No Phone Contacts for AutoGeek and Autopia Store Customer Service; ONLY E-mails

[Lonnie]

Palm Beach Motoring Group is REALLY starting to upset me.
I tried to find a phone number under Contact Us at the bottom of the front page (Home) on the Autopia Forum website: FILE NOT FOUND
OK, try the Autopia Store : NO PHONE NUMBER listed; Contact Us only has e-mail form to file out
OK, try AutoGeek website Contact US has phone number. Dial and call 772-286-2701l. Recorded message states "Leave Message" or fill out e-mail form.
WHAT, no live person or operator to talk to anymore???

My intent was to inform them of the slowdown of response times with the Autopia Forum, something that has been plaguing this forum for a few days.
So the ONLY way to inform is to fill out their form and email it.

I understand that this is PROBABLY the easiest and least-expensive way to handle customer complaints and requests FOR THEM.
It is NOT for me. I would much rather talk to a live person and get an immediate verbal exchange with a customer rep/person to my product questions, website concerns, or order placement or with returns, and shipping & delivery problems I may have encountered rather than having to type (or Talk-a-Tap) back-and-forth with a conversion.

This lack of "personal service" speaks volumes on the viability of business and its attention to customer service. A customer is a real person, not a machine or robot. Heck, even on the e-mail form you have to go through the "I am-not-a-Robot" verification tab!!!

But maybe this is what business and customer service is coming to for E-businesses. Doesn`t mean I like it and if I need to go to their competition that have LIVE people/persons I can talk to with my customer concerns, I may choose to do business with them instead.

Yes, I sound like ventriloquist Jeff Dunham`s dummy old-man Walter and P-&-M about trivial stuff like this!

[Setec Astronomy]

My guess is that they have turned over the operation of the stores to the fulfillment house, which is why there is no longer a contact phone number. There is an address at the Pinnacle website that comes back to this company: Capture :: Data Collection, Analysis and Research Solutions . I would imagine that is a company that has done business with PBMG in the past and may have some current business, plus they have a Stuart FL address.

I would presume anything to do with the forums is now handled at Capture or at the owner of PBMG, Vision Investments: VISION INVESTMENTS LLC Indianapolis IN, 46222 - Company Profile

[Bill D]

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for them

[Setec Astronomy]

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for them

Man, you doom and gloomers. Look, they invested in PBMG at least in part to promote the Sonax line, which they import. Things have changed in the 8 years since the acquisition, so they have restructured to make the best use of their investment. They have store websites for Autogeek and Autopia Car Care, as well as for the trademarks they purchased (Pinnacle, etc.). They now have no employee or facility overheads associated with that, and can extract whatever profitability there is out of their investment with minimal effort, minus the fees from the fulfillment house and whatever goes on at Capture (if anything).

As I have said before, I don`t think the business is in jeopardy, but I can see if the forums become a nuisance for some reason, they may be. Maybe Bob/Max will buy the whole thing back, he pretty much has it all back in place other than the name.

[Bill D]

Bob would be a wonder for the forum!

[Lonnie]

I do not know about the business status of PBMG or its affiliates, the Autopia Store and Auto Geek.
All I know is I have problem with the response time of this forum and trying to report it and how to do that is a "problem" for me, hence this forum topic.
As I have lamented before in other thread topics, you would think SOMEONE (AKA, a live person) from PBMG is monitoring this forum, but it is self-evident that is not happening.
Yes, I am thankful that we still HAVE an open forum, even if it is slow, or a detailing forum of ANY kind! I just better be careful about biting the hand that feeds you.
My father had a corollary to the proverb, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"; His was "And if it squeaks too loudly, sometimes the squeaky wheel gets REPLACED!"

