bdender

I placed my order with rx7store at 8PM on March 29th. My order was for an intake and a power fc for my '94 rx7.

10AM March 31st - e-mail received saying it will ship in the next day or so
3PM April 5th - order is shipped
12PM April 7th - order arrives

At that point I install the intake on my car. I work a night shift, so once I'm done I head off to work. The following morning, I begin work on the PFC. I unbolt the stock ECU, remove the connectors, and take the power FC out of its packaging.

Turns out the ECU connector pins aren't a match to the Power FC... strange. This is what I find.



I contact Jason at rx7store. Jason asks for pictures, which I happily provide. I then receive the following e-mail:

I call Jason. At this point, I feel like something should be done above and beyond a pick-up/replacement. I've taken taken time trying to install something that can't be installed in my car. This also happens to be the second time I've had a problem with an order (last time was the exhaust piping, where the order wasn't processed and shipped for a couple of weeks).

Jason asks what I think would be fair, to which I say 10% of the purchase price (about $100). He then explains how that's what his profit margin is on the pfc, and tries to explain how the only options I have is faster shipping or a full reimbursement. Frustrated and dissatisfied, I ask for a full reimbursement. Here's the follow-up e-mail I sent:

Will never do business with them again.

-David

Jason

iTrader: (5)

I offered to overnight the correct part or reimbursement and you took the credit. Not sure what else you expect, but that is typical business practice. Sorry it didnt work out and good luck with your RX-7.

monkey_majic

iTrader: (5)

I think $100 is a little much. Before you installed it you should have looked at the box maybe even the instruction booklet. This would have prevented you from taking your ecu out.

bdender

I agree I should have checked the manual since I didn't have prior experience in installing one. That's why I did. All the manuals included were for the rx7 FD, but the connectors for the power fc were for a nissan. Pictures included below:





Jason -

Your offer definitely would have been helpful in getting it installed as soon as possible. However, it doesn't make up for the mistake made in shipment and the time and inconvenience it caused me. For no reason I've spent time preparing for installation, and I now need to to spend time to put it all back. When it arrives I need to rinse and repeat. Mistakes like that which your business is unwilling to compensate for are not a risk I'm willing to take again.

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

Dude, rx7store isn't exactly my favorite place but it looks like you are the onev being unreasonable. That exhaust piping problem is not cool but saying that you are entitled to 10% back for something that wasn't his fault is a bit much.

bdender

I hear ya man. I was asked how much i thought was reasonable though, and i gave an honest answer. He didn't do much to meet me half way. I'm certain of one thing. Simply replacing it isn't reasonable either, and overnight shipping didn't interest me so much to make it a reasonable compensation for the trouble.

bdender

Working as a customer service manager, i consider him asking me what i think would be reasonable as a way for him to see what he can get away with to make it right. Why give that favor after being taken for a loop like this? In all honesty though, dropping price down to at cost isn't all that unreasonable. After going through something like this, why else would someone continue doing business with the company? Only reason i can think of is knowing that IF they do mess up again it was worth the risk, time, and effort.

Agree or disagree, i hope that people will benefit from knowing of my experience.

Jason

iTrader: (5)

What company do you work for? Your companies policy is if they ship a wrong product then they give it to the customer at cost?
It sucks you had to spend ten minutes taking the stock ecu out to realize it was a wrong power fc, but every company I know will send the correct item to rectify the mistake. Some will offer overight shipping and others won't. I don't know one that will offer a full refund once an item has shipped because they lose money doing it that way. I was kind enogh to offer a full refund, so take it and move on.

bdender

No need to get heated, JAson. I'm not asking for anything more from you. Just presenting the facts and sharing my experience

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

I think replacement and free pickup is very reasonable in this situation. Alot of companies don't even do free pickup. Its easy for a big company to give 10% back but rx7store isn't big enough to need dedicated customer service staff.

Yes Jason, some companies do that. I don't know any auto companies that do though. I think the standard depends on the industry. Partial refunds are no big deal with things like software.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Just the same as you do to anyone who complains to your company. If you give away money to angry customers, you my friend will be quickly unemployed. You are owed 2 things as a customer in this situation.:
1.) You get the correct part sent to you ASAP.( He offered to)
2.) You get an apology for any trouble cuased by the mistake.( He did)
BONUS: He also offered a full refund.

