[rolltideroll]

Before I get started let me introduce myself for those who may not know me. My name is Scott Robertson and I am the General Manager of Yamaha of Hamilton (MotorSportsSuperStore.com). I have been with the company almost since the beginning a little over 7 years ago.

As many of you know we have sponsored RSWarrior.com for over 3 years now. Our commitment to this website remains strong thanks to a strong following of many of the members who are apart of this website. I've watched this website grow and I really believe that it is a top notch site.

As many of you know Richie, a long time parts manager of ours, is no longer with our company. Richie now works at a local auto parts store here in Hamilton. Having said that we have hired a new man to take that position named Ike Strawbridge. Ike is from Tupelo MS and comes from an automotive background much like Richie did and much like myself.

I'll be honest. When we first made this move we had to clean up a few areas in our dealership, we had to learn a new system, & we had to fix some problems. In short we were in a bit of a mess for a little while. All the while our goal was to make things better by getting things more organized and we have. Right now I am handling all the orders that come into our website. I am handling just about every aspect of that order except for actually boxing the item up and printing the UPS label. Also, though we encourage ordering through the website for various reasons, I am handling the bulk of the call in orders that you place.

We have an all new parts team. At this time if you call in you'll be better served by talking to Ike or myself as we are training 2 new guys. If fact they are supposed to turn any calls about online orders or if the words "RSWarrior.com" are even mentioned. Course this is only temporary. They'll just need a month or so before they are rolling like we need them to be.

Our deal is the same as when Richie was with us. Most everything on the site is 15% off. An order of $50 or more gets $5.95 shipping to anywhere in the continental USA. Unfortunately we did have to stop shipping overseas and there are multiple reasons for that. I can go into that further if someone wants me to. Any order under $50 will still get the 15% off but we have to charge $9.95 shipping.

***Please mention that you are an RSWarrior member if you are ordering a hard part from the fishe finder located on the website. There is no ability for us to discount those items on the site at this time but we will do so for RSWarrior members!!***

I have never made a post on the website but I will try to reply to any questions that anyone has. At this time you should not see any difference in the level of service we used to provide unless it is better as we have made some organizational changes within our store. Ike has been instrumental in implementing these changes.

I am SORRY for the long post but I felt that it was necessary to better explain the situation all at once. Again we appreciate your passed business. We really look forward to working with everyone now and in the future. Please feel free to call me @ 1-888-880-2277 or email [email protected]. Also Ike can be reached at the same phone number and his email address is [email protected].

The members of RSWarrior.com have been good to us. Again I want to say that we are committed to having the best inventory, best people, & most importantly - the best SERVICE!

MotorSportsSuperStore.com
Yamaha-Suzuki of Hamilton
Scott / General Manager

 

[Brit_Warrior]

Scott, welcome to the site and very many thanks for letting us know the state of play with the MotorSportsSuperStore. There have clearly been some concerns with your store since Richie left and this communication goes some way to explaining the reasons for this.

quote:Originally posted by rolltideroll

Unfortunately we did have to stop shipping overseas and there are multiple reasons for that. I can go into that further if someone wants me to.

I am one of your overseas customers (UK) who has very much enjoyed dealing with your company for a number of years now. As I am sure you are aware, Star Parts are extemely difficult to source in the UK and very few USA based stores are prepared to ship international because of fraud and theft of items while in transit. This made the MotorSports SuperStore a real 'find' for some of us and also gave us the opportunity to support our Site Sponsor.

I placed an order with you some months ago online (as I had always done) yet I was not invoiced, after a few weeks I sent an email asking about the order but I did not receive any reply. I only subsequently found out from another member on this site that you were no longer prepared to ship international once he had called from the USA and spoke to one of your sales people. Having been a loyal customer of yours for a while now, I feel somewhat cheated that you are no longer prepared to deal with me.

I'm sure that there are good reasons for your decision not to ship international but please consider that there are many overseas members of RSWarrior.com who would wish to send their business your way. I'd like to think that most of us are honest and upstanding citizens and most of us would be prepared to pay for shipping insurance for high value orders to cover the order in case of theft.

Most grateful for your thoughts on this Scott and thanks again for being a loyal supporter of RSWarrior.com.

