IPS Has (NOT) Lost my Business

(POST EDITED, ISSUE RESOLVED)

I'm doing a 120K on a 97 VR4 for a local guy. He ordered some of his OEM parts through IPS including his oil pump.

On Thursday night, I was ready to install the oil pump and found out it was for a 91-92.

Deadline rapidly approaching, I called Mitsu dealers while the owner of the car called IPS. Every Mitsu dealer told me Wednesday was the quickest they could have the pump to me. IPS admitted they sent the wrong pump, said they had a 93+ pump in stock, and said "we'll see what we can do" about over-nighting it. Unfortunately, they never got back to him until Monday morning with this email:

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"I am not certain what happened, but they were unable to get the oil pump out in time, I believe we did not have the correct unit in stock again for you. I will keep posted."

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Angry that I was told they had the pump when they didn't, I made this thread.

IPS appears to have come through in the clutch... The tracking # indicates the pump will be here tomorrow afternoon.

(POST EDITED, ISSUE RESOLVED)

I have had less than expected level of service as well. Any chance I get, I now order from Ninja. With everything Chris has going on in life, he manages to get out parts correctly and faster than IPS.

I was in the same type of situation with my car.

I ordered a hotwire kit that their online store said was in stock. My car wouldn't run without the hotwire kit, also being my daily driver I had no transportation to work so I had to depend on someone else.

After the first week after ordering it, I called to see where my hotwire kit was. They apparently didn't have any in stock and had to make more. Okay fine, so I wait. A week later I call, they mailed the hotwire kit to the wrong address 5 hours away from where I currently live. Okay, fine, shit happens, so I wait for them to mail me another one to the right address. About 2 weeks later I call them again wondering where it is at. They say they need to make more (same story as before). Still took them another week to mail it out to me. So this is 5 weeks of not having a working car because im waiting on something that costs less than $10 to produce more than likely.

I ended up buying another DD in the time I waiting for the fucking hotwire kit.

Finally got the kit a month and a half later.

It was THE WORST customer service I have ever had in my life.

Hmm. Good to know in case I decide to start working on the car again this spring.

Had IPS employed competent people, we would have known to order the pump from Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi could have gotten the pump to me by Wednesday of this week. At this point, I'm screwed on that front.

If IPS actually DOES have the pump on-hand, they could still get it to us by tomorrow. But their customer service is so damn bad, we haven't heard anything since that last (wonderfully useful) email.

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

I have had less than expected level of service as well. Any chance I get, I now order from Ninja. With everything Chris has going on in life, he manages to get out parts correctly and faster than IPS.

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Thanks! We do our best to get parts out as quickly as we can. If there is something that someone needs that we don't have listed, we try to find it and still get it out quickly.

Adam, sorry you had the bad experience.

Once I ordered an exhaust gasket package from IPS, it took so long that I ended up purchasing from the Stealership. When I sent the gaskets back demanding a refund, I was ignored completely. IPS has lost my business.

is IPS turning into GT-Pro?

It appears they are too busy changing a 1 of 16 New Zealand Green Pearl '99 VR-4 to Satin White to fulfill orders properly or honor returns.

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Originally Posted by BigTyla

It appears they are too busy changing a 1 of 16 New Zealand Green Pearl '99 VR-4 to Satin White to fulfill orders properly or honor returns.

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Ha... To be fair to Stas, I wouldn't be surprised if the sales people keep him in the dark about this stuff. I doubt they're bragging to him about their F ups.

AdamVR4, thanks for bringing this up to me, I already tried to contact Kadin but I haven't heard back from him yet. I have the pump in stock. Just waiting on him to call me back.

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Originally Posted by BigTyla

It appears they are too busy changing a 1 of 16 New Zealand Green Pearl '99 VR-4 to Satin White to fulfill orders properly or honor returns.

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apparently we are...

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Originally Posted by AdamVR4

I'll never do business of any kind with IPS again.

I'm doing a 120K on a 97 VR4 for a local guy. For some reason, he ordered some of his OEM parts through IPS including his oil pump.

On Thursday night, I was ready to install the oil pump and found out it was for a 91-92.

Running out of time before I'll be out of town, Friday morning, the owner of the car calls IPS. They admit to sending him the wrong pump, tell him they have a 93+ pump and it will ship out with FedEx, over night, at 3 PM Friday afternoon.

Of course IPS failed.

This was the email they sent to the owner of the car TODAY:


Just pathetic. Thanks IPS. Now this car will live in my garage during my vacation reducing my ability to relax and forcing the owner to find alternative transportation.


Stas,
You need to recognize the reputation for horrific customer service IPS has developed over the past several years. Why are there people that STILL don't have transmissions they ordered? Why, when I called you guys asking about my 5 speed, did the transmission suddenly appear? If I hadn't called when I did, would I still be waiting?

Fuck.

