I just completed my last transaction with Jon B

[Dr Roof]

wow, Ive been away and bang a big fight!

Guys Jon B is a big supporter to Viper Events, especially drag racing events.

When I first dealt with him I thought he was rude but still had what I wanted. At a real good price. He is now the only Vendor i deal with because if he don't have it he will find it for me. I don;t care if He says I love you and have a good day. Just get me what I need.

Jon B I appreciate your support especialy to the DRag racing stuff we are trying to get up and running.

 

[1TONY1]

My 1st REAL job at age 19 was 9 years in airline traffic control.

Well as a pilot I can see why Jon is quick and to the point......makes good sense now. Jon has never failed to get me my parts ASAP because I always wait until the last minute.

SMC, You cannot always judge a person via the phone/web/e-mail etc. I am sure many times it ends up different. Example: I called a fellow about a Sapphire RT/10 that was for sale......the car was supposedly sold that day but our conversation lasted about a minute......after I hung up the phone I looked at my wife and said....."geesh, what an a$$hole !!" Now, I shouldn't have judged this person by this one phone call....I'm sure he is not really an a$$hole. In fact he was from Hilton Head too.

 

[Vic]

If I want to talk aimlessly with someone special, and oh-so-nice, I'll call my mom.

If I want the right part, on time, I'm calling JonB.

 

[RockStar]

I've dealt with Jon a few times, and couldn't think of anything bad to say about him if I tried. He even took the time to talk to my installer when he couldn't figure out something about the exhaust. My installer even had good things to say about Jon. Keep up the good work Jon. I own a discount store, and it is impossible to make everyone happy!!! As for the ones who've had bad experiences, there's nothing wrong with sharing them, BUT, to resort to character bashing is a little extreme. I feel sorry for you if you can't think of more positive ways to resolve petty issues.

 

[jcaspar1]

Also here late. No problems ordering from Jon. I have bought many things from thousands to less than 100$ and always had good service and excellent advice. I would urge anyone who hasn't ordered from him to try it and make your own decision.

 

[2002_Viper_GTS_ACR]

FYI, I had nothing to do with the 799 votes thing, I still hold to my opinion of John B not being professional in the past with me, and I did buy over $500 with him. I am not here to slam him, or anyone else. I am here to state my opinion, and what I am doing with my orders. I figured after I saw the rating of 1.10, that it was significant, so I posted it. -RUNNR call the guy out that did the 799 posts he deserves it, still doesn't change how JonB treated me.

-Jon

 

[Flyin Phil]

If someone intentionally abused the vendor rating system, they should be tracked down and permanently banned from this site. We all look to this site for Viper-related knowledge THAT WE CAN TRUST. If someone has intentionally tried to abuse that trust by extreme biasing of a vendor's rating, that ***** and they ****! Ban the abuser!

Everyone else, have a very nice day and please keep posting the truth.

 

[Big Medicine]

I'll never call him again. He's an "exploding offer" salesman.

$0.02

 

[SteveT]

I have a slightly different problem with JonB...I called him to order EBC pads for my 02 GTS, damn him, if he did not clue me in on lots of stuff I just could not do without. New Corsa exhaust, brake pads, brake tool, pads for the seat belts, floor mats, mgw stuff, etc... all with one call and at fair prices.

Yes, I was on hold for a while and we will probably never go on long walks in the woods together or hold hands in the movies but he had all my items out fast. That is the bottom line for me.

Steve

 

[Viperzilla]

I'm not sure if this has been said, but as far as the rating system goes, I don't think Parts Rack has had over 800 bad deals. I've read the ones at the beginning of the thread, and that's a good amount for any vendor, but not enough to support the 800.

(sarcasm here-&gtI didn't know that about half the Viper owners went to Parts Rack for parts, and almost all of those Viper owners had a bad deal. The poll is blown completely out of porportion by someone/somepeople.

 

[-RUNNR]

-RUNNR call the guy out that did the 799 posts he deserves it, still doesn't change how JonB treated me.

The same person ALSO made bad ratings to Marv Rose's dealership.

We track IP's, and all of these bad ratings came from the same IP address. Consdering the job position of the person who did it, I would expect a bit more to cover their tracks. (hint: if you have a static IP address, don't post bad ratings AND posts here using the same IP address.)

