have called in the past and left messages with no return phone call.
spoke with a lady today and she would run and ask "him" out in the shop and come back and relay the message to me over the phone. this was clearly not working out. i asked to speak to him and she said "he" was busy in the shop, the best way to get tech advice was to email "him"
i have a very specific question id like answered, and im getting nowhere.
this is in reference to a spohn product.
who is "him," steve?
this will end my funding of spohn products.
its a shame too. i have his front coilover kit, wonder bar, torque arm. its not like i havent spent money with the company. the products are very well built.

very unprofessional way of going about things.
not happy!

 

I think you are the one with the problem, thinking you can get someone to personally answer your questions. A time of the year with a short staff due to the hoidays.

 

i talked to him a few times during the summer. im sure due to timing and holidays it may take some time.

 

So email him, WTF is the problem?

 

Steve as always talked to me personally on the phone or i go there to get my products. Very nice guy. I'm sure he was short handed and couldn't take calls.

 

he has always answered my emails, and talked to him on the phone a couple times when he was build parts for me. Never had a problem with him. Maybe he is just backlogged because of the holidays and simply doesnt have time. It unfortunate, but it happens

 

nothing like getting bashed for making a comment about a vendor.
have you ever just wanted to talk to someone and it be over with?

i have emailed him about an issue before and was replied directly, but at times it can take several emails and several days by the time both sides say their peace. this is by no means related to spohn or this thread.... just any email in general.
my question could have literally been answered in 10 seconds if i could have just talked to him.
for what its worth, i left my name and # again today. she said he would call me.
no return call again.

why would i want to buy a product from a company who i have to email?
i understand people are busy, and get behind/shorthanded around the holidays. it just hit me the wrong way.

for what its worth i called bmr and they answered my question.

 

no problem here. i called and asked a question and i get an answer that would make a lawyer proud.
i guess you anwer all of your questions cause you know everything?

 

Developing something COOL for the 3rd gen maybe??!!??

Sorry to hear about the SNAFU!!
Email or call back later in the week? Hope all works out so you can be on the road when the weather gets better!!

 

Stage20, it's hit or miss sometimes, rarely but it happens. He's not a big company by any stretch. He makes a BUNCH of products and I wouldn't doubt if he's a <10 man shop (including 1 woman). Email I found is the best way and if you simply ask for a good time to call in the email I think I've had pretty good luck also. I'm with you, as well as a number of others here in owning not 1, 2 or 3 even 4 but many of his products for our cars. He makes good stuff (99%) of the time.
Also, not bashing, just chiming in to my experience with the same vendor with the same communication attempt (calling).

 

I dont think I have ever called a tech dept of an aftermarket company and was not given the option to "wait until they are free". Except from Mcleoud, who I could not get anyone to aswer the phone anyway, and this went on for about a 3 days straight before I gave up. I have spent close to 40 min on hold before but eventually I always got to speak to someone and ask my question. I personally hate email. IMO, the phone made email obsolete long before it was invented:P

So, if you were willing to wait, and they would not give you that option, then I can see that being frowned upon. I understand people get busy, but customer service is probably about 40% of the business. The quality of the product is probably about 60%.

 

Having said that, it wouldnt have taken long at all through email.
The best part of this is that you didnt want to email him but then took the time to type out a complaint here.

 

guys, stage is a good guy, and he's patient too. i've done business with him in the past and have had great experiences. he's got a fast car, and has alot of knowledge about third and fourth gen combos. if he had a question, it wasn't one that was going to be easily answered over an email. sometimes you NEED to talk with someone over the phone. have you ever tried to explain suspension geometry on the internet or over a text or something? it's nearly impossible. sometimes you need to hear voice inflection to be able to understand a concept too.

that said, i have a bunch of spohn stuff too. i've not needed to ever talk with them, so i don't really know what kinda service they have, but i've always gotten my parts in a reasonable amount of time, and the parts are top notch, which is obviously not in question here.

food for thought guys...give Stage20 a break.

ps, if someone isn't allowed to give negative feedback on this forum, then what is it here for? this forum gives the sponsors a chance to look at all the feedback and possibly give these companies to rectify the issues.