 

[xenarchi]

Scott,

In furtherance to the above. A few weeks back I placed an order for a friend in the UK. At the time I asked if I could pay for the parts but have you guys ship to the UK. The answer was 'sure no problem.' A few days later I heard nothing back from your shop. I then rang up to find out what happened but no one seemed to know what I was talking about. It turns out that the decision to ship to the UK had been over ruled and my order was tossed out. I had to place the order again because no one could find my original order slip.

Not shipping to the UK is a business decision you needed to make, but not getting back to people and or throwing the order out is what gets us a bit crazy.

The lack of follow through when it comes to these types of issues is what makes most people unhappy.

That said, thanks for the post, it is obvious you are on top of this, and let's hope all the issue are behinds us.

Thanks

adam

 

[elloco]

Scott, just wanted to add in my 2 cents. I've ordered a few things from you guys and everything has arrived in a timely fashion and has been for the most part, without incident. The only problem I had was with a discount but that was easily remedied once I called back and the difference was refunded to my credit card.

I will continue to use you guys to order my yammi parts because for one, you come here and post the above further proving your commitment to rswarrior.com members.

Thanks for all you do for us,

Colin

 

[bigbear2592]

I've been a customer of yours for quite some time and will continue to be. It was very nice of you to drop a post on this site to formally introduce your self and to give a explination of the state of your business. I myself appreciate your post. Thanks!

 

[Badger]

Hi Scott

I also have been one of your UK customers in the past and was hoping to continue that business relationship. I have also been recommending you to fellow Yamaha Star riders in the UK as a company that has given a good service to some of us.

Could you possibly offer an explanation of your reasoning behind not supplying the UK anymore.

Thanks in anticipation

 

[DeathStar]

Welcome Scott. Last week I ordered a right turn signal (oem part) and a lower cowl for my '03 Warrior on Monday May 1st. I spoke to you and you told me you did not have them on hand but you'd have them in 3 days and send them out to my house which I'd receive in 4-5 days. I called Thursday, you told me you received them that day and they'd be shipped out Friday, May 5th. I got my e-mail from you giving me the tracking # on Friday. I got my box today, Tuesday May 9th, at 2pm. THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT SERVICE! [/emoticons/emotion-2.gif] One tip, tell your shipping department to really protect the stuff in the box. UPS handed my box to me with 2 sides smashed in like something heavy was on top of it and it actually bent the box my turnsignal was in.[:0] Thank god the cowl and the signal were both unharmed though! [/emoticons/emotion-5.gif][/emoticons/emotion-1.gif] Thanks again Scott! I'll order from ya again!

 

[rolltideroll]

First of all let me say I appreciate the comments & emails that I have gotten today.

Concerning shipping to the UK. I went back and looked at what it usually cost us to ship an item US Mail. It never was less than $22 and was as much as $49. To my surprise we did not charge any additional shipping and basically ate the extra shipping. Folks we were losing our tails doing this. Course everyone knows that it takes a lot more to process an order of this nature (customs forms, delivery to the PO, etc.). In the past we just didn't have enough manpower to handle this extra load. Also we have had some credit card issues.

I've gotten with Ike & here's what we are thinking & I am looking for some feedback. We need to get a minimum order of $250 (after the 15% discount) and a flat $35 for the shipping. Keep in mind that some items simply can not be shipped such as the popular MegaCone exhaust pipes. We would try to do "actual" shipping but the problem with that is getting the approval after we receive the order in. Also these orders would have to be paid via PayPal. I can not stress enough to everyone the amount of problems we have had with overseas credit cards.

Having said all that....What do y'all think? I really want some feedback here so we can go forward with this and try something.

Scott / 1-888-880-2277
MotorSportsSuperStore.com

 

[Brit_Warrior]

quote:Originally posted by rolltideroll

What do y'all think? I really want some feedback here so we can go forward with this and try something.

Scott, that is a very generous reconsideration of your position regarding international sales and I fully understand your business position.

I agree entirely with the Paypal payment option, this goes a long way to defeat some forms of Credit Card Fraud and international Credit Card complications.

The minimum order of $250 will be tough for some members but we could possibly explore the option of combining an order with members from the same country in order to get up to the minimum limit, some of us have certainly discussed this outside of the Forums before.

