One week later you are writing them off? I am all for good service but geez folks have a LITTLE patience.
first place parts
- Thread starter carpainter29
- Start date
N
Norminator688
New member
In one week they should be able to get me a tracking number, reply to an e-mail or answer the phone.
First Place Parts
Mark here, the owner of FirstPlaceParts.com
This is long so bare with me.
I do understand the frustration that has come from First Place Parts. Here are my reasons, excuses, and general thoughts, take them anyway you want. I may jump around to cover all topic, sorry.
Yes we had the same problem last year: we doubled our square footage this year, hired more people and added bar coding, hoping all this would help. We have 8 full time employees and at some times 4 or 5 part time people working. We cannot just hire more full time people at the spur of the moment; they could not even answer the phone because our order processing takes some training.
***Here is the main reason we are behind, take it for what it is worth. ALL THIS took place while you all were posting about not getting your products. If you were going to loose your kids what would you do?
I have a couple of key employees, two sisters, who run the show. One of them has 3 kids and their dad decided a couple of years ago to go get the hell out of town, then when he had to start paying child support he took her to court for custody. He is a looser and, she is a VERY good mom. She was gone for over a week dealing with this, and that does not include the time she spent meeting with the lawyer before hand to get the case ready to go to court. The person who runs the show is her sister, so she had to go to court also. THUS the two people who run the day to day operation at First Place Parts were gone, during our busiest time of the year.
Yes it cost me money and yes I have a lot of pissed of customers, but that is nothing compared to having one of my employees have their kids taken away.
Oh and if First Place Parts is such a bad company, who do you think paid for her Lawyer bills, ME!!!
So these two do all the emails, orders from suppliers and much more. Now on to last year, the person who does ALL OF OUR ORDER PROCESSING had a death in the family and was gone during our busiest time of the year for over a week. I had to let a person go because he sent an email that was way off base. So last year we were also down on staff during our busiest time of the year, *Call it bad luck or whatever you want but it has not been good, for us or the consumer.
Now on to the comment made by “carpainter29”: “Seriously, if i ran the body shop this way i wouldn’t have any customers”. So if you can finish, let’s say, 4 cars a week. Then next week you get 8 cars, then your estimator has a death in the family, then next week you have 16 cars and your 2 main body men have to leave for a week. You cannot refuse the business, just as we cannot shut down the web site. WHAT are you going to tell those 16 people when they want their car finished in a week? Could you go out and JUST hire more people like I am told to do!
On top of all this: Klim, Castle X, Arctiva, 509, BCA, MotorFist, Slednecks, and many more, are out of stock and in many cases are not getting any more products. We pre-seasoned so much stuff it is not even funny, it just sold that fast and then when we want more the suppliers tell us they are out.
!!!! So yes we have not been answering every phone call or every email, but we have been answering the phone and responding to emails when we can. And yes we can do better and hopefully will in the future, but it seems each year we are stating in the hole. I will guarantee that NO ONE in the industry is working more hours or harder than we are. When I have employees working until 1 or 2 in the morning, what more do we need to do. We are a family run business and literally working 7 days a week and sometimes 18 hours a day.
I could go on for pages, I better just end here.
Thanks
Mark
Mark here, the owner of FirstPlaceParts.com
This is long so bare with me.
I do understand the frustration that has come from First Place Parts. Here are my reasons, excuses, and general thoughts, take them anyway you want. I may jump around to cover all topic, sorry.
Yes we had the same problem last year: we doubled our square footage this year, hired more people and added bar coding, hoping all this would help. We have 8 full time employees and at some times 4 or 5 part time people working. We cannot just hire more full time people at the spur of the moment; they could not even answer the phone because our order processing takes some training.
***Here is the main reason we are behind, take it for what it is worth. ALL THIS took place while you all were posting about not getting your products. If you were going to loose your kids what would you do?
I have a couple of key employees, two sisters, who run the show. One of them has 3 kids and their dad decided a couple of years ago to go get the hell out of town, then when he had to start paying child support he took her to court for custody. He is a looser and, she is a VERY good mom. She was gone for over a week dealing with this, and that does not include the time she spent meeting with the lawyer before hand to get the case ready to go to court. The person who runs the show is her sister, so she had to go to court also. THUS the two people who run the day to day operation at First Place Parts were gone, during our busiest time of the year.
Yes it cost me money and yes I have a lot of pissed of customers, but that is nothing compared to having one of my employees have their kids taken away.
Oh and if First Place Parts is such a bad company, who do you think paid for her Lawyer bills, ME!!!
So these two do all the emails, orders from suppliers and much more. Now on to last year, the person who does ALL OF OUR ORDER PROCESSING had a death in the family and was gone during our busiest time of the year for over a week. I had to let a person go because he sent an email that was way off base. So last year we were also down on staff during our busiest time of the year, *Call it bad luck or whatever you want but it has not been good, for us or the consumer.
