First let me preface this post stating I have purchased hundreds of dollars worth of parts from Way for both my MINI and other MINI owners. Always cordial on the phone, literally talk your ear off about MINI modding....IMO he has the practical application experience having owned/tracked MINI's in the past, including but not limited to two GP's. A GP1 and now a GP2. I have personally refer folks to him all the time for parts and those wanting engine and DME tweaking, especially those with a GP2 as I feel he can be trusted to not go beyond the practical limits of the engine for the sake of huge HP numbers to bolster a tuning career. That is not what he is all about. That said, I just wish their "customer service" was as cutting edge.

Often times I have clients who want aftermarket products installed at our MINI shop and over the last 5 years Way Motor Works is the first place I go/refer. To facilitate our clients I pay his full retail price using my personal credit card and once those parts are billed out and installed in the customers MINI, I receive reimbursements week later from my office. It's more accommodating for our clients and assures that the correct part is ordered/received. I don't mark up the price of the part to the customer. I figure that loss is tuition paid to a guy who has done some of the leg work ahead of time for us so we don't have to. So I get no profit from his parts installed, just the satisfaction of a happy MINI owner.

Case in point. In April we had a customer wanting a JCW Brake kit for his R53. There was one kit left in a MINI warehouse in CA. It had the newer part number for the R56's and marked up the extra $900.00 over the former R53 kit, but it's the kit that would fit, and the client wanted it installed. The client also wanted a set of braided brake lines installed the same time, this is where Way Motors Works comes in.

In my usual fashion, On April 6th I call up Way's web site, make the order on my CC'd for the Braided Brake Line kit and package arrived a few days later. Few more days later, the JCW kit arrives from California, we open the kit and the box had already been opened at some point before we received it...not by itself odd, but the contents in the box had greasy hands all over it. This JCW kit was actually the CORES left over from another customer who had purchased the actual kit !! Bummer, now had to call the client stating the JCW kit was not a kit at all, and he was out of luck. I gave him other options for non-oem kits from Way's web site. Meantime we obviously had no use for the R53 brake line kit from Way so we returned the braided brake lines back to Way's shop via FEDEX with a tracking number. It was singed for on 4/30 - 24 days ago. To date I have yet to receive a refund.

I know how long it takes to process a credit card refund through CENPROS. We do it....With the reference number stored in the system about 30 seconds. This is 2015 Way, not 1980....I phoned Way's shop on several occasions, each time a very friendly gal answers. First time she states, "They were at the Dragon ( 28th - 3rd May) and they are backed up, that they are a small shop/business and must have been signed for by an employee there." Ok, no problem. And at least twice the words "small shop" came up. I am put on hold for 5 minutes while fending off calls coming in to me ( meantime I don't have an administrative assistant to answer my calls ) and she finally comes back saying she's unable to locate the package ?? I provide the tracking number and date of delivery. She says she will look for it - reiterating the "small shop phrase again".... That night I send Way a Private Message here in NAM asking that he look into it for me.

Days later, crickets... I call their shop again. She says no progress made, still no refund. If it's such a "small shop" where the hell could the package be???? Days later....crickets. More days later I check my bank account, still no refund posted....

I check my NAM private messages to see if maybe Way sent me response there, and still nothing back from Way....( Odd though, we communicate here often enough on other occasions, just nothing back on an issue not related to a reported post or other complaint of his.... )

And before he chimes in here, yes I can read Way....I've read your refund policy. You reserve the right to "hold back" on refunds for 30 days AND charge a 20% restocking fee. But between referrals for folks who I know made orders after you and I both spoke on the phone, and the parts I've purchased installed by us, not to mention all the parts I've purchased from you in the past, one would expect more personal service. I'm not asking for any special treatment here but a smidgen of FREAKIN Professional Courtesy would be nice !

So maybe, IF they find the package......then after all the shipping and their restocking fee I'll get back $50 dollars of the $106.00 I gave him to accommodate a fellow MINI Modding / Motoring enthusiast / client of both of ours, I'm out $66.00 for trying to be a nice guy. Or maybe not. Maybe that package will never turn up in that vast "small shop of theirs ".

Just made another history check of my bank account....crickets.

Thanks for the Professional Courtesy Way Way Motor Works !

 

Bump to just prove to WAYMOTORWORKS FOLKS ARE READING THIS....
shame google is indexing it as we speak....hate to see this become the the #1 post if folks serch for WAYMOTORWORKS.COM
Shocking....
And I will vouch for the OP.
He is not a scammer. Sounds like somebody in waymotorworks messed up...and is hiding it from the management.

 

No different then the way I feel about NAM executives. Moderator Grey raven will be the only one that understands this. Still no word from them.

