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Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | I ordered them Feb. 2, 2014. They said they would be done by July. 2014. Asked in Aug. and they said Oct. Asked then and they said that I would be moved up on the list. I figured that was just oil for a squeaky wheel. Just asked again, if I would have them by the anniversary date and they said "no". Now I am only hoping to have them by Carlisle?!
Does anyone know their situation? IF they are getting so many orders that they are back ordered over a year, why don't they expand? We are only one group and I have read some of you have thought about or maybe even some of you have cancelled your orders? How can a business afford to loose customers like that? |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
| Obviously if there was competition they would think about it but there isn't... This stuff isn't easy to find. |
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed
Posts: 1028
Location: Melbourne, Australia | They have built a whole new Door Panel factory next door apparently, its finished but waiting on final inspection from the council or something . Everything is a slow waltz with him manufacturing so many things and materials for so many cars . I believe good staff is a major problem there also , which I know is not our problem , but can you imagine trying to co ordinate the place with the amount of orders and different things they have to make and dies to HF weld patterns in etc..
So since he is waiting on other people things are going to always take longer than they should . That's why I normally only buy the material and get everything done here . I got him to press the lines in my door panels for my last Chrysler and had him just send the vinyl over and finished them off here . I do though have a problem with Doug billing your credit card the same day you order when a year later people have got nothing . As far as I am concerned your card should only be billed the minute they are about to actually start on them . |
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | ....Absolutely; there ought to be a law (or two) about premature extraction transactions from accounts.
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Posts: 1497
Location: Fairfax, Minnesota | d500neil - 2014-12-22 11:02 AM ....Absolutely; there ought to be a law (or two) about premature extraction transactions from accounts. There is a related law that everyone on this forum should know by now- Don't buy anthing from SMS unless you have not been able to use an alternative supplier or combination of processes. If you use SMS, they have the right to ignore all common sense rules governing good business practices. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 982
Location: Upper Hunter NSW Australia | d500neil - 2014-12-23 4:02 AM
....Absolutely; there ought to be a law (or two) about premature extraction transactions from accounts.
........
I though Viagra was for Premature Extraction Neil ???  
.......
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed
Posts: 1028
Location: Melbourne, Australia | I still think a fair system is an escrow system for businesses like SMS . Where You pay to a third party , who holds the money and when you have received the product and are happy the funds get released to him . if not finished in time your money comes back . That's how buying from the chinese works on sites like Ali Baba , but that's another story .
But I think Doug would laugh if you tried that on him !
Edited by The Adventurer 2014-12-22 8:10 PM
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | ...That's because SMS defines and enforces the Golden Rule, on virtually everyone else, in the "Special Interest" auto enthusiast world.
They get the 'gold', and get to keep it, too, interest free, at their own discretion.
Nice work if you can get it.....
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Expert
Posts: 1324
Location: Hickory, NC | SMS is run by a bunch of fools. My friend bought and paid for what was supposed to be original blue striped 1953 Olds fabric. Instead after he paid he was told that they had to make it. But don't worry it'll be exactly like original. When we finally received the fabric it was a shade of green and not blue. After several phone calls. (In which if you want to place an order you automatically get a person and they take your money. But if you have a complaint or an issue with your order you are sent to a message machine and they get back with you on their own terms.) He was to have another batch of fabric "specially made for him". The owner got involved and had to make sure he told my friend that he'd been in this business for X-amount of years and that the fabric would be exact. He even said that my friend's order was getting pushed ahead of people waiting months. Anyways the fabric came and it was a shade of purple. I think they were just trying to pawn off generic fabric as original and hope that the customer doesn't notice and still charge the $95 a yard. The owner said that he had a dealer showroom book to match the fabrics exact. My friend has an original dealer showroom book and the fabrics looked nothing like the original. Upon mentioning that the owner then wanted my friend to send samples. In the end my friend ended up getting 1957 Belvedere cloth for his car...
My dealings with SMS havent been great either. I've never given them a cent. But when you ask more in depth questions the owner usually replies very rudely and always has to say hes owned the place for 20 years or whatever. It doesn't matter how long you've owned a place. The service sucks...and the product does too at times as well!
They don't care either I'm sure. They really don't have any competition and some people HAVE to have original. I just go to the local trim shop and have my interiors redone to mimic the original. Saves tons of money, time, and frustration. |
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Veteran
Posts: 119
| Don't ever give SMS your credit card or debit card number, they'll just run whatever charges they want when they want. |
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Expert
Posts: 3887
Location: Northen Virginia | After hundreds of complaints on SMS of members in here, they are still other members sending hundred dollars to him and complaining. I just don't get it.
Edited by hemidenis 2014-12-23 6:41 PM
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | Hope springs eternal.
And Charlie Brown keeps on trying to kick that football.
The American Spirit in action (hoping for the best outcome to occur.)
Edited by d500neil 2014-12-24 1:38 AM
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8443
Location: Perth Australia | I made this one this afternoon
I aint no SMS, but I didnt wait a couple of years either
Its a little lumpy looking because I clipped it to an old door trim (thats a little lumpy )
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Location: Germany | Nothing new since at least 5 years. I never heard of anybody who waited less than 1 year for door panels. Mine took 20 months. Although they came out very nice I cannot understand that there are still people around who order them, knowing that they have to wait very very long. My advice: Save your old interior and let the panels be made by a good upholsterer. They can do it! What SMS does is not unique art! I saved all the pieces of my old, damaged original Fury interior and gave it to a friend also doing a 58 Plymouth restoration. His upholsterer used it for pattern and it came out perfect. Some day, the pieces will go to the next guy. The original interior will never be thrown away! Help each other, this is my advice to avoid frustration with companies who think they have a monopoly and can do what they want.
