Ducati Monster Forum

**Resolved.  Getting new parts in a week or 2.  No shipping charge for the new parts and return shipping.**


Preface:  I am one of the most patient and understanding customers of everyone I know or have met.  I rarely complain about anything.

The story begins.

At the beginning of the month 5/3, I ordered a set of clear alternative lenses (blubs included all around).  On 5/6, I called to add a set of pazzo levers to the order.  I was told that the pazzo's were special ordered so it would be a week until everything would be there to be shipped.  No big deal.  I specifically stated (multiple times) that I wanted to make sure I got the clutch lever that would work with the actuator.  I was hoping to get something engraved on the clutch lever (as many have done) but this vendor said they couldn't do that.

So I expect the stuff to ship Tuesday the 13th (at the latest I was told).

Tuesday goes by, nothing.   I get an automated email Thursday night saying my stuff is shipping.  (a couple days late,  but it happens right?)


5/21
I receive my shipment

I am so pumped, I go out right after work to install the lenses.  They came as 2 sets of 2 lenses and bulbs.  It was obvious by the packaging and bar codes that although the lenses were the same size and color, they were different.  One set of bulbs had a silver coating, and one set of bulbs was plain orange.  The model numbers are the same, but come on.  Obviously, you can see through one set to see the amber bulb, and on one set, the silver bulb doesn't show through.  I figured I could just go replace the two offending bulbs and be on with my life.  I would wake up early to install the levers.

5/22
This morning, I wake up and get all my tools set out.  I made a Dunkin Donuts run for a bagel and some iced coffee.  I came back, sat outside on my nice Boston Red Sox chair and enjoyed my everything bagel.  After finishing the bagel, I tackle the brake lever first.  The brake lever is beautiful and looks great.  The install was a breeze (almost disappointingly easy).

I take a few more sips from my iced coffee and move onto to the clutch.  I removed the old lever and immediately I got concerned...what is this tab on the stock lever that isn't on the pazzo???..correct me if i'm wrong but..I think...THEY SENT ME THE WRONG G'DAMN CLUTCH LEVER.  Normally this would just be a honest mistake, but I can't even tell you how many times I reiterated on the phone that it was essential that they sent the clutch lever with the actuating tab. 

Technically, every part of my order is wrong.  The signal bulbs don't match, and my levers aren't the correct ones. 

Now I have to wait another week and a half (at best) to get the correct clutch lever. 

I have not yet contacted the vendor as it is currently before business hours.  I will be contacting them today.  I will not give the vendor's name because I want to give them a chance to correct this first.  I will say that this vendor is known to be well respected around the DMF community (AFIK).  I do feel that everything will be resolved, however, I am very frustrated that they couldn't fill a simple order the first time.  I mean, come on, I ordered a set of $180 LEVERS.  Throw me a bone and at least get the order right the first time.  It seemed obvious to me that the salesperson was making notes of everything I said about the clutch lever.  Maybe that was not the case?  Maybe I was just ignored?  Maybe I was disregarded as some ignorant customer who doesn't know what he is talking about (when I was discussing the importance of the correct clutch lever)?  Maybe it was just 3 honest mistakes that led to me getting 3 wrong items?  It is possible we may never know.  I just want the correct stuff.

At the very least, this was poor quality control. 

I am very frustrated and annoyed.  :-\

I hope they pay for shipping costs ???

I feel your pain. I hate it when that happens especially when it's something you have been really looking forward to installing.  It's happened to me a few times.

Hopefully they will step up and make it right.

Bought a Mad Doctor fender replacement kit from an online store. Kit arrived. I was already to chop the tail & install. Discovered that the bracket for attaching the kit to the bike was the wrong one. Contacted vendor. Vendor said I should talk to manufacturer. I sent pictures in an email in order to describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Manufacturer said "that's the wrong bracket". I've been waiting to get the new bracket for a few weeks now because it had to be shipped from Italy as the vendor didn't have any more in stock. Vendor and manufacturer both did the right thing and I'm satisfied (having said that, I haven't got the new bracket yet...) so I'm not taking a shot at either of them, it's just taking *way* too long but there's nothing that can be done about it.

I have the pazzos on my bike, they're worth the wait IMO. Don't get too pissy with the vendor, sometimes shit happens, it's how they deal with the problems that shows the quality of the people and company you're dealing with IMO.

Pretty small items to get 'VERY upset' at. 

Try to work it out first.  The other option is to try and buy local, so you can see it before you pay...

mitt

I feel your pains...

Sourcing and making all the aftermarket parts work on my bike has been, at times, an exercise at being zen.  I use to have very high demands on quality of finish, speedy customer service, and parts fitting perfectly....then I realized how many of the folks I dealt with are either mom&pop or niche producers with a lot of heart, but not world-class ops people.  I won't name names either, but I became part of the QA and R&D department when I ordered a newly designed accessory...7 weeks and things still aren't perfect.  My dremel has become my new best friend.  Other parts I have ordered in the past require mods on my end to make it work.

I have been pissed-off in the past, but have come to accept that it's just the cost of owning a Duc...what did the that funny Ducati poster on TOB say?

...turning enthuthiasts into mechanics...

