New machine shop and technology

Back in August I posted about a machine shop that has a new crack repair technology for castings that is located in La Grande, OR. I took one B head and one TR4 head over as a test.
After multiple calls that either weren't returned or resulted in "No, they aren't done yet", I made one last call last week. The owner answered, told me he didn't have them done, but before I could say don't bother, I'm on my way to pick them up, he said he felt bad about keeping me waiting and would do them for free. Keep in mind that I figured that if his methodology worked out, I'd be having heads in there constantly. Well, he called up the other day and asked if I had valves for the heads since he noticed that one of them needed a couple of seats cut and he would need valves for that. I told him the B head did, but the TR didn't as I had planned on selling it as is.Today he called up to say that seeing as how I was going to sell the heads instead of them being a personal project, and seeing as how he had $X invested in parts, he had decided to charge me anyway, and what a great savings I was getting.
After talking about it with Jane over dinner, I've decided not to make another hour drive over the mountains and another back, and to let him keep the heads for his $200 of work.
What gets me is that this guy's shop is top notch, clean, organized, and yet......

As someone who is in the bussiness of selling my labor, I can see his point. He was being very generous to offer the work for free cause he probably thought he was holding up a job for you. But, you were just wanting to flip them for profit, so what was the hurry?
Maybe I'm wrong but that's the way I see it.

Sorry about the outcome, that sounds like a bit of an ordeal.
What was his magic new method of head repair called? And why did it sound promising enough to drive two hours to try it?

He doesnt give a s?it. Whatever you do with the heads is your buisness,he jerked you around,said he'd do them for free,he should have done what he commited to do. The guy got green when you told him you were going to sell them (your mistake) but he made a offer then reneged. Id be cautious doing buissnes with him

The big top notch clean well organized machine shops have a large overhead to cover to keep it that way, and don't want to spend too much time on something they can't charge alot for. That's probably why he took so long, waiting for a slower time to do it rather than putting more profitable stuff aside to do it. He felt bad about the wait, but then when he found out you were just going to sell them (and wern't really waiting on them for a customer, or project), he figured he should still make something on the deal since he didn't put you behind.
If his method works, it could save alot of heads thay would otherwise get scrapped.

He was holding up a job for me. I lost a sale because of him. He thought the parts were for my private vehicles.
Edit: And when you tell someone you are going to do something, you should stick to it.

He had been running a lot of ads in the local Nickel ad paper so I checked it out; it is some kind of barbed pin. His machine for fixing cracks cost him $9k according to him.

Yeah. He knew going in that I am a business, that I was testing out his product. Oh well.

He was slow when the heads went in. Then he went on vacation. Then he got busy. In a cash only shop, first in should be first out.

I agree with Chris on this. Chris was testing him out, would have given him future business, and would have told us all about him. It might have really helped out his business. AND - Chris hasn't mentioned any names, he was just venting - good for Chris! The guy had already kept the heads too long - he was doing them for free because of the wait - no matter what Chris was going to do with them. The guy who owned the business provided bad customer service, and went back on a commitment.

I'm not defending the machine shop, he should have got it done, or held up the free promise. He could have gotten a lot of work to make use of his new $9K machine from this. I was just commenting on the fact that those big new clean shops aren't always the best places to go because the overhead drives them to charge as much as they can, and not spend as much time on something as they should sometimes (can't afford to give away any hours), sometimes the messy hole in the wall gives better service, and does a better job, though they don't usually have up to the minute equipment.

The man speaks with forked tongue. If it were me I could only hope he gets screwed one day when someone bails on one of his jobs and he is left holding an empty wallet.

Jim B.

Let me see,the work was $200. Are the heads worth $200 if repaired with the cost of the trip to get them?

If you can still make money on them then I would get them and check out this "new" method of crack repair. You don't have to ever go back to him, I just wouldn't take the loss.

If it were me, I would have given them to Chris for free, especially if he was reselling them.

If it's for personal use, there's very little chance of getting repeat business. If there's the potential of more to come (business related purchase), that's where you make your $. 80/20 rule, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. His loss, too bad.

A couple things come to mind that apply to any business:

1. Do your work on time. If you can't, call the customer, explain the issue and communicate a new promise date.
2. Don't go back on your word. If you offered something for free (in this case because you had hopelessly screwed up), then do it for free. If you quoted a firm price, stick to it.
3. It doesn't make a difference whether Chris was going to re-sell the heads or give them away or use them personally. The guy volunteered to do it free.
4. There's just no explaining many small businesses that don't get the concepts of #1 & #2.

As an owner of a Precision Machine Shop here in Tempe, AZ I can say that you should conduct your business elsewhere. In today's economy there is no excuse for that sort of service. Getting new customers is not difficult but, keeping them is! Personally I enjoy these stories because it means another competitor will bite the dust soon.

Interesting business model... Did you actually see any work done or parts purchased? He may have been feeding you a line of BS.

Jus' sayin'.

Cheers,

Glen

I totally agree with Steve. A business isn't going to stay in business if they don't treat their customers right. I have a outstanding machinst. He alway given me a fare price and doesn't make empty promises. I had him do my crank and I told him up front that I wasn't in much of a hurry, he gave me the price. Two weeks later it was done. I was hostest with him and he was hostest with me and I did go back with a fly wheel. I was in a hurry on that. He said come back in a couple of hours. Got some lunch and it was done. Point being I'll give him my business and have already recommended him to many others. That's how it works.