Quote:
Originally Posted by tpmarine.com
Jay, you know what they say...there are three sides to every story. Dock's version, my version & the truth. Well, I will tell you my version and let you determine the truth.
Dock Holiday, ordered 2 sets of AFR heads & 2 Whipple Supercharger kits from me. He was trusting enough to send me the money upfront and I appreciate that.
The heads had a 6 week lead time but unfortunately took longer than that to arrive at Triad.
The whipples I was having a hard time getting and the reason or details are really not that important.
I obviously did not do a great job communicating everything that was going on (or not going on) with Mark (Dock Holiday), so of course he became nervous and thought that I was trying to rip him off.
Well, I eventually shipped him both sets of heads that he seemed to be happy with, but still could not get the whipples. Anyway, he rightfully became impatient and started accusing me of keeping his money for the whipples and threatened to get his lawyer involved which at this time I totally understood. He was upset that he did not have his parts, he was upset that I still had his money, he was not going to take any chances or put up with any bull****, I totally understood!!!
I sent him a certified check as a refund for the whipples which he has cashed. He has the heads.
So as of this moment, Dock Holiday has the heads he ordered & his money for the whipples that he ordered. Dock was never ripped off nor do I owe him anything.
At worst, he was inconvenienced & I did a horrible job taking care of a customer...poor customer service on my part.
I have already apologized to Mark for that...what else would you like me to do?
Regards,
Don Baca
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There are two sides to every story and while most of the above is correct I just want to clear up a couple of things.
Don seems like a very nice guy and I do not hold any bad feelings and I am not trying to beat a dead horse but I have learned from this experience and hopefully he has as well and I hope it might help others.
I sent him a check back in late November last year for two pair of AFR heads that he quoted me. They had a 3-4 week delivery per his original quote. At five weeks I was getting concerned and called AFR direct and they confirmed my order was in and explaned that the CNC that cut the big block heads was down and having to be rebulit and there was a delay that was out of their control. This was not Don's fault and he and I were both at their mercy.
The first week of December I had also sent Don another larger check for two complete Whipple stage II supercharger kits. They were also quoted as a two week delivery with some question as to whether he could ship direct to me or if they would have to go to Don first and then be shipped to me.
Bottom line is I was hoping to have all my parts by the first of the year and it was looking now like mid to late January.
Into January Don become very hard to get in touch with and yes I did start to be concerned.
I called Dustin Whipple direct and he confirmed that he had been contacted by Don about purchasing two kits for me but that he was waiting for payment before he could build or ship them. Keep in mind that at this point Don had my money in hand for seven weeks now.
Whipple had a verbal order but no pay = no ship.
Don claimed that the payment had been mailed but Whipple had not received it and that he was going to mail them another check.
Now we are into February and I still have not received any heads and Whipple had still not received payment for the superchargers and yes I am getting very concerned at this point as Don has become much harder to contact.
I also want to say that there was some discussion the first of January where Don indicated he had priced these items too low and I understood and offered to pay him more. He refused my offer and said he was a man of his word and would deliver at the quoted prices.
Now ten weeks in I started to push hard for either my money back or my parts when Don called me on my cell phone in February while I was at the St. Louis boat show and told be that he did not appreciate my attitude and because I had lost trust in him that he did not want to deliver any parts to me and would refund my money. I told him that was fine and asked exactly when and how I would receive payment back. It took a little longer then promised because he was off sick. Then he called and told me that the heads had arrived and I agreed to take them since I still needed them and he could not return them to AFR. I did finally receive the check back from Don for the Whipples and it was not a certified check but a company check from his business which my bank put a 10 day hold on until it cleared.
Now I am into March ordering parts that I should have had in Late December or early January.
Don did appologize to me and I did get the heads and I did get my money back on the Whipples but it was not a very pleasent experience.
The best advice I can give anyone purchasing marine hardware that has to be ordered is to confirm with the manufacturer up front that the company you are buying from is an authorized dealer and is in good standing. That really goes for anything you are buying and it will give you peace of mind that you are dealing with the right folks and getting the best deal.
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