 

Hate to say this....
But I WILL CROSS POST THIS ON OTHER BOARDS SOON if waymotorworks.com does not respond....
Knowing grayraven personally, I can state he would never make dirty laundry public unless all other avenues were already dead ends.....

Oh yeah...
A bump too..gotta make sure it is at the top of the list, and making sure this thread gets indexed by Google...

 

P.S.
IF WAYMOTORWORKS charges a 20% restocking fee on what amount to BUSINESS TO business SALE AT FULL PRICE...when they normally would have given a heafty discount, say 20% is troublesome...
Something does not smell right here....
And like I stated, I know and VOUCH for Grayraven.....if waymotorworks got ripped off, look in your shop..
Funny how the parts department of most MINI dealers is SMALLER than waymotorworks and you proclaim "we are just a small shop"... Ouch.....two parts folks, a computer, and some shelves...
The fact GRAYRAVEN did this on behalf of a 3rd party while doing his DAY JOB, says lots about his reputation in the area and his dealership....
Most independently owned/run shops should be thrilled a dealer is buying parts at FULL PRICE And Offering your products to their customers.... Sounds like a slow motion train wreck...
Time to fix it...

 

I have good respect for both of you, but I do wonder a few things. First, if you order so much from WMW, have you considered approaching him about a vendor to vendor purchasing agreement that would benefit the both of you? (something along the lines of giving you better than retail pricing in exchange for WMW being sole or at least preferred distributor for parts) And second, if you have worked/spoken with Way a decent amount in the past, I would expect there to at least be a much better line of communication between the two of you than what it sounds like. It seems like if you had his own personal contact info, this situation could have been resolved much better for the both of you. I think unfortunately in this modern age of texting, email and online ordering, we lose our urge for person to person interaction. I fall victim to this all the time, choosing email-based customer service over calling in an issue directly. Not that you haven't called direct, but again, this is where having Way's number would be key.

 

The final resolution of this issues isn't even important. The fact that it got to this stage certainly is. $100 or so in returns is a pretty small amount of money to blow your reputation over.

Fixing cars and selling parts over the internet are two different business models. Pick one and do it right or hire someone to take care of the one that you aren't servicing correctly. The trend in the last several years in retail has become take anything back from the customer, no questions asked. If you can't stomach that without all sorts of excuses you don't belong in the internet sales business.


btw - I purchased one item from Way, no issues so no experience with returns, etc. Doubtful that I would ever purchase again based upon this post unless they presented to the community that they are revamping return procedures.

 

I'm unimpressed that GR choose to vent his problem here.

childish IMO .....

You have a business to business issue ... deal with it in a business like manner.

Don't whine on a web page.

I've bought from WAY and would continue to, this thread notwithstanding.

'cept I don't own a MINI anymore ......

FOCUS ST stomps MINI a**

 

Did you even read the first post?

A purchase agreement when Way can't even process a simple return/refund?

If you don't have a MINI then go away...with your focus st...and you shouldn't generalize all MINIs in that statement...remember, no matter how fast (you think) your car is, there is always one that's faster.

Did you read the first post?
Don't post just to talk **** about gray-raven...he's one of the most stand up guys I know.

 

Way won't put this up here because it is my business and he isn't going to put it out there.
I messed up my daily driver by messing up the super charger. I'm pretty sure he can show you a picture of it and you'll get a chuckle out of it.
Anyway I called up Jason from Way Motor Works in a state of panic. Without a car I can not get into my job. See I'm in the Army and I do not really have the option to miss work.
Way and Jason both spent the good part of the day working on my car. So instead of processing your return he was working on my car. He said he was going to help out a Soldier on Memorial Day weekend.
That is the truth in the story. That is the type of guy you're talking badly about. A guy that opens his shop on a Sunday to help out a guy in need.
Sorry man but you're out of line as both Way and Jason are both respectable guys and they are not going to cheat you.
I saw what you posted and joined just to let you know what he was doing. It was pulling parts and fixing my ride.

 

Ok...fair enough...we excuse him for today...what about the other 30 days he has had the returned parts that were signed for by someone at his shop on 4/30/15 with no reply, response or refund? There's no excuse for that, sorry.

 

Pretty sure that would be 25 days. I'm not here to get in an Internet arguement over this stuff. I just don't like it when people bash a good guy.

 

I did read it in fact. It's just that I choose to believe the fault lies somewhere between the both of them. These are two businesses that probably should have been in better communication to avoid issues like this.

 

I rounded up...I'm sure it will be 30 days or more before the refund gets credited to Gray Raven.
How good of a guy if he doesn't reply or respond to any of Gray Raven's attempts to contact him?
The fault lies with Way Motor Works.

