I absolutely agree with Mark. I've been in business myself for over 7 years, and if my customers received the same type of service that I've received from several vendors on this site, I don't believe I would be in business very long. As with any online business (and any business for that matter), customer service should always be your absolute priority. Communication is key, even if you cannot ship a product out immediately. I find that customers are much more patient when they receive continual updates on their order, even if a delay is present (that's all that I ask for myself). Not to mention that e-mail communication is also key with any online business. Why is it so hard to answer an e-mail the first time around? Why should I have to send 3 e-mails just to get an update on my order? But anyway, that said, it only takes one mistake to lose a customer for life.....

-Justyn

 

Long story not-so-short:

I've been in business for 18 years, and on the road five days a week for 15 of it. I am lucky in that I have 18 partners to carry my load and a support staff of over 300 full time employees dedicated solely to what I would term customer service in my field.

The company I am an part-owner of is the 19th largest of its type in the world. And I will never, repeat never, attempt to give business advice to someone unless I completely and fully understand all of the ins and outs of the business that they are in.

Running a business from the road is a pain in the a$$. Randy's business isn't about supplying cupholders and replacement visors, it's about providing and installing high-performance car parts where people are constantly asking for advice.

The Mini business is not lucrative enough for nearly any of these vendors to hire a support staff. Some vendors are lucky enough to be located in large Metro areas where they do not need to travel to do business and others do not travel at all but supply parts.

Webb is not in an geographical area that will completely support the wrenching side of things, so he has diversified. The business is not lucrative enough to hire full time help and even if it was, people want to talk to Randy.

The allure of WMS has always been that part of the ordering process meant that you could not only talk to Randy, but ask him advice and also run the chance of getting him to install the parts on your car. Can any of you honestly claim that there is another person who you would rather work on your Mini? Or whose advice pertaining to these cars you would trust more?

Trying to lecture or give advice on how he should run his business may be well intentioned, but it's really pointless. We aren't in his business and we can't compare him to other vendors.

Half of the gripes over the last three years have focused on him not being available to talk to - the other his inability to send out orders in a timely manner. People can't reasonably expect him to be able to do both, and wrench and travel and test products and develop products.

Acting as if he is personally slighting you is silly. Airing your gripes on this forum is harmful. If he's upset you, fine, deal with it and move on.

While you are posting on how your CAI took five weeks to be sent out, he was out travelling over 7K miles installing parts and giving free advice to other happy customers.

While we are debating how he should run his business, alot of our cars are prematurely rusting, some are catching fire (for reasons completely known to the manufacturer) and our body and engine harnesses are failing.

Why not focus our frustration on these issues instead of repeatedly dragging Randy out to dissect his business?

 

Really, I've had my car in 5 times to get the drop feature "fixed".
It once again doesn't drop when I open the door and now my drivers door doesn't unlock from the fob.


It's all Randy's fault

 

What "drop" feature what the heck are you talking about?

 

Probably referring to the window drop when you open the door.
So much for behaving.

 

I think he is being sarcastic

 

Sarcasm - a taunting or caustic remark...generally ironical.....that sarcasm..... Oh

 

I'm quoting this post because it's the best one in a very long time.

Skiploder, you are such a fancy typer.

 

Skiploder you are SO right

Folks will bash the guy who's possibly single-handedly done most for the MINI performance & tuning community... But they'll let MINI off the hook for major issues.

Seems folks just can't resist the urge to kick someone (anyone) when that someone is vulnerable.

 

Randy is not a fast food restaurant account executive. For that matter he is not a "sales associate". Webb Motorsports exists to serve those who still appreciate a face at the other end of the phone. Yes, you can get a better price on those doodads if you shop the "other sources".

If you still enjoy a company that is OLDE School... Webb Motorsports is for you. If you drive five miles to save a few pennies on fuel...you probably should try some other vendor.

