Worst luck with Dakota Digital, (1 Viewer)

[AndrewHadji]

I need to vent, I have heard nothing but good things about dakota digital, so earlier this year sent my gauge cluster in to them to have some fancy new gauges put in with a custom logo. Deadline after deadline was missed and got a reply today that they are behind. So i sent them the below. I know you are only seeing one side, mine, so take it with a grain of salt. But ive done my best to remain calm and understanding of the covid 19 situation

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Rick,

Thanks. I have been extremely patient with this project given the covid 19 situation but have been let down time and time again with blown deadlines and missed deliverables. To recap the timeline, so that we are on the same page and you can see the lack of transparency from my perspective.

03/10 - Gauge Cluster arrives at your facility
03/14 - close on VHX, logo, GPS-50-2 - First rendering promised
03/20 - Wanted to set expectation of when i would receive rendering, rendering is a "few weeks out"
04/19 - Checked in again, asking for rendering ( it has been more than "a few weeks out"), No eta given
05/30 - Again requested ETA, inquired about sending gauge cluster back, you reply thanks for patience goal is 7/9, i say thanks and will check back in
7/7 - checking in, told we are delayed, you advise to remit 1/2 payment to get started on the build, i reply i still need to see a rendering but will pay 1/2 in "good faith"
7/29 - no rendering yet but card is run for 929.97
8/10 - email for an update, ask for update on color render and ETA on project, reply "will send you color render"
8/19 - first proactive mail, plan to have the cluster complete in 3-4 weeks (9/19), Do you still require color render? Reply yes still require color render
9/15 - Checking in to make sure we are on track for 9/19 No reply
9/18 - Checking in to make sure we are on track for 9/19, learn that we are backlogged and am offered no ETA.

I want to ask you if this was your project, would you be satisfied with what has been happening? I have asked time and time again for realistic ETAs and would have expected updates if schedules had slipped. I would have been a lot more understanding than waiting for the week of completion.

What is your proposal to handle the above?

-Andrew

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Maybe im foolish to give them one last chance, i should probably end our relationship and get the gauge cluster back. I am extremely disappointed in lack of professionalism here....

 

[greenbeast]

Honestly if appears you have been extremely patient. Think the email is great start. Unfortunately this does place a black eye on their services and maybe I’ll stick to my original gauges in two cruisers until I hear more favorable report.

 

[jblueridge]

Delayed by Covid is one thing.
Not communicating factually is quite another.
Either this sort of crap is happening more often or old age has made me less forgiving.
Option 1 I think.

 

[greenbeast]

Naw
I’m intolerant to it. Like to treat folks like I would want to be treated. No margin there

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Not sure why people think they can ignore customers like that. Especially in a niche market. We do not need to buy this stuff. When I run across these type of complaints I share them with friends and stay away myself.
Similar issue in another thread here that has run me off.

 

[Ninja Cruiser100]

I would absolutely avoid anyone that treated me that way.

 

[lumbee1]

That's more than 6 months without a Cruiser. I would be pissed.

 

[AndrewHadji]

well, left a voicemail on Friday, and waited the whole day today for an update (9/21). Radio Silence
So sent
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Rick and Team,

I think given the no response i will be terminating this partnership. Please advise on when i would expect the gauge cluster to be shipped back to *********, NC. Please also let me know when a refund of the $929 will be processed.

Again, this is a huge disappointment that could have been avoided with a little transparency.

Please advise on 1) Ship date and tracking number of gauge cluster and 2) Refund of the paid funds.

-Andrew
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Im in the process of finding the directory of sales or the ceos email. Im turned off of their product, but i hope they care enough about their image that they will do something about it.

 

[jblueridge]

I had bad luck with a seller and the thing that eventually got me a refund was my statement that, since all other avenues had led nowhere, I would have to be satisfied with bad-mouthing the company in as many Cruiser forums as possible.

 

[AndrewHadji]

I hope the above isnt being misconstrued as bad mouthing, ive tried to keep my personal opinions out of it, and just be transparent. Regardless of outcome, i feel its important to document experiences, you can tell a lot about how companies operate by how they handle the crappy situations. Even if i get a full refund and the product, it doesnt erase the 6 plus month experience. To that end, im not expecting anything at this point

Luke From Dakota Digital called this am, we had a chat about expectations and communication, he profusely apologized. We went into staffing issues and some other stuff, but again, communication would have gone a long way. He asked what would it take to keep this going and I replied that I needed a date for the render and an eta on project completion. He promised a reply via email. We will see how this goes.

