Is this good business?

1TONY1

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We DID tell him of the 65-cent revision in advance of billing / shipping.

Enough said........if he didn't like it, it should have been brought up at that time. Also, the question of this practice could have been brought up here without saying it was one of our (Viper) vendors.
 

Vic

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Dayum! I'm so sorry I jumped into this bash thread without knowing the whole story..Shot myself in the foot by taking one side.

1. We are talking about a great vendor here, not some flake
2. JonB gets you anything FAST
3. JonB bends over backwards for his customers
4. JonB has great prices
5. Doing business with JonB is a great deal, and a great value. 65 cents! Ha! The added value of Jon's knowledge is worth much more than that. He goes out of his way to make sure you are set up right.
6. As if that weren't enough, add in all the factors JonB said, customer told in advance, underestimated S/H, etc.

I'll do business with JonB again, he's a great vendor.
 

Joseph Dell

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Y'all crack me up. Now that I know this is JonB, I change my story completely. Why ? B/C the flashlight JonB included in my last purchase at no charge lists for much more than the .40 that was rounded up on my last order.

And EVERYTIME I've ever ordered something from JonB, I've gotten more than I expect. He _usually_ ends up eating a piece of the shipping due to him making MY life easier... and how many times have I asked for something slowest route and he ships next-day or overnight?

If we were talking about a "cost plus three" product sale through a web site, then every penny would matter. But you are paying for a product AND a service... and I'm willing to part with a few pennies for that service. Hell, JonB is on speed-dial on my phone. And I own a frikkin' viper! It is nice to not get hit with a % viper tax... I'd take the pennies everytime.

BTW - JobB - The most recent brake order had some free car wash in it too... so don't feel badly about the "rounding error".

And to all of you who complain about the rounding issue... No $20 flashlight for YOU!

JD
 
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0260in3

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For anyone who has an open mind I ask that you please read the following summary:

I received this email as my confirmation of purchase:

Date: 05/06/2004 Time: 09:08:23
> Order No: 1685
> QTY) ITEM # - DESCRIPTION PRICE EACH / TOTAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

1) 80006 - Front Chin Guard $138.00/ $138.00
1) 80001 - Front License Plate Holder $49.00/ $49.00
Choose Model: Gen 2
Sales Total: $187.00
Sales Tax: 0.00
Shipping: 9.35
Total: $202.35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Order No: 1685


I received this email as a thank you for my order:

Thank you for shopping PartsRack.com.Your order is being processed. Please contact us at (360) 837-3937 if you have any questions. Order Number: 1685

I received this email as my Invoice stating my credit card would be charged the higher amount ($203.00):

Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 1:04 PM
Subject: Invoice from PartsRack

Dear Customer :

Your invoice appears below. Your credit card will be billed as indicated.

Thank you for your business - I appreciate it very much.

Please Remember: "If It Fits On Or In a VIPER.......PartsRack"

Sincerely,

JonB

I received this email from JonB in response to my inquiry about his rounding practices. This email occurred before I posted to the forum.

Wow !

My CPA would notice the 65 cents...... We charge tax in only one state. So we only allow THAT state's transcations to end in cents. All others end on .00. Easy to tax-audit. We round all others to the next highest even dollar.

JonB....'Thanks For Your Business'
PartsRack: "If It Fits On Or In a VIPER!"
360-837-3937
8am-5pm PT, Mon-Friday
www.partsrack.com

These are the only communications I received from Partrack. If you review my (2) posts in this string I hope you realize my intention was not to badmouth anyone on this forum. I'm a relatively new owner wondering whether this rounding practice is common in the Viper world. In my business I would be fined and jailed if I used this rounding practice. Despite Jon's claims I never was notified of his practice prior to receiving the Invoice. I'm sorry if I offended anyone but I thought I was using this site to gain information about Viper ownership.
 

Gerald Levin

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Well, Jon must be in a great mood now because he's giving stuff away! Free! Including Shipping!
I recently discovered I was missing a fascia bolt and asked if he could get me one and charge it to my Mastercard or Paypal. I never have done business with Jon before. Long story short, he's sending me one FREE. No part charge, no shipping charge and to a non-customer. I know it's not an expensive part, but for him to do this at no charge to me means a lot. I will be ordering from Jon in the near future!

