Has anyone been able to get a hold of Randy for the last 3 weeks? I placed my first order from them and had not receive anything, no calls or product..
I've been lurking for about a month since I bought my new MCS..
I wanted to give you guys my feedback after the installations..

Thanks for reading my post.. I don't think I would do business with them again

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. This seems to be a problem that creeps up every now and then about Randy. He is really a great guy, has a lot of knowledge and stands behind his product. But with that said, it appears that at times he is very busy and he is only a one man shop (or maybe 2 man by now). So when he is out doing pulley parties or sick or something along those lines, there are often times no one available. You can try checking on his message board to see if he has posted if he was out. It is under the Garage link on his website.

 

Tell him to call me too ...Phil M

 

He is on the road, a lot. He was in the San Francisco Bay Area a week or so ago for a pulley pull and then was heading down to Las Vegas for the MINI thing there. I think that it is this weekend.

 

Yes AMVIV is this weekend and Randy is probably there. Give him a call starting Monday.

 

Yea,

Im having the same problem too. I'm still waiting for my package to arrive. It has been 2-3 weeks already. I'm starting to worry after a week he sent the package so I mailed him to ask about the shipping and etc. No reply at all, drop few mails but yet still no reply. I do understand that he is very busy and he's one man show but at least.... reply my mails so I don't have to feel worry every single day. This is not a good relationship..I hope he will improves this if he really wanna do business with us.

 

I have found that dealing with Randy can be frustrating to say the least.

Getting him on the phone can be a problem. Once you have him on the phone he is very knowledgable etc. I have asked him several times to get some help at least to answer the phone and do basic customer service like....where is my order?

That being said, he is a good guy and he does stand behind his work/products and he is pushing the edge for us. It costs a lot of money to make mistakes (read my posts) and Randy does a lot of the development for us (as others). I have also gone through periods where I talked to him 3 times a day during "critical" periods.

Bottom line, I think he needs a customer service person to help him. Randy, do you need a partner? I'm thinking of selling my business?

 

Randy has been a little slammed the past few weeks. He has several project cars in his shop at this time. He has hired 2 new guys to work with him,and is training them to do things. I have called a few times and have gotten no replies. He did get back to me in a email the other day. He's in Vegas this weekend. I would say try to get him on Tuesday. Very busy guy this time of year.

 

Be patient, I've got a order outstanding 3 weeks now but, he has done so much for the mini community that I'll hang in there. He is back in the shop on Tuesday. Frankly I don't know how he does it, he is too generous with his time($) and expertise ($) with phone questions, nevermind on the road helping get us all get up to speed at PPs, in-shop projects, new product development and raising 3 young kids...... and keeping his wife happy. Good guy all around. Hang in there!


Cheers,

 

xxx

 

While I agree with you 100% on fine work. Answering phones and basic customer service is another story. Randy does not personallly build each product that he sells, as you do. That being said, God bless the craftsman and artisans, they make the world so much more interesting

 

xxx

 

Onasled

Right on! Randy (to his detriment) is not an order taker looking to empty your pockets. Good objective advice in the tuner world is rare...

Cheers,

 

I agree as all do with Randy's expertise and being a fantastic asset to the Mini community, but this is a case where he needs to delegate some of the basic adminstrative stuff off to an assistant. Even if it's just a college kid or part time person who comes in for a few hours every afternoon to process/ship orders and sort e-mail and return basic customer service calls, i.e. did my order ship, when will it ship, tracking numbers,etc...

This would allow him to spend more time on technical phone support, product development, pulley parties, etc.. Personally i think it's unacceptable to have orders not ship for weeks (assuming product is in stock or in stock at his vendor's warehouse), lack of return phone calls, etc... and i believe that if there's a few complaints on the forums here there's more that aren't being stated from Mini owners at large. Imagine if you don't participate in the NAM forum but had come across WMS on a websearch or from a referal from a fellow Mini owner and called or e-mailed (perhaps several times) and received no response or very delayed response. I'm pretty sure you would head else where.

My limited personal experience with WMS has been similar to others. In fact I got Randy on the phone probably on second try. He was super informative, gave solid advice on recommendations on track prep for my car while juggling incoming phone lines and moving customer cars around in his garage. I thanked him for his time and told him in a month i would be placing an order in preparation for my 05 Cooper coming in. A month or so later I e-mail WMS requesting lead times on several items and asking how to go about arranging time for installation at upcoming pulley party in the Northeast and never heard anything back. At this point I started weighing my options and talked myself into going with the Works package.

I'm now, with spring approaching, going to be purchasing over the next few months a rear sway, possibly camber plates, and a BBK and will order these from WMS, but will allow plenty of leadtime before I actually need them.

