What the hell is going on at Mat Mladin Imports?

[thro]

Originally Posted by rgvlee

yeah, i paid for this stuff on day 1.

that in itself doesn't bother me. It's the wait and their expectation that i'll bend over and smile whilst they fuck me on the delivery date and expect me to be ok with it.

Yeah, I agree. I just find it interesting how he was willign to respond within 24 hours when there was obtaining money involved, but when i want a status update after 2 months, he's suddenly awfully difficult to get hold of...


edit:
What i'm saying is that I don't have a lot of faith in people to do the right thing. If you're acting like that, it erodes what little trust I have given you, whether or not you actually ARE a dodgy fly by night operation who is going to keep my money and not supply, or not. You just can't be doing shit like that when selling stuff online - there's not really any way to gain trust other than good customer service, and online, with no face to face - it starts are pretty much 0.

[barfridge]

Originally Posted by Cbr1k

Mind you it seems to be endemic here in Perth as well. I order stuff for work all the time from places like Blackwoods and Coventry's and if it goes on back order then the only chance I ever have of seeing my goods is constant harrasment.

I am still waiting for some stuff since may

I share your pain brother. Sounds like we need to start a support group

[thro]

^^ I think many businesses in WA / Australia in general are in for a rude awakening.

Once more people get a little more confidence in ordering stuff from the US, Japan, etc directly I can see a lot of businesses becoming fairly irrelevant unless they have something else to offer. More money for shittier service certainly isn't going to fly forever.

I'm not just talking about bike parts there either... the whole retail sector is going to get a big shake up.

[perdition]

Originally Posted by Kwackernaut

Hi,
I almost always order motorcycle stuff from the USA. It is cheap, quick and totally reliable(so far). I have ordered at least $3000 worth of stuff.

American companies are generally very reliable and USPS(US Postal Service).

No problems so far.

Latest purchase is a Shoei RF-1000(same as XR-1000) for $430 including air freight rather than paying $700 here in Perth for the same helmet.

Grant

where from ????

[rgvlee]

Heh, can you tell thro is still pissed at b components

I think it's a bit much to ask a retailer to keep a wide variety of sprockets in stock. There's just too many bikes and too many combinations. What I do expect is that they can be supplied within a reasonable timeframe.

I am not annoyed with Tim @ superbikesupply. Hence the letter to the Mat Mladin.

This is not the first time I have heard of problems with Mat Mladin imports. You don't have to look far on these boards to find issues with the other importers as well.

I could buy this stuff overseas... and don't get me wrong, I buy a SHITLOAD of stuff from the US and UK. But what is it coming to when I can't a set of sprockets locally for a common bike?

The mind boggles. An overnight bag costs stuff all in the grand scheme of things. As has been said, it'll be some economic decision like they are trying to fill a container... which is bullshit.

[perdition]

i wouldnt buy anything off them on principle after the pazzo saga...

[shmoo]

Originally Posted by Superbike Supply

It does make it very difficult for retailers if they can not receive stock in a timely maner from distributors - It hurts the retailer's reputation and forces good loyal customers elsewhere (usually off shore)

I feel for yu guys, I really do. It must be bloody frustrating when your customers are getting shtty, but its not directly your fault.

But you are absolutely correct - regardless of wos fault it is, it does hurt the retailers reputation. Unfortunately thats life. If you sell a product, its up to you to supply it. If you cant, well...we get this sort of situation where the buyer will end up just buying overseas and getting it both quicker and cheaper.

[phildo]

I was talking to one of the riders in the Australasian Safari on Saturday.

He'd ordered Michelin Bib Mouse tubes back in February, and they still hadn't turned up yet! To make sure that Michelin don't get any credit for his tyres and tubes, he's put Metzeler stickers on his bike.

He was also saying that apart from Ben Grabham, the rest of the officially sponsored Michelin riders are running conventional tubes because there were no Bib Mouses available!

[Rocket]

Originally Posted by perdition

i wouldnt buy anything off them on principle after the pazzo saga...

Plus 1
I think their pricing on those is taking the piss.

Supporting Aussie suppliers is important, otherwise they go broke and there'll be nothing available in Oz.
But they really have to work twice as hard to deserve the business as we all know that the goods can be bought cheaper (and sometimes quicker) direct from O/S.
We need the incentive to buy locally as it's getting easier and easier to buy direct from oversea's as the population gets more internet savvy and a lot of US suppliers like motomummy are geared up for this sort of business.

To justify the extra cost to buy from an Aus supplier, they need to make it easier and more convenient and therefore give us value for the extra money we have to pay to buy from them.

This thread alone will cost Mladin Imports money.
Bad news travels fast, they appear to be not working hard enough to maintain satisfaction and whoever is running their business development should be taking note.

[FireStorm]

Originally Posted by Rocket

This thread alone will cost Mladin Imports money.
Bad news travels fast, they appear to be not working hard enough to maintain satisfaction and whoever is running their business development should be taking note.

Dude they don't care. They are Mat Mladin Imports! You can't buy your pazzo's anywhere but from us!

It's like an electrical job I heard about a few weeks ago from the guy who did the tender. He had to install Pyro (fire proof) cables. There is only one manufacturer in aust for this cable. When he approached pyro for a price they gave him an absurd per metre price. When he quieried it they said "we are the only supplier, it's that price or no job for you". He did some research and bought the pyro with the same specifications at 1/4 the price from Singapore. He won the job. Pyro then rang him up a month after they started the job and said "We understand you won the contract but we notice you havn't placed an order for the cable" his response was "No and I'm not. I have sourced the cable from overseas and had it manufactured, delivered and approved by the regulatory body for 1/4 of your price. Fuck you very much!"