PS He may have me confused with the "famous" Levin so I may just ask for a set of tires and see if he "comps" these for me also! :2tu:
 

Janni

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Jon,
In the future, round on the invoice in the shipping number.

I honestly can't believe someone would get upset over this. Maybe I am used to buying lots of expensive stuff from Viper vendors, but I can't imagine I'd notice $.65, let alone complain about it. Maybe I don't check my credit card bills that much.

I know I've saved that amount hundreds of times over by dealing with PartsRack and other vendors so an insignificant rounding change wouldn't even register on my radar screen.
 

2002_Viper_GTS_ACR

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Can I be considered unbias (prob not)? I concured with a previous post a long time back about disliking John B in a past transaction. I think that makes me qualified to say this:

The rounding isnt a good business idea, and would normally deter me from buying from such a vender.

However, since I have had my ups and downs with John B, I feel more then justified in saying, "get over it." Not because he was trying to take advantage of you (I dont think he was), but let this one go, because this man will do about anything to make you happy as a customer.

I let one strained transaction deture me from dealing with Jon B for over a year. That year of "no sales to John B" left me constantly struggling to find varius suppliers for the different Items I needed (which I am sure he had in stock). But aside from him probably being the simplest single source to get all your stuff from, the man REALLY does try to take care of you when you need something for a Viper. I dont know anyone who is willing to go out of their way to help you out like Jon B does (ok, besides the Cones, no one can beat them).

In short, you have a very valid point, but in the grand scheme of things, its quite incodental and trivial. I say this because its Jon B, and I know he stands behind his customers. Dont let this deture you from using Jon B in the future. Give him another shot, once I did, I realized he aint a bad guy, he's actually a quite good one !

Jon B, I challenge you to do the same great job with this guy, as you did with me. $hit happens, move on, make this guy feel welcome to do business with you in the future.


You both will win.

Rant over.
Jon
 

Doc.

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I too have been the recipient of great service and free merchandise for Jon B. He has always been willing to spend time answering questions on the phone and he has even talked me out of spending money on the wrong parts if it wasn't warranted. Jon has saved me many a dollar on more than one occasion. He is the only long distance vendor I ever buy Viper parts from. I agree he is a great asset to the Viper community, but that was not the question posed to us in the initial thread. There was no specific Vendor bashing as we didn't even know who the vendor was. 0260in3 even refused to state the vendors name when asked, so I don't think his intent was to bash anyone unfairly. All who responded were stating there opinion of routinely rounding up to simplify things for a vendor.

The question was: Is rounding up a good business practice?
And, the poster stated that when he asked the vendor why the invoice was rounded up he was told it was "to keep things simple." He never stated that he was told up front about the rounding or that shipping charges were actually more than estimated.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I stand behind my original post. Charge me what you want.(I'll decide if I can afford it or not) If you miscalculate shipping, send me an email and I'll pay the difference. But, don't round up my bill as a routine business practice.

Doc
 

Eddie N

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Life is pretty tough when you have nothing better to do then complain over 65 cents. Dumb practice? Yes. Worthy of a rant? Probably not.

Eddie
 

JonB

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......I received this email as my confirmation of purchase:

Date: 05/06/2004 Time: 09:08:23
> Order No: 1685
> QTY) ITEM # - DESCRIPTION PRICE EACH / TOTAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) 80006 - Front Chin Guard $138.00/ $138.00
1) 80001 - Front License Plate Holder $49.00/ $49.00
Choose Model: Gen 2
Sales Total: $187.00
Sales Tax: 0.00
Shipping: 9.35
Total: $202.35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received this email as a thank you for my order:

Thank you for shopping PartsRack.com.Your order is being processed. Please contact us at (360) 837-3937 if you have any questions. Order Number: 1685
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I received this email as my Invoice stating my credit card would be charged the higher amount ($203.00):

Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 1:04 PM
Subject: Invoice from PartsRack

Dear Customer : Your invoice appears below. Your credit card will be billed as indicated. Thank you for your business - I appreciate it very much.Sincerely,
JonB
.....................
Despite Jon's claims I never was notified of his practice prior to receiving the Invoice.