 

[QUOTE=
food for thought guys...give Stage20 a break.[/QUOTE]


WHY??? Steve Spohn is a good guy and the Company is top notch. He didn't give him a break when he bashed him because he did not jump to answer his phone call. I am on Steves side of this issue and your "food for thougth guys" defense of Stage00 for Bashing a Quality Company on this Form sucks.

 

so, if you called someone, day after day, for a week, and couldn't get 10 mins of someone's time, you'd be OK with it? maybe even prance around and say "oh, he must be busy with all the other customers...he'll get to me eventually". all because you believe he has good products? you can have the best product in the world, made out of the highest quality materials, and not have good service and and you won't be able to sell your parts.

BMR Fabrication makes the same caliber of parts. actually, when it comes to torque arms, BMR has the upper hand for sure. they're BUSY because the 4thgen guys use them over spohn in most cases...yet they took the time to answer Stage's phone calls. email is impersonal, sometimes you need to hear them on the other line actually giving a damn.

 

I agree, today has become more impersonal and emails tend to be used rather than phone calls. If i had a serious question about something I'd prefer to talk to someone about it.

I dont know why Spohn couldnt have answered that call, regardless of being extremely busy, but it is a busy time of year and he may have gotten hundreds of calls and emails while trying to ship products and do inventory. Hard to say what the case was here.

If you stand by your product I would think you would rather talk to the person, as hearing the voice can persuade you to buy or not. A person whom which you can actually hear concern in their voice that they really care for your question and really know their product, that could be the difference maker in a sale. Cant really get that with email.

 

Actually, he said 10 seconds, and then took the time to write a complaint that could have easily been spent to write the stupid email.


I would be writing the same thing no matter who the company was that he had a problem with. I'm sure stage is a swell guy but IMO he's being unreasonable. They gave him a passage to be in touch with Steve, but because it wasnt the one he wanted, he took the time to complain instead of contacting Steve. Its awfully silly when looking at it like that IMO.

Or maybe he could have emails Steve and asked when was a good time to call because he had a problem that couldnt be explained easily through email? Nope thats too simple, must go to TGO and complain.

 

to cry about this for that long you could have already figured your problem out.

 

NICE FIRST POST. you probably even registered just so you could post on this thread and bash an esteemed member...nice dude.

arrow, you didn't address my actual statement....if you were trying to get in touch with someone, and they wouldn't give you the time of day, busy or not...i'm in the parts business...unless you just hate money, you answer the phone.

i know where stage is coming from with this. this isn't some stock car that he was looking to put a set of lca's on or something like this. stage's car is a fast car, and if he had a question about something, it was probably a legitimate question.

example: if you have a stock car, it would be dumb to ask if a panhard rod is a direct bolt in.

with a non stock car, asking why spohn puts his rear coil overs in front of the axle instead of behind like everyone else has been doing the past 40 years, and whether or not they work correctly. this is not a simple question to answer, and would be tough to answer over an email. especially when the answers normally produce more questions, which WOULD take a few days in Steve's "spare" time.

 

Already addressed.

They gave him a manner in which to reach Steve. He didnt want to do it.

 

Emails do take time. A day or two is average for a response which like said above, can lead to more questions which only take few seconds or a minute to answer, but instead another email gets sent out and possibly lost/ignored in the masses Spohn probably gets. Further delay

 

but you didn't address it. if you called, and was put on eternal hold, you'd be upset too. there is no way you'd be not upset.

 

Actually no, I wouldn't.
I 'd exhaust the avenue given to me (email) first, before taking the time to come on here to complain.

 

ok, well there is obviously no reasoning with you. and i'm not going to say anything that will let you know there are still people out there that like the personal touch of actually speaking with people over the telephone.

 

Once again:

 

I can see your point and would not deal with someone if they had done me that way. I run a business and have a 1 on 1 with most of my customers. It's not a pay now and never see you later type company. I spend many hours on the phone or VoIP fixing the problems they have. I always taken care of my customers problems no matter what time it is. If I didn't I would not have be in business for 5 years. Thank you for the heads up. If they do this for a question, I would hate to see what they would do if I had a problem with their product.