I don't see how he did anything wrong at all. And because YOU didn't look first at the part # it is HIS fault.? Mistakes happen all the time. Espeacially if items are being drop shipped from a warehouse etc..Miss-bagged or mis-labled items are a fact of life in the parts industry. Happens to me at least once a month on huge crash repairs on motorcycles and cars. That is what happens when humans come into the mix.

IMO you owe him an apology for starting a Bullshit thread.And a discount on the amount of BS you spew the next time you don't check your parts! Call me crazy but I don't expect companies to "owe me" the next time I order. Fix the problem as quickly as can and I am a return customer. Pretty basic stuff which he again,..offered to do immediatly.

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

I disagree about it being the OPs duty to check the part # but yes, this thread seems unwarranted. The exhaust piping case sounds legit though.

thewird

iTrader: (8)

I think the OP is completely unreasonable. He sent the wrong item and offered to send the correct powerfc overnight and pick up the wrong one at no cost to you. That is 100% reasonable and probably one of the better responses to shipping mistakes I've heard in a while. What is bdender smoking, I want some.

Also a note to the OP, when you refund a credit card payment, the seller gets his fee back. As a seller (I'm not a seller but if I was), I would rather loose a customer that has no common sense then have future unreasonable requests.

And I don't see what your so inconvenienced about. Swapping ECU's takes 5 minutes. You can just leave the stock ECU unbolted for ease of next installation.

thewird

rx7roller02

Alright, guys, lets not turn this into a pissing match. There is simply no call for anyone telling the OP he has no common sense, etc etc. No more posts like that in this thread, please.

I will say this though--there is no reason why the buyer should be responsible for checking the part number before opening the box. If you order something, and it gets shipped to you, you would naturally expect it to be what you ordered. And when you pay a company to send you a part, you have every right to consider it THE COMPANY'S responsibility to ensure that the right item gets shipped. That said, I'm sure that Jason didnt personally send you the wrong one.....but when he learned of it, he was more than generous in trying to accomodate you. Some companies dont offer anything but a "sorry about that, send it back and we'll send you the correct one once we receive your return".

I will also say this--why would you fault him for not haggling with you over how much money is to be refunded? Are you looking for the right part, or are you looking for "lets make a deal"? It isnt his responsibility to try to haggle out a deal with you like that. You were asked what you felt was fair, and you told him--he is not under any reasonable obligation to take that any further. He told you what he was willing to do, and believe me, you are fortunate that Jason does business the way he does. A lot of guys would not have cared either way what part you received. Here's the worst part of it all--the biggest source of your inconvenience is you now...because you could have had the correct unit overnighted to your door. But now that you refused that, you will end up waiting longer to get this in and installed. This could have already been over and done with if not for your decision--think about that a while.

Sandrock

iTrader: (26)

Yeah Bro, **** happens, simple mistake. Jason did everything he needed to do. Id do business with him anytime.

dumbkevin

iTrader: (2)

Some businesses just don't seem to want to retain customers, and some even go out of their way to dissuade their own customers from buying their products.

I have done business with the RX7store multiple times in the past. I would say there was about a 50% accuracy of the items being correct or containing everything that I ordered when I received the items.

Its a nice store for catering to us RX7 owners, but my last experience has finally drove me to take my business elsewhere.

I have a Tial 50mm bov in my FD that has a 12psi spring in it that I ordered from the RX7store. The bov is opening far too late because the spring is too stiff so I tried to order a softer spring, but I was told by an employee that I should adjust the screw on the top of the bov. I was at that time under the impression that Tial's don't have adjustable springs, but I figured I should double check to make sure. I checked and indeed they do not have adjustable springs.

I called the store the next day to try to order a softer spring once again and to inform them that there are no adjustable screws, where I was told that I shouldn't order a new spring because the spring pressure has no effect on how fast the bov will open. I couldn't understand what that meant, because of course it does matter, so I then informed him that on the Tial website it has a chart that shows what the cars idle vacuum reads corresponds with what spring should be used. I told him that because my car pulls about 14inmm at idle that I needed an 8psi spring and once again I was told that my vacuum has nothing to do with the bov. I told him that it indeed does have something to do with it since it is a pull type bov, but once again I was told that I was wrong.

