Maybe a "Heads up" for PST?

[TrailBeast]

A few days ago I looked up some 103 torsion bars for my Dart so I could finally get rid of the mushy and easy to bottom out factory bars.
Due to the fact that PST is one of our sponsors and sellers I wanted to shop local so to speak.

First let me say that the guys at PST were very knowledgeable and very helpful as well as patient and friendly (thank you), but I ran across some confusing information as far as the website goes.
1. They do not accept Paypal (complication) in my oppinion, and this makes it harder for some to buy from them.
Most ALL the funds I use for my car are out of my Paypal account, and you know what they say about permission vs forgivness
This is not the case for me, but what if a guy is sitting there at the computer and see's something for his car that he wants to buy, and would have clicked to "Buy Now" but can't because Paypal is not accepted.
I couldn't impulse buy with a click of the mouse (which is proven to be a huge driver of sales.)
I put the purchase off for 4 days so I could transfer funds to my debit card account first, and then go order my parts. (I might have changed my mind by then, or bought somewhere else.)

2. I used to feel a little sorry for PST still dealing with the misundestandings of the clocking issue's of the earlier bars that is even still going on even though it was addressed long ago.
These dissatisfaction with the zero clock bars were addressed and they had new bars forged with the 20% clocking offset (but the website say's nothing about it being resolved) and even still has the paragraph that say's "These bars are designed to lower the car and may not be able to return it to factory ride height" (this is the problem a lot of people had with those bars, and it caused customer satisfaction issue's for PST.)
That comment on the page shouldn't be there any longer, as it gives the impression nothing was changed and the problem still exists.

3. When I went to order the parts online The picture of the bars shows two bars, but the shopping cart has a spot to choose 1,2 and so on.
Do I want 1 or 2?
I would think I wanted to select 2, but would selecting 2 give me two bars or two sets?
Now one would think it was obvious that a set was being ordered, but when I selected the dust boots the cart had the same choices, but for the boots if you selected 1, you would get only one (not the set) and another style of boot if you selected 1 in the cart it was a set of two. (but nothing said that anywhere)

In closing I have to mention that all this confusion could have very well killed a sale, and it wouldn't surprise me if it already has.
Just a couple of small changes to the website would have made it a much less confusing experience for me as a customer, as well as for the poor guy I had to ask all these questions before I could feel I was purchasing the right bars as well as the right boots, and the correct amount of everything.

Don't get me wrong because I am not bitching about it or anything like that.
My intention here is to try to help PST understand that making something super easy to buy is a pretty big deal from a sales standpoint, and I feel that accepting Paypal and a small amount of webite wording changes would increase the confidence of buyers as well as cut down on the human interaction needed to complete a transaction.

Now I'll go mind MOFB again.

Thank you for the great explanations and patience PST.

 

[pishta]

No paypal, no money from me. Really. AS you said, we got our slush funds and thats what I use. Keeps the accountant at bay. Its so simple to set up and the fees, I'll pay the +2.5% fee all the time, thats the cost of instant gratification.

 

[DNasty777]

I was just looking at this stuff today and I have to say I absolutely agree that they need to be clear on the quantity of ONE item purchased and whats included. Their ebay listings have more info on quantity then their website did!

 

[grumpuscreature]

You'll have a much pleasanter experience if you remember that they are Blowtie people at heart and you will have to explain anything Mopar to them in triplicate. If you're lucky...

 

[65cuda360]

Why not email PST instead of posting here? Much more likely to garner their attention.

 

[Bad Sport]

I just made a large purchase from them a while back. After speaking with James, and looking at the website, I too was a tad confused and that's why I called and placed my order. There is some room for improvement on the site as far as quantities and what's included etc., certainly no reason to shy away from them.

They are good to work with, and have what appears to be a decent product, although I haven't installed any of it yet.

But hey, in the end I got a decent product all in a "one stop shop" and a discount to boot.

 

[TrailBeast]

I just made a large purchase from them a while back. After speaking with James, and looking at the website, I too was a tad confused and that's why I called and placed my order. There is some room for improvement on the site as far as quantities and what's included etc., certainly no reason to shy away from them.

They are good to work with, and have what appears to be a decent product, although I haven't installed any of it yet.

But hey, in the end I got a decent product all in a "one stop shop" and a discount to boot.

Don't get me wrong, I think they do a great job with what they are working with and I was intent on buying from them in any case. (i could however see someone else getting frustrated and go somewhere else.)
I just thought that they could do themselves a favor and not end up on the phone with most everyone over easily changed or updated info on the website. (which is what it is there for obviously anyway)

Why not email PST instead of posting here? Much more likely to garner their attention.

I talked to them on the phone about it a bit but I wanted other opinions also.
(thought maybe I was just getting to old to buy parts online or something for a bit there and realised it wasn't me)
Thanks

 

[rumblefish360]

So when I click quantity I click "1" and get a set if bars?

