[nmn25]

In Feb of 2012 I ordered a black 28t spiderless chainring for my xo crankset from HBC. After 2.5 months and 2 emails with no responses I contacted him again. HBC responded saying my order got lost and he did not respond because my email titles sounded like order questions (which i guess they were....), but that he would ship one out immediately. Now its been over 6 months, Ive sent HBC multiple emails and still have not gotten a response or my chainring.

Has anyone else had problems like this? I know his pieces are machined to order and even he says it will take up to a month, but 6 months and no responses? I really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, I love small companies but....

 

[4xBoy]

7 months till I got my ring from him.

 

[nmn25]

Well that makes me feel a little better (well at least like there's a chance I might get it). Did you hear from him while you were waiting?

 

[4xBoy]

I heard seldom, quite a few excuses.

 

[nmn25]

Does anyone on here know him? Id really like to get a hold of him before giving negative reviews. Ive had multiple people ask about it and i have been holding my tongue, but soon Im just going to say he screwed me and that everyone should avoid like the plague.

 

[4xBoy]

Custom and one off is all about patience, suck it up or learn to buy off the shelf parts.

 

[henrymiller]

Seems to be a common issue:

http://forums.mtbr.com/singlespeed/homebrewed-components-694887-75.html#post9628496

 

[nmn25]

well i finally got it, 7 plus months later. I must admit tho, it does look pretty sick

 

[DirtMcGirk]

well i finally got it, 7 plus months later. I must admit tho, it does look pretty sick

Photos, or

 

[jonKranked]

Custom and one off is all about patience, suck it up or learn to buy off the shelf parts.

this.

 

[binary visions]

this.

That's a bunch of bull.

Read the original post. It doesn't matter how long the part takes; if the buyer is not kept in the loop, it's bad customer service. 6 months with no responses? They didn't respond because the titles sounded like questions? Seriously?

Any time there's a complaint from custom manufacturers, you see the same excuses. "It's custom, deal with it." But every time, it looks like the chief complaint is that they drop into a black hole and ignore people, or they set expectations and the massively blow them.

 

[kylegoodmaster]

Is he filing it by hand? Jaysus.

 

[4xBoy]

That's a bunch of bull.

Read the original post. It doesn't matter how long the part takes; if the buyer is not kept in the loop, it's bad customer service. 6 months with no responses? They didn't respond because the titles sounded like questions? Seriously?

Any time there's a complaint from custom manufacturers, you see the same excuses. "It's custom, deal with it." But every time, it looks like the chief complaint is that they drop into a black hole and ignore people, or they set expectations and the massively blow them.

And what custom products have you bought? or built?

 

[binary visions]

And what custom products have you bought? or built?

I work for an embedded device manufacturer. We order a variety of custom products from large manufacturers, from local machine shops, from local electronics vendors, and we build some in house.

Maybe you're misunderstanding: I am not digging on the fact that custom manufacturing takes time. I am stating that the chief complaint is that the vendor disappears from the face of the earth during the process, which is completely unacceptable.

A local machine shop was contracted to do some one-off machining for us recently, and simply got overwhelmed with some orders. We were told they were overwhelmed, and when they'd get to it. When they were looking like they'd blow the date they promised, they updated us. When they blew the date, they updated us again.

How does this have anything to do with the difficulty or care put into custom manufacturing?

 

[binary visions]

To clarify, I don't care if you're selling candy, hookers, custom machined frames that take two years each to produce, or plastic junk that can be stamped out at the rate of 100/minute.

If you have a customer, you have a responsibility to communicate clearly and promptly with that customer, ESPECIALLY if you've gone past your expected completion date.

 

[jonKranked]

That's a bunch of bull.

Read the original post. It doesn't matter how long the part takes; if the buyer is not kept in the loop, it's bad customer service. 6 months with no responses? They didn't respond because the titles sounded like questions? Seriously?

Any time there's a complaint from custom manufacturers, you see the same excuses. "It's custom, deal with it." But every time, it looks like the chief complaint is that they drop into a black hole and ignore people, or they set expectations and the massively blow them.

you and i have both been around the bike industry long enough to know that these kind of one man operations are done in a garage/shed and have as many bongs as they have power tools. buyer beware.