I really couldn't comprehend what was going on because I knew that I was not wrong so i reinterated that the tial website says that I should have an 8psi spring, where I was quickly told that everybody at tial is a bunch of idiots ( Im using a much nicer word) and they don't know what in the hell they are talking about. I told the individual that I had to have a different spring because that is the only way to adjust how the Tial bov's open and when and I also informed him that right now before the bov is opening I am getting pretty bad compessor surge so I am concerned. I was told that you will always have compessor surge and that it doesn't hurt anything and there is nothing you can do about it. I tried very hard to explain that the bov just wasn't working correctly, but nothing worked. Several other things were brought up that made me further believe that this individual was completely incompetent and then I nicely resigned from trying to order the part from them, not so much willingly, but because I was being pushed away from ordering it.

After this, knowing that I was not wrong, I called a different reputable online store where I told them my problem and they recommended I get the 8psi spring. I told them what the other sales agent had told me earlier and this individual said the previous guy had no idea what he was talking about. This concluded my story. I have never before been talked out of buying a product before, but I thought this was epic enough to write about.

Jason

iTrader: (5)

I think you misunderstood what we were telling you. In the end we said if you want to go with a lighter spring then we had them in stock and could send you one. Of course another shop is going to say you need a new spring as they want to sell you a part. We said your turbo can handle a little compressor surge but if you were getting a lot of it then go with a smaller spring.
I talk customers out of parts more than you think because a lot of times they want to order something that either won't work on their car or its not the best route to go when modifying. I have saved customers thousands of dollars over the years from wasting money
on parts that are not needed or just wrong. Most shops don't do that, they just want to make a buck.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

The margin on the TiAL bov springs is probably about two dollars...... also, I've had to switch springs on my own setup with each new engine and new porting configuration b/c my bov was opening and whistling at idle. I used the TiAL charts listed to correlate idle vacuum with spring choice and it worked perfectly

Jason

iTrader: (5)

He didn't mention he was having idle issues just that he thought it was opening later than it should. I said depending on how late and the amount of surge he was getting a different spring wouldn't make that much of a difference. If he was getting a lot of surge then go with a different spring.
I guess if it helps the guy sleep better at night then get a different spring but unless he is having major issues with the one he has now a different spring just isn't going to make that much of a difference. Just my opinion.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

I understand what you're saying, didn't mean to muddy the waters. I do think TiAL makes good products. I also think this thread has about run it's course.....

Warpaint_88

iTrader: (5)

In Jason's defense, the only time i had trouble with his shop I had ordered a greddy strut bar, and it took a good week just to ship. But he worked with me, was patient even though I called about 6 times a day lol and In the end I got my part, it went on the car and looks amazing by the way. I think his store business is a must have for rx7 owners, not just because you can get stuff their, but because he keeps the other business's on their toes with his competitive prices. The only thing i wish he would change is putting random parts through his clearance section more often

kensin

iTrader: (22)

i like rx7 store. even when my greddy pulley kit took 3months to ship LOL

jason, im gonna order some more parts !

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

sure it's bad business to not check what you're selling but trying to pry $100 out of them for 5 minutes work? that just shady even if it was the wrong item you recieved.

how would you feel if someone charged you $100 to install a powerFC that takes literally 3 minutes to install? have him ship you a t-shirt or some stickers, not gouge them for $100 for a simple mistake.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Something similar happened a few years back. I wanted a DP from the RX-7 store to be shipped to the shop where my car was being worked on which was 140 miles from my house. Something happened that my DP ended up being shipped to my house. So I called up Jason and he verified the mixup. So he sent a new one out the the correct place and set up a pickup time for the DP at my house. Easy as pie.

here's another one from a few years back as well:
I bought some eibach springs fron Jason and a day later I saw this great deal on some ground control coilovers on the FS section here on the forum. So I bought them as it was too good to pass up. I called Jason with my tail between my legs to cancel the order. As it turned out he had already shipped my coils. He was really cool and didn't charge me a restocking fee nor nothing. But I asked for store credit and he gladly gave it.

Great service. Rx-7 store is my go to store and it has been for years.

FD_virus85

iTrader: (10)

I like rx7store even though I ordered greddy pully kit but jason send me polished some other pully kit and told me " I thought you wanted everything polished lol" Jason I'll order more parts!