SBD Manifold and Exhaust

[chazpowerslide]

It looks like Chris won't be finished by our first run on the 27th then Mark, how far on are you?

Chaz.

[ChrisF]

Just in Chaz  

[mud]

i waited just short of 10 weeks for my titanium back box  .

[markcoopers]

It looks like Chris won't be finished by our first run on the 27th then Mark, how far on are you?

Yeah wanted to talk to you about that............Err I've finished shopping for all the bits, and the carbs will be built by Saturday evening, but the other bits are still prety much were we left them   sorry  

[oioi]

sound like they should go into the building industry

[ChrisF]

i was eventually put in contact by them with the manufacturer andy

Me to...I spoke to Andy before   and was promised the manifold (which he was using to make a jig from) before the new year.  

It's 7 weeks later and Andy has not returned my calls...so it's been constant calls to SBD since.

As I thought I'm not the only one  

[ChrisF]

oioi...are you on a misson on at the moment      

[oioi]

oioi...are you on a misson on at the moment      

yes

[ChrisF]

Wimpy better watch out then  

[mud]

just a thought , how soon do you need a manifold ? because as soon as i can arrange a gap in the weather and a gap in simpson exhausts schedule my sbd manifold will be for sale,only 250 miles old

[ChrisF]

mud

I'll see what happens next week....I've been resisting this post for a few weeks now and I feel (rightly or wrongly) that I have now opened a can of worms     but all I want to do is get on with my rebuild  

[chazpowerslide]

Err, no Chris, I just got in now.

The last post was from work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AFAIR you said you'd paid SBD about £1000 for the exhaust and manifold before Xmas and err they sold yours to someboby else or something after they said they had stock, I STR that you've been waiting for a replacement alternator bracket that was in-correctly welded by them since before Xmas too.

So in summary you have paid out over £1000 in good faith with assurances that the goods you ordered would be with you in a timely manner which SBD have obviously not honoured and (judging by the comments you have made on this thread) they have not communicated with you well either.

I do not want to jump to conclusions and I sincearly belive reputable a supplier of bespoke parts in a specialised market would not deliberatly mislead a closed community of consumers (such as Westie owners on whome SBD market via sponsorship and adverts in the club mag ect) however their supply/manafacture issues are not your problem.

You paid out £1000 or so for products that they said you should have had before Xmas, we are now on on 12th Feb and they have not delivered.

They set the expectation of the delivery date not you, your money has been in their account since before Xmas, you do not have what you have paid for because they as a business have failed you as a customer.

SBD can give you all the reasons (true as they may be) as to why you do not have what you paid for but the fact is that YOU have paid for products THEY have failed to deliver, the result is that SBD have caused you to miss the targets that you set for the completion of your car.

I'd be fuming by now and would be on the 'phone twice a day applying as much pressure as I could to get what I wanted, top quality products are not worth anything if you can't buy them or the suppliers service is crap.

You need to make SBD aware of how badly they have let you down and ask what they will do about it, if they take the "that's what you have to put up with if you want the best" kind of attitude I'd tell them to shove it and make EVERYBODY aware of how crap thay are by whatever means you can (if you'r totally factual there will be no comeback on you) and go elsewhere.

Ask yourself, can the 2-3 BHP difference between a Westfield and SBD exhaust/manifold on a road going 200 BHP VX be really that important that you'd really want the SBD "brand" AND all the hassle that goes with it.

I wonder if you'd be treated any differently if you'd spent 15k on a 250BHP engine package rather than 2k on bits.

Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against SBD or their products, I just have a bee in my bonnet about companies who fail to deliver on promises and excuse poor service by blaming their suppliers.

Chaz.

[Nick M]

Just an observation, but there's a few comments in this thread which appear to be based on second-hand information or hear-say.

Now, I'm not defending SBD and I'm not unsympathetic to customers who have had to wait a long time for stuff (been there, done that...) but public forums are *never* the place to sort this sort of thing out.

SBD contract out the manifold fabrication so they clearly need to sort that out.  It's also a busy time of year for them as people are clamouring for bits to build engines / complete cars for the looming season.

Not making excuses, just suggesting that, frustrating though it may be, the best way of sorting this is to deal with the company(ies) involved rather than ranting on here.

We all need to bear in mind how much damage can be done by using public forums to vent frustrations - individuals' and companys' reputations can be irretrievably damaged because, for example, new members come here, read comments which indicate that Company X are rubbish and they then avoid them and pass on that "knowledge" to others.  Going public should really be a last resort when all other avenues have been tried, IMHO.

[mhc]

I can only agree with Nick in this instance.Is the use of this public forum to bring pressure on SBD in the best interests of all concerned. From a personal opinion,Steve of SBD has freely given more infomation regarding engines and chassis development than any one else associated with the Westfield club. How many people on this forum have picked his brains via the telephone, i certainly have,regards .

[oioi]

I agree with Nick, upto a point.  We all rave about certain companies, but people should be aware of the pitfalls and experiences of others.

If somebody comes along and reads a thread or wants to buy something surely it would be amiss for somebody to say, "great product" and neglect to mention they had crap service?