RP MOTORSPORTS/Tom Bell = BUYER BEWARE

[titaniumdave]

I ordered tires from Tom this spring, his price was the best, so I waited longer to get them. I am a cheap bastard and am happy to pay the price in time waited, Tom made it clear the tires are drop shipped and he did not have control of more than the order.

Cheap
Quick
Good

Pick any 2! You never get all 3, unless someone is loosing their shirt, then you won't get it again!

Go buy from Tire Rack, leave Tom for the rest of us that understand the trade offs...Keep up the good work Tom!

 

[KoolinNSX]

1. Does Tom give good pricing? Yes
2. Expected Delay? Yes
3. Expecting Grade B or C service? Yes
4. Expecting Grade F service? No.
5. Does Tom provide help to Prime Members? Yes he does.
6. Expecting a status of your order after you paid? Definitely. Don’t you? :frown: (I only asked him TWICE. First was when I placed the order. The second was when it was 12 days late. I think that was a fair status enquiry. And NO, I did not stalk him everyday asking for a status.
7. Expected him to correct the shipping mistake? Absolutely YES. I just spend two grand and I expect my merchandise to be ship to ME! It was going to be shipped to a wrong person and a wrong address. He ignored my concerns.
8. Did I expect Tom to give me the manufacturer info to call on my own to get a status? Utterly not! When I ordered from SOS, Dali or Andy Auto Sport, they never once gave me Taitec, Cantrell or WW contact info. I called them they provided a status. Do people really expect this might happen when you buy/order product from a business?



My plan was to provide the community my experience and let fairness takes its own course. Then I realized people read what they want to hear and will ignore what actual event took place. Like all previous complaint on this thread, (and please read them again) it is not about his pricing, if he helps others or is he evil, etc. It is about an experience in regards to a particular transaction. A business transaction is a business transaction. He made a profit so I expect a fair level of service no matter how cheap a product is. In addition, The reason a product is cheap does not solely reflect on poor service. Most of the time it is to attract business. Think Ebay or Wal-Mart. All I’m asking is a status, to correct a shipping mistake and not to be ignored. Is that an unfair request? If you have great experiences with Tom, good for you and by all means please post your story. But stop bashing others when they have a bad one. Believe what you want to believe. I never met Mr. Tom Bell before I have no reason to talk bad about the man if it wasn’t because of this issue.


BTW: I did receive an ETA once I contacted B&B and it arrived as stated. All it needed was a phone call.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

[SNDSOUL]

I'm sorry Koolin', but I just cant take anything you say seriously when I know that your daily driver is a NISSAN QUEST . j/k just lightening the mood:biggrin: Merry Christmas

 

[KoolinNSX]

I'm sorry Koolin', but I just cant take anything you say seriously when I know that your daily driver is a NISSAN QUEST . j/k just lightening the mood:biggrin: Merry Christmas

:biggrin: I know I know...the damn air conditioning gave out on me today. I've been looking at a 2001 BMW 7 Series. It should be my next project/daily driver within this couple of months once I'm done with the NSX. :wink:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/229314/2

 

[brandonsan]

Could somebody change the title of this thread or delete it/lock it.

I am not goign to take sides but all this crying about nothing is a bunch of BS.

No, I have not bought anything from Tom, but I have seen many posts where he has been very helpful to people and he is contributing to the NSX Community instead of trying to tear it apart.

I personally give him a lot of credit just for sticking in there, when he has to deal with babysitting unrealistic people who live in a perfect world.

If you want cheap parts quick go to Auto zone otherwise, start being reasonable/ Patient.

This is one of the reaons I got out of Retail, thousands of satisfied customers, then a few cry babies that want all your time for free and even after you bend over backwards to try to make them happy they still cry.

Go luck Tom

I will be ordering some more wheels soon and I will give you a call/email.

I could not agree more with Mike. With all of this BS floating around on this thread some of you might scare away potential vendors that could help us with new products for our vehicles. I think some of you wear your underwear too tight.

I ordered a Type R shift knob 2 months ago from another vendor and I just heard that is was on backorder last week. Did I cry ? No, it is not important that I have a shift knob, wheels or spoiler right away.

LIGHTEN UP !!!!

 

[donwon]

Word. Koolin I feel for ya, but 12 days after promised date isnt bad at all. Dont ask me how I know. :redface: Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Edgemts]

1. Does Tom give good pricing? Yes
2. Expected Delay? Yes
5. Does Tom provide help to Prime Members? Yes he does.
6. Expecting a status of your order after you paid? Definitely. Don’t you? :frown: (I only asked him TWICE. First was when I placed the order. The second was when it was 12 days late. I think that was a fair status enquiry. And NO, I did not stalk him everyday asking for a status.

