Hey guys,
It's been a great run for these few years and I've had a lot of fun, but I've decided to quit working on cars and building engines for people other than myself. I had one bad apple spoil my appetite for it so I think I'm calling it a day as it's not worth it at this point.
I'll still have my car and still plan to hang with you guys and answer any questions I can, but I'm not going to deal with people who think they can belittle me and question my ethical standards just because they aren't satisfied with a reasonable solution to an issue.
For those wondering what the issue is, the story is this: I sold a shortblock to a customer through ADC. I got backed up at the time the order was placed and was late in shipping it (about 6 weeks late and I apologized for it). The customer still wanted it at time of shipment. UPS lost the engine in shipment. I filed a claim with UPS and offered the customer a refund based on UPS letting me file a claim. UPS finds the motor 2 weeks later and says claim is on hold now and they are returning the engine block to me to verify if it's still good. I call the customer to tell them that I will ship the engine as soon as it's verified as good or will pay them the claim if it's trashed. Customer begins to belittle me and threatens to call my 8-5 job and/or file complaints with them because of this (he got my work number through caller ID). I don't think he realizes that my regular job has absolutely nothing to do with the engine in question. So basically I'm offering the customer a good product he ordered if the engine is in perfect shape or a refund if UPS pays a claim even though his actual order is with ADC (I'm just trying to be helpful here). He's now decided that he doesn't want the engine even if it's in good shape and since I won't offer him an unconditional refund apparently my ethics and business practices are crap and he's determined that anyone he feels like should know this. My guess is he will go to his credit card, get a reversal and ADC will have a motor for sale if UPS doesn't pay the claim. Anyone have any input on whether or not a credit card company will reverse the charges if the customer is still being offered the product?
What a crock! Sorry guys, but it's jerks like this that ruin it. As an option, if anyone wants an ADC/Buckshot shortblock, this one will most likely be up for sale next week- it's prepped for a hybrid swap and would help whichever of us gets stuck with the bill (ADC or me) by not having to sit on it.
Thanks,
Rick
PS- if anyone has contacted me before today about work or parts, I'll still be taking care of those requests.
I don't blame you one bit for closing the doors to Buckshot Motorsports. I would have done it long before now.
I agree on the whole thing being a crock. Sorry to hear about it Rick. You gotta do what you gotta do, and I guess when the time comes now Ill be doing the 3L on my own.
Anyway, thats sad to hear. I half expected this anyway because of the baby, but alas, its from someone ruining it for the community. Oh well.
Hope everything works out for you.
Im very sorry to hear Rick. Even though I sold my shortblock before even getting it, I was glad and very satisfied with your service. I was recomending you to everyone. Im upset on the fact that someone would be sucha d!ck and ruin it for all of us. However I wish u all the best and hopefully in the future you might re-consider
Same here, best wishes. Thanks for the services you gave me, your top notch in my book.
Very sorry to hear this has happened Rick. I know the few products and services that I've purchased from you have been top notch. Glad to hear you'll be staying with CEG. Thank you for all the great information, excellent customer service, and building a superb example what an SVT can become.
Mark
thats terrible,def'n a great service provider,loved the optimized tb i bought from you,...and to answer your question,the credit card company prob will go through a investigation,and he'll prob get his money back...pm kokopollean(sp) he was great when i had to deal with my credit card issues,gave me his number and he gave me some great advice,apparnt, its in his line of work..
Rick,
I'm sorry to hear about this, I had hoped to get a Buckshot shortblock next winter for Version 2 of my car. Too bad some jerk had to ruin it for the rest of us.
Aaron
Originally posted by NVS SVT:
Too bad some jerk had to ruin it for the rest of us.
Damn true, that has happened way too many times.
Wow..that sucks man.
sucks that some people gotta be like that.
if it was someone from this forum SHAME ON YOU
I am too poor right now to be able to afford a short block so it wasn't me. well, that plus I would just drive down there to get it from him. Now it is time for sherlock to find out who the real culprit is.
I don't think they post on here, but I'm positive they're aware of the forum. To boot, it was the kid's dad that ended up being the bad guy since he was the one paying for the motor.
