Forums vs Social Media

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,690
1,968
113
Mid Michigan
People don't realize they are one of about 50 a day that just have a few questions. They can't understand why 20 minutes on the phone is a big deal. Well when the other 49 people do the same it adds up. I used to help everyone I could but I literally ran out time in the day answering questions for free and no income was being generated. Now I only offer tech to paying customers. Like I tell the people who call just wanting info "If you knew about me to call for help then you knew about me to order the parts". If they had I'd give them all the time they need. It's nothing for me to spend 6+ hours on the phone before I can even start working.

You are the first vendor I have heard of that has called people out on that. I have to applaud you for that. I remember how Merchant's phone would not stop ringing, even on Saturdays. Id imagine MikeL's is the same way.
 

Evan@InglewoodTrans

yerp
Vendor/Sponsor
Aug 5, 2010
3,118
65
48
40
Western MA
You are the first vendor I have heard of that has called people out on that. I have to applaud you for that. I remember how Merchant's phone would not stop ringing, even on Saturdays. Id imagine MikeL's is the same way.

I'm as up front as it gets. Some people appreciate it and some people say I'm an a$$hole :D
 

WolfLMM

Making Chips
Nov 21, 2006
4,005
26
48
38
AL
People don't realize they are one of about 50 a day that just have a few questions. They can't understand why 20 minutes on the phone is a big deal. Well when the other 49 people do the same it adds up. I used to help everyone I could but I literally ran out time in the day answering questions for free and no income was being generated. Now I only offer tech to paying customers. Like I tell the people who call just wanting info "If you knew about me to call for help then you knew about me to order the parts". If they had I'd give them all the time they need. It's nothing for me to spend 6+ hours on the phone before I can even start working.

Then you got people like me, who just shoot the crap with ya all day LOL:hug:
 

Awenta

Active member
Sep 28, 2014
4,090
2
38
CT
Then you got people like me, who just shoot the crap with ya all day LOL:hug:



If you had been working a bit more I would have one of those covers but now I have to go back for one! :hug: :rofl:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GMC_2002_Dmax

The Still Master
People don't realize they are one of about 50 a day that just have a few questions. They can't understand why 20 minutes on the phone is a big deal. Well when the other 49 people do the same it adds up. I used to help everyone I could but I literally ran out time in the day answering questions for free and no income was being generated. Now I only offer tech to paying customers. Like I tell the people who call just wanting info "If you knew about me to call for help then you knew about me to order the parts". If they had I'd give them all the time they need. It's nothing for me to spend 6+ hours on the phone before I can even start working.

I get 50+ calls a day, starting long before I open and continuing long after I close..........on a good day I speak to 3 or 4 people.

My avg call is 15 minutes, with the customer stating, "I have just one more question"........then........."while I have you on the phone I have just one more questions"..........when that goes on for 4 or 5 more questions it starts to get old..........:confused:

Bingo! I think I recall a conversation about this with you...It really sucks that most people don't have the common sense to realize this.:mad:

I literally have people call me over and over every 15 minutes.......I recall one customer, nice guy in fact, calling me over and over, literally every 5-10 minutes for well over an hour, I finally got freed up and could answer his call.........he wanted to know why I did not answer the other 15 times he called me ??.......Seriously, the 1st thing you ask me is why I did not answer your call.

Maybe I was out of the office driving a truck, maybe I was with a customer in my shop/office, maybe it was lunch time, maybe I was too busy, or maybe I was on the phone with someone else !

So I just stated that "I was busy, and that had he left me a message the 1st time he called I might have called him back sooner, but since he made it a point to call me 15 times I was going to wait to call him back because I was that busy and figured it would be a long time on the phone."

The Guy saw nothing wrong with blowing up my phone and had one question, 5 minutes, bought nothing.........:mad:

You are the first vendor I have heard of that has called people out on that. I have to applaud you for that. I remember how Merchant's phone would not stop ringing, even on Saturdays. Id imagine MikeL's is the same way.

I had a shop call me about a truck I tuned over 2 years ago, the guys at the shop states the truck "IS CUTTING OUT"......I ask him to be more specific, he states the same thing over and over again and again, and then wanted me to solve it.

I asked him, can you send me a data log, he states no, but I can send you a "FAX"........:roflmao:

I'm as up front as it gets. Some people appreciate it and some people say I'm an a$$hole :D

Same here !!!!
 

Ridin'GMC

I like red
May 20, 2010
645
22
18
MA
People don't realize they are one of about 50 a day that just have a few questions. They can't understand why 20 minutes on the phone is a big deal. Well when the other 49 people do the same it adds up. I used to help everyone I could but I literally ran out time in the day answering questions for free and no income was being generated. Now I only offer tech to paying customers. Like I tell the people who call just wanting info "If you knew about me to call for help then you knew about me to order the parts". If they had I'd give them all the time they need. It's nothing for me to spend 6+ hours on the phone before I can even start working.