Now on to the comment made by “carpainter29”: “Seriously, if i ran the body shop this way i wouldn’t have any customers”. So if you can finish, let’s say, 4 cars a week. Then next week you get 8 cars, then your estimator has a death in the family, then next week you have 16 cars and your 2 main body men have to leave for a week. You cannot refuse the business, just as we cannot shut down the web site. WHAT are you going to tell those 16 people when they want their car finished in a week? Could you go out and JUST hire more people like I am told to do!
On top of all this: Klim, Castle X, Arctiva, 509, BCA, MotorFist, Slednecks, and many more, are out of stock and in many cases are not getting any more products. We pre-seasoned so much stuff it is not even funny, it just sold that fast and then when we want more the suppliers tell us they are out.
!!!! So yes we have not been answering every phone call or every email, but we have been answering the phone and responding to emails when we can. And yes we can do better and hopefully will in the future, but it seems each year we are stating in the hole. I will guarantee that NO ONE in the industry is working more hours or harder than we are. When I have employees working until 1 or 2 in the morning, what more do we need to do. We are a family run business and literally working 7 days a week and sometimes 18 hours a day.
I could go on for pages, I better just end here.
Thanks
Mark
S
sled-fiend
Well-known member
First Place Parts....
Sounds like you knew ahead of time that you would be down a few employee's and important ones at that. Court dates don't appear overnight. IMO you should of at least put a notification on your site to expect delays in products being shipped out, no communication is the worst, especially when people are shelling out hard earned cash.
Sounds like you knew ahead of time that you would be down a few employee's and important ones at that. Court dates don't appear overnight. IMO you should of at least put a notification on your site to expect delays in products being shipped out, no communication is the worst, especially when people are shelling out hard earned cash.
R
Raff_9001M
Well-known member
If there is one thing I learned about this industry it's either order early or order late. I'm starting to prefer to order late - better deals. Only problem is you have to wait till next riding season to use it. I have ordered from First Place Parts and have good success. Good luck all.
Were some of you taken by surprise when it snowed?
It does every winter.
I have a hard time sympathizing with you jokers who wait until the last minute to order something that you knew full well you were going to need, and you knew it a long time ago.
Life goes on.
Chill & roll with it!
It does every winter.
I have a hard time sympathizing with you jokers who wait until the last minute to order something that you knew full well you were going to need, and you knew it a long time ago.
Life goes on.
Chill & roll with it!
S
snowww1
Well-known member
I have met the owner of First Place Parts and the employees. I was very impressed with their product knowledge and the operation they run. They are working an insane amount of hours trying to keep up with the orders.
Please understand what they are going through. They are giving it their best to catch up.
Baffles me how many people wait until the last moment to order items with not a moment to spare before a trip or holiday. I would suggest ordering well in advance and before Christmas week. Mike Duffy
Please understand what they are going through. They are giving it their best to catch up.
Baffles me how many people wait until the last moment to order items with not a moment to spare before a trip or holiday. I would suggest ordering well in advance and before Christmas week. Mike Duffy
Time Fram
NO we did not know ahead of time, about everything. The date was delayed and delayed, this was originally to be settled months ago. Then the Judge set a date and that was it.
Things were brought up that needed to be addressed at the last minute, that is the way things go. I'm not going to get into every detail about this.
She did get to keep her kids and he ended up not looking very good.
Thanks
Mark
NO we did not know ahead of time, about everything. The date was delayed and delayed, this was originally to be settled months ago. Then the Judge set a date and that was it.
Things were brought up that needed to be addressed at the last minute, that is the way things go. I'm not going to get into every detail about this.
She did get to keep her kids and he ended up not looking very good.
Thanks
Mark
PM sent. Thanks mark.
They've got all this going on and customers that think they need to put their BCA Float 30 together in the store and have it explained to them when they could have done it themselves 
I don't know who that could have been. When I was in there everyone was working hard and constantly on the phone dealing with companies and customers. Give them a break, its the busiest time of the year.
I don't know who that could have been. When I was in there everyone was working hard and constantly on the phone dealing with companies and customers. Give them a break, its the busiest time of the year.First Place Parts is a Great company and I have been very pleased with their customer service and product knowledge, Thank you Mark and the entire staff for doing the very best you can when life and work throws you unexpected challenges, it happens everyday in this world and we try to do the best we can with what we have to work with. It's not a perfect world, but it can be better when we try to understand and help each other. Merry Christmas, its the season.
The rest of my order was on the doorstep when i got home. Mark stepped up to the plate and got me handled. I will order form them again, FYI. Thanks Mark, and hope you get all of your problems handled.