The internet has made the world a VERY small place for consumers. Either come to the party or risk going broke. Simple as that.

[19andrew59]

Fuck the local suppliers!!

Laptop battery:
Local price with 2 weeks delivery: $265AUD + postage
Hong Kong price 6 day delivery: $112AUD including postage

Mikuni smoothbores:
Local price: ("sorry, can't give you an accurate delivery date"): $1,560AUD + postage ("sorry, can't give you an accurate delivery cost")
US price 10 day delivery: $1,050AUD including postage

Etc, etc, etc.
Local suppliers can kiss my arse!!!

[perdition]

Originally Posted by FireStorm

Dude they don't care. They are Mat Mladin Imports! You can't buy your pazzo's anywhere but from us!

The internet has made the world a VERY small place for consumers. Either come to the party or risk going broke. Simple as that.

very very true on both counts and the sooner some businesses here realise that the better - however there are prenty of local business (here and interstate) that have been very good to deal ...so there are some around and where ever possible deserve supporting or we end up with another bikers corners (anybody know what the people there are doing now?)

[Cam]

Originally Posted by Superbike Supply

It does make it very difficult for retailers if they can not receive stock in a timely maner from distributors - It hurts the retailer's reputation and forces good loyal customers elsewhere (usually off shore)

You're doing it wrong mate.

I ordered some gear through you too, no news, no gear, just the money landing back in my account weeks later with no explanation.

If you can't supply, if you can't hold some items or can't chase up a wholesaler than can supply YOU, that's not the customers problem.

There's no point blaming somebody further up the food chain, as far as a customer is concerned, the buck needs to stop with the retailer.

[barfridge]

You gotta seriously wonder....are Aussie wholesalers buying from ebay themselves, then adding their huge markup? Would explain the service issues.

I'm only half kidding. If I was a wholesaler and not the distributor, this would be the way to go

[Sumfun4me]

Originally Posted by Cam

You're doing it wrong mate.

I ordered some gear through you too, no news, no gear, just the money landing back in my account weeks later with no explanation.

If you can't supply, if you can't hold some items or can't chase up a wholesaler than can supply YOU, that's not the customers problem.

There's no point blaming somebody further up the food chain, as far as a customer is concerned, the buck needs to stop with the retailer.

+1 - your dead right Cam. I used to run a parts department for construction equipment in Perth & we generally overstocked by about $150k, simply due to the lead time on getting parts from the Eastern states for machine down orders. It was a business decision taken at the highest levels, but we maintained a good parts availabilty ratio & happy customers as a result. As a dealer , you can only blame your suppliers for so long until your customers end up getting the shits with you.

[19andrew59]

Originally Posted by Cam

There's no point blaming somebody further up the food chain, as far as a customer is concerned, the buck needs to stop with the retailer.

Damm right! I had an issue with a pair of the sons 'skate shoes' coming apart within weeks of buying them. The clown at the retailer reckoned it wasn't his problem as "it looked like he'd been skating in them" and "he'd have to return them to the manufaturer for a warranty claim". The stitching on the shoe uppers was coming apart so I don't see how skating caused that fault and they were after all 'skate shoes'. I explained to the moron that my contract was with him, not his supplier and when he continued to refuse refund or replacement I stood at the front of his shop and explained to all the mums and dads entering what 'service' they could expect. He gave me my money back.

[T_B R1]

I had an issue local distributor... let's call them DirtWorx... I bought a pipe online but needed a silencing tip for it. So jump online to the twobrothers site, discover I've got to buy it from the aussie distributor, ok no prob. Call him up, say I need the part and does he have it in stock. He comes straight back asking where I got the pipe. Not thinking anything of it I say I got it online. Then he says "well I can't help you"
Me: "why's that, is the model different or something"
Him: "no, but you should have bought the pipe from us and you didn't so I'm not going to warranty it or offer support"
me: "what? I don't want warranty, I want to give you money and you give me a product. But you're saying you won't help me because I didn't buy something from you in the past"
him: "well if I help you it's not much of an incentive to not buy stuff online"
me: "yeah.... so you're turning away business"
him: "should have bought it from us and because you didn't I'm not helping "
me: "dickhead" hang up, buy part online.
This guy had a major attitude problem. I'd never even heard of these guys before I jumped online and could quite possibly been a decent future customer if I got good service but I didn't. If you want to give people an incentive to buy local you have to give them good service. I'll spend a bit more if the service is good. But why should I spend more if the srvice is crap.

That being said, I've received awesome service from the local shops I've been to (except these guys) Gillies, causeways, savage, chapmans, all good.

[barfridge]

You're not the only one who has been refused spare parts from that shop. It's a completely arse-about way to do business. Are you now going to see the error of your ways and start shopping with them? Or will you write them off as dickheads and carry on as per normal?

[T_B R1]

I would have quite happily gone and bought stuff from them (even though they are nowhere near home) if they looked after me, but I consider the guy I dealt with completely stupid and lacking in all business sense. So I went online and found the part I needed. I could have got a mate to call and lie about where he got the pipe but fuck 'em, I'm not giving them my money if they treat customers like crap.

[barfridge]

bingo.

If they weren't idiots, net result for them would be 1 lost sale, 1 sale and a chance of repeat business.

Currently the net result is 2 lost sales, zero chance of repeat business, and people actively saying bad things about them.

Sounds like a successful business model to me