My plan was to provide the community my experience and let fairness takes its own course. Then I realized people read what they want to hear and will ignore what actual event took place.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Look, I am not getting on your case, people,(babies on this forum) just want to cry, and as you stated above will hear and believe what they want(usually negative).
Shipping errors happen. You provide your info clearly and hope it doesn't happen, eventually it will no matter what you do.

As far as fairness, unfortunately as soon as you say or print something negative, it gets turned into a big deal.
You received your product, (I assume in good condition) and within a reasonable time.
If I started writing about the unfortunate experiences I have had with vendors, I would have written a book or two. SH$T Happens and you move on if significant Sh$t happens regularly then go to a different vendor.
Say Tom or any vendor ships out 1000 packages a month, if 2 a month get messed up because of some mistake, that's a whopping .2 of a percent. Pretty darn good.
Now if those two screw ups just happen to be maturity challenged, prime members and decide they are going to cry about the terrible service that tom provided because the part they ordered came in a little late then all of a sudden we have another "bad vendor" and the perception is that they make all these mistakes and offer terrible customer service.
NOBODY is perfect!!!!!!
I could bash probably every vendor out there, I have bought a lot of stuff and usually there is a little mistake here or there, so what, did it get fixed? if yes go on, be happy, if no try to get it fixed, if a year later its still not fixed and it has cost you considerable time, money then maybe write about it.

The NSX may or may not be an exotic depending on your own thoughts, but it is fairly rare, and thus parts are not on every street corner. Therefore most parts wheels whatever have to be ordered, made, ???? so you need to have patience and expect it to take at least 3 times as long as the vendor states(hopes), then if it comes in a little later than they said, they apologize, your happy because it came in earlier than you expected and you can have a happy day.


I will give you an example of one recent issue.
Back in July I ordered a set of wheels for my customer, was told by my vendor they should be about 8-10 weeks. All are custom made etc. Had my vendor take measurements etc and
Finish later

 

[VBNSX]

talk about cliff hanger soap opera...

play nice boys.. :tongue:

on a lighter note this forum is surprising me. It's evolving (much like everything else)... into something that is reminding me of my old honda forums back in 95 ish or so...

yeah... 17 was a great age... :wink:

x

(mental note.. that was a joke for those who take forums too seriously)

 

[whiteNSXs]

Look, I am not getting on your case, people,(babies on this forum) just want to cry, and as you stated above will hear and believe what they want(usually negative).
Shipping errors happen. You provide your info clearly and hope it doesn't happen, eventually it will no matter what you do.

As far as fairness, unfortunately as soon as you say or print something negative, it gets turned into a big deal.
You received your product, (I assume in good condition) and within a reasonable time.
If I started writing about the unfortunate experiences I have had with vendors, I would have written a book or two. SH$T Happens and you move on if significant Sh$t happens regularly then go to a different vendor.
Say Tom or any vendor ships out 1000 packages a month, if 2 a month get messed up because of some mistake, that's a whopping .2 of a percent. Pretty darn good.
Now if those two screw ups just happen to be maturity challenged, prime members and decide they are going to cry about the terrible service that tom provided because the part they ordered came in a little late then all of a sudden we have another "bad vendor" and the perception is that they make all these mistakes and offer terrible customer service.
NOBODY is perfect!!!!!!
I could bash probably every vendor out there, I have bought a lot of stuff and usually there is a little mistake here or there, so what, did it get fixed? if yes go on, be happy, if no try to get it fixed, if a year later its still not fixed and it has cost you considerable time, money then maybe write about it.

The NSX may or may not be an exotic depending on your own thoughts, but it is fairly rare, and thus parts are not on every street corner. Therefore most parts wheels whatever have to be ordered, made, ???? so you need to have patience and expect it to take at least 3 times as long as the vendor states(hopes), then if it comes in a little later than they said, they apologize, your happy because it came in earlier than you expected and you can have a happy day.


I will give you an example of one recent issue.
Back in July I ordered a set of wheels for my customer, was told by my vendor they should be about 8-10 weeks. All are custom made etc. Had my vendor take measurements etc and
Finish later

You just missed the whole point! I am not taking side but from what I read so far it is about Tom ignoring the inquiries after people paid. It is all about communication. You sent someone money in cyberspace and you don't get your stuff within a reasonable time frame. You call and email and you don't get an answer. You call and email again and there is no response. So the goods finally do arrive after 3 weeks of feeling getting ripped off, you don't get upset about it? These are not cry babies as you cheaply implied. I do understand that errors and shits happen but that can be conveyed through a lousy email or phone call. You don't seem to even understand these simple and decent business etiquette. People need parts for different reasons. Some need parts within deadlines and perhaps their livelihoods depend on them.
My Volk wheels came 6 months after the promised date. During that 6 months, my dealer NEVER ignored me. I called and they told me what they knew and they had called Mackin for updates. You can list whatever examples you can think of, but the key is communication here.
Steve