 

RESPECT
When posting, both members and vendors must ALWAYS be respectful of fellow members and vendors. Personal attacks, trolling/baiting, deliberate antagonizing, and flaming will not be tolerated. If you feel you are being attacked, report the post or private message rather than replying or flaming back. However, do not use the report bad post feature to "cry wolf" when you are in fact the instigator of the demise of a discussion. Doing so will result in an infraction or strike.

This site gets a little worse everyday.

 

Long story short -- about a year ago I ordered a wing from way and paid up front as is customary. Several months went by without any contact from Way as to why he couldn't deliver and wouldn't say anything other than "it's a small shop". I got my refund and a lesson also. I know gReYrAvEn personally and will stand with him. There are other suppliers out there also looking for my business.


ISAMIN

 

I agree, a moderator such as grayraven should know better.

 

Stuff like this makes me wonder why anyone would want to be a supporting vendor.

 

But it is NOT A BUSINESS TO BUSINESS issue...
It was a FULL PRICE RETAIL SALE that the op put on his personal credit card cause his dealership doesn't have a account with waymotorworks.... It was a FULL PRICE RETAIL SALE that the op made on behalf of his customers.
The op is not asking for anymore that what is due to him, a prompt refund according to the stores rules. It is obvious that he would like the PROFESSIONAL CURTSEY of not getting hit with the restocking fee due to the situation outlined.
But the issue here is waymotorworks has not even made the effort to process the refund, even with other contacts... Maybe the box/paperwork got misplaced? Either way, when a vendor OWES YOU MONEY, and all other avenues don't work, what do you do?
YOU CALL THE VENDOR OUT IN PUBLIC. Public shaming works...most every news station on TV has a version of it, and most every vendor has a few threads of folks with issues...
Why should a moderator, who WORKS FOR FREE TO HELP EVERYBODY HERE be treated any different? He is not asking for special treatment, just what is due to him.
NOBODY BURNS BRIDGES IN A SMALL INDUSTRY unless they have a damm too reason. The OP feels betrayed and wronged. Frankly, I would too. He puts his own $$ on the line to help someone, ensuring waymotorworks.com makes more than they would on a business to business sale, and he can't even get the 75% of his money back that is guaranteed by waymotorworks.com OWN POLICY.
ITS A SHAME...an individual who steers thousands of $$$ to a vendor here in FULL PRICE SALES, and the vendor screws him. Think about it?
Is the vendor terrible? IMO, no. He always did great by me. Is he having an issue with some employees? Or cash flow issues? Perhaps. Nobody know. Did the dragon trip result in a backlog of paperwork, and MAYBE A WAYMOTORWORKS. COM EMPLOYEE PUT Grayraven's paperwork off to the side in hopes of getting the restocking fee waived? I hope so....

 

All BS aside. I would wait till day 30. If the refund isn't issued, then file a dispute with the credit card\bank. Good Luck

 

Why shouldn't a Mod have to follow the sites rules? If someone else did this it would be an instant strike against them. This site has turned into nothing more than a small clique of people saying and doing whatever they want. He should wait the 30 days and then file a complaint with the credit card company. Bashing someone in a public forum does nothing more then set you up for a Libel suit.

 

I read this early Sunday and actually chose not to respond. This is a no win situation for me. I have a moderator of a forum I pay to advertise on instigating negativity toward my business . If I respond and everyone continues to circle the wagons and get the pitchforks it will continue to bash my business. Not responding makes it look as if I'm not affected by this post. Most people that read this will only read the first post, so I've already lost. If I try to defend myself by explaining it just opens up to the ones already against me. So again it's a no win situation.

Honestly this thread has blindsided me. He has not called me directly in the last few weeks. When he talked to my secretary he was very pleasant, never asked to speak to me, and never seemed upset or expressed concern that he wouldn't get a refund. The email I received on Sunday hours before this post was started still had no complaint or concern just simply asked if I had an update. Since he had ordered from us several times before I knew he was familiar our process and procedures, so I had no reason to believe he had an issue with our return policy.

FYI, I sent him an email PRIOR to him making this post and said I would be processing it on Memorial day because we would closed and that is a catch up day for me. I did process it as I said I would and in less than the 30 day period. No one tried to steal or hide his parts, nor did we try to cheat him out of anything. Our manual process and May being busy time just caused it to take closer to 30 days rather than less. We've made no other promises and no ill intent was put toward him or his order.

If anyone needs more details on our return procedure or this situation feel free to call me directly at the shop. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has.

We never refunded you, because we never charged you. We wouldn't charge you because the part was backordered. Our backorder policy is to not charge any back ordered item until we have it ready to ship and reconfirm the order with the customer.

 

Good response Way.

 

Once again, bashing someone for no reason. Honestly Way, I am not sure how you put up with it.

 

I have bought many things from Way and he is a stand up guy. This thread


is one reason I spend more time at that OTHER site.