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RE: Vendor Report - Prestige (long)

To: "'Richard.R.Olson@tc.faa.gov'" <Richard.R.Olson@tc.faa.gov>, triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Vendor Report - Prestige (long)
From: "Musson, Carl" <musson@chekhov.arts.usf.edu>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 11:36:02 -0400
A Car/Model would be nice....
C.


 -----Original Message-----
From:   Richard.R.Olson@tc.faa.gov [mailto:Richard.R.Olson@tc.faa.gov] 
Sent:   Tuesday, May 29, 2001 11:25 AM
To:     triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject:        Vendor Report - Prestige (long)

     Listers,
     
     Company name: Prestige Autotrim Products, UK
     Products: interiors, tops for many cars
     Purchased: Full interior, panels, carpet, underlayment, seats, 
     mohair top, top cover.
     
     Vendor Report Summary:
     Rating scale - 1 to 5, 1=very bad/not satisfactory, 2=could be 
     better, 3=neutral, 4=very good/very satisfactory, 5=excellent
     
     CATEGORY                SUBJECTIVE SCORE
     1. Customer Relations -         5
     2. Material Quality -           4
     3. Workmanship -                4
     4. Delivery -                   2
     5. Price -                      3
     
     Would I be a repeat customer - yes, as long as all the 'problems' 
     are resolved (see below) I have nothing to complain about and (I 
     hope) a nice looking car interior.
     
     NOTES:
     1. Customer Relations includes contacting the company, placing the 
     order, handling complaints, offering advice, apologizing when 
     necessary,etc.  A few times I had called them, left voicemail, and 
     had my call returned within 30 minutes.  Also, had the rep say he'd 
     handle a problem and get back to me.  20 minutes later he called 
     back.  This same person also had extensive knowledge of their 
     products as well as installation information.  My biggest problem 
     in this area was getting on the phone at 5AM (EST) to catch them in 
     the morning.
     
     2. All material matched the samples that were sent previously.  
     Color and texture were very good.  Good selection of material and 
     color to choose from.
     
     3. There were a few items that could have been done better, but the 
     score is for the whole package.  See Product Discussion, below.
     
     4. Ahhh! Here's where there could be some improvement.  I placed 
     the phone order on 4/9, was promised 3 to 4 weeks as they had to 
     order the barley (aka beige) leather for the seats.  4 weeks later, 
     I called and was told the order should be shipped next week.  The 
     next week I called again, and was told it would be out the next 
     day.  Finally received the order 5/25, 7 weeks after placing the 
     order.  To their credit they did ship overnight express.  See below 
     for the bad news.
     
     5. Price, for the items I was looking for, was comparable to or 
     less than other vendors. I had checked TRF, VB, Skinner and Moss.  
     Prestige had the items I wanted, in the colors and material I 
     wanted.  With the others - I had to get some pieces from each, I 
     figured sink or swim with one vendor.
     The shipping charge was reasonable (about 5% of the total order), 
     but I got a surprise when UPS demanded an extra $40 for customs 
     duty.  Prestige agreed that the duty should have been mentioned 
     during the ordering process, but also stated that, in the States, 
     some customers reported that NO DUTY was collected!
     
     
     EXPANDED PRODUCT DISCUSSION:
     This is a breakdown of the individual items purchased and any 
     associated issues.
     
     Mohair top - very nice looking, went on without difficulty, except  
     the rearmost snap on the right side (installed by them) is about 
     1/2" off (as measured from the center of the rear window and 
     compared with the left side) and there's no way I can stretch it to 
     fit because it's only 4" from the closest rivet.  My fix was to 
     relocate the existing snap on the car body.  Also, the window 
     plastic is thinner and more pliable than my old black vinyl 
     [Robbins?] windows.
     Vendor response: Agreed they made the error, apologize, will check 
     with quality assurance.
     
     Top cover (I don't use a tonneau) - also looks good, no snaps 
     installed, have to put them on myself, but it would have been nice 
     if they supplied all 13 (7 across the back, 3 on each side) and not 
     8.
     Vendor Response: Agreed to ship the missing items straight away.
     
     Interior - Nice material, the piping trim around the door panels is 
     a little loose and sloppy looking, it's stapled every 4", while the 
     original panels every 2".
     Vendor Response: Took note of the criticism, agreed to send a stick 
     of the short staples so I could finish securing the piping.
     
     Carpet set - Good color, nice binding (matches interior panels), 
     compares well with TRF's Magic carpet set (which I bought last 
     September, in black, used 2 months: for sale BTW).  PROBLEM - the 
     handbrake cover is TAN not BARLEY like all the other vinyl!  You 
     think they'd see that the whole carpet set was trimmed in barley 
     and put on a barley handbrake cover, but NOOOOOO!  Looks stupid 
     sandwiched between two barley seats.
     Vendor Response: Total dead silence on the phone for 10 seconds, 
     then another very nice apology, and an offer to make up a new 
     carpet piece and ship with the other items.
     
     Seats - AHHH! The BIG PROBLEM!  I ordered and paid for LEATHER.  
     What I got was all vinyl.  And to top it off, the side pieces for 
     one seat were MISSING!!! 
     Vendor Response: Had to research this one, promised to call back.  
     20 minutes later, another apology, they said it was my choice if I 
     wanted to keep the vinyl, they would send the missing pieces (and a 
     refund) or I could wait about 3 weeks for the leather.  Since I 
     couldn't tell the difference (and I could see both sides of the 
     material), and since only the seating surfaces were leather, I 
     opted to keep the vinyl.
     
     I tried to keep this report as fair as possible while providing the 
     list with useful information.
     
     Hope it helps,
     
     Rick Ol
     son

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