coastal electronics - lock pick - how do they stay in business

[bradysplace]

This is my second post about Coastal Electronics. The lock pick product seems to be something most people that have bluetooth and or nav. might consider for their Prius. I have called them 3 times and emailed them twice with NO RESPONSE AT ALL. My last email was simply to ask them if they had the product in stock. Still - nothing. How do they stay in business? I've noticed that some folks on prius chat have recieved a product with varying degrees of success. Very very few are happy with coastal electronics based on what I read here. If anyone knows how to get an answer from ce - and - is the product worth this kind of treatment - please fire back a response. Surely we have some elect. engineers here that could produce a similiar item - sell it to the faithful - and make themselves a few bucks. Greg

[priusFTW]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bradysplace @ Apr 4 2007, 08:29 PM) [snapback]417893[/snapback]</div>

This is my second post about Coastal Electronics. The lock pick product seems to be something most people that have bluetooth and or nav. might consider for their Prius. I have called them 3 times and emailed them twice with NO RESPONSE AT ALL. My last email was simply to ask them if they had the product in stock. Still - nothing. How do they stay in business? I've noticed that some folks on prius chat have recieved a product with varying degrees of success. Very very few are happy with coastal electronics based on what I read here. If anyone knows how to get an answer from ce - and - is the product worth this kind of treatment - please fire back a response. Surely we have some elect. engineers here that could produce a similiar item - sell it to the faithful - and make themselves a few bucks. Greg
[/b]

Have you tried calling them? I never ordered anything from them, but I did call because I had questions about a particular product. They answered the phone and the woman who answered was very helpful.

[dmckinstry]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusFTW @ Apr 4 2007, 06:36 PM) [snapback]417928[/snapback]</div>

Have you tried calling them? I never ordered anything from them, but I did call because I had questions about a particular product. They answered the phone and the woman who answered was very helpful.
[/b]

I've never gotten them to answer the phone, although I have gotten a reply to one of my emails.

Of course, I haven't tried calling more than 8 or 10 times, so it could just be a matter of luck. I always have gotten the answering machine. And my calls have been during their supposedly "open for business" times.

I have been happy with the products I have gotten from them though.

Dave M.

[efusco]

I'd say most people here are very happy with Coastal. The ones who are unhappy are very very vocal about it so you're going to remember that more. But what is universal is that the customer service is complete CRAP...essentially non-existant.

If you want the product your best bet is to place the order. They won't charge your credit card until they ship. If you need the good customer service then you need to live with the fact that you won't have any commercial option and will have to do your own work around or deal with the car the way it is.

[adam1991]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 4 2007, 10:53 PM) [snapback]417965[/snapback]</div>

They won't charge your credit card until they ship.
[/b]

Complete bulloney.

I ordered on a Sunday evening, and their system charged my card ON THAT SUNDAY. Want me to send you a copy of my credit card statement?

Need I mention that they didn't ship until, let me see, Wednesday? And that ONLY after I called to tell them Wednesday morning that I knew they charged my card and had the UPS info entered into the system. Who knows how long it would have been otherwise.

They charge your card IMMEDIATELY upon your completing the order on their web site. Make no mistake. You can take that to--or out of--the bank.

And they ship pretty much whenever, regardless of your choice of shipping options. "Next Day" means "the day after we take a break from painting the garage and playing with our kids and go check the web site for whatever orders have piled up over the last week or two".

Good product, yes. Answering the phone, about half. Emails--don't even try. It's a waste of your time.

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adam1991 @ Apr 4 2007, 10:13 PM) [snapback]417972[/snapback]</div>

Complete bulloney.

I ordered on a Sunday evening, and their system charged my card ON THAT SUNDAY. Want me to send you a copy of my credit card statement?

Need I mention that they didn't ship until, let me see, Wednesday? And that ONLY after I called to tell them Wednesday morning that I knew they charged my card and had the UPS info entered into the system. Who knows how long it would have been otherwise.

They charge your card IMMEDIATELY upon your completing the order on their web site. Make no mistake. You can take that to--or out of--the bank.

And they ship pretty much whenever, regardless of your choice of shipping options. "Next Day" means "the day after we take a break from painting the garage and playing with our kids and go check the web site for whatever orders have piled up over the last week or two".

