How are you guys dealing with mp3car, the business?

**Bugbyte** · 05-01-2009, 05:51 PM

Looks like the issue was resolved.

I'm not defending the practice of having no phone support, it is a business decision that they have made and these are some of the consequences. On the other hand it is pretty clearly stated that they don't provide phone support and that it takes 2-3 business days to respond.

**Bxsteez** · 05-01-2009, 08:47 PM

I don't know if i'm the only one here who hasn't had any issues with mp3car.com. I've bought a lot from them but i've never got anything that was like broken and i actually had to contact them so maybe that is where i lack the experience. It would be nice if they offered some sort of phone support even if its you send them an email and ur number and they call you when they feel its an acceptable request. Maybe not even a phone call maybe live support via IMs. Something would be nice.

**DarquePervert** · 05-02-2009, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by Bxsteez

I don't know if i'm the only one here who hasn't had any issues with mp3car.com. I've bought a lot from them but i've never got anything that was like broken and i actually had to contact them so maybe that is where i lack the experience. It would be nice if they offered some sort of phone support even if its you send them an email and ur number and they call you when they feel its an acceptable request. Maybe not even a phone call maybe live support via IMs. Something would be nice.

Heather has stated this in the times I've brought up their shoddy customer service: 99% of the time, they get it right.
That's true in most retail operations, though. Shoot, the retailer I work for sells clothing. While the product is substantially different, the retail mentality is (or should be, in this case) pretty much the same.

You have two basic types of customers:
- The customer that knows what they want and simply purchase it from the retailer they choose. These customers will typically support the product themselves or can use the product with the aid of documentation, instructions, etc. Most of the vehicle computing hobby community is this type of customer. We're not going to complain about a product unless it is not working as intended or at all.
These customers are usually the customers that make up the 99% of the times that mp3car.com gets it right. A simple purchase and the product works. The customer is happy.

- The customer that is completely clueless or has specific needs that they don't know how to meet. These customers need some handholding and advice. These are the customers that want a voice on the other end of the phone when they call a retailer asking what product(s) would be best for a certain situation. These are the people that go into Lowe's or Home Depot with only a project and start asking questions of the salespeople to find out what they need.
There are those types of customers in this hobby, as well, but they are probably not the majority. However, as vehicle computing becomes mroe and more popular, more and more "average joe" types will want to get involved, despite the fact that they don't understand the computer, how to build one, or have ever installed even an aftermarket headunit.

It's the second type of customer that are driven away by the lack of customer service that mp3car.com provides. This has been pointed out to Rob & Heather many, many times over the past couple years, at least.
Nothing has changed.

**Injector** · 05-02-2009, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Heather has stated this in the times I've brought up their shoddy customer service: 99% of the time, they get it right.
That's true in most retail operations, though. Shoot, the retailer I work for sells clothing. While the product is substantially different, the retail mentality is (or should be, in this case) pretty much the same.

You have two basic types of customers:
- The customer that knows what they want and simply purchase it from the retailer they choose. These customers will typically support the product themselves or can use the product with the aid of documentation, instructions, etc. Most of the vehicle computing hobby community is this type of customer. We're not going to complain about a product unless it is not working as intended or at all.
These customers are usually the customers that make up the 99% of the times that mp3car.com gets it right. A simple purchase and the product works. The customer is happy.

- The customer that is completely clueless or has specific needs that they don't know how to meet. These customers need some handholding and advice. These are the customers that want a voice on the other end of the phone when they call a retailer asking what product(s) would be best for a certain situation. These are the people that go into Lowe's or Home Depot with only a project and start asking questions of the salespeople to find out what they need.
There are those types of customers in this hobby, as well, but they are probably not the majority. However, as vehicle computing becomes mroe and more popular, more and more "average joe" types will want to get involved, despite the fact that they don't understand the computer, how to build one, or have ever installed even an aftermarket headunit.

It's the second type of customer that are driven away by the lack of customer service that mp3car.com provides. This has been pointed out to Rob & Heather many, many times over the past couple years, at least.
Nothing has changed.

i would have to agree 100% with you DP, but they could at least have a phone number for warranty support, i'm not saying that not supporting the products they sell is acceptable but i had to wait 2 weeks before i even got an RMA number because even though they have a phone number (found it using google, under an alias company) and voice mail they don't return calls, even when it's not for technical support.

**rogerdugans** · 05-02-2009, 03:46 PM

I understand the issue many folks have with the lack of a phone support option.

But I do understand the decision to NOT do phone support MP3Car has made up to this point as well.

Personally, I think there are a few factors people need to understand:
1) they are a SMALL business in a market with fairly slim margins. (To be able to even compete with the plethora of other vendors out there on price, they don't profit much per item sold.)
2) The Car Computer market is a bleeding-edge niche market, like overclocking and water cooling computers both were in their times. Our being right on the Bleeding Edge of technology (in use) is both fun and problematic: hardware is often first version with bugs, and even stuff that is completely stable IN ONE CONFIGURATION may be nearly hopeless in another. If they had to field phone calls from every person who had any issue with a part purchased from MP3Car, regardless of manufacturer or the cause of the error.... well, that would be one hell of a lot of support calls, I expect.

This is bleeding edge, folks, and there are difficulties that arise from that. Sorry.
If you want an automotive system that has gps, music and is 100% reliable, have a stereo installed and buy a standalone gps from Garmin, TomTom or one of the others.