If you drive a MINI ... you are different ... and the best person for general information I have found is Randy Webb ... and he is unique.

My family and I will continue to support Webb Motorsports. If you have met Randy and Company, you will also... don't quit ordering until you see the reorg in process at Webb Motorsports.

 

Perhaps those not wanting to wait for Randy should order their parts here. I’m sure you would get them real fast, but you would be on your own to figure out how to make them work.

 

Don't get me wrong here but let's not forget about Eric @ Helix.
Lest we forget the 15% was invented there.
Well...not really invented but you know what I mean


Oh!! That reminds me.....

Eric, where the heck is my Dekka and carrier??

 

Geez....
No answer yet

I'm taking my money somewhere else.



It's called sarcasm folks

 

What "tax free" cash?

 

You're forgetting the gripes that focus on him not doing simple things like setting up his e-mail account to bounce back a message about how he's out of town, if he's not going to be answering messages for a month. Or having somebody (ANYbody) checking voicemails at the shop and at least giving people a 30-second heads up that there's a delay with their order, and that they'll need to wait a week, a month, whatever before WMS has time to help them. Maybe even just putting a disclaimer of some sort on the ordering page, that things might not ship out immediately. As others have posted, it's amazing how patient people can be when they're given even the smallest token of acknowledgment and respect.

It's the only way that some people (like bgrpph) have managed to get a response from WMS.

Bottom line is that WMS is clearly one of the best companies in the world for racers and other serious modders who need to know about how certain parts are going to work with and respond to each other, etc. That kind of advice is worth waiting for, because you simply aren't going to get it anywhere else. Same goes for the parts that WMS has developed themselves.

But for someone like me, who maybe just wants a swaybar or an intake and decides to give Randy the business as thanks for all of the valuable how-to's and other information that he's given out for free here, to have no response to e-mails and voicemails for a month (after my credit card ha been charged) is a bit much to put up with with no prior warning. I wouldn't have minded waiting a month if I knew there was a reason, but to have no idea what was going on was aggravating. It finally took disputing the charge with my credit card company for WMS to give me a call, and by that time I was well past being interested in an explanation.

I know there's not a lot of margin on $100-$200 parts, but if WMS doesn't want to provide adequate customer service for these people, they shouldn't be in the business of point-and-click ordering. We shouldn't have to come onto NAM and play "Where's Randy?" to find out what's up.

 

I don't know where Randy is. I really wanted to ask him a question about headers before ordering them but since he was "out" I ended up ordering them anyway.

I ordered them yesterday and told James (I think) that I NEEDED them today. He said he would check and when I talked to him later he said they were on the way. I called this am for a tracking number and as his line rang the first ring the doorbell rang and, "UPS" was heard. There they were nice and early.

Great job, but I still would have liked to have 23 seconds of Randy's time to ask him about the purchase prior to doing it.

Earl

 

Earl is a great example of how somethings DO work here at Webb Motorsports. Sorry I wasn't able to talk with you though - I like talking with folks.

I apologize very sincerely for the problems listed above. They are legitimate issues, and while I work very hard to right all of them, the truth is we just havn't had the resources to deal with everything.

As most of you know, I made a long vendor announcement saying and explaining that I was ending racing and pulley parties to tend to the business. I am, and we are trying to remedy all ills. It will take a while to do that, but we will certainly prevail.

Here is what happened this month:

I ended last month in Boston at the last pulley party on the east coast, then flew back to Denver on May 1. I drove to LA with Brian for the last pulley party there May 6 and 7, then drove back to do three local installs before leaving to drive to Chicago (where I also did two White Roof Radio broadcasts) for a Thursday install day that went from 8:00am to 3:30am and woke again to do two more installs at 8:00 and 9:00am before driving to Cincinatti to do two full days at the last pulley party Saturday and Sunday east of the Mississippi. I returned on the 23rd, did a Stage 1 and a pulley and CAI on the 24th, a swaybar and light bar on the 25th, then drove that afternoon to get to the Bay Area with Brian, where we did the last pulley party ever. I just got back.

