AutoGeek Rant - Questionable Business Ethics

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Dave - it's a business. I never trusted them after Detail Fest 08 (major photoshop on their show cars) and it looks like their overall business ethics caught up with them. I've bought pretty much everything in the last year from DI or CMA anyways, and I've been 100% satisfied.
 
Scottwax said:
To be fair, that's good marketing. Sort of like the cashier at McDonalds asking "do you want fries with that", or me upselling polishing and waxing to wash customers.
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Well, yes and no. They're using an MF towel to market their preferred choice of wax... The inferrance is that Pinnacle makes a better (or the best, depending how you infer) because it doesn't dust. The average consumer who doesn't know a lot about wax will go "oh hey I should buy that stuff too". My issue is not that they're trying to upsell wax in general, but rather that they're making that inferrance that Pinnacle makes the best, better than any other. I'm sure most of us here will have different opinions on what "the best" wax is. If anything, I say it's bordering on false advertising, as it doesn't clearly state that it is solely AG's opinion that Pinnacle is the way to go.



It's like taking your car to the oil / lube shop and them saying "oh yeah Mobil 1 makes the best synthetic, you'd be stupid to buy anything else", when Castrol or Redline or Quaker State might make a perfectly fine oil. Mobil might be THEIR personal preference, for whatever reason, but I hate it when companies think they can push the product they want to and do so by telling people "it's the best".
 
Wow, unreal.



They will never get another dime out of me. I cannot believe Mike would ignore you like that though.



Could never stand AG either. Seems there board is filled with a bunch of members who post a bunch of off topic garbage. A lot of shills over there as well and a lot of bashing of products they do not carry.



If I were you i would try and give them another call. You did not do aything wrong, I kept an eye on that htread closely.
 
Shutter said:
Wow, unreal.



They will never get another dime out of me. I cannot believe Mike would ignore you like that though.



Could never stand AG either. Seems there board is filled with a bunch of members who post a bunch of off topic garbage. A lot of shills over there as well and a lot of bashing of products they do not carry.



If I were you i would try and give them another call. You did not do aything wrong, I kept an eye on that htread closely.
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It is VERY possible that he is being instructed to do so, whether he likes it or not. Mike is a great guy and he has done a LOT for AG and MOL! ;)



Sorry to hear about this David. :(
 
Wow, after reading a thread like this and seeing all the negative comments from top pros about them, I am very surprised that they are in business. I never knew this many people disliked them.



I hope they realize that this thread is on googles top search engine and when you type autogeek this thread comes up. You would think they would resolve this issue fast and learn from thier mistakes.



I wish you the best of luck David, and sorry to hear you were treated like this.
 
A regrettable situation, for sure.



David, what could they do now that would make you happy?

I have a feeling that no matter what, they have lost some business from several members, even if they do somehow make ammends.
 
BobD said:
Another thing they did was they used the keyword "danase" in their yahoo advertising. You'd type in "danase" and they'd pop up. I had to contact yahoo and get it stopped, and yahoo pulled it within 24 hours. I should of contacted a lawyer.
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Holy WOW Bob!!!!! That is what they call sly marketing.
 
I'll say this, I buy from autogeek because I get good service from Matt and Jason and Megan. heck I even got a birthday present from them...But, I feel this situation has to be handled with care, its a sad event that happened.



I buy from Detailed Image, and from Autogeek. I wouldn't change the way I do business and who I buy from over something that happens to someone else. I am sorry this happened but it wont change who I buy from. However I will say this, if this sort of thing happened to me (read: if I was David Fermani), They'd be hard pressed to get my business again.



I know how they could get my business back though... (wholesale account with no minimum order amount!)