 

right, but what I'M saying is that Stage is a REASONABLE guy, and he would have exhausted those avenues first before posting up. you obviously don't know him, or don't care.

the Aftermarket Product and Vendor Review forums are here for the very reason that Stage posted up, as well as to praise these companies. i have spohn parts on the back of my car, the quality is not in question, but if the customer service is this tough, i'll be going to BMR for my front suspension parts.

 

If he did indeed exhaust those avenues then he should have said that. He didnt though.

Agreed.

Its also not to blow things out of proportion either when you dont get your way.

 

after i already called them BEFORE the holidays, i waited until AFTER the holidays. the lady on the phone did not give me an answer strait from steve. IMO..... it sounded like she was reading a disclaimer about modifying suspension products is dangerous and should be left to professionals. what kind of anwer is that???? i asked her again, she relayed to him, then come back to me with an even more elaborate way of going around answering my question. i dont want to say spohn sucks, nor do i want to bash them, but i can if you like me to(no reason to). im mearly posting i had a bad experience and was unhappy. maybe others are not satisfied either.
still HAVE not returned my call. she told me to email him, i said i would rather speak to him so she took my name and number and said he would give me a call when he got a break.
i HAVE, IN THE PAST, emailed spohns tech and received an answer at 8, even 11pm sometimes. i had an issue with them, and i vented.


never said he was a bad guy? and yes, i thought i gave him a break when i waited for a return call the 1st go-round.
maybe i could have emailed steve and asked to speak to him. sounds kinda stalker-ish, but i do see where that is an option i could have taken. hindsight)

how long was i crying?

yes... email after email after email.
thanks for sticking your head in the fire matt, if there is one?
seems everyone is getting rowled up about it for nothing.
cant believe im getting beaten for making a post i had a bad experience with a company.
i didnt threaten to sue the guy.
no big deal on my end.

 

no sweat, you'd do the same for me. us lsx thirdgen swappers gotta stick together

 

sorry. forgot to quote that one.
post has merit.

 

Not pickin sides here, but ive been waiting since December 4th. Thats the day i recieved my R & P from them with this issue.. Have called and talked to them numerous times though, no boot,still waiting... Just sayin, it sux.... Cant we all just get along.?..

I dont usually comment, but i gotta say something... All this arguing and bickering is some childish s**t. I would like to think that everyone here is an adult and is somewhat mature... Maybe its just that time of the month.... GET A TAMPON AND DEAL WITH IT... LOL

 

Someone posted a problem they had with spohn, and he gets pummeled by all the fans of spohn.

 

I think this guy just had a bad luck streak. I dont know crap about suspensión but every time i have calle either i have had to wait or just call back. It can get anoying but you just have to deal with it if you like their product.

 

I myself had good experiences with Spohn. A customer should be able to get solutions to their problems in multiple ways. Not just be told to send an email. In my opinion, it seems like they're swamped. I'm sure they're trying the best they can. Although I can see how the original poster can be a little irritated.

 

not that it matters, nor am i stirring the pot. never have received that phone call from spohn.
2 different occasions. no return call.

 

so did you get the BMR stuff then? can i ask what was in question? shoot, BMR is quazi-local to you aren't they?

 

I spend my days as a Phone Tech and salesperson. IF there is some odd chance that no one in the shop can answer a customers phone call than our secretary will take a message and we will call them back immediately. Like within 5 minutes. I personally get about 4-5 emails a day through our website and I will 99% of the time reply that it is best to call and ask for me directly because there is a lot more to be discovered through verbal communication. Especially if there is an issue.

I also made a phone call to Spohn about two or three months ago and got the woman. She could not answer the questions I had but would not allow me to talk to Steve or any other tech. She just kept relaying messages from him and it was pissing me off. I have called him in the past and he got right on and helped which leads me to believe that this is some new way for him to remain busy in the shop. IMO, it's not working. If you can't make time for customer than you need to hire someone who can. Period.