Rick
Thats too bad. I hate it when one dumba$$ ruins it 4 everyone else
People suck...
But in the long run you made a very good and positive impact on the history of the contour!
It just amazes me that people expect any purchase to be returned when they get buyer's remorse. Somehow they relate a semi custom engine to a potato peeler that they bought from Target.
I'm sorry that it happened and I'm sorry that we are loosing a resource, but I can't hold it against you.
I'm sorry about this happening Rick.
I wish you all the best!
Originally posted by Buckshot77:
I don't think they post on here, but I'm positive they're aware of the forum. To boot, it was the kid's dad that ended up being the bad guy since he was the one paying for the motor.
Rick
They probably don't read your posts or have met you in person to know what you are like. They probably were not happy about the time issue. It sucks I know. I'm just trying to see where they are coming from. It's a built engine though. It doesn't happen over night like some ppl seem to think after watching TLC.
Originally posted by Todd aRRRRRRRRR.:
It's a built engine though. It doesn't happen over night like some ppl seem to think after watching TLC.
You hit that right on the head. Too many people do not realize how long stuff takes to fabricate....stuff does not happen overnight. This is double BS because the UPS thing is out of your control....what an azzmonkey
Which state is this buyer out of?
I'm admitted to the bar in only Oregon and Washington. But if that buyer is from one of these two states, and actually causes trouble for you at your unrelated work over this built block deal, let me know if you want free legal assistance to rip this guy a new one.
If that fine citizen is aware of these boards and this posting, this is my personal invitation for him to join up, send me a PM on how to reach him back, and I can propose a learning opportunity for him.
Yea, and if that does not work I will give him some wall-to-wall councelling...free of charge
Hmm, he is from Washington state.
Rick
Originally posted by PDXSVT:
I'm admitted to the bar in only Oregon and Washington. But if that buyer is from one of these two states, and actually causes trouble for you at your unrelated work over this built block deal, let me know if you want free legal assistance to rip this guy a new one.
This is what this board is about, people helping people they have probably never even met, in person, but helping them b/c they have a common bond.
It sucks that 1 bad apple ruins it for everybody else. I have been on this board for quite a while and have seen the Contour community suffer b/c of this. So this is just another example. Too bad it has to be someone I happen to personnaly know.
I have never done personal business with Rick, and just b/c I never planned on doing a 3L, never planned on it. But I know there were hundredds of others that would have loved the oppurtunity to.
I'm sorry to hear this Rick, but I know you still have plenty to do to keep yourself out of trouble! 
Sorry to hear about this Rick. It�s a shame when people don't know how to handle themselves in situations like this.
Trying to put myself in the customer�s shoes though and what they are thinking about... now maybe I shouldn't even go here but I'm thinking out loud...
The customer knew it was shipping late, and when he found out about it said he still wanted it. So that�s fair enough good communication should have been a done deal. But then a twist gets thrown into things... UPS loses the shipment (how? Who the hell knows it�s a freak'n engine). So I guess the question is how long did it take before everyone knew UPS lost it? Because you know, one the guy is probably already a little upset about the shipment being late, but now on top of this his shipment is somewhere in la-la land for all anyone knows. Was he aware of the lost shipment 2 weeks after it was supposed to ship or month or what? So now at this point he�s offered a refund based on a claim status with UPS. This seems quite fair, again good business and customer service. So now goes the claiming process... which apparently took 2 weeks. Now he finds out that UPS magically finds the engine and alas he can have it if he wants it.
So let�s stop here and evaluate things.
The customer has now paid for this engine and has waited...
-Unknown amount of time since original order placed
-6 weeks past promised ship date
-Unknown time for delivery, which eventually gets lost
-2 weeks waiting for UPS claim, which eventually finds engine
Total 2 months plus whatever unknown time is.
So the customer has received pretty good service and communication through out this time from Rick. No fault on his part for sure. But the guy has been out his money waiting for the engine for 2 months or more. I can understand why he would be upset. However he had no right to call Rick on his work phone he should have been dealing with ADC as that is where the order was placed. Although he probably thought that since all his updates were coming from Rick's number at his work that he should probably call that number and complain.