I totally agree with you for being on the phone can make a big difference than texting. That's why I didn't pressure you into responding back because I knew the workload and the messages you would be getting in a day, about 6x more than what I get in a day talking to people over texting. If I wasn't deaf I would definitely call you or if you were closer, I'd definitely swing by and talk more in person. I don't trust calling you over the video phone that deaf people calls through. For some of you guys who have never experienced a video phone call from a deaf person, the deaf person calls you through their TV hooked up to a video camera and is relayed by an interpreter on tv to relay you what the deaf person says by phone. I have one but I hate that thing when it comes to talking mechanical stuff because it's hard for the interpreter to understand what I'm describing to relay to the person you're talking to. Too much finger spelling since there's no real hand sign for most of the mechanical terms.

Evan is definitely a great guy to deal with and he was very patient with me by messages. Although I do talk like I'm not even deaf at all​ in person haha.
 

FSUwelder1212

New member
Oct 18, 2012
92
0
0
I'm able to see both sides of the fence on this. I am a customer to the diesel market but have had the opportunity with my former employer to work extremely closely with marketing for 2 very large companies (not diesel or motorsports related). I have seen companies have crazy success due to social media and others completely flub. I think the key is to approach it as nothing more than advertising such as print advertising and not engage customers through the medium, encourage them to contact directly. However, its not quite that simple because there are times a customer may ask a question about a product/service that would be beneficial to all. Use your best discretion and proceed with engaging with caution, things can turn negative quickly and then it is in front of everyone.

Although its not necessarily social media related but more of an observation on the performance diesel industry in general, some here have stated that unless you are already a customer basically you aren't going to get the time of day from vendors/ shops. I as a newbie have found this to be the case with a lot of shops in the diesel industry. It seems to be some sort of club that if you aren't in the inner circle or know someone who is they don't want your business. I've ran into this many times over the last 2 years with some big name shops (some even vendors here). The thing is you never really know who your customer is and what their intentions are. For example, SDP gave me the brush off 2 years ago, I ended up getting turned onto Wehrli who actually treated me like a customer they wanted to do business with. I have now spent around $9-10k in parts and trans over the last 9 months with Wehrli, I guess I'm just too small potatoes for SDP... I understand in the case of Evan and Mike L and others that often they recieve calls trying to get help diagnosing their issues caused by someone else and there is no revenue to be generated, however, you never know your good will and customer service could generate big sales down the road. It seems there is no clear cut answers on any of this for both the customer and the vendor...
 

clrussell

pro-procrastinator
Sep 23, 2013
5,928
399
83
I totally agree with you for being on the phone can make a big difference than texting. That's why I didn't pressure you into responding back because I knew the workload and the messages you would be getting in a day, about 6x more than what I get in a day talking to people over texting. If I wasn't deaf I would definitely call you or if you were closer, I'd definitely swing by and talk more in person. I don't trust calling you over the video phone that deaf people calls through. For some of you guys who have never experienced a video phone call from a deaf person, the deaf person calls you through their TV hooked up to a video camera and is relayed by an interpreter on tv to relay you what the deaf person says by phone. I have one but I hate that thing when it comes to talking mechanical stuff because it's hard for the interpreter to understand what I'm describing to relay to the person you're talking to. Too much finger spelling since there's no real hand sign for most of the mechanical terms.

Evan is definitely a great guy to deal with and he was very patient with me by messages. Although I do talk like I'm not even deaf at all​ in person haha.


Pretty cool you can work past being deaf!
 

durallymax

New member
Apr 26, 2008
2,756
1
0
Under The Hood
You are the first vendor I have heard of that has called people out on that. I have to applaud you for that. I remember how Merchant's phone would not stop ringing, even on Saturdays. Id imagine MikeL's is the same way.
I used to blow up Mike's phone, only ever bought a dipstick tube. That asshole would never sell me anything.


Of the few forums I ever look at anymore, most are either dead or just full of the same old drab with few of the original people I knew. There's a couple exceptions, the Audi ones still have quite a bit as do a few others,but Duramax and diesel trucks in general seems to be more popular on social media than anywhere. The low cost of 7.3s, 12v and LB7s probably helps fuel that.

Facebook is love/hate. I unfollowed the diesel groups pretty fast for obvious reasons already mentioned by others. True tech questions moving away from forums to Facebook is completely ass backwards. It's not the proper format at all, it breaks all the rules of data normalization. Impossible to search, not organized in any way and still full if people doing nothing but commenting to tag their friends. For the business side of things it can be good, it can be great and it can be terrible. Depending on the business it can be a necessity or not important at all.

The majority of what I go on for is just the couple secret or private groups I'm in.

Oh ya, and Dave's awesome photos when he goes farming downtown.
 
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