Along those lines, maybe I should listen to (and practice!) Abraham Lincoln`s admonition, "It is better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt!"
(from the proverbial, and we do mean "proverbial", Captain Obvious)

[Setec Astronomy]

Oddly enough Lonnie, the Sonax USA website contact page also has no phone number and looks a lot like the Autogeek one, but they do have a phone number at the bottom of the main page: Sonax USA Car Care Products You may have more luck getting someone to answer the phone there. Interestingly that phone number also comes back to "Blackfire Pro Concentrate" website, which of course says Sonax USA at the bottom. There doesn`t seem to be a separate Blackfire website for the products sold at Autopia/Autogeek, while there are still Pinnacle and Wolfgang and maybe some others.

[Bill D]

You don’t necessarily have to be too loud of a squeaky wheel but you may indeed get the grease eventually if you stay consistent. This approach works for me in other areas of life.

[Lonnie]

You don’t necessarily have to be too loud of a squeaky wheel but you may indeed get the grease eventually if you stay consistent. This approach works for me in other areas of life.

Bill, you are fortunate to have never heard me audibly and in-person. Yes, I have a very loud voice and I use it. And yes, I can indeed shout over anyone; Don`t even try! As my other half said, "It`s a good thing we never had kids; they would all be deaf by the time they were four."
And yes, the way I type within this forum and the way I talk, should it be any "surprise" that Captain Obvious has a big mouth.. I mean voice.

Discretion about when to keep silent and when to speak up was never a "common sense" part of my verbal communication. If I had/have an opinion about anything, I would let the WHOLE world know about it. Like the above admonition from Abraham Lincoln about fools and opening one`s mouth, my other half has made this "unique" observation and assessment about me: "Lonnie, you are the ONLY person I know who has a mouth big enough to stick BOTH of your feet in at the same time!" `Nough said.....literally!!!

[Bill D]

Just stay consistent and you may just get what you want is all I’m saying.

[Dan]

It`s where the industry is going. You can thank high wages and idiots that waste supports time. Believe it or not, at work we`ve gone digital only for our internal help desk. No more calls only chat or a form. People freaked out about it, and then it all settled down and it`s BAU minus the long calls.

[Lonnie]

Dan:
I has to look up BAU and it means "business-as-usual". I guess I am too old-school (and business) and I will bemoan the self-evident FACT that people no long wish to speak face-to-face or even deal with "other" people. If this is BAU, as you call it, is it any wonder WHY we have a society of "individuals" and not "people" and the self-centeredness of that individualism and the-whole-world-revolves-around-ME attitude and if you are not like me, well then you are a lesser person. How many employees are laid off or terminated through a company E-mail or a text message and not done in a face-to-face meeting with their boss or supervisor or even as a large group. BAU? Bad-And-Unacceptable is more like it!
Business efficiency and maximizing profits is one thing: but they still are run BY people catering TO people who PAY for those goods and services. But as you have stated, this is the reality of BAU today, like it or not.
And yes, I DO sound like Jeff Dunhams`s dummy Walter!

Then again maybe it is the fact than I do not know how to use today`s most-recent computer or smartphone features and software (AKA, technology) nor can I type & text in an efficient manner like all those people who are Gen Z`ers and Gen Y`ers who are running these businesses and are the customers of them where the two previously mentions skillsets are second-nature and matter-of-fact (BAU) to them!!!

[Dan]

I agree Lonnie, it stinks for customer service but the consumer industry is in a race to the bottom. I`m afraid it would take a miracle for people to let go of greed (quantity) and favor quality. I do think it will get better with speaking AI, at least from a service standpoint.

[Lonnie]

I agree Lonnie, it stinks for customer service but the consumer industry is in a race to the bottom. I`m afraid it would take a miracle for people to let go of greed (quantity) and favor quality. I do think it will get better with speaking AI, at least from a service standpoint.

Technology replacing people; welcome to the 21-st century.

(Retracted statement about AI and the election by me because it has nothing to do with detailing and though intended as a humorous anecdote (AKA, joke), it could be taken out of context by some. If you read it before this retraction, don`t associate me with it or quote it. Somehow I feel like a politician trying to undo what I said...... Hey, you remember I said in my Post #9 above that I have the innate ability to stick BOTH feet in my mouth at the same time.......Again, quit laughing!!!)