Thread: Waiting for my Xenarc MDT X-7000 for almost 7 months now

Originally Posted by Caelric

And some customer service skills, as well, but hey, thats just me.

Customer relation skills is very important in running any business. You have know how to speak to your customers and choose your words wisely.

Unfortunately, there is no fine line between prototypes and production units. The MDT is an excellent lesson. We sold the unit immediately, as we expected the unit to work as well as Xenarc products in the past. Unfortunately it did not.

In the price range we sell, manufacturers sometimes have bad runs or market a unit as stable, when in truth it is far from it.

Originally Posted by ccsnet

The above also concerns me too.... why sell Prototypes ? You should sell production units only.

It may be worth armine looking in to the skills of Six Sigma...... ( before you ask me... its about defects and the effect on product success and delivery... )

Terran

Hmm... kinda like the whole Bridgestone/Firestone tire thing a few years ago...

Many Mp3Car customers have been willing to put up with the quirks of the G4, the T3, and the Aopens because they want new technology.

We will continue to offer new technology to those customers. When a customer has not carried out research and seems new to the challenges of car computing - we suggest only those products that are plug and play and they are usually not products offered on our store - we send them elsewhere.

I am not really sure what you mean in terms of expecting more quality - the forums exist to carry out research - we expect that customers do their own research. However, we turn down products all the time and refuse to carry them if we think that they are beyond quirky.

I think the bottom line here is that Xenarc, a brand that had previously stood for high quality, put out a low quality prototype before extensive testing and we are all feeling a little burned. But no one suffered more financially on this forum than the Mp3Car Store for supporting Xenarc.

And in terms of customer service, this is just one complaint, in comparison to the many customers we supported and credited last December, when so many MDT units broke. But I guess only the complaints stand out.

And the funny thing is, we are still waiting for this customer's complete information, so that we can provide a refund. So I am still loosing time on the MDT.

Originally Posted by Tidder

Hmm... didn't know that. I don't really pay attention to mp3car.com product, as I've been too poor to afford most anything from them. I'm used to running crappy hardware, cause most of the stuff I've modded myself.

I would have expected a little more quality out of mp3car.com. I know with my business I don't sell anything that I haven't already used myself for a few months, unless the client specifically requests it. And even then I may point them to someone else that sells what they want (read: Dell). Sure R&D costs a bit, but it's not far-fetched for small companies to do it. What I do is test out a device, then sell it at 2/3rds of cost to help recoup some of that loss. But that's exactly what it is. A loss. But a greater loss is returns. This way I have almost a ZERO return rate. In the past year, I've had ONE computer come back to me for warranty purposes, out of the literal hundreds I've sold. Test the stuff before you sell, and know it works. Or let the client/customer know that you are selling them product you have no experience with. And no, don't tell me that Best Buy doesn't test all the stuff they sell, their niche is quantity, not quality, as is most of the chain stores. Sure they might actually sell some quality items, but it's not their quality as the reason for Best Buy to carry it. On the other hand, mp3car.com is NOT Best Buy, and can stand to be a little more personal with their product and clients/customers. It would be better to lose the potential revenue on experimental hardware and keep the good name they have/had, than to sell it and get a bunch of returns, and eventually a bad reputation.

Originally Posted by armine

I am not really sure what you mean in terms of expecting more quality

More or less a response to you and the comparing of Best Buy to mp3car.com. If I want something overpriced and crappy, I'd go to Best Buy. If I want something overpriced, but good quality, I'd go to mp3car.com. That's how I used to see it. But what you're saying now is that maybe you guys sell quality, but I shouldn't expect anymore than I do from Best Buy? A faceless corporation here to take my money? Well judging by the whole SD hoopla, I guess you're right.

Apologies to the OP, didn't mean to crapper up your thread. I'll take my opinions somewhere else.

I am saying that in car computing, some new products will have problems.

Mp3Car has and will support the products that it sells, to the best of its ability.

In the case of the MDT, we have provided everyone a refund, so we kept our part of the bargain.

But i think the take away from this thread is that is a product is new, and somewhat untested, we should let customers know. We will look at integrating this into our store system in some way.

I appreciate the feedback - if we are not doing things right today, we will not be here tomorrow.

I think you should also take from this thread.

If you are dealing with an overseas customer you take extra steps to make sure the product is fit for the purpose or if it is a unit that has no previous histroy they are aware of that. Because it will mean they will lose a lot of money with delivery and import fees.

Take Away #3: Publicly berating a customer equals poor customer service skills.

Originally Posted by Caelric

Take Away #3: Publicly berating a customer equals poor customer service skills.

Where was the public berating?