Metal Tech 4X4

[PhatFJ]

PLEASE READ ENTIRE THREAD!
MARK HAD RESOLVED THIS ISSUE AND IS A GREAT GUY AND BUSINESS MAN!!


First off let me say that the product (Stage 5 Pegasus and Stage 3 front bumper) looks FANTASTIC and wish I had a better experience.

Ordered ($4900.00 +) front and rear bumpers for a 2004 GX470. Sent check on Jan 2nd 2017 from Colorado to Oregon. Let's just guess that the check arrived Friday the 6th and deposited the 9th. It did clear our account on the 12th of Jan. E-mailed my sales rep John on the 19th to get an update on shipment so I can make sure to be available to unload the bumpers. John replied on Friday the 20th "I believe they may be shipping out Monday." the 23rd. So, I called Monday to see if they shipped, John said that he would check and get back to me. Did not hear back, called Wednesday, he said that he was trying to get in touch with shipping. Called again Thursday the 26th and John stated that he did get in touch with production and that it would be 4 to 5 weeks before they would receive another shipment. I call BULL*(&^%. And would NEVER think of doing this to one of our customers... So, if you want to be jerked around, lied to and treated like your order does not mater in the least, go ahead and do business with Metal Tech 4X4.
To be clear, if I was told the TRUTH from the beginning of this transaction and been able to make an informed decision that would have been fine but to be jerked around like this is bad business...

Shop elsewhere is my recommendation.

 

[CuddlyEbola]

Thanks for the heads up, that's a real s***ty way to treat a customer. The fact that you had to constantly be calling them, when they should have been the ones reaching out to you is beyond just bad communication skills. Hopefully its just a one-off but i wouldn't want to risk getting the same treatment especially when it involves that much money. Any experiences/opinions/consensus on sleeoffroad? I am in the process of buying a 2005 GX 470 that I'll be toying with a little.

 

[JLee]

That's unfortunate. I've only placed one order with them but mine was flawless.

 

[co4wheel]

Most this stuff is custom made when you order. Takes a long time to me made and shipped. Unless they said it was premade the wait is normal. My skids are being made in Colorado Springs by Hefty Fab. It takes 8 weeks.

 

[GXO]

MT is working on keeping things in stock. The Pegasus is BRAND NEW so they are literally making them to order because of demand. I think a little slack is appropriate, but I do agree that should be shared up front and often.

 

[helocat]

Mark the owner of Metal-tech 4x4 here.

Wow very shocked and disappointed to hear this has been your experience. I agree 100% that is bullsh%t way to be treated. It's 8PM on Tuesday night, but will be researching your order 1st thing in the morning and calling you personally.

Have not spent the past 17yrs building this company and supporting our community for you to receive this kind of experience doing business with us.

Mark

 

[kjnarmyfj]

always had great experance with MT

 

[FreeGX]

I've placed two orders from MT for a total of about $1600 and their service was flawless. Never ordered anything they've fabricated, but would assume some delay is normal. I ordered a ladder from Gobi and it took 8 weeks to arrive.

 

[TRY666R]

Who the fxxx sends checks for almost 5Grand through the mail in 2017? Did you call and check availability of those bumpers before you ordered? Seems like a lot of time for s*** to get fxxxed up and inventory to change in that amount of time waiting for it to "clear". Seems like this all could have been avoided on both sides, good god.

 

[GXO]

Who the **** sends checks for almost 5Grand through the mail in 2017? Did you call and check availability of those bumpers before you ordered? Seems like a lot of time for s*** to get ****ed up and inventory to change in that amount of time waiting for it to "clear". Seems like this all could have been avoided on both sides, good god.

I wasnt going to mention anything but ^^

 

[jonshonda]

^Haha, I was wondering who sends checks too.

I have not ordered any products from MT, but spoke on the phone with Mark at length (45 minute phone call) regarding his front bumper for the GX. I could tell immediately he is very passionate about what he does, and isn't in it for the money. One of his staff f#cked up, and I am sure he will take care of you.

There is a reason anyone who has dealt with him unconditionally recommends him for the products he provides and service before and after the sale. This is the first time I have seen ANY negative comments about MT.