I've ordered countless things online and get more messed orders for auto/bike parts than anything else.  The sales people I have talked to have always been fairly knowledgeable during the ordering and exchange process.  The problem usually lies in getting the products I ordered into the box.  I would guess this is because the people with the actual application knowledge are not the ones picking the orders.  The most common errors are products that are either drop shipped from the vendor to me or non-stock items that are ordered, re-boxed, and sent out the door.  It may be that the vendor doesn't have specific enough ordering info or their warehouse workers are underpaid and just don't care.  The other, less common, type of jacked orders are stock items from the retailers.  A certain company I order auto parts from puts their own internal warehouse tracking barcodes on every item that comes in and I have had ordered multiples of the same item and received miss-matched product, all wearing the same the same tracking code  [roll].  Come on guys, this leads me to believe that the order pickers and shipping/receiving associates either:  a) don't care; b) make mistakes; or c) find this shit funny.

Don't even get me started on Just-In-Time/lean manufacturing... 

I guess I'm just saying to expect crap order processing in today's economy.  It happens all the time and it can be bothersome, but nothing to get VERY mad about.  I realize you spent $180 on levers, but that doesn't get you preferential treatment, everyone is subject to the same BS.  I would get a little mad if the retailer wants to charge you for return shipping and shipping out of the other product.

 [roll]

Sure it's like a $200 order and not a big deal as some people said....   Wait...   This is their BUSINESS....  But I guess mistakes DO get made. 

If this is the first time ordering from them and they screwed up it's hard to think, what a coincidence that they messed up my first order. 

If this isn't the first time ordering with them and this is the first screw up, it'll be easy to let it go. 

If they take care of the problem quickly and cleanly than it shouldn't be too much of an issue. 

How many times would you go back to a restaurant if they kept screwing up your order?

In this day and age, you can get the same product for pretty much the same price from multiple vendors.  It's the customer service that brings people back.  If they don't make it right, or make it a pain to get things right, don't buy from them anymore.   

You should do like I'm doing and just bypass the safety switch....... I had a new handle come in same thing, no big deal though, if you follow the wire back to the steering head you'll find male/female connecters. clip one wire, add the opposite connecter to the other wire, VIOLA bypassed, never to be worried about again.

advice:

1) read this thread (http://ducatimonsterworldwide.org/index.php?topic=1190.0)

2) be happy you're not that guy

Sorry for your frustration--I think I know how you feel.  I rebuilt my bike last winter and made dozens of orders in a six month period.  I can count on one hand how many orders were trouble-free.  If it was just one guy, I'd stop buying from him, but it came from all kinds of vendors.  In fact, a vendor that is practically worshipped on the 'net sent me damaged goods, but one of the perfect orders came from a company I had never heard of before I found them on Google.  Go figure.

I still get annoyed when I open something and it's wrong, but like CDawg, I've learned to deal with it.  I've also found a few places that are very consistent and are happy to fix the occasional mistake.  Other than that, I try to remember that this is a niche business and vendors are working on a low-volume, low-margin basis.

I understand its not the most vital item, but its still something i've been waiting on for awhile.  The whole pazzo lever thing kind of happened on a whim, and I got pretty excited about them.   [moto]

That said, I went out for a nice calm ride to cool down.  The pazzo brake lever is awesome.  Completely changes the braking.  I do look forward to getting the clutch lever when it comes. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm really patient.  Mess up one part of the order and I would have been a bit more understanding of the situation.  Mess up the whole order and it is easy for a new customer to get a bad first impression. 

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam!  [beer]


***Just talked to them, they're sending out the right parts with an RMA label for shipping the wrong part back.  Should be a couple of weeks.  Sucks I have to wait, but everything looks like its going to be fixed at no charge to me.***

Glad it worked out for you [thumbsup]

CA did put the useless chrome coated 10 watts bulbs in the packages for a while, when they were out of amber. That's how I ended up with a set of both from my favourite vendor Jeff at MonsterParts. During the mix/fix I tried to fit the chrome coated 27 watts - they are about as bright a the amber 10 watts, but are too large to fit under the lenses.

Pazzo pair for $180? Where?

I payed $180 with free shipping for mine.  PodiumSuperbike on Ebay.

Here, let me start for you... How about:

"Bullshit! You're not using Just-In-Time techniques, they're all about minimising special order time to improve factory efficiency and customer satisfaction! Go and read Taiichi Ohno's book! What you're doing is minimising your inventory costs at the expense of customer satisfaction, the usual term for that is 'cheapskating your way to bankrupcy!' If _you're_ not prepared to absorb the costs of having the parts I want on the shelf when I want them, I'll buy them off someone who is."

big

That`s so true bigian [thumbsup]

[threadjack]

So right.  I see many manufacturers going to this type of system and running into problems with customers when a component breaks or malfunctions, expectedly or unexpectedly.  I've seen the manufacturer expect the customer to keep on-hand inventory of wear and critical components.  In some cases this may be wise advice, but mostly this is complete shit.  The customer should be keeping their own product on the shelves and not tying up capital and warehouse space to maintain an inventory of parts to operate their production line.

I've read Ohno, learned my 5S BS, and taken the Six Sigma courses (isn't this shit common sense?).  Everything looks great in theory but it is executed poorly in a bottom-line driven, squeeze every last penny out of inventory to make up for shitty earnings this quarter, marketplace.  Companies are driving their customers away to those companies and distributers that have focused on availability and customer service.  Don't get me wrong, there are some lean companies that operate successfully, but many, as you said, "cheapskate their way to bankruptcy".

If you want discuss rant further, we can continue in PM or move to NMC.

[/threadjack]

umm... on topic:  Glad you got everything straightened out.  Sorry my reply may have seemed a little unsympathetic, I'm just a little jaded from having to deal with this stuff at work and for my toys.

unfortunately (?) this is precisely what ducati is doing now, ever since TPG ran them. 

this article references it

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2005_jul/emeaducati.html