Strange Engineering

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by Dragsinger

Some Wednesday morning thoughts in ref to service and products.

Personal service is well noted with me because of being a business owner and customer. With any business transaction, I notice the service I receive. A pleasant, polite, respectful experience is always my desire, and when received, itis muchly appreciated. The thing is, if I do not pay attention, I can easily slip into my "entitlement" mode. I can easily think I am important; after all, I owned and operated a successful business for 48 years, civically active, a board trustee for Kilgore College, and have earned respect from my peers. [tonge in cheek]

On the other hand, I consider the product I am buying. Sometimes I overlook less than ideal service if the product is what I expected.

Think about the other side of the sales counter. Has that person had a stressful customer just before you? Has the salesperson had to deal with a rude customer who did not know what he wanted? Does the salesperson have a sick child or spouse?

In my mature years, I have learned to be more tolerant of things. I do not like poor service, but it seems a business transaction that can focus on the complete transaction if you are pleased with the product.

In summary, after having ordered, installed, raced, and sold Strange products for 30 + years, I remain happy and remain a loyal customer.

OK, I'll bite. First off, I have no issue with products from Strange, over the years I have made numerous purchases from them for shocks, struts, 3rd members, axles, brakes and more. My issue specifically is their customer service specifically over the phone. This is not the first time I have got off the phone pissed off at the way I was treated by their customer service, I had the exact same experience with them last year but here is my most recent experience. I noticed that Strange was having a sale over the next few days so decided to purchase some parts for an upcoming project. Among other items I needed a set of the long stroke FWD conversion struts. I wanted to duplicate exactly what I had previously purchased from them which deviates from their normal package and, as I couldn't seem to get their online contact to work, I called instead. What I needed was to substitute the medium brake package for the heavy duty units, I needed a lighter spring than was listed and I needed the struts revalved. Initially, he told me that this couldn't be done, I told him that they had done this for me in the past and I could send him a photo to prove it. He then recalculated the price which resulted in a higher price than the list price on their website. I asked how it would cost more to put the heavy duty brake parts back on the shelf and give me a less expensive part. I figured so be it, go ahead and shut up and proceed with the order. I then asked how I proceed with the order as I was not able to get their online order form to work (it didn't work for me last year either), if nothing else give me an email address and I will outline the specifics. He said I can't have the discount unless I order it online. At this point, I'm getting pissed. First off you tell me that I apparently don't have the struts that I do have, then you want to charge me more for a less expensive part, lastly you tell me that I can't have the sale price because your website doesn't work properly.

And after all this you want to imply that I have an attitude?