Way Motorworks: Is there something I'm missing?
 

This morning I called Way Motorworks and got the owner on the phone. Now I've seen a number of threads on this board where Way Motorworks was mentioned, and chimed in with great technical data, including a few times where they've said "just call us for info and we'll be glad to help". My experience with them this morning was anything but that experience. My questions were met with "I don't have the time or energy to research those kinds of things", and that phrase was repeated a number of times.

Now, I may be new to Mini's, but I'm not new to customer service, and certainly not new to building a nationally competitive autocross car. I'm just at the beginning of my STX build, which will eventually require at least 5 figures of upgrades to my 07 MCS. I'm not afraid to spend money on it, but I'm not willing to hand my money over to a vendor who I feel is "put out" by answering a few questions for me.

I fully understand that people get busy, and people have off days and you catch them at a bad time. So, I'm willing to let this go as one of those two instances. Has anyone else had an experience like this?

It just seems like, in 2014, with the advent of social media, anyone in a customer facing business has to be especially careful to curate their reputation.

Thanks.

They just spent all last week with a large crew at the Dragon doing installations and sales, so maybe they had a reduced staff at home base, or were recovering from the drive home. Try again later?

Curious, what were your questions?

This ^

A good salesman can identify a "talker" as opposed to a buyer.....
Your thread even points to this....(I am about to spend $$ on a 5 figure upgrade.....but what have you actually done?).
Waymotorworks has a great technical support background....but unless you are paying by the hour for assistance, you need to cut to the chase and ask....order, and ask the next question...
You are dealing with a professional mechanic, racecar driver, and shop owner....some folks BS too much.....he is not there to teach you the basic stuff...but help you decide between two comparable products or where the most effective place to put your mod money....

I’ve had nothing but great service from Way. Social media is about 80% complainers and about 20% praise. I can’t wait for this so called “tech” boom 2.0 to go bust.

P.S.
How many times did you state you run a podcast....may be imply a discount was needed?? To get better PR? folks can try some pretty brazen stuff....

+1
All talkers....posers....but very few spenders....
Folks who pontificate and socialize like at a party....and expect to get paid!! Lol.
Some have gotten rich....but when marketing determines the add clicks on social media sites are accidental clicks and not engaged readers....ouch...the crash is a coming!!!

Carping about 'poor service' where expectations have absolutely no alignment with reality is exactly what ran Aesthetic Creations away. Irritating as he!! just like a previous thread last week while Way was actually at MOTD.

Someone once showed me a unity equation where; Happiness = Expectations / Reality. This forum would be a lot happier place of more folk could bring those two numbers closer together.

My question, specifically, is if they had the ability to pair springs with custom spring rates to a set of koni yellows. The entire conversation lasted 4 minutes and 13 seconds. Again, I know the difference between being a window shopper and asking for specific information.

And no, I didn't mention the podcast or a discount, lol.

I was trying to make the decision if I wanted to jump into a set of coil overs right now or test the car with different spring rates with a known "constant" ( I've raced with koni yellows for a long time and know how they adjust/ perform) while I get the feel for this new car.

Because I'd seen so many posts that were like "call us to help you set up your race mini" I didn't find that question to be absurd. I'm looking for a good resource to help build this car out, not be made to feel like I imposed on a business by picking up the phone and asking them a question before I drop $1-$4k on shocks and springs.

I don't appreciate the indictment that we're starting from the baseline that I'm in the wrong here. Nor the "what have you already done"?. To answer your question, I've had the car for exactly 2 weeks, and put a set of RSe05's (purchased directly from Neuspeed), a set of Direzza DII's (from Tirerack), and a hotchkis H SPORT comp sway bar ( from Way Motorworks). That's about 2k of upgrades in 2 weeks for a car I just bought. I'm now researching and purchasing the next step, which is suspension. I've done exhaustive research on this (and other) boards, but since there are exactly *2* guys out there that are building competitive STX cars out there, I didn't have a lot to go on. So I called a *vendor* that has asserted a number of times to "call us and we'll help you sort out your race build". Again, not an absurd premise, as that's how this thing usually works.