As to shipping & handling, a flat $35 is once again a fair price to pay. You could of course review this after a few orders to ensure that the international orders are averaging out.

May I just add the importance of good packaging when shipping international orders. This was mentioned by Deathstar and I have also had parts arrive from the USA damaged because of poor packaging. Personally I would be prepared to pay extra for better packaging and the peace of mind that I am not going to have to send a damaged part back to the USA because of a lack of attention during the packaging procedure.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and Ike publicly for engaging in this discussion, it would have been easy for you to say 'no' and then turn away but you appear to be working hard towards a compromise and for this, we are extremely grateful. With many thanks.

 

[swederswrider]

Here in Sweden on our forum there has also been discussions of doing group buying, there has been at least 1 done from a firm in USA so far. If I remember right, members of our forum has bought from you earlier and were pleased with the way it worked as well as the prices and got disappointed when it was announced "no more overseas shipping". Guess this thread will be met with interest from our members!

 

[george1]

I was looking to order stuff a while ago from you, but after speaking to sales dept, was disappointed to find you no longer shipped to U.K. It's good to see you're trying to address this, as a lot of us over here need people like yourselves to get aftermarket parts, and I agree with you Andy, we could join up and order stuff together, to make up minimum order amount.Looks like someone is now listening to us over here in the U.K.

 

[Badger]

Scott

As the other guys have already said thank you for re-considering your original decision not to ship to the UK. It is always difficult obtaining quality parts for our style of bikes as they are in a minority group in the UK.

I will again try to push business your way and hopefully it will prove to be worth your while.

Thanks again. Badger

 

[xenarchi]

Then what will I do with my weekends? No more boxing crap up, lugging it to the post office, standing on line...sending crap to the UK.

I was receiving good karma for doing all those favours, now I'll need another source.[/emoticons/emotion-1.gif]

 

[Brit_Warrior]

quote:Originally posted by xenarchi

Then what will I do with my weekends? No more boxing crap up, lugging it to the post office, standing on line...sending crap to the UK.

I was receiving good karma for doing all those favours, now I'll need another source.[/emoticons/emotion-1.gif]


Adam, you've earned enough karma to last you a lifetime my friend. Mind you, there was this item on ebay that I spotted the other day..........[/emoticons/emotion-5.gif]

 

[xenarchi]

quote:Originally posted by Brit_Warrior

quote:Originally posted by xenarchi

Then what will I do with my weekends? No more boxing crap up, lugging it to the post office, standing on line...sending crap to the UK.

I was receiving good karma for doing all those favours, now I'll need another source.[/emoticons/emotion-1.gif]


Adam, you've earned enough karma to last you a lifetime my friend. Mind you, there was this item on ebay that I spotted the other day..........[/emoticons/emotion-5.gif]


Always glad to help, let me know.[8D]

 

[fcwarrior]

I really appreciate the help from our site sponsor. I'm not sure that it's a good thing that the UPS driver waves at me around town!! But I sure love my bike:}:}

 

[WannaB]

I got to say Scott is on top of things. I had a little snafu, and after 1 email scott got back with me and took care of the problem right then. thanks scott

 

[Thor2daCore]

I have ordered from you quite a few times. Didn't know about the discount but this only will make me order more often. Thanks[}/emoticons/emotion-1.gif]


[/emoticons/emotion-1.gif][/emoticons/emotion-2.gif]

 

[hondagal]

Also wanted to chime in and say I've had excellent service too. I placed an order this past weekend and received some of the goodies today, less than a week later and that was with regular shipping. [/emoticons/emotion-2.gif]

 

[skott]

Decide for yourself......start at the bottom of this post and go up.

s!

Scott-

Companies sell below "cost" all the time in order to stand by their claims of customer service as well as making good on something that they were in error on. Companies provide price matching, regardless of their current cost in hopes of generating a repeat customer. It is likely that once someone buys from an online store, has a good experience, they rarely look anywhere else. I suppose I should have that same mentality and stuck with Phats. Loss leader products are another way of companies sell below cost. I hope you pass this email along to Power Sports Network and explain to them how you not only lost a current but future sale. I will keep in mind to stay away from any websites that are through PSN as well. I have seen a bunch on the web, and apparently accuracy and making sure their pricing is up to date is not a priority for them. I happened to know this is not a hard thing to do, as my website with over 20,000 unique sku's is always 100% accurate on pricing. If there is a mistake, we own up to it.