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Also this is not the story I heard from my sales guy either. He never promised that he is going to ship it out, he said he'll check if we had one in stock and than he would give him a quote for overnight shipping. Obviously both sides of the story is bias and you can't keep everyone happy but than again, starting a thread that you'll never buy from us again, leaves me no desire to try and make it up to you since even if i do ship it today, you are not coming back anyway. Obviously I'd still be interested in making it up to a customer since reputation is worth much more than an overnight shipping on an oil pump. No one is perfect and I admit that.
Only thing I can say is that the person that did ship that stuff out is no longer with IPS, since I am back from overseas, I am the one who is doing shipping at this point because of this kind of things, but than again if I don't know what's going on, it's hard to keep everyone happy.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

apparently we are...

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Sorry, I kept my mouth shut as long as I could. :D Generally I perscribe to the "If you don't have anything nice to say" school of thought, but I almost shed a tear when I was told about the repaint. :(

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Originally Posted by BigTyla

Sorry, I kept my mouth shut as long as I could. :D Generally I perscribe to the "If you don't have anything nice to say" school of thought, but I almost shed a tear when I was told about the repaint. :(

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that is just stupid, that is such a rare nice green, im crying too.

I called today to see AGAIN where my black Friday order. was. I was told the AEM guages were ordered last Wednesday!!! WTF over??? Every year it gets a little worse with the orders. I support all of the big vendors with my indivisual parts needs. I honestly cannot see why it has come to this. Jeff has a thread, on the 'other' site, saying we (IPS) are not just interested in the LS powered cars. We are working on many different platforms and we haven't forgotten the 3s community (not exact quote). So if that is the case, then why are the 3s guys constantly complaining about slow orders? If I was Mike or Jeff, I would personally take some of the guys off the floor, and place them in sales until they get caught up. Personnel management and time management makes a successful business prosper! ...off the soap box...and that's my $.02

aem stuff we had to place a stocking order in order to offer that price

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

Obviously both sides of the story is bias and you can't keep everyone happy but than again, starting a thread that you'll never buy from us again, leaves me no desire to try and make it up to you since even if i do ship it today, you are not coming back anyway.

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That just convinced me not to order from you ever.

You're inclined to blow him off, just because he's pissed that you already blew him off...

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

aem stuff we had to place a stocking order in order to offer that price

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OK, I understand that. But, Black Friday was almost a month ago! Why does it take so long to actually place the order to AEM? It's a good thing I am in no major hurry for my items. But there are a lot of people waiting to get items to get the car back up and running.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

Also this is not the story I heard from my sales guy either. He never promised that he is going to ship it out, he said he'll check if we had one in stock and than he would give him a quote for overnight shipping. Obviously both sides of the story is bias and you can't keep everyone happy but than again, starting a thread that you'll never buy from us again, leaves me no desire to try and make it up to you since even if i do ship it today, you are not coming back anyway. Obviously I'd still be interested in making it up to a customer since reputation is worth much more than an overnight shipping on an oil pump. No one is perfect and I admit that.
Only thing I can say is that the person that did ship that stuff out is no longer with IPS, since I am back from overseas, I am the one who is doing shipping at this point because of this kind of things, but than again if I don't know what's going on, it's hard to keep everyone happy.

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I wonder what Mike or Jeff would say about this response? If I was running IPS, you would seriously be disciplined! That is NOT customer service!

hard to keep everyone happy? sure. but what the forum is seeing here says a lot more than IPS's actions. from what I'M seeing (and this is just my opinion), IPS hasn't been a sponsor for a while (intentionally or not), the information posted by employees/owners there pertains to non-3/s related platforms, and the most detailed postings of late are those pertaining to 3kgtsl91's projects.

i've had two major orders with IPS this year. both were dragged out far longer than they should have been. both were treated as though the problem would have gone on indefinitely--had i not harassed IPS to get their shit together. in fact, the only reason i considered the second transaction with them was due to IPS having the quality which i felt was lacking in all of my other alternatives.

with this kind of service, there is, imho, clear room for a QUALITY competitor to offer similar parts at similar prices. 3sx would be a better alternative, but their 16g kit is (also imho) inferior to IPS's.

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Originally Posted by DanEboy5

I wonder what Mike or Jeff would say about this response? If I was running IPS, you would seriously be disciplined! That is NOT customer service!

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you kidding right? what did i say wrong? i just said the position from being the owner of the shop as i look at it pretty much. What's the benefit for me in it? I never said that i will not make it right for him.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

you kidding right? what did i say wrong? i just said the position from being the owner of the shop as i look at it pretty much. What's the benefit for me in it? I never said that i will not make it right for him.

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Hey Stas, I am not trying to piss ya off. But, saying why should I go out of my way if he's not going to come back to us for items was just wrong. I know your an honorable man and maybe you can shed some light to the powers to be.

I would think IPS would either hire some new staff, or... get creative like I mentioned earlier with the techs handling some of the sales. If your staff has an understanding in each department, the sky is the limit w/growth of the company.