 

[nis350]

You just missed the whole point! I am not taking side but from what I read so far it is about Tom ignoring the inquiries after people paid. It is all about communication. You sent someone money in cyberspace and you don't get your stuff within a reasonable time frame. You call and email and you don't get an answer. You call and email again and there is no response. So the goods finally do arrive after 3 weeks of feeling getting ripped off, you don't get upset about it? These are not cry babies as you cheaply implied. I do understand that errors and shits happen but that can be conveyed through a lousy email or phone call. You don't seem to even understand these simple and decent business etiquette. People need parts for different reasons. Some need parts within deadlines and perhaps their livelihoods depend on them.
My Volk wheels came 6 months after the promised date. During that 6 months, my dealer NEVER ignored me. I called and they told me what they knew and they had called Mackin for updates. You can list whatever examples you can think of, but the key is communication here.
Steve

Well said Steve.

I ran into similar issues with the local shops. These people have attitude problems and know nothing about customer service.

Regardless of what the error percentage is as stated in the previous post, if you are the unlucky one, then it would be a 100% error for that person. I firmly believe that person deserved decent customer service to make it up.

IMO, there is no excuse to have poor customer service.

 

[RP-Motorsports]

Merry Christmas everyone, well almost everyone! :wink: I am back from visiting all of the extended family, and took the rest of the week off from my full-time job, to catch-up with emails/calls from the weekend. Have a great new years.

 

[Distance Runner]

Merry Christmas everyone, well almost everyone! I am back from visiting all of the extended family, and took the rest of the week off from my full-time job, to catch-up with emails/calls from the weekend. Have a great new years.

Props to you Tom. Thanks for the MC wish to everyone. Bumping this thread to do so is impressive. You could have easily started a new thread. HNY!

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Ok, a while back I promised a full report on my experience in buying wheels and tires from Tom. This started back in September so this is a 4 month post in the making.

I first contacted Tom about buying some SSR GT3 wheels and Bridgestone S03 tires back in the first part of September. Tom was very quick to reply with information and his pricing was the best hands down.

By October, I committed to purchase and sent him a check. I did ask for a reply to make sure he got the check but a couple of weeks went by with no response. I had to email several times before he responded (just to let me know if he got the check or not). But he did explain he was out of town and was catching up with emails. Very understandable.

The first problem arrived when the wheels shipped separately in November. The wheels and tires were supposed to ship together, mounted and balanced, but were shipping separately. A minor inconvienence but not a big deal of getting them mounted and balanced locally. However, much of the $$ savings was going to get eating up by having to do it locally.

Wheels arrived in mid-November. Looked great, no problems there. However, soon after the second problem showed up. When the tires shipped in December, the rear tires were the wrong size. When I notified Tom it took him a little while to get back to me. But he did and he did get the issue resolved. The correct tires were shipped and I'm in the process of returning the old ones. I did note one thing was that when I was first looking to buy tires, Tom was very responsive and usually turned around an email in one day. However, after the wheels and tires were purchased his response time varied between 3 days and 2 weeks and usually took more than one email to get a response. However, all the while I was seeing his posts up on Prime so I got a little concerned. However, Tom is true to his word and in the end I got a great deal and am very happy with my wheels and tires.

SOOOOO... in my humble opinion, here is what I think of my buying experience with Tom and RP Motorsports. With Tom, I think you can get killer deals on wheels and tires. Probably better than you can get anywhere else. The thing you trade is the full time support you might expect from a big time company. Things like 24 tech support, order tracking, and a organized payment processing system. I don't think Tom does this for a living and I think it shows. It's something he does on the side and as such, it gets the same level of attention. He's not going to get back to you on every little detail, even though he might be working on it. BUT Tom is very honest. He is a very good guy and remained very friendly throughout the entire process. But most importantly I never felt like I was going to get screwed or my money taken. He may be a little slow in responding, your order may take a while and there may be problems with the order but in the end, Tom will make sure every thing is right. You will not get screwed in the end, and if you look at the other posts, despite frustations and long delays, it confirms that everything was righted in the end.

SO the bottom line is, if you are the type that needs to know a status update every day, order tracking, and 24 hr customer service, then dealing with Tom with drive will drive you crazy. If you don't mind being kept in the dark for long periods of time and be very patient with getting your wheels/tires in order to save some money, then I can recommend Tom. You are basically trading a high level of service for savings, so it's up to you to decide which factor is more important to you.