David I am sorry this happened to you, and I hope this gets resolved with all parties involved to yours and their satisfaction. Best wishes :2thumbs:
 
Thats unfortunate Dave, especially about Mike P ignoring you and how you went out of your way to help him with his truck. To be honest I have been very satisfied with their service in the past but will no longer do business with them, not that I have even purchased anything from them recently. Never been a fan of their forum, and I always had sensed that their attitude was "my way or the highway." I see this as the beginning of a huge backlash on AG & their forum
 
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WAS said:
Well, yes and no. They're using an MF towel to market their preferred choice of wax... The inferrance is that Pinnacle makes a better (or the best, depending how you infer) because it doesn't dust. The average consumer who doesn't know a lot about wax will go "oh hey I should buy that stuff too". My issue is not that they're trying to upsell wax in general, but rather that they're making that inferrance that Pinnacle makes the best, better than any other. I'm sure most of us here will have different opinions on what "the best" wax is. If anything, I say it's bordering on false advertising, as it doesn't clearly state that it is solely AG's opinion that Pinnacle is the way to go.
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I still don't see anything wrong in that, it isn't like they are forcing you to buy anything but are mentioning another of their products because in the end, they want you to spend money with them. Odds are the vast majority of people who buy Pinnacle are pretty happy with the purchase. I don't see how it is false advertising at all because it is a good wax and it doesn't dust.
 
I just started reading this thread about 10-15 minutes ago, and clicked on the link to the AG thread and was able to see it. I just tried it again and it seems that it's either been completely deleted or locked/restricted from viewing. Rather shady, if you ask me.
 
I have been trying to steer people AWAY from Autogeek as long as possible. Great to see that I'm not the only one that refuses to ever buy from them again. There are too many TOP NOTCH vendors out there for ANYONE one to buy from AG and their crew.



Their shady and unethical tactics are finally coming to light. It's about time.
 
Scottwax said:
I still don't see anything wrong in that, it isn't like they are forcing you to buy anything but are mentioning another of their products because in the end, they want you to spend money with them. Odds are the vast majority of people who buy Pinnacle are pretty happy with the purchase. I don't see how it is false advertising at all because it is a good wax and it doesn't dust.
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I dunno, it's just a personal pet peeve of mine when companies do that. What if I told your customer that the BEST wax out there is Meguiar's, not sure why Scott used "enter Scott's preference in here", but it's pretty wrong. Then the customer comes to you asking why you didn't use the best wax for his car, like this pro company told him you should have.



I'm actually doing a crap job explaining this, lol, but maybe you get the idea ? I dunno, just irritates me. When a customer asks me what the best wax is they should use, or what interior cleaner they should use to keep their vinyl clean, I give them several options, and I make very clear that it's my "personal opinion", and that there are a lot of good products out there. Never in a million years would I recommend on single product simply to advance myself (hell I'm pretty sure I could sell my vinyl dressing for twice as much as I paid for it when customers ask me about it).
 
WOW... interesting..



I've been buying mainly from AG the passed 12 months... looks like they may be losing another customer out of this fiasco. I don't really give a crap about the core issue of if it's a true Menzerna product or not (time will simply tell if its good or not) .. it's about how they treat their customer for asking a question and subsequently "avoiding" them.. black balling David for no apparent reason and then putting a gag order on Mike..



I get it.. I just don't need to support it. :bolt



I guess Eshine, DI, ADS etc and others are sure to win out as a result of this stupid position by AG... Bet they are all doing their happy dance now :bounce



It always amazes when well established companies get such a huge chip on their shoulders that they forget what got them there in the first place was customer service... :wall
 
I'm one of those newbies who ordered everything from AG; 5 orders over the past month. From reading on their forum, I was fat, dumb, and happy with my choice of buying from them. I get stuff in 2 days from them which is one of the reasons I really didn't look anywhere else until I stumbled onto this forum. Since, I have ordered from ADS and Proper Auto Care. All this being said, I'll wait until this is issue is resolved BY Autogeek before I will order from them again. This is kinda like Toyota still denying they have a problem with electronics.
 
2010V8Colorado said:
I'm one of those newbies who ordered everything from AG; 5 orders over the past month. From reading on their forum, I was fat, dumb, and happy with my choice of buying from them. I get stuff in 2 days from them which is one of the reasons I really didn't look anywhere else until I stumbled onto this forum. Since, I have ordered from ADS and Proper Auto Care. All this being said, I'll wait until this is issue is resolved BY Autogeek before I will order from them again. This is kinda like Toyota still denying they have a problem with electronics.
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Does not seem like it will be resolved.
 
What a bunch of xxx wacks sorry for your trouble David. I won't be ordering from them either and I will cancel my subscription to.
 
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