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Originally Posted by DanEboy5

Hey Stas, I am not trying to piss ya off. But, saying why should I go out of my way if he's not going to come back to us for items was just wrong. I know your an honorable man and maybe you can shed some light to the powers to be.

I would think IPS would either hire some new staff, or... get creative like I mentioned earlier with the techs handling some of the sales. If your staff has an understanding in each department, the sky is the limit w/growth of the company.

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there are a lot of things that can be improved at our shop and i admit it, and that i am working on, so hopefully by the beginning of next year we'll be improving a lot of the way we do things. and i am sorry i guess my post was interpreted wrong but being a business owner if a customer says that he is not coming back to me no matter what, it is less likely for me to make it up to him. i am not saying that i will not do that, i am just saying how i would feel. at least give me another chance is what i am saying.

Well, if a customer rants about NOT coming back it's usually because they are very upset with how they have been treated. Earning their business is business management 101. Even if after you truly have tried to make it up to them, and they still won't come back, you have done your best and can hold your head high. I should get back on the Vette forums and see what chatter the guys have about IPS. I know the LS platforms is all the rage now... but the 3s guys don't have a lot of choices to go with nowadays.

Oh btw, good luck w/ getting them back on track! It takes a lot to get the whole staff on the same page!

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

starting a thread that you'll never buy from us again, leaves me no desire to try and make it up to you since even if i do ship it today, you are not coming back anyway.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

you kidding right? what did i say wrong? i just said the position from being the owner of the shop as i look at it pretty much. What's the benefit for me in it? I never said that i will not make it right for him.

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This

I'm not trying to bash you or anything, I just want to show IMO what you said wrong. I think there is some costumer service left to be desired there. I hope you guys get it worked out.




Edit: BTW I know you're the one that wants to stay in the 3s game so I do appreciate that.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

AdamVR4, thanks for bringing this up to me, I already tried to contact Kadin but I haven't heard back from him yet. I have the pump in stock. Just waiting on him to call me back.

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Kadin says he hasn't received an email and he hasn't received/missed any calls...

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

Also this is not the story I heard from my sales guy either. He never promised that he is going to ship it out, he said he'll check if we had one in stock and than he would give him a quote for overnight shipping.

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When Kadin asked about over nighting the part on Friday, he says that your sales guy said, "we'll see what we can do"... Implying that yes, he would get back to Kadin with some kind of quote. The failure occurred when your sales guy never got back to Kadin and never shipped the pump.

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Originally Posted by 3kgtSL91

Obviously both sides of the story is bias and you can't keep everyone happy but than again, starting a thread that you'll never buy from us again, leaves me no desire to try and make it up to you since even if i do ship it today, you are not coming back anyway. Obviously I'd still be interested in making it up to a customer since reputation is worth much more than an overnight shipping on an oil pump. No one is perfect and I admit that.

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I won't read into this as much as others because I don't blame you for feeling that way. I figured I was SOL regardless, so there was no reason to hold back my feelings.

IF you shipped the pump this afternoon, over night, as you said (PM), and Kadin receives it tomorrow, I can still probably complete his car before my vacation (of course I may have to take a day off from my actual job). I'm not going to lie, I'm going to be completely shocked if I've got an oil pump tomorrow.

Bottom line -- this thread never would have happened if your sales guy had made an effort to get back to Kadin.

If the pump arrives tomorrow, I'll delete this thread.

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Originally Posted by green-lantern

Edit: BTW I know you're the one that wants to stay in the 3s game so I do appreciate that.

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Absolutely... And I genuinely feel bad for this thread. I've liked IPS a lot since 2005 and really want to continue being able to trust them.

Stas gave me a tracking # for the pump. It should be here @ 3 PM tomorrow...

I'd say the only mistake IPS made was not getting back to Kadin Friday and then the cryptic email today, but in IPS' defense, Kadin may not have done the best job of indicating the urgency of the situation. From my end, I couldn't tell if IPS even had the correct part in spite of them telling us they did, etc... Regardless, I was only getting bits of the story and I let my emotions get the best of me.

After chatting with Jeff for a while, I'd delete this thread right now if I could. Sorry IPS :( You'll definitely get my business in the future.

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Originally Posted by AdamVR4

Stas gave me a tracking # for the pump. It should be here @ 3 PM tomorrow...

I'd say the only mistake IPS made was not getting back to Kadin Friday and then the cryptic email today, but in IPS' defense, Kadin may not have done the best job of indicating the urgency of the situation. From my end, I couldn't tell if IPS even had the correct part in spite of them telling us they did, etc... Regardless, I was only getting bits of the story and I let my emotions get the best of me.

After chatting with Jeff for a while, I'd delete this thread right now if I could. Sorry IPS :( You'll definitely get my business in the future.

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Adam, if you can add or replace your 1st post with this one. I can understand your frustration for sure and I hope everybody at IPS can too. I sure as hell let my emotions get the best of me from time to time.

Glad you were able to get things sorted out, Adam and Stas.

Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come from IPS. :)

I stand by my original comment. Not impressed with quality or urgency of service.