 

[RP-Motorsports]

Thanks, the wheels look great on your car!!

To add to the story, when the wheel tire order was placed, the wheels were in stock, and 2/4 tires were in stock. Since the GT3's in this color were the last set, I did NOT want him to lose out on them, so I paid for them up front to consider them "sold" and to wait for the 2 B/O tires to arrive, and then get mounted. Well my supplier made a mistake and shipped out the rims alone the second they received payment from me. So I then told my customer I would do the tires @ "cost" (which I did) to cover the difference in local mounting. The tires came back in stock, but Tire Rack shipped 2 tires the wrong size. They admitted the error, and shipped two new tires.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Thanks, the wheels look great on your car!!

To add to the story, when the wheel tire order was placed, the wheels were in stock, and 2/4 tires were in stock. Since the GT3's in this color were the last set, I did NOT want him to lose out on them, so I paid for them up front to consider them "sold" and to wait for the 2 B/O tires to arrive, and then get mounted. Well my supplier made a mistake and shipped out the rims alone the second they received payment from me. So I then told my customer I would do the tires @ "cost" (which I did) to cover the difference in local mounting. The tires came back in stock, but Tire Rack shipped 2 tires the wrong size. They admitted the error, and shipped two new tires.

Yes, thanks for adding the correct details. That is correct; Tom did exactly as described above. He did help out in securing the last set of wheels and did give me a good price on the tires to offset the split shipment. Which, again, goes along with what I was saying on how Tom will always right things in the end. Thanks again Tom, the wheels look great. I'll take some bigger day shots when I get the chance. :smile:

 

[Rallywrc]

Hey Tom,

Are you traveling again?? I just sent you my 3rd PM asking about my wheels as it has been over 3 months. Any sign of them??????????????????

 

[KooLaid]

i think he's back. I just received an email from him like yesterday.

 

[Rallywrc]

Thanx KOOLAID I just sent my 4th unanswered PM. This guy kills me.

 

[AutoVation]

Thanx KOOLAID I just sent my 4th unanswered PM. This guy kills me.

Did you read the earlier part of the thread?

"SO the bottom line is, if you are the type that needs to know a status update every day, order tracking, and 24 hr customer service, then dealing with Tom with drive will drive you crazy. If you don't mind being kept in the dark for long periods of time and be very patient with getting your wheels/tires in order to save some money, then I can recommend Tom."

 

[KooLaid]

he's not ignoring anyone I think. He just seems damn busy most all the time, and just slow on his emails. But it's true, if you wanna save some cash, Tom is the way to go. For me, I couldn't wait after a few weeks and needed to spend some cash fast so I went a different route and spent a few hundred more on rims and tires that he sells for less.

 

[ExoticMD]

You guys think a 4 month wait is long for the Volks. I waited almost a year for my blitz 03's when they made them. I think those were the hardest rims to get. I got docjon beat by 4 months:smile:

 

[docjohn]

You guys think a 4 month wait is long for the Volks. I waited almost a year for my blitz 03's when they made them. I think those were the hardest rims to get. I got docjon beat by 4 months:smile:

Lol,I still have those wheels!And yes,it took so long I almost forgot I ordered them.At least Tom is a known quantity on prime and he has responded to his critics in this thread.The shop I had bought those blitz's way back when, went out of business before I got them.

 

[Rallywrc]

Did you read the earlier part of the thread?

"SO the bottom line is, if you are the type that needs to know a status update every day, order tracking, and 24 hr customer service, then dealing with Tom with drive will drive you crazy. If you don't mind being kept in the dark for long periods of time and be very patient with getting your wheels/tires in order to save some money, then I can recommend Tom."

Yep, all of the Rpm Threads before I ordered. I don't need a status checkl every day, in fact I waited till the 3 month mark to ask if there was any sign of them. Was told the lead time was just under 90 days before I ordered. Fair enough I thought......Tic toc.

 

[NRG]

I have ordered from Tom for my rims. Yep...4 months waiting list from Japan in which he informed me before I placed my order. This is not Tom primary business. He doesn't have an extra helper to respond and provide the best customer support. In return, he provides the best pricing on rims that I"m aware of. I'm surprised that Tom is still trying to help the NSX community. I know it's not worth for me to spend several hours or more to respond every night.

Anyway, I hope you'll get a respond sometime soon to ease the pain.

 

[martin]

Hi

I paid for my HP EVO's rims 8 february.

I have gotten some updates about my rims. Not as many as I have liked though. But I knew what I was getting into when I ordered so I guess thats okey.

I think that I will have my rims in late july.

I am not worried about the money, the rims will show up some day. It is ofcourse unfortunate that I need to buy new wheels for my OEM 94 rims while I wait.

Regards