Originally posted by Buckshot77:
What a crock! Sorry guys, but it�s jerks like this that ruin it.
Agreed. The guy should have gone to the source to complain. It really sucks when people don't do these sorts of things constructively and in a reasonable manner. The guy was updated when new information as it became available and in a timely manner. It seems like the problem point was UPS in my opinion.
Again Rick sorry for the mess. I seriously hope you give consideration to keeping your doors open though. You shouldn't throw in the towel because of butt holes like this. Good luck with everything.
Rick,
Like everyone else, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't need a 3L yet (Knock on wood....hard), but I've read lots of your posts/info for when the time comes. I am glad that you'll still be around to help CEG, at least we won't lose all you knowledge because of some jerk. Good luck, and take care.
Rick, sorry to hear about this. Good luck!
Originally posted by CSVT#49:
Again Rick sorry for the mess. I seriously hope you give consideration to keeping your doors open though. You shouldn't throw in the towel because of butt holes like this. Good luck with everything.
Amen! You make the final decision, but don't let a punk kid with daddy paying his way stop you from doing what you are good at and what you love.
Just my .02
There are only a handfull of people who know as much as Rick does. This car community will be loosing a great deal if he no longer fabricates. I truly hope he will re consider, but will truly respect him and his final decision.
Hope you find some sanity after this.
And I know it's an empty consolation, but if I had the money, I'd take that engine.
Pending what ADC and I can work out on this, I *may* still supply him with some shortblocks pending my schedule etc so don't hesitate to call ADC for your engine needs.
Other than that, I've been really trying to cut down on the other pieces of work I was doing since last year anyways so this really isn't a huge deal, just kind of an announcement of something that I've slowly been creeping towards.
Rick
You and ADC should only sell shortblocks to established CEG/FCO'ers.
I've been saving up for either your block or to do it myself... just trying to decide if I have the time and know-how to do it myself (while I continue to save up).
This would suck if you close doors because of some ignorant asshats dad, but I'd completely understand if you do call it quits.
Best of luck!
If this was ADC's customer, why didn't ADC take the customer service hit? You just sold the engine to ADC for a customer. Even if they had you drop shipped it, you where still representing ADC and all calls should have gone to them.
That's bogus.
ADC is now handling it, I got into it because I was trying to help out and any damage claims due to shipping have to go through me anyways.
Rick
Rick, i have to say i'm devistated at the news.
sorry to hear about the jerks!!
good luck to you..
in an unrelated story... my car was built on 3/17/99 your sig (Pole120) says 3/24/99.... my build number is 1462 and your is 1571... they built 109 vehicles in 1 week... pretty good i think.
Originally posted by ChiliSVT:
in an unrelated story... my car was built on 3/17/99 your sig (Pole120) says 3/24/99.... my build number is 1462 and your is 1571... they built 109 vehicles in 1 week... pretty good i think.
Something is wrong there....Chili, do you have your certificate from SVT?
Originally posted by 99contourdriver:
Originally posted by ChiliSVT:
in an unrelated story... my car was built on 3/17/99 your sig (Pole120) says 3/24/99.... my build number is 1462 and your is 1571... they built 109 vehicles in 1 week... pretty good i think.
Something is wrong there....Chili, do you have your certificate from SVT?
Lets keep this on topic out of respect.........
Originally posted by pole120:
Originally posted by 99contourdriver:
Originally posted by ChiliSVT:
in an unrelated story... my car was built on 3/17/99 your sig (Pole120) says 3/24/99.... my build number is 1462 and your is 1571... they built 109 vehicles in 1 week... pretty good i think.
Something is wrong there....Chili, do you have your certificate from SVT?
Lets keep this on topic out of respect.........
My bad....I'm sorry Buckshot
Hate to hear this, Rick, but I don't blame you.
You did not do a ton of work on my 'Tour, but what you did was TOP-NOTCH and for a damn good price.
Quality work, honest people and a fair price is the trifecta that's hard to find today. Take pride in the fact that you provided it for a great many people.