There's plenty that I don't know about WMS business; profit margins, personality issues, etc... that may prevent addition of administrative help but over the past 8 months or so of primarily lurking on NAM I see a lot of references to very basic customer service issues with WMS that from the outside looking in seem like they could be solved fairly easily and would eliminate the only downside about doing business with WMS and it's not impossible to do... my neighbor to the south,Turner Motorsports does a pretty good job of providing good technical and peformance related advice (i.e. not just order takers) to the BMW community and provides good customer service and started in a similar fashion as a one man shop.

Back to lurking....

Tom Der
North Hampton, NH

2005 MCS Works
1991 M3
1990 535i

 

I agree WMS needs add'l help. I have ordered elsewhere due to the lack of response to emails, posts and calls. Randy is a great guy (he installed my pulley) and informative of all things MINI, he just needs help with filling orders, talking calls and responding to inquiries. When I have caught him, his help was priceless, however I'm inclined to shop with others due to the difficulty in reaching him either by phone, email or posting here or on his site.

Basically, it boils down to me being inpatient. When I decide to purchase something, it's usually a spontaneous thing. I want it as soon as possible. I've actually felt quilty when buying from other sponsers...

 

Randy's contribution to the MINI community has been invaluable. He is willing to spend the time to help each and every one of us on our individual MINIs - if he could.

I, too, feel for Randy having been in business for myself. Many of his ventures rarely gain him a penny. If only there were a way to put a dollar amount on his research and contributions: "How To" posts, consultations on the phone, and his now famous "Pulley Partys".

I'm sure Randy enjoys his wrenching, testing and track time over consulting the umpteenth customer on what size reduction pulley to install. He could delegate this task (amongst many other tasks) to a trusted associate to free up his time.

Keep up the good work Randy

 

I've probably spent over $5K on mods - all from Randy - and I have no complaints with his customer service.

Onasled hit the nail on the head - hiring some administrative help is not going to satisfy my need to talk to him when I need his opinion or his advice. There is no mod so important that I can't wait a little bit.

It's not like he's ducking your calls - if he isn't answering the phone it means he's giving another one of us his time.

Give him some time to get back from Vegas and check up on his messages - I guarantee he'll make things right.

 

Randy is a wonderful resource of knowledge on the MINI, and given how generous he is in the giving of his time to others, he can be tough to reach. Heck, if he wasn't the above, the demand for him wouldn't be what it is... Throw-in his hectic schedule, patience is sometimes needed, but I've always found it to be well worth it!

 

Not only did Randy return my calls and email me with answers, he rushed shipped my brake kit with no questions asked. Was I unreasonable with my rush shipment request, sure I was. Did he take care of me anyways and help me decide not to spend additional funds on parts I didn't need, ya he did that to. His great attitude and willingness to satisfy his customers makes me realize that if I can't get him on the phone its because he is helping someone else like me.

Don't have any problem with that.

 

Oh Randy, when am I getting my Springs??

 

When I got my H-sports and pully, he processed the order from the road! I was left hanging for a few days (and I HATE delayed gratification), but he did call and e-mail when he had time. Took the time to have the stuff shipped from his suppliers so I could get the parts while he was still on the road.

Now, don't get jelous, I'm not a "special customer", it's just how the timing worked out. If you think Randy is worth supporting, patience and a few suggestive comments in private are probably the best investment in his growth that anyone could offer. Success has it's challenges, and he's facing his.

Matt

 

Hey, I like the guy. I have spent over $10K with him and I asked him if he needed a partner. When your good everyone wants you. It's like going to dinner at your favorite spot only to find out it's everyone elses favorite spot.....so you have to wait. Doesn't mean you like it

 

I'd totally work part time for randy for crap pay, except I live in crap ohio, and i think his shop is in colorado.

Why would I do this?
low standards? yes.

but more importantly, Randy is one of those rare people who wants to do good things and will forego profit to make things right. In fact, I think i shafted him out of something like $150, and he still had the integrity to email me later telling me thank you for my business and that he apologized for the inconvenience (ok, it was due to a minor organizational mistake on randy's part, but back to the point).

remember how karate kid wanted to learn karate, but had to put up with some of the weird and foreign crap that mr. miyagi put him through? but he did anyways, and eventually somehow learned karate from painting fences and washing cars? And in the end, karate kid got the girl and learned karate and earned respect and popularity? well, dealing with randy is something like that, minus the girls, popularity, and a free car. ok, you probably wont earn or gain any of that stuff, but you'll be working with the "best in the business" (though chuck norris could totally kick mr. miyagi's ***). my opinion, of course.

 

Great post for starting my day.

I too have been "lurking" on NAM and exchanged a couple emails with Randy Webb. His responses displayed a commitment to craft that is rare these days. If my MINI were my only car and also out of commission while waiting for Randy I might be anxious. For such service I would go elsewhere. But if I am waiting for a performance enhancement and can still drive my car I would not mind. Supporting first rate businesses that also contribute to others is worth such minor inconveniences.

After all, folks were trained by BMW in the zen of patience when they first ordered their MINIs.

 

Is he back yet?:smile: