When my credit card is charged the day after I order, I expect instant results. Not having my money tied up in something for over 3 months with nothing to show for it, and zero comunication to know that there is progress on my order....Unless I send multiple messages.

 

Like I said. You areall about instant gradification.

Jim

 

My experience with AC is good except for the long wait.

Received my flat black door handles on Oct 31st after placing my order on Aug 5th.

Sent a couple emails during the wait period and always got a prompt response from Mike.

The quality of the door handles is very good. I had to use the extra vinyl tape supplied to cover the slight bit of chrome showing after the handle was placed on the car.

Not sure why the door handles on the car do not match exactly. Maybe they vary by model year.

Anyway, I would order other products from AC but would factor in the long delivery period.

 

I have to agree with Douglas H,I ordered handles and badges 11 weeks ago. I had one cordial email with an update. I am happy with my purchase.
I have dry fitted them and I am pleased that I ordered them. They came with detailed instructions and tape to hide some of the chrome under the handle. I ordered just the handles and badges instead of a whole black out kit because, honestly, I was worried about laying out that much money. I was ok with the $80 gamble. I can see why someone that ordered $300 +- would be concerned with a long delay. I used the delay to plastic-dip all the chrome on my mini. Looks good. I would order again from Asthetic Creations

 

I'm glad to see that we are finally making some happy customers. Taking the wait time out of the equation I would love for some of you to put up a product review on the molded parts.

As for the wait time we are working on fixing that issue. I'm at SEMA right now looking into ways to make the molded parts faster. We are almost totally caught up now too so even now the wait is down to a few weeks instead of a few months.

We as a company do everything we can to make happy customers.

As a small business I really don't think you have any idea how detramental this thread has been to us. I hope that in the future you will do averything you can to contact us first and work out your issue with us directly before posting a thread like this. (this is directed to the person that started this thread)

 

The OP did contact you prior to posting this thread. They said they emailed you multiple times and kept hearing 2 more weeks. If a thread like this is what it takes to get parts made and shipped, then so be it. If you can't handle an order load, might be wise to stop accepting orders until you get caught up. Then you wouldn't have situations like this.

 

Well after 6.5 months, multiple calls, compliants to the arizona better business bureau ....I have finally received my headlight rings.....I must say the parts are of good quality....as long as you don't mind waiting for an indefinite amount of time and you don't mind having any sort of clarity on when you will receive the product, I would recommend aesthetic creations..... I must admit, I wonder if I would have ever received the product without starting this post and spending hours of time trying to get an answer from the company....

P.S. I ordered back in March, subsequently sold my mini....good thing my brother owns a mini or I'd be putting these for sale on the classifieds....

Happy Mini - Modifying to my former fellow mini owners.....

 

Well......a somewhat happy ending........

 

You would have received them, because Mike always delivers, and your post had nothing to do with it. You didn't even keep the car long enough to get them, so enjoy what every you bought and good luck to who ever you deal with in the future.

Jim

 

Ordered a full set February 27. Finally received the last parts, head light rings,

8 MONTHS 8 DAYS LATER Let me repeat that.......... 8 MONTHS 8 DAYS LATER

Several of the parts have trash/dust in the paint and pits. Spoke to Mike about this issue and was told "I'll watch that closer on the headlight rings". Guess what??
Trash/dust in the headlight rings. Thanks A Lot for "watching that closer". NOT.

Unless you're the type of person that likes watching paint dry or hearing fingernails on a chalkboard or a yappy dog barking for hours or..... etcetera ad nauseum.........

DON'T ORDER FROM AESTHETIC CREATIONS

ALL you'll get is an interminable wait and excuses.

Can hardly wait to hear your soporific twaddle.....

 

I'm sorry, but its not kosher at all to ding a customer's credit card without shipping immediately. P-e-r-i-o-d. You are paying for a product, not a slot in a production queue.

Years ago I lived in Greenwich Village in NYC and a favorite restaurant had a sign right when you came through the door : If you're in a hurry, you've come to the wrong place. The food and ambiance was great, so people were willing to put up with the delay because they knew in advance what was coming down. And guess what? They paid for the food when it was in their stomach, not before.

I have a problem with under-capitalized companies using their clients' credit cards as seed capital, UNLESS THEY TELL YOU IN ADVANCE that that is what they are doing.

And BTW, this is the Internet age. Companies MUST have stellar customer service to survive, or the world WILL know about it. Witness this thread.

One last time: as a business you charge off on a credit card the day the item is shipped, and not before. Anything else without prior consent is bogus.

 

You've hit the nail on the head.

 

I thought there was a federal law that a product had to be shipped within two weeks of accepting payment for it. Otherwise the company was required to contact the customer and offer a refund. Once the customer receives the notice, it is up to them whether they wish to wait, or ask for a refund. If you choose to wait, you wait...

 

All these complaints and suggestions on how it should be done are fine if you are dealing with a large mega company shippinmg out mass produced items. This is a small business which makes it hard as they can't afford to carry inventory. Right now he is making a product that nobody else does which is in demand. None of these black-out items are things the car needs to stay on the road, go faster or last longer. You can always get them from somebody else....oh right, there isn't anyone else.