If you would like to know what else you have "lost", here is a short list of the items I will be purchasing over the next few months, please feel free to do the math and let me know if you would have came out ahead or not in the end.
Complete set of braided stainless lines
Yamaha left side speed* scoop
1000lb spring
Joker Machine Bar end mirrors
Yamaha axle end caps (front and rear)
assorted proprietary Yamaha nuts and bolts.
Aftermarket forward controls.
Quite honestly I don't write letters like this. I just usually take my business elsewhere. In this instance I think its important to let someone know since you take an active role in the existence or RSWarrior.com, just like me.

Respectfully,

Skott Moriarti

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Robertson
To: skott moriarti
Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: Customer Service


I hope there is a lot more good than bad on the RSWarrior site for us because the members do still buy tons from us, enough so that we still send our money to help keep it going & have for years. We've went through a little change but it's working for us in the long run for sure.

Unfortunately Parts Unlimited had a price increase on certain items. Although Power Sports Network (folks that host our site & pre-load our catalogs for us) is the best - even they can't keep every single item 100% up-to-date when this kind of stuff happens. Please accept my apology. Ike did tell me about this and he is giving you the item at our cost. We can not sell below our cost and continue to stay in business. We are already working with close margins with the 15% discount and we do still eat much of the shipping @ $5.95. We make it up in shier volume to justify all this.

I hope you understand that this is the best we can do on this item. I don't think you'll find that we have a habit of "going up" on something once an order is placed. I'd say our website is one of the most up-to-date ones out there. I am committed to the best customer service, inventory, ect. but I can only remain that way if we remain profitable. On this deal - I am not wanting to may a dime - I just don't want to loose anything.

Scott / 1-888-880-2277
MotorSportsSuperStore.com
----- Original Message -----
From: skott moriarti
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:51 AM
Subject: Customer Service


Scott-

I am forwarding this email chain, just to keep you involved, as you made a post on RSWarrior.com: "Again I want to say that we are committed to having the best inventory, best people, & most importantly - the best SERVICE!" I just want to make sure that you have the proper opportunity to provide and over see "the best service" in this situation.


skott moriarti





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ike-

It's strange, I have been a member on the RSWarriror.com site since I purchased my bike. I have become a site sponsor, and even support many of the advertisers on that site through my purchases. It is a really good thing going on over there, and I am glad that you guys are helping that along. Before I chose to order from your website I read a lot of the posts about your operation. There were many both good and bad. Although it seems that many members have had trouble as of late, I went ahead because you support the site.

Now you send me this email? I would suggest that you "recently update" your website. to reflect your "recent price increases". What good is having a website, that quotes a price, and then sends me an ORDER CONFIRMATION, only to have you raise the price due to your breakeven. That's not very professional and seems to be in line with other members bad experiences.

When this happens in my industry, we eat the loss, and honor our contract (order confirmation) and take this as an opportunity to adjust our pricing according to current standards. Thanks for just socking it to me, the first unlucky customer that happens to be ordering when you realized that your website isn't charging enough. I would like to give you the opportunity to rectify this situation, and keep my business. I look forward to your response. Feel free to email or call me anytime.

Respectfully,


skott moriarti


----- Original Message -----
From: Ike Strawbridge
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 10:13 AM
Subject: MOTORSPORTSSUPERSTORE PER YOUR ORDER


THE ITEM THAT YOU ORDERED (0810-0164 ) HAS RECENTLY HAD A PRICE INCREASE. THE LEAST WE CAN SELL THAT PART FOR AND BREAK EVEN IS $395.25. I WILL BE GLAD TO HELP YOU FIND ANOTHER OPTION IF THIS WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU .

IKE // PARTS MANGER
To: skott moriarti

Thank you for purchasing with MotorSportsSuperStore.com. Here is your
online order reference number: 214199. This is only an order confirmation.
If we have any difficulty in fulfilling any part of your order, we will
contact you prior to shipment.

(shipping and billing information omitted)

PRODUCT INFORMATION:
Product ID: 0810-0164
Description:
Order Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $314.96
Total Cost: $314.96

ORDER TOTALS:

Item Total: $314.96
Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $5.95
Order Total: $320.91