I concur. I refer a lot of people looking to fix up their G35/G37s to this site to sign up and do research and look for parts and vendors all the time, many of them customers from friends' shops.

Right now, I am afraid that one of them is going to look up body kits, actually like the products these guys have to offer and get scammed by them because they simply didn't do enough research about who they are purchasing from.

This is horrible business and I am feeling that I can't refer anyone to this site anymore until this is straightened out. Any company or companies with so many complaints should not be allowed to be a vendor in a large and respected community such as this.

 

I would hope it's to everyone.

 

Staff has no power to pressure vendors to do anything only IB
The most we can do is notify them of ongoing issues (not like they aren't aware of it)
If we start deleting or prohibit certain functions to vendors then they would complain to IB
and we would be the ones in hot water.

We do this for free we don't get any special treatment from IB or vendors to sway our decision making.
All we can do is make suggestions to the members here to look at vendor feedback and any past issues and how those issues have been resolved by said vendors in the past.

 

What does IB actually do when you tell them this information staff members??

 

They contact the vendor to discuss what seems to be the issue.
IB in turn let us know what the outcome of the discussion was.

The vendor could whisper sweet nothings into IB's ear and as long as IB buys it there is nothing that we can do. Strafe was one of the first occasions I saw IB exercise their right to deny a vendor their privileged to post on this board. I'm hoping that it wouldn't go that extreme in the future when dealing with vendor issues and actually have it nipped in the bud before it escalates to such a immense issue.

 

They follow up with the vendor that is having the issue and likely get some sort of assurance that things are OK and will be changed. We aren't privy to those conversations and we usually hear back from IB that they spoke with the vendor and its been handled.

I don't blame you guys for wanting more details as to what is going on.

 

Yeah, what Glex said LOL.

 

Either way....

If I can't post under BAUSAuto for Eric, then other people can't post under CBK for "Ed".

Vendors need to be treated equally, right?

 

i say keep him around for the entertainment value lol

 

Thank you for the clarification Marcus and Glex!! It's just hard to understand how everything works really....don't really know how IB works and how many moderators there are for them as compared to you guys for just our site

 

Does IB have (or would they be open to implementing) something like a 3 strike rule based on the iTrader ratings or Vendor Feedback section? If such a rule existed some of the semi-sketchy vendors would be much more likely to either avoid screwing up or not become vendors. It's not like it would make much more work for IB to investigate complaints under such a system as I'm sure threads like this (which, come on it's not the first time) probably waste far more resources than a negative vendor feedback would/does in most cases.

Maybe take a look at 30 day average feedback and if they have 1 negative for every (I dunno, 5?) positive there's a problem and they need to be dealt with?

What I'm thinking with this is how many people got screwed by certain other vendors before they were no longer vendors and what can be done to prevent it going forward?

Glex / Marcus, good info on those last posts, thank you.

 

I understand you guys are only here to moderate the forums, and occasionally be the middle men between members and IB. And Marcus, I understand you guys are really only mods to help the community but can only do so much. I understand that the worst job to have is one where you have a responsibility without the proper authority to do something about it. But I was referring to IB prohibiting certain vendors, not the staff.

At least temporarily prohibiting them from being a vendor here until the current issues have been properly resolved. And I do mean properly as in the issue has been truly resolved, and the staff has followed up with the dissatisfied members to be sure the vendor isn't just saying they've resolved the issue. If there are so many complaints about a vendor without an abundance of good feedback from forum members here, I would think it's safe to assume that there is something wrong with this vendor.

IMO, this is a business, IB is using these forums as a marketing device to get vendors to pay them to advertise to the forum's members. Even if they are not making money from it (which I doubt), the money is still used for maintenance, right? I would think that keeping the respectable and trustworthy image should be a priority to them.

Either way, this isn't my dispute, I haven't been scammed by these guys. I just know that I can't refer people to this forum when they are looking for parts anymore, at least not until there are no more shady vendors here.

 

I like the idea you got going there....would be very beneficial to this whole process

 

Why can't they be banned even on a temporary basis, if not permanently?
Vendors get special privledges?

I get what you guys are saying, but vendor or not, these are still 'members' of this site, and as such must obide to the rules of the site.

People get banned for far less, but because they're vendors they don't get anything? Even if you neglect the fact that they're ripping people off. Slandering the site/other vendors is an offense to any member, regardless of their status.

 

^Very good point and something we'll discuss as a Staff with IB. It's something that has irritated me, particularly when dealing with vendors who were out of control on the forum. Ultimately though IB handles the vendor accounts though so they may be the ones that have to enforce those kinds of things with vendors.