 

[AndrewHadji]

Received an email late yesterday from Luke, AND the render. As expected, im getting a lot more detail on where we are and what needs to be completed. I was very surprised to hear that work had already started on fitting the gauge cluster. Luke was surprised i had no idea on the actual status.

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Andrew,

My name is Luke Schanzenbach with the custom shop. I understand and can see your frustration. Your system is all but complete. We are just waiting for a print that will be completed this week. I really want this to work out for you. We have everything mounted and affixed to the inside already. Our hang up is the printed overlay which I’m personally seeing gets done early this week so we can have this overnighted to you this week.

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things are looking up, cautiously optimistic

 

[jblueridge]

Good deal.

 

[AndrewHadji]

Update, This week came and went, no more emails since wednesday. Ill check back monday

 

[AndrewHadji]

New week, new email to check on status.

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Luke,

Checking in on status and ETA, i know we had said last week it would be complete but i was pretty skeptical. To recap
>> I will send you one more rendering with that layout to confirm
Eta on the new rendering?
>> Our hang up is the printed overlay which I’m personally seeing gets done early this week so we can have this overnighted to you this week.
I presume the overlay ran into some more delays, again, i just want a realistic timeline, if it take another week im fine with it.

-Andrew

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[Ninja Cruiser100]

Lol. The only thing worse than getting ****ed around is getting ****ed around and lied to.

good luck.

 

[AndrewHadji]

one of the things we discussed was that i also deal with end users/customers at my job. Maybe its been drilled in so much that 1) set the expectation, 2) if you are going to fail meeting that expectation, fail early and reset the expectation, 2a) understand why we failed meeting that expectation and what can we do better so it doesnt happen again.


A note friday or when they realized they werent going to meet the "gets done early this week" would have been the right thing to do. Either way, im at their mercy. at this point they have already put their gauges in so its not like I can get it back. I might look into getting a spare cluster at this point as literally i have no idea when this will be done.
edit:
the other side of this is that they are rushing to get it done and i will get some rushed, s*** quality product. Customers spend upwards of 1600 dollars for something like this, cant wait for the back and forth shipping im going to have to do to fix some of these QA issues

 

[AndrewHadji]

Luke replied today so thats good.

There were some problems with the getting the part into print, and
"The most accurate ETA I can give you is end of next week at the latest. Let me know if that helps at all. "

resulted in me sending

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Luke Thanks,

Please understand, i prefer us to be late with a good product rather than ASAP with a compromise on quality.

If i can help, lets do this, i know for whatever reason we are having a tough time meeting ETAs. Im guessing here, so if im offbase, please align me. Lets shoot for Oct 15 as a tentative eta for project completion. That way you get me off your back asking for updates and allow you some time to not rush and do some good QA.

All i ask is if you see us not meeting the date, please send a note before Oct 15 with a new realistic date? Can we agree on that?

Also, please reach out if you need anything addressed. I will presume we are working hard towards that Oct 15th date. I do appreciate it.
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[AndrewHadji]

Oct 13th, no update, i would have hoped to see a "we are on track" email, silence means we are behind.....

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Hey Luke,

We are a few days from the Oct 15th check in, how are we looking.

-Andrew

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[AndrewHadji]

One more week requested
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Andrew,
We just received the rest of your custom parts. One of my builders is currently working on it this morning and making the rest of the 4x 4 modifications. I would say we are looking at 1 week at the latest, Friday at the earliest. Once the build is finished we let the system run for 24 hours on a demo mode to ensure the components are working correctly. My builder thinks we are looking at shipping Friday. I’ll keep you posted
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[AndrewHadji]

Been so busy, forgot to update the train wreck.

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Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 4:46 PM
Subject: RE: Custom Land Cruiser 70 series gauge cluster


Andrew,

We had a defect in the overlay face we printed that put us back two days. I will keep you updated with any other updates.

Luke
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6 days later, no update, ive already sourced a replacement gauge cluster. we have one more week to get this right or i ask for a refund and they get to keep the gauge cluster and just send me the internals they took out.

for those playing along at home, today marks day 230, a little over 7.5 months since they received my cluster.