 

[72bluNblu]

Good info for them, hopefully they'll post up here.

The 1.03" bars are on my list, but I'm waiting to hear back from them about the actual wheel rate. They don't have it published, and that's a make-or-break piece of info for me. Not worried about the clocking as none of my cars will sit at stock ride height, but it sounds like they corrected that issue with the latest batch anyway.

 

[Trojmn]

call talk to a real person, get your FABO discount ;-) My experience wit PST plesant . good service and the bars worked well especially for the price.

i dont see the difference between paypal and CC. you DONT have your bank account tied to your paypal do you? more protection with CC anyways and thieves cant take the money that you eat with.

 

[PST]

Wow sorry guys that I missed this post. I normally would have responded sooner. But I have been up to my elbows in a new catalog for our fall/winter issue and still doing tech and c.s. when help is needed.

Concerning paypal: This has come up in discussion before and I have addressed it with the owners. I completely understand your reasoning as well as the owners. In the owners defense Paypal can at times be difficult to work with on a sellers ends as we have gotten burned a few times by paypal through ebay as a dispute over a part can be brought up months later and Paypal will freeze that set amount until it is resolved. Instead of the customer coming to us to correct the issue and explain their problem they are quick to open a dispute in paypal. I handle the majority of the Paypal disputes for PST Ebay and it can take weeks to settle because once the customer is happy they normally stop responding in the dispute and do not close it like they are supposed. So I then have to do additional leg work to have the funds unfrozen. I also had an experience where Paypal gave a refund to customer and we had never gotten the product back. So when I called and spoke to a Rep at Paypal his exact words were we settle in the best interest of the buyer as they are our customers. But I will agree from a buyers stand point paypal is great way to buy products.

As for the confusion on our website on the products mentioned in thw above posts. I will do my best in the next day or so to work with my web guy to correct them. But if you see other things that you feel should be critiqued while on our site please PM me as I want to make the use of our website easier on the customer.

Thanks
James

 

[DTMRacing]

Concerning paypal: This has come up in discussion before and I have addressed it with the owners. I completely understand your reasoning as well as the owners. In the owners defense Paypal can at times be difficult to work with on a sellers ends as we have gotten burned a few times by paypal through ebay as a dispute over a part can be brought up months later and Paypal will freeze that set amount until it is resolved. Instead of the customer coming to us to correct the issue and explain their problem they are quick to open a dispute in paypal. I handle the majority of the Paypal disputes for PST Ebay and it can take weeks to settle because once the customer is happy they normally stop responding in the dispute and do not close it like they are supposed. So I then have to do additional leg work to have the funds unfrozen. I also had an experience where Paypal gave a refund to customer and we had never gotten the product back. So when I called and spoke to a Rep at Paypal his exact words were we settle in the best interest of the buyer as they are our customers. But I will agree from a buyers stand point paypal is great way to buy products.

I 100% feel your pain on this and try to use paypal as little as possible, but for some reason some customers insist on using it, and the guys before make a pretty valid point, it makes it transparent to 3rd parties and is an easy way to flip stuff on ebay for new stuff. However, I'd just as soon wait for a check in the mail than have money floating around in the internet. Couple that with my general dislike of having to "pay to get my money that the customer owes me" is something that I dislike about having a credit card processing capability. Cost of doing business I guess.

 

[abodyjoe]

i don't know. if a place doesn't take paypal i either just use a credit card and pay it off right away or go online to my bank and transfer the money to my checking account and just use my debit card to pay. don't really see an issue there.


as far as the quantity goes i can see how its confusing. me personally would think "1' would be one pair unless the price is stupid low. but i can easily see how someone would think one bar..

 

[kingvern]

Why cant you just use your pay pal debit card it does have the master card logo.

 

[hemitheus]

Bravo to PST for being understanding and addressing the problem versus some other vendors who just dont care. My only suggestion to improve PST is from a new experience I am currently enduring. I am helping a friend who just bought their 4 wheel disc conversion for his 67 cuda. He only received instructions for the front which aren't as clear as I wish they were. Also there is no list of parts included. I ALWAYS inventory all parts received prior to doing any work. But without a parts list we cannot.

 

[PST]

Bravo to PST for being understanding and addressing the problem versus some other vendors who just dont care. My only suggestion to improve PST is from a new experience I am currently enduring. I am helping a friend who just bought their 4 wheel disc conversion for his 67 cuda. He only received instructions for the front which aren't as clear as I wish they were. Also there is no list of parts included. I ALWAYS inventory all parts received prior to doing any work. But without a parts list we cannot.

Shoot me a pm with your friends order number and info and I will get a parts list for you.

Thanks
James

 

[TrailBeast]

So when I click quantity I click "1" and get a set if bars?