 

[carmad]

I ordered front bumper 1/20, was told it would be 4-5 weeks. Just got email yesterday, it is available for pick-up, luckily I live 40 miles away, picking it up this morning.
I bought my Ironman Procell suspension form Metal-tech, my dealings with Mark and John have been great.
Sorry you had a problem.

 

[PhatFJ]

Mark the owner of Metal-tech 4x4 here.

Wow very shocked and disappointed to hear this has been your experience. I agree 100% that is bullsh%t way to be treated. It's 8PM on Tuesday night, but will be researching your order 1st thing in the morning and calling you personally.

Have not spent the past 17yrs building this company and supporting our community for you to receive this kind of experience doing business with us.

Mark

First and foremost, I want to thank Mark for replying to this post and looking into this. This is about communication and being lead to believe something that was not apparently true. Being told that "I believe they may be shipping out Monday" is what lead me to believe they were in stock. If I had been told that they were not available from the start and or what the lead time was, I could have then planed accordingly. The fact that it took so many calls just to get an update was frustrating. I do not believe it is unreasonable to expect a sales person to be able to tell you the status of an order in less than 3 weeks. My other dealings with Metal Tech have also been great and this is why this was so disappointing.

 

[NMBruce]

Let's hope it is worked out, I like MetalTech

 

[helocat]

First and foremost, I want to thank Mark for replying to this post and looking into this. This is about communication and being lead to believe something that was not apparently true. Being told that "I believe they may be shipping out Monday" is what lead me to believe they were in stock. If I had been told that they were not available from the start and or what the lead time was, I could have then planed accordingly. The fact that it took so many calls just to get an update was frustrating. I do not believe it is unreasonable to expect a sales person to be able to tell you the status of an order in less than 3 weeks. My other dealings with Metal Tech have also been great and this is why this was so disappointing.

Left you a V/M on your phone.

Bottom line you are absolutely correct you should have the status of your order when you called or within 24hrs of that call. I apologise that you did not get a call back or email with a definitive status of your order Monday after you called. Your experience is flat out internally somthing am dissecting so it is not repeated again.

Paper checks delays the whole order process, we do accept them it's just not common. Our workflow for a paper check clearly needed devlopment. Currently a sales order is not established until the payment clears the bank. Your order stays as an estimate during this time. This typically takes 2 weeks in general for the banks to consider a check "cleared". Then when it clears the order is entered into our system as a live order and based on inventory at that time either ships or is in que for when the product is ready to ship. When you called Monday the 23rd it had just hit two weeks, the order was sceduled to be put in as a live order that day. When you called your order had not gone into our system yet as a sales order from an estimate. Johns assumption it should be shipping is mistake #1. (after all we make a huge effort to keep products in stock vs. build to order) Of course orders ship only if we have avalible inventory. Jan 1 we had 8 Pegasus rear bumper systems in stock and 12 Goblin front bumpers. Jan 23, the last of both shipped. Mistake #2 was not setting up a ticket for Chase in Logistics to reach out to you on Monday with the status of your order. Saying "Payment cleared and your order is now set. Both bumpers are in production right now and will be avalible to ship the week of....x". Mistake #3 was not internally reaching out to you the same day your called with your order status. The time from Monday - Wednesday should make no difference getting back to you.

The best thing as a small business owner I can do is #1 work with you, Brian our customer to get you your order and stress you are important to us and stress how sorry I am this has been your experience. It will take a full 5 weeks for laser cutting, production and powder coating to finish your order, this I can not change. (thank goodness we have the machined parts in stock!) The snow storms we have had has considerably delayed our flow of laser cut parts, we are solid month behind what we had sceduled. (w./o the storms we would only be one week out on shippnig your order as both would be in powder coat right now)

I look forward to speaking with you.

More: We spent a full hour this AM reviewing your order, communication and everyone involved at Metal-tech 4x4 and identified where we each could have done better, including myself. We are establishing a new follow up that has tracked metrics, for ANY contact of "what's the status of my order". The internal CRM we are using I have the SLA (service level agreement) set to 24hrs. Contact will be made in 24hrs for anyone with that question. Now it might take more than 24hrs to find the answer (outside vendors like suspension) but we will be touching base in that time frame, then again in 24hrs until we have the info needed and close the ticket. Protection Evolved is our motto, well the Evolution part is also a daily thing.