WRONG. You WERE notifeied of the amount. That is what I stated. THE INVOICE YOU CITE IS THE PRIOR WRITTEN NOTIFICATION "YOU WILL BE BILLED" $203. You still have not been billed after 6 days, so how can you say you received no advance notice? The s/h discrepancy policy/practice is noted on our site.

And, you must have as-yet-unread mails. I THOUGHT THIS WAS A JOKE, as evidenced by "My CPA" comment... to which you sent me a 2nd complaint. I then realized you were WAAAY too serious, and I sent you an apology and an offer to revise the invoice BEFORE BILLING IT. You must not have read that mail.

Only later did I find this thread, that you took your complaint here. Obviously, you WONT be billed the .65 cents. I already apologized privately and publicly. Maybe it is timing... had you been able to read your email all this wasted BS would not have occured.

I will bill you for the chinguard and the shipping. Exactly as ordered. Thanks for your business.
 

Cop Magnet

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I believe 0260in3 was quite clear he wanted an opinion on the fairness of this practice and went WAY out of his way to not name the vendor, despite many requests to do so. As such, I do not see how this is "vendor bashing". Quite the opposite, it seems this guy, whatever the actual issues are, went out of his way to preserve the reputation of this specific vendor. The vendor, on the other hand, has come on with a strong offense when not even a defense was really needed.

I hate to see people change their tune so readily once they hear the vendor is a regular--all you guys who chimed in that this was wrong suddenly think it okay because you KNOW the vendor? Or you know him better than 0260in3, so he's right and this guy's wrong?

Mind you, I don't care about the original issue, it's the reactions that amaze me. If I'm wrong, let me know where.
 

PRVT JET

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I have not followed this for a couple days now, now I find out you were dealing with jon B. When a vendor gives you his product and says I won't charge you until you receive it and make sure you like, is a good vendor. If anyone is going to be cheap about $.65, they bought the wrong car.
 

MR VENOM

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John B. I have purchased from you previously, and will do so again. However, when you quote me a price....that is what I expect to pay. $0.65 is BS. However, if I allow this a thousand times (without my knowledge) it will cost me $650.00 in round ups. I know shipping, fuel, postage, etc., is very demanding for a busines trying to keep control of one's cost(s), let alone updating "web sites", and so forth. You are caught in "todays" market, but you will survive.....providing you give the necessary effort required to justify the costs of your business.....just look at gas prices. You may be caught behind the "power curve", but you can move on. This club needs you and what you supply, not only in product, but in knowledge (usually free). More work than you may want to do......but necessary; we are all guilty participants of social-economic pressures. Bad rap for you, but deserved. Business is business. Please continue to do what you do best....HELP US. Thanks.
 

LethalBite

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Last two posts have good points.

Cop--I too was surprised by the reactions. The new guy asked about the practice, and didn't try to single out the vendor until some were calling for the name of said vendor, then changed their tone when they heard who it was.

Prvt--I agree with above as well. $0.65 is nothing to complain about on a Viper. In regular business yeah, I think I would question it as well. I didn't get where I am today and attain my financial status by overpaying and sending checks everywhere.

I have done business with Jon in the past and just recently, all excellent transactions. I agree that the service and support go beyond what most vendors give you, so the $0.65 I would let slide. Unfortunately, the original poster was unfamiliar with Jon's great service/praise in the past and I guess felt a little slighted. I can see that point too. This thread never would have reached the drama it has I believe if "Viper Vendor" was not mentioned.
 

GR8_ASP

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I generally do not join in the pro or con vendor commentaries. However, Since Jon added a neat Viper vs Viper commemorative coin after my last order (Thanks Jon!) I'd have to say the "cents" issue does not matter (to me in this instance). That does not mean that I am not a practical sort and conscious of transaction costs down to the penny. However, when I look at all the money I spend on the Viper the cents just do not add up to much. Certainly the quality, advice, speed of service and price are the primary reasons for shopping with Jon.