Yes, and one would think this would be totally normal right?
But then when I was running across bushings or dust boots sold individually I had to question that.
It also crossed my mind that a customer might have broken one somehow and needed just one.
Overall I was pretty confident about clicking "1" would be a set, but it sure would have simplified things if it said that (it's only words on a webpage that can easily be chaged to solve any possible confusion)

Good info for them, hopefully they'll post up here.

The 1.03" bars are on my list, but I'm waiting to hear back from them about the actual wheel rate. They don't have it published, and that's a make-or-break piece of info for me. Not worried about the clocking as none of my cars will sit at stock ride height, but it sounds like they corrected that issue with the latest batch anyway.

These are my main points.
That info can be added to the site, so people don't have to call in and PST reps don't have to spend thier time telling people the things that could be explained on the product description page.

They did resolve the clocking issue, but it does'nt mention it at all, and in fact still says they are "for lowering the car, and may not return the car to stock ride height"
I didn't want a lower car, but only stiffer suspention so I waited till they made new ones with the 20 degree clock like the factory bars.
In my oppinion they need to clarify that issue has been resolved, and the bars are clocked 20 degrees like all thier other bars are, because it came up again and James had to clarify it for us (Again)

call talk to a real person, get your FABO discount ;-) My experience wit PST plesant . good service and the bars worked well especially for the price.

i dont see the difference between paypal and CC. you DONT have your bank account tied to your paypal do you? more protection with CC anyways and thieves cant take the money that you eat with.

I try for the most part to keep the car stuff separated from the business (even though I write the Dart off as a business expense. (which it is because I drive it everywhere to appointments)
It wasn't big deal at all to me to use the card, but since my money for the car is all in Paypal I did have to transfer it and wait for it to hit the bank before I could order my parts.
See, the thing is I told the wife I wouldn't use ANY of the business funds for the car but only for the bussiness, household and bills, so that Paypal account is strickly for my car.
The house doesn't get any of my car money, and the car doesn't use house/business money.
So I keep them as separate as possible, and I don't want to pay extra for a Paypal CC.
The mode of payment to PST isn't my main concerne here.
I was trying to help PST make the site less confusing about the parts and thier information instead of having to call them about every order to clarify instead of using the resources of a website that they already have in place.

Wow sorry guys that I missed this post. I normally would have responded sooner. But I have been up to my elbows in a new catalog for our fall/winter issue and still doing tech and c.s. when help is needed.

As for the confusion on our website on the products mentioned in thw above posts. I will do my best in the next day or so to work with my web guy to correct them. But if you see other things that you feel should be critiqued while on our site please PM me as I want to make the use of our website easier on the customer.

Thanks
James

No worries at all James and I would obviously recommend PST to anyone in need.
It's really not any of my business how PST runs thier website anyway, but wouldn't it be nicer for the PST staff to not have to get on the phone with every prospective customer over some little detail that could be covered on the site, since it is already being payed for and used anyway?
I would think.
You guy's (especially you on *ABO) do a great job of settling misunderstandings and giving your customers good information, but the website could do that in most cases.
That's what it is there for.

Let me say this again, I am not complaining about my experience with PST at all, only attempting to make your job easier and for the customer to be able to buy as soon and as smooth as possible.
PST's job get's easier, and they sell more products due to clearer website information.
It's a win/win

Thanks for the new T bars, I can hardly wait to get them on the car.

Why cant you just use your pay pal debit card it does have the master card logo.

I could but I'm not paying Paypal extra for it.
That's not the main point of my post as you probably got from the above responses.

 

[vntned]

Times two on the parts list! I'm in the process of doing a front disk conversion using the PST kit. Better instructions and a parts list would be super helpful too!

Also, some dust shields that work with the 2" drop spindles would be nice also. I now have a pair of new disk brake dust shields that I can't use!

Oh, and a quick ratio pitman arm for early As!

The customer service has been great as well as the eve real knowledge of the sales reps! While I have run into several issues with my order, mainly due to PSTs vendor for the brake kit, it has been an overall pleasant experience. The one problem I had was that I was sent a pair of stock spindles when I had already received my drop spindles. That was not a big deal because it didn't slow me down. I just returned them. The problem that's holding me up is that I was sent two passenger side lower ball joints and no drivers side one. I called and talked to a service rep and he is having one sent to me, no questions asked. Just still waiting on the box to show up...

 

[PST]

The website are issue are being correct as we speak. I hope to have them cleared up by tomorrow.

Thanks
James

 

[TrailBeast]

The website are issue are being correct as we speak. I hope to have them cleared up by tomorrow.

Thanks
James

I just got a chance to go back and check the changes, and it is now VERY clear about quantity and the info on the page about the new bars should make your lives a bit easier I think.
With that info I could have very easily made my decision and bought without needing to call and ask.

Very nice James.