The people who are posting that this is no big deal obviously do not have experience with building fast cars. One thing I can say is that every application is crucial and requires that it be installed right the first time. There's a lot of money at stake not to mention saftey. This guy is selling parts that you put your life in the hands of. An Email just does not cut it.

I am a happy Spohn customer and local also. I like Steve as well. However, I have been curious about UMI and other brands. I will be buying LCA's, Drag bar and ADJ panhard bar in about 3 months. I sure hope this problem gets worked out.

 

i have a spohn torque arm and tired of the ground clearance issues. sure several people have made "double hump" type x members to help exhaust, but that ties up the tunnel room.

basically wanted to know if i could make my own brace for the torque arm at a 45 degree angle, well more like welding a bar at 10 and 3 o clock. one mounting point would be more forward on the chassis than the other. i wanted to know if this would upset the car launching.

for what i had planned, i could either mod this one and fail miserably, or order one custom in the length i choose to help clear my exhaust the best.
i called bmr, guy put me on the phone with the engineer and said no problem, as long as the torque arm is mounted bind free, it didnt matter where the mounting points were.

i have to get my new headers, and then try and make a trans mount and separate brace for the torque arm, or order a new torque arm.
TRZ has one that should be out any day now. i may look into it. todd said they have a jig set up make a torque arm anything specified between 30 and 52"
pretty sporty.
i hope i can keep what i have. car works so good. dont want to mess it up. just trying to free up some room in the tunnel.

 

off the subject but... Did you put an add on craigslist looking for someone to make a custom set for you?

 

I can understand where your coming from stage.........
Called spohn and ordered driveshaft.......... Told him at the time that car was going to a race on such and such day and had to be ready by then since tickets were in hand adn I had to make it. Short time before the race and no driveline still..... Call up "It will be going out today" Call again and "oh thats going out today" driveline shows up...... wrong one....... Even after providing very very in depth detail about length, ends, style, material, everything!
So I box it up send it back and called...... He had another one to me before the race but man it was CLOSE! It cost me though I had to cover shipping back to them as well as the 2 day air shipping to make the race, even with it being their fault. Oh well...... Driveline is a nice piece but I went with BMR for the rest of my items. I would try them again but not ever when I have a time crunch going on.

 

it seems like they have about the nicest k-member available for our cars, so i'll likely go with theirs for that...but i'll be using a BMR torque arm when it comes down to me needing an adjustable one.

 

yes.
the 2 chassis guys i know arent returning my call either.(no pun, seriously) not sure if they are swamped with the racing season comming up, or they would rather not waste a day making a set of headers.
buddy that was going to help me backed out. i dont think i have the cleanest welds, and ive never messed with header tubing on my own. ended up with a one in a million deal from a member on the forum.
mistakes happen, i can see the driveshaft being off. everybody makes mistakes.
the shipping part gets me. their error, i would not have payed the frieght. that dont jive with me.
where are all the spohn supporters now? bashing me, now laying low.
all companies will have faults, this one seems to be reoccuring.

 

This was not a bash..... Although if you go over every detail and he recites everything back to you and then it arrives and it's different I wasn't happy about it...... Paying for the shipping was just to get the deal done since I needed the part so bad.

Like I said I would order again just not when I have to have by a certain date. All in all they were great to talk with aside from the shipping.

 

sorry, was posting in reference to the first couple of posters in this thread that let me have it for posting such a thread.
they were great to talk with, aside from the shipping? they also got your specific measurements crossed up.

you payed shipping you should not have been liable for.
the driveshaft was wrong.
i wouldnt be basing my business with companies on how great they were to talk with.
my opinion, of course.

 

I <3 TJ

 

i got your card in the mail the other day.
thank you kind sir.

 

I didn't send you a card,

 

haha!

 

im not a personal fan of spohn right now either... they have good products, but i also would like to talk to steve or another tech guy there than the lady who put me on hold 3 different times to go ask the guy... I dont see how that made them any more productive having to be stopped 3 different times than to take the 5 minutes they lost and spend it with me on the phone.

I have spent tons of money in my chassis and most of its been through them but i would think i wouldve gotten alittle more one on one time