Jim

 

That's not really the point. I remember when I was going to order the door handle caps, I was turned off by the "6-8 week" wait. I didn't know if I would still be living where I was in 6-8 weeks. The 6-8 months that some of Mike's customers have had to wait is way out of line. When he realized that his orders were that backed up, he should have stopped taking orders, or contacted each his customers directly to let them know what was going on with the money he already charged them. Even taking weeks to respond to emails is pretty ridiculous.

My entire car was expected to be built in 6 weeks. It was built in 40 days. If I had to wait 6 months I would have canceled the order without a doubt.

Like someone mentioned here before, companies today are expected to have top notch customer service. If he can't even get a few minutes to respond to calls or emails, or doesn't have a reliable waiting time for his parts, I'mnot going to order from him.

And there is someone else that pretty much does the same thing. Lyle's Vinyl Styles basically can do everything AC can, just with vinyl instead of plastic (that nobody even knows the lifetime of) and I have never heard or read a single complaint about Lyle.

 

I believe there are some in the NAM Marketplace.....

 

There seems to have been a flurry of activity with regards to order production.

Can someone from AC please update me on the progress of my order.

My order was placed in the name of James Jolly and I ordered 1 x gas cap & 1 x pair of comfort access door handles. Both in flat black

I am based in the UK, so calling you guys is not an option.

Many thanks.

 

Hey guys this is a quick update as that is all I have time for.

I have Been working 16 hour days this week to try and get all my projects done. I'm having to do the molded parts myself again do to the fact that my worker crashed on his bike and broke his leg and collar bone. He will be out of commission for at least 8 weeks.

Last night I made 3 more headlight rings, 4 door handles and several gas caps. Then came home to work on another project till 2:30 am.
I still need to shave down the door handles to fit and drill your comfort access holes but the order you are asking about is done and will go out next week.

Ok just a side note for everyone. Things happen when making one off custom parts. If you get your order and there is a problem you !!MUST!! contact me by any means you can or I cannot help you fix the issue. Complaining on here instead of getting the problem resolved is not going to do you any good.

I don't have time to deal with you complainers on NAM and make parts too.

 

Mini Bo Bini. You need to find something better to do with your life then complain about everything.

How does it fell to have single handedly ruined my Business and reputation because of your Bitchy attitude.

 

Wow. Shoot the messenger, eh?

No. Here is the problem my friend: it's YOUR attitude.

Here are the corollary problems:

1. You evidently are undercapitalized.
2. ...which means you can't stock inventory, nor hire enough competent help to produce your products in consistently acceptable quality.
3. ... which means you are running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, so you can't tend to customer service on a timely basis.

Which leads to you feeling overwhelmed, and blaming your customers.

I feel for you man- I've owned a small company and I know some of the issues. But you are simply digging yourself into a deeper hole by adopting an attitude like what you've been displaying here.

I have an old saying: If you do not respect Reality, it will HURT you. And right now it's singing that old Aretha tune "r-e-s-p-e-c-t/find out what it means to me..".

Here's a suggestion: call the Small Business Administration and talk to somebody at SCORE ( Service Core of Retired Excutives). For free, experienced business people will help analyze how you got to where you are, and help you craft a viable plan forward.

Capitalism is pretty naked; it's either the quick or the dead. Good luck.

 

You still have my business, Mike.

I have been amazed with this thread at how cut throat some of the floks on NAM are. I love my Mini and find all this fun, but some seem to take all this way too far. After all, it is only something to dress up your car, which is all it is.......a car. Now, if Mike were making something needed for your M4 rifle while you were in Iraq, then it would be a different story.

Jim

 

i've not ordered fancy parts and i am in no way a serious mod person but having orderd some stickers in the past and discussed some "domed" stickers that i'm ordering in a few wheels for snow tires i can say mike and hannah have been very helpful and reasonable in response to me. custom pieces take custom time...lots of it... i think mass produced pieces are avalible today at your local mini dealer!

 

My feeling is simply that the OP should never have brought his complaint to a public forum, but should have kept it BC and others should not have jumped in with their 2 cents. This could, in time hurt Mike and that is a shame for he does good work. I am also a bit surprised that NAM has not removed it, as would have been rightfully done on other sites. I do not expect this, or any of my posts here to change anyone's mind, but I want others who might run across this six months from now to know that there is more to this story and not to base any decision about AC strictly on the OP's views.

Jim

 

Great news.

Many thanks for the speedy update.

 

I went back and forth with myself if I was going to post this when it happened earlier this year. Obviously I chose to keep it to myself. Until I ran across this thread. Below is one of my e-mail exchanges I had with Mike. The handles and gas cap showed up in less than perfect condition. You can see what his response was about not being a professional painter. If you can't paint worth a darn then why offer to paint them as a option. As if the flaws aren't bad enough the paint does not match. I have rattle can'd stuff better than this. After reading through this thread and seeing people on both sides. I had to share my story. In my humble opinion if you can't make consistent quality products and stand behind them. Then you have no business being in business.


That's fine. I will spray them again when I get them back but don't expect them to be perfect.
I'm not a professional painter and do the best I can but they will never be perfect. If you want them to be perfect then I can send you an unpainted set and you can take them to a body shop to do it. I'm sure they will charge you 3 times what I charged.





Cheers Mike


Sent from my iPhone


On Jun 25, 2009, at 2:51 PM, wrote: