Negative Wit's End Experience (1 Viewer)

[nodor]

First off, I know this post may get a lot of criticism from friends and customers of Joey. I have purchased many items from Wit's End and been supportive of the business. I've even stood up for the business on other threads talking about negative experiences. However, my most recent experience requesting a refund for the rear quarter panel mount was not great and thought others may benefit from hearing about it.

I ordered the rear QPM on March 8th, 2021. I waited patiently knowing there were backlogs and supply chain/vendor issues. I emailed a handful of times trying to get an idea of when I could expect to receive it to plan ahead for future projects. Never received a response and just saw the occasional post on Ih8mud or instagram from Joey about it. Eventually I grew tired of waiting and requested a refund on September 24th so that I could use the funds for other projects. Within 24 hours the request is acknowledged and I get an automated email with the updated order status. Two weeks go by without seeing a refund. I check with my credit card company. They've received nothing on their end. I wait some more. Send an email to Joey. No response. Wait some more. Send another email. No response. Finally last weekend I posted a cordial comment on an instagram post to try and get his attention. Within hours the comment is deleted without any sort of acknowledgment. So an instagram comment is noticed and deleted within hours while emails about a refund are supposedly not seen or missed because Joey is too busy? Well I post another comment on the same post that is a little less cordial this time and am then immediately blocked from the instagram page. Finally I received an email from Joey. I am labeled as going "scorched earth" for something that he said is my banks problem and not his and proceeds to send screenshots of the refund being acknowledged on his e commerce website as if this was proof that the refund was sent. I notice it says "refunded offline" on his screen shot. This means the refund was issued through other means and not through his e commerce website using my payment method. I had not communicated any other means for the refund to be sent and had not received anything so obviously this was not me or my banks problem. I pointed this out. Finally I get a refund this week through PayPal without actually being asked or communicating to him that I even had PayPal or that that was my preferred method.

I'm now blocked from his website with my account and his instagram, only because I requested a refund for an item that I had waited nearly 8 months for, did not receive the refund, and had to use an unconventional method to get his attention because my emails were blatantly ignored.

This experience and how it was handled by Joey has nothing to do with backlogs, vendor issues, or him being busy. Simply put this was straight up terrible customer service. Just sharing for others who may be waiting on orders and considering a refund. If you receive the automated email order update acknowledging the refund, this means absolutely nothing as its only a status change and the refund may not have actually been sent by Joey.

 

[bhsdriller]

cool

 

[GOTLOCKED96]

I mean the guy is pretty upfront that he has bad customer service and indefinite wait times. So with that expectation I have been a satisfied customer, because I know I will get my products when they are ready.

Based on what you stated, you are unhappy being a customer of uncle Joey and wanted your money back.

Sounds like you got your money back and are free to go find a new vendor.

Case closed... Time for a beer. Happy Friday Yall!

 

[Douglas S]

Understanding that Joey has a lot going on your criticism is definitely fair, it shouldn't be that difficult to get a refund

 

[nodor]

Understanding that Joey has a lot going on your criticism is definitely fair, it shouldn't be that difficult to get a refund

This. Anyone who thinks my criticism is over the top or unwarranted has not had to wait for a refund, be ignored, then ultimately blamed for not getting it. Yes I got my money back, but what I went through and had to do to get it back was ridiculous.

Someone who has as much time as he does to post on instagram and read and delete comments, should have plenty of time to acknowledge an email, look into a refund not being received, acknowledge the mistake, accept responsibility for it and correct it. That is not an unreasonable expectation for any customer to have of any business, regardless of what else is going on.

 

[bencallaway]

Definitely a pain in the butt. Hard to understand the bank/ refund confusion. I waited for my QPM for ages. I emailed Joey a month ago asking about the ARB wedge and I had one in my mailbox 3 days later.

You’re right that most folks here have Joey’s back. Not sure what you hope to accomplish with this post. Kinda makes you seem like a whiner.

 

[nodor]

Definitely a pain in the butt. Hard to understand the bank/ refund confusion. I waited for my QPM for ages. I emailed Joey a month ago asking about the ARB wedge and I had one in my mailbox 3 days later.

You’re right that most folks here have Joey’s back. Not sure what you hope to accomplish with this post. Kinda makes you seem like a whiner.

It's really not that hard to understand. The refund was never sent. Joey tried to make me believe the refund was sent because of a status change on the e commerce website when that clearly was not the case. Once I called him out on it I got the refund.

Glad you got the wedge so quickly. You highlight the fact that he is indeed seeing our emails and choosing to ignore some of them. I wish I didn't need the money for other things and could have continued waiting for the QPM.

Not whining. Just putting the experience out there so that if someone else ends up in the same situation, as I know there have been others, they won't accept that a refund was sent based on a status that was changed and a screenshot.

 

[Comet]

I have the opposite experience. I ordered a particular hose for my 80 project, forgot about it, and received correspondence a little while later asking if I still needed the part. I know Joey has some ongoing personal hurdles to climb, some business issues to constantly sort out, and marketing demands that never let up. Definitely look out for yourself @nodor and I am glad you were made financially whole in the end. With that being said, I will continue to do business with Joey, eyes wide open.

 

[FMC80]

Dudes. I may get black balled for this but whatever. Here’s the deal. I’ve ordered from Joey and had a part that was taking quite long to ship. I emailed him and he didn’t respond. So I hit him up on mud. He responded immediately. He gave me the heads up and I was okay with it and waited a little more for my stuff. Btw, I plan to order from him again.

BUT. if you’ve had these issues and you’re telling the truth (I believe you are) then you should be pissed! No one should fall on the sword because vendors are few and far between. We shouldn’t be scared into compliance. **** that. I work hard for my money. I appreciate vendors who put their bàlls out there and take risks for their dreams and we benefit from it. But don’t take my money and sit on it without letting me know what’s going on.

If you can’t communicate or acknowledge that some people don’t have money pouring out of their asses and actually care about how they spend it, then maybe you should rethink your business model.

Gotlocked said it well but maybe that isn’t the right answer.

I say keep it transparent. I’m not going to kiss any vendors àsses to keep making parts for my 80 but know I appreciate you.

Some like to comment how everything is a one man show and that’s okay. Great! More power to you. But give me that info up front so I can be informed before I spend my hard earned dollars. There is some principle here.

I love all you bastards but please let’s keep it civil and err on the side of giving the other the benefit of the doubt. If you mess up, own it and move on. That goes for our vendors too. And all you pain in the àss, never can be pleased “customers” get a grip and realize you’re not that important. Vendors are important and this community needs all the support of each other. So get over yourself and buy knowing some shîts going to take a while.

Send spears my way.

 

[Comet]

Thwonk. Schping. Flenckelr. All sounds of a spear spiraling towards its target and deflecting off course.

Just leave me out of this. I like

 

[nodor]

Dudes. I may get black balled for this but whatever. Here’s the deal. I’ve ordered from Joey and had a part that was taking quite long to ship. I emailed him and he didn’t respond. So I hit him up on mud. He responded immediately. He gave me the heads up and I was okay with it and waited a little more for my stuff. Btw, I plan to order from him again.

BUT. if you’ve had these issues and you’re telling the truth (I believe you are) then you should be pissed! No one should fall on the sword because vendors are few and far between. We shouldn’t be scared into compliance. f*** that. I work hard for my money. I appreciate vendors who put their bàlls out there and take risks for their dreams and we benefit from it. But don’t take my money and sit on it without letting me know what’s going on.

If you can’t communicate or acknowledge that some people don’t have money pouring out of their asses and actually care about how they spend it, then maybe you should rethink your business model.

Gotlocked said it well but maybe that isn’t the right answer.

I say keep it transparent. I’m not going to kiss any vendors àsses to keep making parts for my 80 but know I appreciate you.

Some like to comment how everything is a one man show and that’s okay. Great! More power to you. But give me that info up front so I can be informed before I spend my hard earned dollars. There is some principle here.

I love all you bastards but please let’s keep it civil and err on the side of giving the other the benefit of the doubt. If you mess up, own it and move on. That goes for our vendors too. And all you pain in the àss, never can be pleased “customers” get a grip and realize you’re not that important. Vendors are important and this community needs all the support of each other. So get over yourself and buy knowing some shîts going to take a while.

Send spears my way.

100% agree with all of that. At the end of the day I got the refund and am happy and would order from Wit's End again in the future. Like I said in the initial post I have ordered a bunch of things from him in the past and all were great experiences until this one. Just didn't understand being blocked from ordering on his website and instagram as if I'm now the bad guy when I was left with no other choice to get his attention about the refund. I had sent a private message on instagram without a response prior to the first cordial public comment on an IG post. Probably should have sent an ih8mud private message like you did but honestly hadn't considered that. But regardless, there were multiple chances to make it right from the emails that were sent.

Main point here is for others to keep an eye on their transaction history and make sure the refund is actually received and don't assume that because you get an order update email that it has actually been sent/processed.

 

[fjbj40]

Dudes. I may get black balled for this but whatever. Here’s the deal. I’ve ordered from Joey and had a part that was taking quite long to ship. I emailed him and he didn’t respond. So I hit him up on mud. He responded immediately. He gave me the heads up and I was okay with it and waited a little more for my stuff. Btw, I plan to order from him again.

BUT. if you’ve had these issues and you’re telling the truth (I believe you are) then you should be pissed! No one should fall on the sword because vendors are few and far between. We shouldn’t be scared into compliance. f*** that. I work hard for my money. I appreciate vendors who put their bàlls out there and take risks for their dreams and we benefit from it. But don’t take my money and sit on it without letting me know what’s going on.

If you can’t communicate or acknowledge that some people don’t have money pouring out of their asses and actually care about how they spend it, then maybe you should rethink your business model.

Gotlocked said it well but maybe that isn’t the right answer.

I say keep it transparent. I’m not going to kiss any vendors àsses to keep making parts for my 80 but know I appreciate you.

Some like to comment how everything is a one man show and that’s okay. Great! More power to you. But give me that info up front so I can be informed before I spend my hard earned dollars. There is some principle here.

I love all you bastards but please let’s keep it civil and err on the side of giving the other the benefit of the doubt. If you mess up, own it and move on. That goes for our vendors too. And all you pain in the àss, never can be pleased “customers” get a grip and realize you’re not that important. Vendors are important and this community needs all the support of each other. So get over yourself and buy knowing some shîts going to take a while.

Send spears my way.

Good post!

I have no dog in this fight but you 100% hit the nail
on the head!

Clear honest Communication is the most important thing in most situations, I work in aviation and it is the top required asset you can ask for. If you make an error fess up, no penalties administered, but if you hide it your probably gonna get fired even if nothing comes from the error(best possible outcome)

Sometimes we look like an idiot when we make errors, but we are human and make them. Learn from them, learn from others errors, figure out why the error occurred and put something in place to prevent it from happening again. This can be applied to all situations in LIFE!

Cheers all

 

[Broski]

I have no dog in this fight ether, but hears my take. IMHO this go's for all vendor's if a part is not in stock and or the vendor knows it's not going to be for a while they should not charge your card tell the part is ready to ship PERIOD!!
And by no means should it be hard to get a refund if said vendor can't deliver!!!

 

[NeverFinis]

Good luck @nodor !

It's really not that hard to understand. The refund was never sent. Joey tried to make me believe the refund was sent because of a status change on the e commerce website when that clearly was not the case. Once I called him out on it I got the refund.

This was my experience as well. No responses to asking for status of a CHARGED order or for a refund when it became obvious he didn't have it in stock. He responded here when I defended someone else who also had issues with communication and ordering.

He also claimed he made a refund via his website, when he did not. My CC reimbursed me, not him.

My order wasn't large, but I have read about the customer stories here and I thought I would put in a test order. It was a good thing I did...

Just didn't understand being blocked from ordering on his website and instagram as if I'm now the bad guy when I was left with no other choice to get his attention about the refund.

I think he blocked me on his website as well, as if I care, and as if that actually does anything...
To me, this part is really bizarre...

if a part is not in stock and or the vendor knows it's not going to be for a while they should not charge your card tell the part is ready to ship PERIOD!!

This ^

If you don't have it on the shelf ready to ship, don't charge. Problem solved and there wouldn't be these threads on ih8mud.

If it needs to be fabricated, take a deposit, and then rest of the payment when it ships.

 

[Rouleur]

I’m with Nodor same experience for me.
I had to badger TF out of him to get my stuff.
The guy had plenty of time to IG post about himself bud can’t ship orders.
I see Gotlocked had to chime in as usual lol.

 

[GOTLOCKED96]

I’m with Nodor same experience for me.
I had to badger TF out of him to get my stuff.
The guy had plenty of time to IG post about himself bud can’t ship orders.
I see Gotlocked had to chime in as usual lol.

Well I mean I got my mount, and some other people don’t so there’s a factual bit for ya.

 

[nodor]

Well I mean I got my mount, and some other people don’t so there’s a factual bit for ya.

This really had nothing to do with the delay in getting the mount…

It’s about the experience trying to get a refund.

 

[GOTLOCKED96]

This really had nothing to do with the delay in getting the mount…

It’s about the experience trying to get a refund. The experience and the way it was dealt with by Joey was absolute garbage. There’s a factual bit for you.

 

[REKCUT]

ITs like you are reliving a scene from my past. I could not get any type of response. Emailed. called. Social pages. Would see him on mud but no response to my questions. When i finally did reach him he told me he was to busy building things to check and see if anyone had sent him orders or payments. Actually over the years tried 2 more times just to be fair in the realization that everyone has a bad day at some point. Each experience was worse.

As long as you make something that is in demand with little to no competition you can stay in business despite the quality of service. It reminds me of the Soup Nazi on Sienfield.

I can only vote with my money and I spend it with vendors like LCP who has given me excellent service and products over the years.

This is a definite buyer beware issue. IF your fine with being treated this way then spend your money where you wish, just know these issues are out there.

 

[NLXTACY]

I love that I’m not tagged at all for this. It’s this wonderful feeling of like people talking behind your back.

For reference, order number 29069 was just ordered. 29 THOUSAND orders. And I piss off, let’s see there are what four bummed out people in this thread?

I have posted a million times that my customer service sucks. Totally transparent.

I have posted every idiotic stage of the QPM process INCLUDING yet another this week. I hide nothing about it. Totally transparent.

Nathan wanted and was processed a refund. Once that happens I cease to care about the order. I have thousands of things literally more important in my life than to think about a refunded order. On my end, in my ecommerce platform, it’s done. For his order, for reasons I can’t figure out nor can I replicate, it didn’t go thru on the bank side to him. I didn’t know it at all until he started complaining.

I did not make it a priority to figure it out because MY CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS and continues to suck until I eventually gave up trying to figure out what satellites didn’t link and just sent the dude a personal PayPal payment. End of story.

Did I ban him, absolutely. He said stupid s*** that I didn’t like. Period. I don’t need that negativity in my life. I enjoy what I do and 29000 people are pretty ****ing happy that I’m doing exactly what I’m doing. Do I piss people off? Yup. Will it change? I’m gonna guess no.

Do people get to choose their vendors? Absolutely. As it should be. But I also get to choose my customers. As it should be.