HHHHHHHHHHelllllllllllooooooooo???????
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Tony DeQuick //Summer 2002
Yes I am hard to get hold of. We just moved to a much larger facility, bought a lot of new equipment, added more manufacturing people and didn't have phones for 2 weeks due to Ameritech's backlog, a 1700 HP TT Viper project to finish then had 370 voice messages and 700+ e-mails when our internet service was reconnected. There is no way any person could ever go through all of those messages. My office is still 75% boxes but I am here at 11pm at night trying to get caught up.
Yes the DSM FMIC got WAY OUT OF CONTROL after only a week and it was supposed to run for 2 weeks. It was stopped after a week. We we're only expecting 10-15 units max, not 37. After a week it was at 37 and we turned over 10 people away over the next week since it was out of hand. And out of 37, 35 ARE DIFFERENT. THERE ARE STILL 5-10 PEOPLE A WEEK TRYING TO GET IN ON THIS GP!!!! One guy wants a black intercooler with chrome pipes and a apEx'I Stage-VIIIX blow off valve, the next guy wants a thicker than standard intercooler powder coated HKS purple to match his 5-tier wing with observation deck and a Greddy Profec-X blow off valve flange, the next guy wants a black powder coated intercooler with chrome pipes and a 1G blow off valve for a 16g, the next guy wants one for a 2G with a Greddy fuZzy lOgIc pRofeC-9000RX-iX'R blow off valve flange and wants the IC pipes setup for an unidentifiable turbo that he pulled off a Mac dump truck at the U-Pull-It, yada yada yada. It takes time to process 37 intercoolers, especially when 35 are different. In retrospect if there weren't 15 options offered, it would've completed more smoothly and not dragged out for 2 months. Most of the products that we make are for other companies that they brand as their own products and when they run a GP, they have the stuff on the shelf to begin with. In retrospect, I would never do a GP like that again unless we had the products to be run on the GP premade at the start of the GP and there would be not be options aside from what we had premade.
And Jeff, we build most of the on-center intakes cut down for blocks that have been cut, considering 75% of the on-center motors being built for Turbo Buicks these days we're former ASA or Busch motors that have substantially cut decks to get the compression up, or were ASA motors that we beat to heck since they knew they were going to the ASA LS1 motor anyway. Hence, most intakes need to be cut. After leaving 4 messages at 6pm on a Saturday afternoon (are you at work at 6pm on a Saturday afternoon in July???). Before even calling or e-mailing me, you threatened to slam me (which you have now done anyway) if I didn't fix your intake. I then pointed out that a friend of mine, whom to you sold a junk crank and then you would not take it back (it was junk and maybe We-Rebuild-It would use it, but no reputable Buick engine builder would use it) and then you wouldn't take it back. My friend didn't jump on the internet and slam you into the ground as he could have. I simply pointed that out to you but you've twisted it around and have done it anyway.
In hind sight, I really have to consider continuing to offer a lot of the low volume Buick products we make, such as the sheet metal intakes, oil pans, water pump kits, etc. There are only so many people building Stage II motors, and considering you can buy products such as sheet metal intakes, custom CNC machined oil pans and electric water pump kits (that work with all of the serpentine accessories and they didn't have these for the 5.0L until last year), we have products priced so people can actually afford them considering what they would typically sell for. Essentially one-off custom made pieces offered at mass produced prices. And you will have to wait for them - I'm not denying that. Is it profitable for us? Not really. Is it worth the hassle? DEFINITELY NOT and it's fast becoming not worth the aggravation factor of doing. If I didn't own a TR myself I wouldn't mess with any of the custom Buick stuff at all. It's really not worth it financially and when my accountant asks we're messing with it, I just stare at him like the RCA dog trying to find an answer. Because I like the cars. They are neat-o. I've been involved with these cars for 10+ years. But the aggrevation of the low volume one offs is fast becoming not worth the hassle and the enjoyment factor of doing the custom stuff drops like a rock, when it's a small portion of our business.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
============================================
Christmas Eve 2002
Please contact our friend NJTurbo immediately regarding a radiator bought from you (paid-in-full) three weeks ago by his wife as a Christmas present.
Our community is too tightly knit to not be concerned when one of us is treated poorly by any one. You hurt one of us, you hurt us all.
We'll all be waiting & watching to see how quickly your concern for your customer translates into corrective actions.
Get busy.
