me but I dont think he cant afford to supply with me enough heine on a daily basis. Yes he is slow in shipping parts as he is a one-man band. Otherwise, he is a good guy.

 

I have never dealt with Robert, so I can only speak in generalities, but if you pay someone to expedite shipping and they do not do so, then you have a right to stop payment and seek services elsewhere. I understand that the guy is busy, but if he promises something, he better deliver or refund the money himself.

I guess the bottom line is that while he may do good work and is probably a good guy, he's not terribly reliable, which is a huge detriment for a business.

 

 

I have had the exact opposite from Rob at Rotary Shack, he is very willing to help. He returns calls and e-mails fairly quickly and when I ordered my parts I received them rather quickly also.

He went above and beyond when I ordered my intake kit. He preassembled it while welding off some passages that I will not be using, EGR, always open aux ports etc. I told him I wanted the parts before the coming weekend and by Friday I had them at my door.

I've later run into more problems and he has always been there to talk/walk me through things. Be patient and give him a call, he's a fair guy.

 

unbelivable!!! im in shock to read this


i built the carb kit to the customers request, sent it out as he requested and never heard from the customer since... until this... wow!!!
no e-mails and not one phone call besides the one from his son asking where to get a good exhaust system from!!!


screwed by rotaryshack??!! you say!!! LOL !!!!what about the great customer service you got?? all the questions i answered? links to websites to buy parts? hmmm nothing mentioned there!! at this point my feelings are hurt... Rotaryshack is a small bussiness run by me.. i pride myself on the most bang for the buck with extensive knowledge on weber conversions/ blowthrough turbo systems/ precise turbo sizing/as well as exotic motor swaps.. the main advantage i have as a small shop is each customer gets my undivided attention with thier individual order so the setup/parts you as a customer choose will work perfect for your specific application....




i ALWAYS take care everybody up on the rx7 club and the guys that have purchased parts from me know that!!! in the past i lagged in the shipping dept but have since rectified that problem for the most part (fbII).... obviously this was a shipper error and have inquired on this orded already to resolve this matter ASAP... a little communication goes along way on the customers behaff as well as the suppiers, witch im usally good at..

 

As Robert said, he's doing all your guys' **** by himself and I've been over to his shop plenty of times to see it... he's always really busy working on these bad *** custom setups you guys order... but being the mechanic, owner, and customer service department isn't exactly the easiest thing to pull off...

You guys go looking to him for his expertise in this field along with the fair cost, he doesn't charge unreasonable amounts like he could if he limited his business to rich asses. if you're going to be so freaking **** about it go buy it from some "pro" shop and pay twice as much... you'll be paying for the top of the line 24hr/day customer service. And tell us all how great it is to talk to a wall when you call up that customer service trying to get some advice on what you should do with your new setup, how you should tune it, etc, and get some desk jockey that can't recommend **** and wont let you talk to a real mechanic 'cause that's not what the mechanics are paid to do at those places. Robert does that **** 'cause he's a cool guy... you would never find that kind of help anywhere else. No offense to places like Tripoint, but seriously I _personally_ am not an f'ing money tree... and most of us non-FD owners are... and Robert has helped me out with all kinds of **** that some guys would try to charge by the minute to help with.

It'd be nice if there were a few more cool mechanics like Robert to help out with all the work, or someone to take care of the more business side, but I heard before I met him that was tried and failed pretty badly... since then he's been trying to rebuild his reputation and as far as I know been doing very good with keeping track of everyone and keeping them up to date... sucks that he slips a few days and gets reamed all over the boards!

Anyway I'll talk to you later Robert, let em know how this turns out after you talk to the guy. =)

--Gary

 

I don't care really, but after reading all this, shouldn't it be more then a one man operation then? Sounds like there is more then enough work volume to justify and pay a job position for someone in SoCal right?

 

Damn Good words from Robert as well as Bob_The_Normal. All I can say is, you are the man for doing all of this on your own Robert. Keep it going, is not easy and I know exacly what you mean by running all that on your own. I feel sometimes is better that way but things will happen. Problems will happen with Shipping etc... So, peoples should understand that. I even get problems from great Computer Companies that I order from and hey, is ok. **** just happen and who knows a little patience be more than enough.

 

i could definatly use some knowledgable guys to wotk at rotaryshack, but its hard to find anybody!!! i always bug wackyracer to help me out at the shop but he says i cant afford him$$$$.. he is a smart local guy i would love to have

i have had tons of employees in the past but they usally break more **** than they fix, no joke.. along time ago i had a guy selling parts for me online, well that was a real shitstorm!! so now i do all the online stuff myself, and its been good for the most part...

 

Being overworked is no excuse for poor customer service. If you are busy you do not make promises you well know are impossible to keep. Not only is it dishonesty but rush leads to poor workmanship. I can not comment on the comments of poor workmanship directly, as on the two occasions I attempted to do business he lied, exagerated, broke promises and never returned phone or email messages. As a result I simply took my business elsewhere successfully.