But the easy answer is like stated above. Just start quoting and billing in whole dollars and the whole issue disappears completely.
 

Mopar Steve

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Wait a minute, while I do not know you personally, I do agree you are an asset to this board and this hobby,and may be a good man. BUT,

Just because there are additional expenses, and gas costs go up, and cannot "real-time" update...

where do you draw the line? 65 cents? 66 cents? 90 cents? dollars?

Come on don't try to justify it, or rationalize 65 cents. It is just pennies, and you rounded up. You win some you lose some, just make it up on the next order.

There are merchants that do business every day, competitively on the internet. Many of these businesses have expenses far and beyond the usual internet associated expenses. Showrooms in shopping centers/malls, (including all the counters, racks, displays) display merchandise, sales personnel on the sales floor in addition to the internet sales, service departments, repair technicians, tools, on and on. Yet these vendors manage to keep track of expenses and daily costs as well as shipping costs. Fuel surcharges don't change that drastically and that often to not be able to keep up.

While you may be able to justify that he still has not been charged, the rounded up invoice amount would have been the amount charged if it had not come to this.

I do not intend this to be a bashing of a supplier nor do I see this as entertainment, it is simply a discussion of a pimple sized business practice.
 

GTS Bruce

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Is this for real?Screx the cents.Its not worth bending over to pick up the change.I don't care what Jon B rounds up to because his insight,advice and honesty are priceless.Ok,Get mad,get even,sue Jon B and put the bastaxd out of business so then the whole Viper community will be screxed for parts and honest info.Report him to the BBB.Engage the Federal gov't in a mail fraud action.......Let me have your address so I can deliver the $.65 to your door. Bruce
 

cstegall

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O.K. Jon...you are officially tattooed :cool: When I read this thread today I decided to call in my Accounting Section Studs(ASS)here at my company and get them to do a complete review of every purchase I have made with you over the last 3 years(and these guys are good...used to work with Enron on some kinda balance sheet deals...don't really know the whole story). Anyway, after my ASS team processed the information I received the following statement:

Interoffice Memo from ASS:
We have completed our review of Mr. PartsRack and his invoices. We must inform you that the incorrect amounts Mr. PartsRack has included in these invoices is a substantial amount. After analyzing the invoices, compairing them to similar J.C. Whitney invoices, averaging in the "freebies" included and rounding down to the nearest dollar...we have found that YOU owe Mr. PartsRack approximately $1,346,315.21. ASS suggests that you immediately notify Mr. PartsRack of a change of address and unlist the company phone number. We, as ASS'es, take no responsibility for this number and assume that you know that you are on your own.

Check's in the mail Jon. I promise.

Clark
 

MichaelP

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I don't understand, why not just raise the price a buck on all your shipping charges then when it comes to an invoice round it DOWN you will still be ahead and the customer feels good.
 

joe117

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Like I said to start with,
It's not the principle, it's sixty five cents.
It doesn't matter.

Jon's policy is to round up.

Jon's notifies the buyer by invoice as to the total price before the card is billed.

Jon is right, and the complainer is being a a small time pain in the a$$.


By the way, this is the right place to discuss this sort of thing.
The name of the vendor should have been in the first post.

That would have prevented so many of you from being trampled in the stampede to change your opinion when you found out who it was.
 

Joseph Houss

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Jon,

Can we tell them the truth?

All Partsrack invoices are rounded up (millions of invoices, of course), and the rounded up proceeds are secretly donated to the VCA officers so we can afford our collection of windbreakers! :eek:
 

Cop Magnet

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I don't understand, why not just raise the price a buck on all your shipping charges then when it comes to an invoice round it DOWN you will still be ahead and the customer feels good.