But I assure you Zippy, I'm
Anything but a window shopper. And if it were a run of the mill "car guy with some attitude" conversation, I wouldn't have said anything. But it was extraordinarily rude. So I did.

What you really mean...anyone in a customer facing business has to be especially careful because people like you will try to harm their reputation on social media.

The Way Motor Works guys are straight shooters, to the point, and an asset to the MINI community.

Sound harsh, but maybe you should try to reconnect directly because you will likely get better results...

I'm not trying to harm anyone. I'm just asking a question. And I believe that they are an asset...and am not judging the entire business based on one guys actions. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the dude was just having a bad day. I don't know who else works there.

Your positive you spoke to Way, and not somebody else? I have had nothing but great experiences with him and his company. If it was him I would say give him another chance, it had to be a bad day or something. I ordered a brake kit once and he personally called me up and told me that the other kit was on sale, and that I could save $200 if I switched. They were almost identical, just a different brand of rotors. Because of that they are now my go-to place for parts.

People seemed to have skipped this very important paragraph. I was simply asking if this was an anomaly and I caught the guy at a bad time, or this was par for the course. It seems like they've done well by many on the forum, so that's good enough for me. No harm, no foul.

I would PM Way your scenario and questions. I've dealt with him with a few items and he's always been helpful.
Greg

Exactly how I read the op....
Some folks are very brazen about saying give me a discount or else...etc...
There have even been folks who scammed shippers of products here posting to complain about issues with getting further shipments (sorry folks in Canada, but it happened a lot... And very little recourse... Heck the same folks sometimes try to scam multiple vendors...they do talk even though they compete)...
Maybe you got wmw at a bad time...heck the fact you have what I refer to as "link bait" in you signature makes folks wonder your intentions....
Sure we do come out swinging...sometimes prematurely perhaps, but some vendors are a true asset and some us tire of hearing folks try to strongarm them. If you state you had no intentions of trying to do so that OK.

I don't think you caught him on an off day. He just got back from the dragon, but you have to remember we are ALL calling him and he can't spend a ton of time talking to us.

I've spent a little money with Way, but not enough to keep him on the phone answering questions. I had a LOT of questions about his tune and waited until I had money in hand before asking my questions. I ended up going with a different tuner, but I was very appreciative of the 10-15 minutes he spent on the phone with me about the details.

As a result, Way has earned my repeated (although small) business as well as my constant recommendation.

If you do end up dropping tens of thousands with the man, expect his chit chat time. Otherwise... that's why NAM exists.

I'm actually in the same boat as you (although on a much smaller scale) because I'm about to buy all my 90K maintenance parts from Way and I don't know if I'm better off with stock spark plugs or the cooler variety. I'm NOT calling him expecting him to hold my hand on that. But he WAS helpful when I called and asked about parts I needed that I couldn't find on the site.

So it's all about expectations my friend. He's a one car shop with two employees. I support him and I think you should too, but he can't chit chat with you AND survive as a small business.

Hope that helps. You should def buy from Way and PM us to chit chat on your car project! =)

Don't expect him to pay attention to this thread either. He doesn't have enough time to Google himself... He does give a lot of free (and helpful) advise on popular trouble threads.

1. What about my signature is considered "link bait"? Should I replace it with a laundry list of every single modification I've done to the car? That seems to be common practice around these parts. ;)

2. I don't understand how you jumped to the conclusion that i would somehow try to "strongarm" anyone, for any reason. That's not my style. I'd much rather be a contributing member of a fantastic community.

WayM has always been helpful and heaven forbid somebody have an "off day" in business and here come the social threats. But... have an off day ALL DAY as a customer and it's all good right?
Buy your **** somewhere else, you aint nothing more than a price shopper and service truly means nothing to you or you would buy all you items less tires from same supplier.
yep I said it.

Very thoughtful and well said. Big props for paying attention. ;)

Sounds awesome.

I asked a question, and got a satisfactory answer. I'm moving on. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

This thread got blown outta proportions. Woosah people!!!

You're welcome. Sorry for the blow back (more so from some than others), it we genuinely do want to hear about your car and have you participate in the discussions.

Welcome to NAM!

Tell us more about your build. You'll have some great opinions.