I do not mean to be insulting with this post, but over the years I have seen exactly the same thing happen with support issues for computer hardware oriented toward overclocking- which USED to instantly void warrantees- and water cooling components back when they were becoming "mainstream."

Note that I am not saying that a lack of phone support is a wonderful thing, but it is what it is, and it is part of the cost of doing business here.

Personally, having become a small bit involved in this hobby, and wanting to help these folks WHO PROVIDE THE SERVICE OF THIS FORUM FREE a small bit, I plan on buying parts for my carpc here as much as possible in the future, even if it costs a few bucks more at times.

**archarrow** · 05-02-2009, 07:22 PM

All I have to say is that MP3CAR.com has provided me with nothing but support when I asked for it. They even shipped everything I ordered to me in IRAQ. And oddly enough both time's I order somthing from them it made it here in 3-5 days. If any of you are in the miliatary or been to Iraq getting somthing from the states in 3-5 days is a good thing. As for that there are many american companys that wont ship to an APO address which I think is compelte BS its like mailing anything to a regular address in the states. But hey thats there destion, I usually just wont purchase from them its to big of a pain to have somthing shipped to my wife just to have her send it out here and a month later I finally get it. So just because Mp3 car provided me with such support and quick service I always will purchase from them. Yeah a mistake is bound to happen cool be paitent it will get resolved. I emailed mp3car just to verify that the memory I ordered would work in the motherboard I ordered. It was no more than 24 hours and I got an answer. So sorry to be long and drawn out but THANKS MP3CAR!

**theonlykid** · 05-02-2009, 10:01 PM

Send a PM to the owner, are you kidding me! Not having a phone # for support and ordering is lame and using the excuse that one is not in place because people actually call is lamer. Sometimes customers have questions and sending an email and waiting 48-72hrs doesn't cut it in this day and age. Every other company I know of in this market has phone support, Mini Box, Mo-Co-So, Logic Supply, just to name a few. If a customer calls for support for a product that they didnt buy from you its not to hard to say I am sorry but you didnt buy that from us we can't support it. It might not be what the person on the other end of the line wants to hear but as a busisness they have the right to make money. At the very least buy a Blackberry so you can answer emails in a reasonable amount of time.

**malcom2073** · 05-02-2009, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by theonlykid

Send a PM to the owner, are you kidding me! Not having a phone # for support and ordering is lame and using the excuse that one is not in place because people actually call is lamer. Sometimes customers have questions and sending an email and waiting 48-72hrs doesn't cut it in this day and age. Every other company I know of in this market has phone support, Mini Box, Mo-Co-So, Logic Supply, just to name a few. If a customer calls for support for a product that they didnt buy from you its not to hard to say I am sorry but you didnt buy that from us we can't support it. It might not be what the person on the other end of the line wants to hear but as a busisness they have the right to make money. At the very least buy a Blackberry so you can answer emails in a reasonable amount of time.

Having had a discussion about this with both Rob and Heather, I would tend to agree with them about the phone issue. It's their call not to have phone support and from what they have said they would get a ton of silly calls along the lines of "I just bought a hummer, what should I put in it?" And then the person would get ****ed when they got pointed to the forum. Mocoso, minibox, logicsupply dosent have NEARLY the hits that mp3car has I'm willing to bet due to the forum. This undoubtedly means they probably got even MORE of the questions that are better asked in the "newbie" section of the forum. They would have one person spend all day answering phone calls instead of packing orders or working on development, and at the end of the day be stressed due to the number and nature of the phone calls. It's just not logical for a small business (especially one attached to such a popular forum) to have general phone support.

That being said, I believe they should provide a phone number for users in the situation of an RMA or major support issue, but that should be on a case by case basis.

Just my 2 cents.

**Injector** · 05-02-2009, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by malcom2073

"I just bought a hummer, what should I put in it?"

well it depends on your budget the main things you will need are:

Screen
Computer
Power Supply
GPS (optional)
bluetooth dongle (optional)

or you can buy and all in one system like this one:
http://store.mp3car.com/Guru_Double_..._p/ccc-130.htm

you can also buy a stage 3 or 4 package which comes with all the basics you will need to install it.

i would recommend you take a look at our wiki before choosing what you wish to purchase here is the link:
http://www.mp3car.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

that took me a whole 2 minutes to write, not say it would problably take 30 seconds to say it. so is not that hard.

**Bugbyte** · 05-03-2009, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by Injector

well it depends on your budget the main things you will need are:

Screen
Computer
Power Supply
GPS (optional)
bluetooth dongle (optional)

or you can buy and all in one system like this one:
http://store.mp3car.com/Guru_Double_..._p/ccc-130.htm

you can also buy a stage 3 or 4 package which comes with all the basics you will need to install it.

i would recommend you take a look at our wiki before choosing what you wish to purchase here is the link:
http://www.mp3car.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

that took me a whole 2 minutes to write, not say it would problably take 30 seconds to say it. so is not that hard.

I think the conversation goes a little like this:

"Okay, that's cool but I already bought an M2-ATX from logic supply. How do I hook it up?" and so on.

Bottom line is they've made a business decision that a number of customers disagree with. I've talked to them about it, they understand that some customers will buy away from them because of it and that's the consequences of not providing the support via phone.