Good product, yes. Answering the phone, about half. Emails--don't even try. It's a waste of your time. [/b]

It's certainly possible that they've changed the system and that would be a bad thing for them. In the past the fact that they wouldn't charge you unless they had the item in stock was the one thing you could count on. It may be that they charge immediately if in stock now. I know one person reported being charged for something they never recieved.

In any case, the cases of folks charge and not recieving are very rare. I'm not defending the company in any way except that they do sell good products and usually ship immediately when an order is placed.

[dmckinstry]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 4 2007, 06:53 PM) [snapback]417965[/snapback]</div>

They won't charge your credit card until they ship.
[/b]

In my most recent experience, that is not true. I used my debit card and it was charged immediately (presumably automatically). I checked on line and the charge was noted within an hour or two. It didn't ship until at least 9 days after that. However, I did receive the indication from U.P.S. on the Monday (following the Friday evening that I ordered), the statement that Billing Information had been Received.

Maybe they do it differently with debit cards than with credit cards. I don't know.

As I said, I'm happy with the products. Just not customer support.

Dave M.

[zijlstra]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dmckinstry @ Apr 4 2007, 11:01 PM) [snapback]417998[/snapback]</div>

In my most recent experience, that is not true. I used my debit card and it was charged immediately (presumably automatically). I checked on line and the charge was noted within an hour or two. It didn't ship until at least 9 days after that. However, I did receive the indication from U.P.S. on the Monday (following the Friday evening that I ordered), the statement that Billing Information had been Received.

Maybe they do it differently with debit cards than with credit cards. I don't know.

As I said, I'm happy with the products. Just not customer support.

Dave M.
[/b]

Same here: my cc-card was charged when I placed the order. The item, which was presumably in stock, since it didn't say otherwise on their website, nor in the confirmation email, hadn't shipped a week after placing the order. So, I cancelled (I had paid for 2-Day Air!). I called and emailed several times to check on the status of the order w/o any response from their side.

Funny enough, I FINALLY got a response from them to let me know that the order had been cancelled. Apparently they've good customer service when it comes to 'cancelling' orders. Anyhow, I wrote them a polite email to let them know that I'm not happy with their customer service and that there is room for improvement. Maybe if we all write them a 'nice' (and I really mean 'nice' here) email that they need to improve their customer service they might actually change something?

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alaskaprius @ Apr 4 2007, 11:48 PM) [snapback]418024[/snapback]</div>

Same here: my cc-card was charged when I placed the order. The item, which was presumably in stock, since it didn't say otherwise on their website, nor in the confirmation email, hadn't shipped a week after placing the order. So, I cancelled (I had paid for 2-Day Air!). I called and emailed several times to check on the status of the order w/o any response from their side.

Funny enough, I FINALLY got a response from them to let me know that the order had been cancelled. Apparently they've good customer service when it comes to 'cancelling' orders. Anyhow, I wrote them a polite email to let them know that I'm not happy with their customer service and that there is room for improvement. Maybe if we all write them a 'nice' (and I really mean 'nice' here) email that they need to improve their customer service they might actually change something? [/b]

Don't waste your time....they've been aware of their own customer service deficiencies for years and have consciously chosen not to address them. I personally met Coastal Dave and his family back in 2004. They're nice folks. They sent me a free auto door lock gizzy upon the birth of our daughter. I've purchased the XM kit and one or two other items. I could get an answer on the phone on the first ring and used to be able to have routine e-mail communications. About 2 years ago their customer service really took a nose dive as the Prius became more popular and more and more people started using them. I sent them a very polite but direct letter telling them the temperture of the prius community on the forums and how I felt it was important that they address their customer service soon to keep up with the growing market. I'm never heard from them since. Dave and Kelly are nice people and true hybrid advocates. Dave is really something and builds amazing products. But their business is run in a remarkably disappointing manner. It's almost as if they don't enjoy doing it any more and hope that it will implode, but feel committed to sell the products since they're the only ones doing anything like it.

I'm disappointed that they're now charging immediately even when stuff isn't in stock. Another strike against a unique and once much lauded company. They certainly shouldn't even offer 2nd day shipping with the way they charge and ship, it seems like they ship at their convenience no matter what shipping you pay for...sometimes very fast with the lowest rate and sometimes very slow when you pay for fast shipping.

[adam1991]

Hmmmm, this sounds like a business opportunity for someone.

Our local paper had an article this morning about a similar labor of love--scented candles, of all things--that the guy just wasn't having fun with after a year or so and so he sold it to a couple of others who took the business and ran with it, and who are now doing huge amounts of business.