 

[orion]

^^^ Great, thorough explanation...and nice to see the owner posting / responding directly.

- Brian

 

[PhatFJ]

Left you a V/M on your phone.

Bottom line you are absolutely correct you should have the status of your order when you called or within 24hrs of that call. I apologise that you did not get a call back or email with a definitive status of your order Monday after you called. Your experience is flat out internally somthing am dissecting so it is not repeated again.

Paper checks delays the whole order process, we do accept them it's just not common. Our workflow for a paper check clearly needed devlopment. Currently a sales order is not established until the payment clears the bank. Your order stays as an estimate during this time. This typically takes 2 weeks in general for the banks to consider a check "cleared". Then when it clears the order is entered into our system as a live order and based on inventory at that time either ships or is in que for when the product is ready to ship. When you called Monday the 23rd it had just hit two weeks, the order was sceduled to be put in as a live order that day. When you called your order had not gone into our system yet as a sales order from an estimate. Johns assumption it should be shipping is mistake #1. (after all we make a huge effort to keep products in stock vs. build to order) Of course orders ship only if we have avalible inventory. Jan 1 we had 8 Pegasus rear bumper systems in stock and 12 Goblin front bumpers. Jan 23, the last of both shipped. Mistake #2 was not setting up a ticket for Chase in Logistics to reach out to you on Monday with the status of your order. Saying "Payment cleared and your order is now set. Both bumpers are in production right now and will be avalible to ship the week of....x". Mistake #3 was not internally reaching out to you the same day your called with your order status. The time from Monday - Wednesday should make no difference getting back to you.

The best thing as a small business owner I can do is #1 work with you, Brian our customer to get you your order and stress you are important to us and stress how sorry I am this has been your experience. It will take a full 5 weeks for laser cutting, production and powder coating to finish your order, this I can not change. (thank goodness we have the machined parts in stock!) The snow storms we have had has considerably delayed our flow of laser cut parts, we are solid month behind what we had sceduled. (w./o the storms we would only be one week out on shippnig your order as both would be in powder coat right now)

I look forward to speaking with you.

More: We spent a full hour this AM reviewing your order, communication and everyone involved at Metal-tech 4x4 and identified where we each could have done better, including myself. We are establishing a new follow up that has tracked metrics, for ANY contact of "what's the status of my order". The internal CRM we are using I have the SLA (service level agreement) set to 24hrs. Contact will be made in 24hrs for anyone with that question. Now it might take more than 24hrs to find the answer (outside vendors like suspension) but we will be touching base in that time frame, then again in 24hrs until we have the info needed and close the ticket. Protection Evolved is our motto, well the Evolution part is also a daily thing.

Mark, again, thank you for looking into this. I really appreciate it. Being a business owner as well (33 years) I know how stuff can happen out of the ordinary and I too am sorry to have over reacted!! My father told me many years ago that it is easy for a company to look good when things are going well and that the true test of a great company is how they handle the problems when they arise and you sir shine. Not only did you do exactly what you said you would do but you went over and above to help correct a difficult situation and help future potential problems. For this, I am VERY appreciative! Sorry I did not get your call as we were on the road all day and just got to our destination. I could not find the VM you left, not sure why... Thank you again, you have renewed my confidence in you and your company and will continue to use your products in the future. I will call John directly and hopefully you are there as well so we can talk..
To those reading and commenting on this post. Thank you all for your input. This is what social media is about and in the long run it has helped further understanding and communication that will hopefully benefit everyone..

All the best, Brian

 

[tlin]

Personal experience with MT, all good here. Order placed with them wasn't much smaller than yours was ($$-wise) but I did elect to use a more modern form of payment .....

No affiliation, just sharing my personal experience since it was positive and I'd definitely use them again (ironically just recommended them to a buddy for sliders last night). Take care....

 

[tlin]

PLEASE READ ENTIRE THREAD!
MARK HAD RESOLVED THIS ISSUE AND IS A GREAT GUY AND BUSINESS MAN!!

Cool!!!!

 

[drowssap]

Cool