Life moves on; best wishes and good luck. The upside is that you'll get your weekends back!
rick, i work for ups. i'd be more than glad to check on this and try to figure out what went wrong if u want to pm me the tracking number. unfortunately there r alot of things that can cause an item to go missing. r u still waiting for the engine back or already got it back? #1 reason is usually the label tears or becomes illegible and the item gets forwarded to a corporate warehouse and catalogged. when a claim is issued we try to match the item to the claim. an engine is actually easy to match. the weirder the item the easier it is. do u ship them out in wood boxes or strapped to a pallet? i've see engines and trannies shipped pretty poorly, some even full of fluids that leak. i agree adc shouldve done all the work with ups. if u have an account with ups that u use to ship stuff, i'd be billing adc's ups account as a 3rd party if and when u dropship engines for them.
unfortunately i believe he does have a right to request a refund regardless of the reason and hence why his credit card company would give him the credit and go after adc to recover the refund. of course we try to show some cortesy to fellow forum members who have established an excellent reputation and then try to reach a mutual agreement that works best for everyone
u can try offering shortblocks with a refund minus shipping cost and a restocking fee of some sort (or adc).
i can understand u not wanting to deal with the hassles but its unfortunate. u do whats best for u.
Hugo,
UPS found the motor in their lost goods area, but it was trashed in shipping. I ship them out in a tight fitting 5/8" plywood crate with the engine itself completely sealed in shrink wrap and the engine hs just enough oil coating on the steel parts to keep it from rusting in transit. In any case, the crate was broken open, the shrink wrapping removed and then the crate was repacked with the engine upside down stuffed in a plastic bag (not even sealed) and then the crate was attempted to be put back together using whatever nails, screws and strapping they had available. The engine may well have been ok, except they broke the seal on the wrapping and let it get sucked full of wood chips in transit from the crate being broken and reassembled.
They are supposedly paying the claim out on it now even though UPS was still trying to deny it due to insufficient packaging?! WTF, how is a plywood crate insufficient. In any case, the independant claims adjuster from UPS' insurance company definitely thought my packaging was more than sufficient and it was UPS fault that the motor was in the condition it was in when returned to me.
As far as the refund to the customer goes, I've got no problem offering a refund if there's a reason I can't deliver what they've ordered such as UPS losing the motor. While I'd prefer to fulfill the order at that point, as long as the motor was having a claim paid out on it, I was fine with refunding his money. It's when he was demanding a refund even if I produced the engine and threatening to call my employer to complain about my so called lack of business ethics that he overstepped his boundaries. Basically he ordered a custom part, built to his specification and as long as that part is/can be delivered, then there isn't any reason a refund should be offered.
ADC really isn't to fault as they pay me for a turnkey motor including the shipping to the customer. It's just when the chaim of command skipped a link and the end customer started treating me poorly that everything really blew out of proportion.
In any case, most likely I will still take on the occassional project if people contact me seeking some work here or there, but I'm staying shut down to just doing order work for anyone and everyone and being a lot more selective about what I actually do take on.
Thanks,
Rick
Originally posted by Buckshot77:
In any case, most likely I will still take on the occassional project if people contact me seeking some work here or there, but I'm staying shut down to just doing order work for anyone and everyone and being a lot more selective about what I actually do take on.
I'm really sorry to hear about what happened with this. I've had my share of people screw me over for online deals but nothing of that much money. Some people really need a lesson in life.
Good to hear you might do some occassional work. Another 3L project may be in my near future and I'd love to do business with you again.
thats cool rick. with something like this our insurance adjuster will investigate. small low price stuff we have our damage clerk that does the inspections and forwards the stuff back to the original shipper. yeah i didnt think you'd be one of those guys that just straps an engine to a weak wooden pallet for transit. good luck
What the hell did I need to buy from Buckshot ? ...
Within the last three years I dealt with Rick several times - he is the most reliable and honest guy. Period.
Rick - how about some powdercoating - would you still do some for me?
Sorry for your issues. For a second there, I thought you might say I was the bad apple! I know it took a while for me to pay you.
I appreciate your help with my car.
Nope Pat, you were very good to work with.
Rick