Edited by Andy1974 2014-12-24 7:53 AM
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Expert
Posts: 3887
Location: Northen Virginia | Just found it, this is how dealt with SMS on Feb 2014 when they want to charge me $219.00 for shipping. Now if you wait a year you are basically screed.
Edited by hemidenis 2015-01-13 8:42 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 982
Location: Upper Hunter NSW Australia | ........
Thanks to this thread when it first started , it has saved me the headache of having to deal with them and waste my time and money.
Instead, I'm going to have a go doing my own seats and doors like Mick ( ttotired ) has done.
Just wondering if SMS's apparent lack of good customer service has been going on for a while , is there any discussion on any other forums about it ?
I'm only a member of this forum and FCBO. Nothing on FCBO that I know of ?
..........
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | Credit card purchases are one of the FEW really-good deals, for the protection of the general consumer...in the world.
It would only take one phone call to confirm this, but, I wonder how soon a credit card purchase-transaction can be
"disputed" (sellers live in fear of this word) to/with a non-cooperative seller?
I know that the c.c. company requires that a defective purchased-item needs to be returned to the seller, before any
credits can be issued on the failed transaction, but we are talking about goods, here, that were 'purchased', but never actually
delivered to the buyer.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 982
Location: Upper Hunter NSW Australia | ........
So that would be a " fail to supply goods purchased " type scenario Neil ?
....... |
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Expert
Posts: 1476
Location: Pacific Northwest | I've been dealing with them for over a decade and nothing has changed. If anything it has gotten worse.
I tried my best to explain to them that it would be better to tell their customers that their order will take one year to produce. That way when their order takes 16 months it doesn't seem so bad. I was told six months and didn't believe them. I even told them so. Here we are at 12 months later and I would be surprised if I see them before spring.
VAN HELSING I have seen a lot more negative than positive feedback about SMS. quality is never and issue. It's always about time frame and lack customer service. |
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Expert
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Location: Northen Virginia | My deal was "on Call" (purchased directly at the store) if I remember correctly I ask a member in this forum to match the samples they sent to me, to the actual product to be delivered. Then I will ship the material to a hotel in Miami, FL where a friend of mine will take it overseas.
-Sms asked for 48hrs to go to the warehouse and cut my yardage from the roll (2 days? really?)
-after 5 days around 3pm in the afternoon I called SMS and I left a msg requesting to please cancel my order since my friend left the hotel in the afternoon and I don't need the materials anymore.
-the owner contacted me the NEXT DAY telling me that the material was already cute and shipped to MY ADDRESS in VIRGINIA for a hefty amount of $210.00 via Fedex!!! a complete different deal that i first requested.
- I tried to explain to him on the phone that I cant use the material anymore and i don't need a next day shipping $210.00. Doug went ballistic and accused me of everything except being a good customer and i truly thought the guy was about to have an heart attack. I politely hung up the phone and called my credit card company
-I waited one week for the delivery that never arrived, because he simply LIED to me and the credit card just refunded my money and advised me to refuse the shipping if it ever came.
-The end. "IF we all reacted in this way with SMS they will be out of business by now or they will be a real friendly business.
Edited by hemidenis 2015-01-14 10:04 PM
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | So that would be a " fail to supply goods purchased " type scenario Neil ?
........Including anything from an honest error or mis-communication regarding the (agreed-) terms of a sales transaction.....to out-
and-fraud...including the failure to pay or to reimburse a creditor for a good-faith purchase that the creditor made,
on another's behalf.
There are a lot of variable factors in business transactions.
And people have long memories, where money is involved.
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Location: Northen Virginia | exactly! |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8443
Location: Perth Australia | I think its been said before, but all this complaining about sms is really wasted because they seem to have a monopoly on the stuff that people want (original materials), so they do what they want
Until someone invests the time and money into duplicating this stuff to go into competition with them, there is no reason why they will change, they have us over a barrel.
It really comes down to take their crap with a grin or (as I have done) settle for generic materials and do it yourself (or get someone else to do it)
The only other option would be to buy the company out yourself or make up a consortium to pool up the money and buy them out
I dont see them changing the business practices they have exersized for years
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Location: Northen Virginia | They will no change, as you said you buy from them or not, I chose NOT and in the process they lost a lot. |
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Expert
Posts: 1348
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | I asked them again when I might expect my panels, why shipping is so much, and why they don't put more effort into making money as they are loosing customers?
I got a long email back explaining that they understand my frustrations. They said it takes 3 days to make a set of panels. The owner is not interested in spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new embossing machine but they are working towards making improvements. They said their shipping rates are exactly what it cost them by UPS for large packages. They said they have over 1200 panel patterns and they receive dozens of emails like mine daily. Right now, they are even a little more behind because they just expanded their storage warehouse because of higher demands for their materials.
Sounds like to me that there is enough demand to really look into investing what ever it takes to make money and their future. |
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Expert
Posts: 1348
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | I had asked them about the shipping fees and was told they make no profit on shipping. See the price for shipping those 60 Plymouth panels that were sold on ebay? What was it, $17.50 or something? I think that may be too low but over $200 from SMS is WAY too high. |
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just asked SMS how my door panels are coming