I have made the committee here aware of who it is, and I will leave it at that. If they do something about it then fine. Other than that, it makes no difference to me.

 

[C O D Y]

WOW! I can't beleive what I'm reading.

I've have several small dealings with JonB and I have been MORE than satisfied with every transaction. I feel strongly that JonB be is one of the greatest assets to the viper community and one of the most knowledgeable guys on the planet when it comes to vipers.

JonB, you will always have my business.

 

[MOUNTAINWOLF]

I run a business very similarly to Jon B, in that I take all the calls and do 99% of everything myself (part time help only). I am verrrry laid back in general and try to be courteous to every caller, however, I have been told (by girlfriends, or someone who knows my voice well) that I sound mad or rushed at certain times when I answer the phone. In the heat of battle, or rushed part of a business day, work can do that to you. Customers like to talk to someone who is in charge or at least knows what is going on. I have talked to Jon B once for about 15 minutes, haven't bought anything yet (mods coming soon), free advice. He is a bit gruff, no problem, I deal with all types of people. You have to understand, some people are just turned that way, by nature I guess. The question is does he deliver? SMC, I understand your position, I hate when things go wrong too. I can tell you this, when you ask a vendor to call you back to confirm something, if they are very busy, that may not be the first thing on their priority list. Sounds like Jon did what he thought would make you happy (in a hurry) and sent the part ASAP. It is just one of those things, realize that can happen in business. No need to get angry or point blame. Here is my advice, give Jon another chance. See if he can do something in a transaction that will make you forget the inconvenience of this one. I bet he can. I bet at least he will try. Closeness and comradery(sp?), is what is unique about the viper community.

 

[italian1nj]

Holy f***ing sh*t!! I can't believe 1. So much sh*t over this and 2. I freaking read it all. My brain is fried I need to go for a long slither. Later

 

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

My experience with Jon B, is that he will try to help you in any way he can. If you call about one item, he will suggest other items to go along with it, in order to make the whole assembly go together as smoothly as possible. Yes, he can sound terse at times, but hang in there with him, he will also pass along some great information on parts, and offer up some information about your Viper that you never even knew about before. The guy knows Vipers inside and out, and you can get a lot of pertinent, not to mention free, information from him, as well as the parts you do need, and at a reasonable price.

 

[SMCBUILDERSINC]

1Tony1, Maybe you caught that guy from Hilton Head with the GTS not RT/10,in bad moment and thats why he was quick on the phone. On the other hand I brought out my personal experience with Jon B. I never asked all the board members to ralley against him. Its clear that hes been rather abrasive and rude to many others on many occasions and has admitted it. Im glad to see some folks will speak up when needed, and not avoid the subject b/c they dont want to ruin there future deals. Im here to let everyone know the unbiased truth behind the story. I want all of us to make the right deals with these vendors to save time and effort. Information is power whether its good or bad.

 

[Gerald]

I beleive there will be more good things to come out of this thread than bad. for JonB and his customers.

 

[snakebitdave]

I have never purchased from Jon. I have met him at each of the 7 Invitationals and have sought advice from him via phone on a couple of occasions. I have found him to be very knowledgeable and willing to spend time with me on the phone without an order pending. I think each of us have faults of our own we can work on. The first step toward correction is to admit the problem. Jon has admitted he needs to work on his phone etiquette. Perhaps we can all help each other improve in our weaknesses in kind fashion.
Thanks Jon for your contribution to the Viper community.

 

[ntmatter]

Another thing to point out here is that JonB answers his e-mails and calls personally. When you call PartsRack, you are immediately talking to one of the major Viper experts in the country. Another company might hire someone to be sweet to customers on the phone, but all this would do would be to guarantee more back and forth on technical questions for everyone, plus it would raise the prices for everything they carry! JonB has from time to time been brusque, but I have understood that my $200 brake pad order has to be priorized with his $1200 exhaust system order, plus the 10 other customers that have been talking to him earlier in the day. If he's too busy to talk to me on the phone, then I just place a Web site order, or send him an e-mail describing what I want. In every case, the advice that I've gotten from him has been excellent, and worth the patience required to speak with him rather than a receptionist.

What it sounds like some people want is for someone with JonB's expertise to be sitting by the phone waiting for their call, with plenty of time to devote to customer service. Well, you can have one (expertise) or the other (availability), but not both.

