worst customer service I've seen in a shop
 

Hi, I'm wanting to share the worst experience I've had with an aftermarket seller in my life and, if things continue as they are, warn you guys about this kind of shop. I contacted this reputable shop in LA in may to buy a couple of leather parts for my car and their rep told me he would take 3 days to ship the parts so I called him and gave him my credit information so he charged me for 500 bucks. three day passed and I contacted him asking about shipping information and he told me that it would take a couple of days more so I waited and the same thing happened. well, long story short, several months have passed and after hundreds of messages I've sent (from which the majority weren't answered) he always wants a little more time so I asked for a refund and he told me he was going to give me a full refund and as compensation he was going to give me the parts I asked for which I though was a good way of saving his reputation as a good seller. thing is that I asked for a deadline that he could fulfill and he gave me one for the money and one after a couple of weeks for the parts. the deadline for the money arrived and he couldn't make it so he asked for me to wait until next day, after several mails next day all of which he replied telling me not to worry that he was going to send me the money that day, he only sent me 200 bucks trough paypal (from which paypal took like 30 bucks) and asked for me to wait as he was going to send me the rest of the money the same day. well, he didn't send it and I went the extra mile and gave him a couple of days as I didn't want to be so intransigent but the days went by and he didn't appear so I think that this must go public so everyone knows who they are dealing with. he sent me 200 bucks more after a couple of days and asked for more time to send the parts but more than a month has passed and he only answers one of 10 messages. I've been pretty understanding but what I really hate is that the guy keeps telling me not to worry that he is sending the rest of the money and the parts and he doesn't which is a pretty obvious lack of respect for his customers. I'm thinking of going to the Better Business Bureau and make his company name public as he hasn't answered my last mails but don't know if I should give him a little more time. what do you fellow enthusiasts thinks?

sorry to read about your troubles, I think you should mention the name of the shop you are dealing with. We have a good number of members in the LA that could use such info if they are making a similar choice for vendors/parts sources. Good luck, hope things get resolved, please keep us posted.

and I think the vendor has already had ample time to make this situation right....

I would open a CC dispute...


***also noticed you are posting on multiple discussion boards...what's the point, especially if you are not outting the company....

sounds like QUAD_M IN THE HOUSE!

If this was done via credit card, I would have just done a charge back. People can't dick with you and your money like that. We would have problems. I am someone who likes to give people an opportunity to fix things, but about halfway into your story you already exceeded the point at which I would not wait any longer.

I already sent an email giving him a last chance to send me the rest of the money or I'll tell everybody his company name. he told me about two months ago that he would send me the parts and give me back my money but he hasn't so I told him that I need him to make everything right or I'll just go public. I don't want to ruin his rep as it's a very well known company but if he doesn't make it right I'll let everybody know who he is. tomorrow will tell

At this point, all I can say is you're being way too patient yet I respect the fact that you're sticking to your word and not identifying the seller.

After tomorrow, if you're not taken care of, I would immediately post who the seller is and yes, contact the BBB, your credit card company, etc.

Normally, my advice would have been just expose this guy since he's already dicked you around enough to justify warning others about his company. Plain and simple, a reputable person would not be sending you your money back in $200 chunks via a method that dings you $30. To me, that's unacceptable. The only reason I'm saying wait until tomorrow is that at this point, you might as well to see what happens.

Again, after tomorrow, if he doesn't make things right, get serious and stop trying to protect him. Sometimes, taking that sort of action is what's needed to make you whole again... :whistle:

FWIW - BBB is useless.
Paypal shouldn't take more than 3% of your payment, so at most $6, review their policy.
Not on his side but you may want to wait til he pays you the remaining $100. chalk up the loss of $15 and your time, and move on. Who knows what issues this guy is dealing with or why he's doing this to you but keep trying to work it out with him.

If he doesn't give you back your money after a deadline you firmly set for him, file for a chargeback for the full amount you are still owed back ($100 + $15 or so for paypal funds) and move on.

I recommend Republic Motorwerks - Mert if you need a good shop in the local LA area.

ok, I told the guy that I started a thread and yesterday he sent me 140 which should cove rthe difference plus some of the paypal charges. the guy is Anthony Salazar, the manager of topstitch in LA and this is his webpage http://www.topstitchupholstery.net/.
I would be more than happy if you call him and ask him about everything I've told in this thread just so you hear his side of the story as he can't deny anything I've said.
I've been more than reasonable as I don't think any of you would've waited almost 5 months just to get a refund and never got to offend the manager of the shop you're dealing with.
btw, he told me he would still send the parts as a way of compensation but I won't hold my breath as I sent him a mail asking for a deadline and he didn't answer, and I obviously reckon that if he haven't make some parts that take 3 days to make in 5 months then it doesn't sound like he will make em now that he returned the money, but if he does, I will be the first to acknowledge compensation as it would make things right.
I gotta admit that the guy never lost his temper and wrote back mails in a decent manner, but what I find offensive is that he almost never wrote back-to the point that i had to send several times the same mail- and when he did, it was to give me excuses and promises that he didn't fulfill.
I know that some of you may have heard excellent things about this shop, so did I, to the point that I took my business to them eve though I'm very far away, but what I found was an experience completely different-in the worst way- to what I was expecting according to it's reputation.thanks guys for your precious support, I really appreciate it :twoup:

top stitch had that really bad complaint a few months back IIRC...search around and you'll see the rant the owner had regarding a customer...very unprofessional IMO....