EXACTLY! Keeping the prices "competitive" while making up for it "elsewhere" due to S/H costs, ZIP code variations, cost of gas, etc. is just not right. Raise the price a little and if you come out ahead, have a sale or make a donation now and then--as Jon B has done in the past with his S/H profits, and kudos for it. Artificially deflating the price of goods to be "competitive", and then adding surcharges later to make up for it is FRAUD. Doesn't matter if the charge went through later, the item was shipped first, inspection before payment was allowed, or whatever. And don't mention again that this is only $.65, it is the principle of the thing. Lastly, for those of you who objected to this on principle, then changed your minds--do you know what principle means? If you want the Webster's: "a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption." To me, this means an issue you take a stand on regardless of the play-by-play reasonings.

P.S. Loved the ASS post!
 

JonB

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The REST of the story from the Vendor side:

Our website cannot real-time update weekly changes in UPS fuel surcharges, Air Freight fuel surcharges, zip-code wierdness, and Oversize packaging needed on things like floor mats and chinguards and seats, etc....Nor International. We end up subsidizing many, many s/h bills to the tens and twenties of dollars, especially on drop-shipped stuff. The web cannot compute this. So we EAT a lot of s/h...... Bad business practice too ! So we round subsidized orders UP.
Most others Down. His web order was UNDERCALCULATED about $3 vs. actual s/h, so we felt OK to round up SIXTY-FIVE-CENTS.


If I had hired a business consultant at $1000 / day I would PROBABLY have been told the same thing as many of you stated, so THANKS guys. I need to learn to take EVERYONE seriously, until I know them better. I truly hope this ends the matter.

I want to repeat for clarification: As stated above, WE ROUND UP when we are eating/subsidizing the web-calculated shipping. His Chinguard s/h cost $3 more than our web computed, so we rounded UP and advised him. Almost all others we round DOWN....as most of you rightfully suggest. THANKS.

I love whole numbers so much that frequently we have a $1001-1004 total calculate, and we round down to $1000. (We never would round $996 to $1000!)

Sad note: I am really FORTUNATE that I get to share our mutual passions w/ owners across the world. Orinically, this guy Terry and I had a pleasant chat BEFORE his order! He is from St. Louis. I attended SLU; I worked at STL airport, drove / paced Gateway several times; He has a sports-store in Alton where I had an antique shop. Nice small-world stories. Lots of GOOD vibes, and I was hoping to meet him someday!

So I was STUNNED by his 65-cent inquisition, and initially mistook him for kidding. So I was joking-short and dismissive, and I obviously angered him into a disporportional response. I provoked a nuclear 'fraud' attack for a .65 cent issue. I apologize again, as I mailed him BEFORE I saw this thread. (I billed his chinguard yesterday and rounded DOWN 35 cents.)

P.S. to CLARK: Please send that check PRIORITY mail....I'll pay the postage. JB
 

cstegall

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Jon,

Can we tell them the truth?

All Partsrack invoices are rounded up (millions of invoices, of course), and the rounded up proceeds are secretly donated to the VCA officers so we can afford our collection of windbreakers! :eek:


Okay :2tu: ...now we're getting some action. Joe steps up to the plate to avoid the proverbial accounting records lynching by the VCA member mob and diffuses it in one post. Amazing.

Dan Rather ain't got nuttin' on you Joe....you whistleblower you.

Btw...I have not received my first quarter windbreaker (the one that shows Jon buying that land in Bermuda with all his ill-gotten gains). I am really hoping to have that one by VOI so I can hang around Jon and expose him for the "less-than-a-buck" scam artist that he is.

Thanks for your efforts in this matter. Jon..check was sent overnite mail (I rounded up to the nearest dollar).

Clark
 

Joseph Houss

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If I had hired a business consultant at $1000 / day I would PROBABLY have been told the same thing as many of you stated, so THANKS guys.

Jon, don't you mean $1010 dollars? (darn it, you've got to learn to round UP! How are we ever going to get those windbreakers!)
 

garolittle

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Does this mean that the Vipair system will generate 20 hp instead of 16 hp? Come on guys ... this is way over blown. Let's move on.
 

GTS Jeff

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hmmmmmmmm, no other vendors seem to have problems calculating shipping and invoicing with dollars and CENTS! For that matter, I know of no companies that use this unheard of accounting practice of rounding up.
 

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