Factor in that James and Rich have been at the shop, but we have a dual line here, and once they are both taken, it rolls to voicemail. We end the day with 30 or so messages from that happening. If you guess that each of those calls would take 5-10 minutes to answer (which is reasonable when I call folks back), if the phone never rang it would take 4 or so hours of just returning calls. We also receive over 100 emails per day, as well as numerous PMs on both NAM and our own site. We also have to tend to our forums, as well as this one.

You can see why technology doesn't necessarily help - in fact it makes it harder!

We are trying out different phone solutions, and hiring a full time office manager. I am going to be here much more often now, and until January, we are just about done with all but the exhaust testing.

I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE REMAINED LOYAL AND HAVE BEEN PATIENT REALIZING ALL OF THE MENTIONED ISSUES WE DEAL WITH DAILY.

For those of you who have problems with our business, I truly understand. I am working on it.

Now I will do a small rant that is probably not going to help me at all, but needs to be said - and those of you who know me know that I am very loathe to make any kind of post that may be considered offensive.

My family is my most important priority, and I have gone out of my way to take care of everyone in this community, sometimes at the cost of my family. I have gone through this great roller coaster of the last few years with some private matters while dealing with my customers too. Those issues have given me insight into true problems - relationships, health, etc. If you have such a great life that getting a part in a timely manner is all you need to worry about, I envy you. There are so many other things tht are so much more important. I will not sacrifice those things to give great customer service.

All that said, obviously my business is a very high priority, and the changes we are making are all for customer service. We will improve.

Thank you for all of your support once again, and I look forward to taking care of my current and future customers. Our products AND service will only continue to get better as we figure out how to handle phone and emails the most efficient way possible.

If you have serious concerns about reaching me and feel like I am lounging about my house instead of working somewhere else in the community, please feel free to contact me at home as well. I am certainly not trying to avoid anyone or intentionally upset any of my customers.

Hope that helps explain and satisfy - if not, post more and I will address as I can. I am certainly willing to take suggestions as well - the email bounce thing is great - how?

Randy Webb
720-841-1002 Cell
720-344-0210 Home
303-683-4424 Shop
randy@webbmotorsports.com Email

 

That should be the end of this discussion.

Time to move on and let Randy run his business

 

I think that this is only human and really admirable. . I personally understand this completely and would hope for that you could keep your committment to your family. Good for you having the discipline and good nature necessary to be a good dad/husband .

It's sad that you have to quit racing, but I'm happy that you will be able to get a handle on your growth. I think that anyone can appreciate the guts that it took to stop doing somehting you love. Best of luck, from Wellington.

PS: Lemme know if you're ever in town!

 

A pm to Brian this morning got immediate response.Thanks Brian. My situation is that the shoe is on the other foot: Randy actually owes ME money!!!(it's usually the other way around)LOL. I'll be interested to see if I get paid as promised (it's been since April 29 and Randy, I know you know the importance of being paid in a timely fashion). Welcome home Randy, How're the wife and kids? Burning the candle at both ends usually results in some one getting burned. JH

 

Great response from Randy For what it's worth I have two suggestions that IMO will keep most customers happy while allowing Randy to have less work interruptions:

1. As long as WMS provides the value addeed services that we all want, raise your prices. Randy has talked me out of many mods which in the long run has saved me a ton of money. If I can talk to Randy about a purchase I would not mind spending more on the product.

2. Update the FAQ on the WMS website to include the top frequently asked questions.

Just my $0.02 x 2

 

TIme to lock this one moderators, please!

 

Ib4tl!

 

x2

 

Randy,
Are you asking for the Big "D"? I do not know you or your wife! But you are NUTS!!! You may not be the best business man out there, but you must be trying very hard to give out your home number! (sorry just my .02 cents.)

Good Luck!
Randy