 

[pj]

When you are on the phone with a customer, is it a good idea to put that person on hold to tell another person to "please hold" or call back later?

If you are just going to tell someone to call back - why not just let them leave a message? I would rather leave a message and get a callback (hopefully the person is in a good mood), rather than interrupt someone and be asked to just call back because I'm not a big enough customer. Also, I would feel kind of insulted if I was asked to call back because someone else was on the phone doing a big deal - it makes it sound like it I had been a better customer, he might have kept the other person on hold or told them to call back.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[VPRGTS]

$44 part has created quite the firestorm. This probably would best have been handled differently.

Jon has put me on hold and Jon has been "quick" with me. It was through this board that I knew to be prepared for it and to thicken my skin. He is a one man show, that's the nature of his business.

That being said, Jon has given me endless amounts of free advice, saved me a lot of money and aggravation, and has provided exceptional service on my orders.

I fully support Jon and appreciate his contributions.

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Got here late also. Couple points here in no particular order and with malice towards none.
1.As a pilot, I agree completely with 1tony1. Jon is multi tasking on the phone as only a trained air traffic controller could. It really explains the curtness.
2. Having said that, and having built more than one business, most companies should absolutely develop a model as to when to add more people to keep the customer satisfaction level up. Jon a good model would be any auto parts business similar to yours with revenues similar to yours. Maybe you're trying to do the impossible by yourself.
3. I think that most people who buy Vipers or other high end cars don't usually sustitute time for money, and the comment about calling back for the ordering information really doesn't seem to fit in a situation where this is supposed to be a fast online transaction, I remember when Jon was getting chewed out for NOT having the ability of a simple fast purchase online.
4. I also don't understand how someone can have a credit card floating around that the bank can still verify as being at the wrong address, that seems strange and seems to kinda be where everything went wrong. If the card had been right and SMC got his part quick I bet this thread would not be here.
5. Finally, I think the guy who pulled the 799 post deal should be banned, especially if he manipulated the script.

 

[Vanquish]

NAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!

 

[FE 065]

The bottom line here is somewhere in this tangled mess I guess. For my money, if you have a retail business that sells a $44 part, then you got no business sniveling about that's all the guy bought. If your business allows order cancellations, then it shouldn't go against the customer. What other retail business keeps a running tally of how much you've ordered to base how well you should be treated, and what price you're going to pay because of it??? Most Viper parts are not comsumable, meaning a customer is only going to buy one. It's not like selling food that's gone in a day. With about 17,000 Vipers in the world, a Viper business's customer base is very finite. I'd think it'd behoove any Viper parts or service retailer to keep that in mind. But maybe I'm missing something. I called there once about some 02 sims I thought Parts Rack sold, and instead got a lecture on the Viper computer and sermon on clean air .. something to the effect "488ci of pollution every other revolution on and on.." instead...(ask him what time it is and he tells you how a clock works..) We all can be guilty of that I guess.. It didn't bother me overall, but it seemed a bit strange considering how much other stuff comes out of there or any other Viper hot rod shop that the EPA, DOT, or your neighbor might not like. (Loud exhausts,slicks, headers..the list could be endless) We've seen worse retailers come and go . No vote either way. Just $.02 worth. Peace

 

[Larry Macedo]

I've had only good solid business transactions with Jon and will continue to do so well into the future. Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but Jon is one of the few dependable people I know in this small automotive community and that means a lot to me. Thanks for everything, Jon!

 

[Jeff Torrey]

I have bought things from Jon B that I could not get anywhere else at the time. I am gratefull for that.

There are 2 sides to every business transaction.

I look forward to the next time I can buy something from Parts Rack.

 

[Larry Macedo]

I'm going to add one more thing...I, like Jon, am a one man show and every minute of the day is very valuable. I've been in a conversation with clients and after hanging up the phone, have thought I may have been quick or short with the person only to call them up afterwards to apologize.

 

[NCVCA]

Has anyone bothered to ask JonB if he is willing to hold hands?

This is just plain silly.

 

[Russ Oasis]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Jon's good by me. Some of you guys ought to lighten up and not take everything so personally. He's busy. What about that can't you relate to?

 

[garolittle]

Jon is the best. Grow up or go away.