Based on my experience I would never recommend doing business with him, perhaps with the exception if you lived locally and chased him all the time.

To sum up he appears to be an average rotary mechanic who never should be in business on his own account.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that Robert is a hard working and very able guy. No question about the fact that he get backlogged by a demand of service greater than he can satisfy. But all he has to do is warn customers of the situation. Then the customer can decide whether he wants to wait in exchange for a good price and product, or if he wants to pay more but have faster service from someone else. Specifically in my case, I needed a 12A rear rotor. I e-mailed Robert asking him if he had one. He said yes, gave me a price. I asked him if it was ready for pick-up. He said yes. Then I spend the next week or so chasing him around (my office is 20 mins away from his shop), calling him, e-mailing him to get the rotor picked up. Finally Robert told me he was really busy, had other customers before me, and if I needed to find the part somewhere else, to go for it. Even though it doesn't make sense that "he didn't have time" to give me a part that was supposedly ready for pick-up, if he would have said from the beginning, yes I have the part but I don't know when I'm gonna be able to give it to you because I'm very busy, or something like that, I would have had the chance of choosing whether or not to wait. In my case I wouldn't have waited. But all the above nonsense delayed getting a rotor, from someone else, for a week. Then, my engine builder, who had that week lined up to get my engine assembled, became unavailable for a week. So two weeks delayed.

The lack of honesty and straightforwardness shown above by Robert is enough for me to not to want to do business with him ever again.

 

what bussiness // product did you attempt to purchase? what did i lie about? as far as i know we have never attempted or did any bussiness transactions together.. please enlighten me on your expierience ...

 

Can't make everyone happy...

 

very true!!

 

WELL heres my 2 cents as a new guy. i found the rotary shack online contacted robert via email. he responded to email when other places i tried to contact did not. i have had many projects in the past including my GN, everytime i have a custom piece made it takes time and i dont expect it to be real fast hence the term custom. i contacted him with questions as i am attempting to put a rotary in my Opel GT. now i have asked a couple of questions on this board and seemed to be ignored. as a member of a buick boards we try to answer each and every question and offer tid bits to help them out and save them from making the same mistakes we have made. now i will buy parts from him in the future as my project moves forward just because he was kind enough to help me.

Jay

 

stopping payment doesnt get you your parts any faster.

Cbperformance.com sells weber carbs..Mazdatrix can tell you who to call that does the jetting for the carbs they sell.

make 2 calls get the info you need and have cbperformance set you up.

theres alot of other places that sell webers.......

 

I'm betting he wasn't just buying a weber... probably was getting some 'custom' work done to it as well... which is why he wouldn't just go to a big wholeseller for it. So it's kinda dumb for anyone to suggest that he go to these other stores that won't do what he wanted. Of course I'm just speculating, from what he said in his post and what work I've known Robert to do...

--Gary

 

well ive emailed the guy, and heard nothing....
and yes he got a custom setup and a directfire setup as well, not to mention lots of help with tech advice... doubt cb could do that!!
mikey D,,,have you seen scott?

 

ASAP= As Soon As Possible, not immediately. I think the big problem here is that people are expecting big company service, small operation quality, and immediate results. Second day shipping means it gets there the second day AFTER SHIPPING, not after the order is recieved. As for taking off two days: thats your fault. You NEVER take days off to install stuff until it is in your hands.

Its like this: you get it good or you get it fast. If you pick good don't bitch about slow service, if you pick fast don't bitch about shitty quality.

 

I have just read Robert's response to my comment.

In all fairness, I do not know whether it was Robert I dealt with rather than one of the staff he used to have. It was sometime ago and I was on a tight schedule, only two weeks in the US visiting my son at university.

There have been numerous recent reports on Robert as helpful and knowledgable from satisfied customers. On balance I will give him the benefit of my doubt. It seems he is in that position often found in a small business, great demand because of his personal ability but when he takes on staff to help deal with demand their work is not up to standard and paperwork grows. Standards slip.

I wish Robert good luck in trying to go it alone, and hope he continues to give good service to the rotary community- after all there are too few mechanics who understand the engine.

 

BEEN A YEAR ROBERT......and your customer in the Virgin Islands has never gotten those parts, a refund or a tracking number. Yeah , good help on the phone and good conversations, questions answered, emails sent, BLAH BLAH BLAH. WHERE ARE MY PARTS?!?!?!

 

I agree that you can buy things from other sources say Racing Beat, Mazdatrix etc etc but you will get a basic off-the-shelf package which in no way will work well with a rotary. Noticed that I said work well? there is a difference between "it will work" and "work well. "

At least with Robert, the carb you buy will come with the correct jets & stuff, and it will be up to you re-jet it based on your needs. if anyone feels that Im wrong, read the Racing Beat catalog on a IDA carb.