Your BEST vendor story.

[mick53]

We hear a lot about underperforming vendors on the forums and I appreciate the heads up on them. We seldom hear the good vendor stories. I thought there might be some interest in hearing some of those. Here's one of my best. Sorry it might be kind of long. My story is about Moser Engineering. I acquired a Frankland Quick Change QC-80 rear end from a retired racer I pitted for when I was in my 30's. It was spooled. At the same time I had just taken a 9 month project as a site superintendent building a dry ice manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania that just happen to be about an hour from the Frankland manufacturing plant. I took the rear end to them and told them the case had sentimental value to me and ask them to build it up for my needs. No rush I was going to be there for a while. They were awesome (thanks Fred). They did a great job and installed a Gleason Torson diff and provided me with a new spool and a couple of extra lower input shafts. The lower input shaft is designed to break first and is easily changed. They don't normally do axle flanges but I convinced them to do it. At the same time I had Wilwood designing a custom brake setup for me (thanks Erik). They worked with Wilwood to get my wheel mounting surfaces the right width. They would not do the axles and sent me to Strange Engineering. I'm not putting Strange down here by any means but they would not deal with me at all unless I filled out a detailed sheet with all my existing axle dimensions. I didn't have any existing axles and could only provide them with length, spline count, and HP. That wasn't good enough for them. This went on for a couple of months and I was back home in northern Indiana now with my rear end and rear brake kit. I was still working with Wilwood, Superbell, and Pete and Jakes on the front brakes and axle and told Wilwood Erik my delima. He suggested I try Moser. It turns out they are only 90 minutes from my house down US30. l called them up and told them my problem. They said bring your rear end and brakes and be here by 8:00 am and we will have you done by 3:30 pm same day. That's how they roll. I made an appointment for the next day. It was an unusually warm winter day so I loaded up the rear end and brakes in my F250SD 4WD. I tarped it well because the was a chance of rain that night and I wanted to leave at 6:00 am easily getting there by 8:00 am. I was a happy man. When I got up the next morning we had a severe ice storm followed by a few inches of snow. They had declared a snow emergency. In Indiana that means you are not allowed on the roads unless it's an emergency and it is enforced. So I did the right thing and decided to sneak down the back roads all the way there. I barely got there just before 11:00 am. 3 hours late but at least it was there. I backed my truck into their shop and we chipped the rear end from under the tarp. They immediately noticed the flanges were welded on backwards. They said the tubes needed to be cut to remove the flanges. Then extensions welded on with new flanges. I was devastated to say the least. I begged them to not make me take it home. I told them to do whatever they needed to do or send it wherever they needed to send it and charge me whatever they wanted. I think my original quote was $650. They said if I could wait for an hour or so in their awesome lounge they would come up with a plan. About 45 minutes later they came out and said if I was willing to wait they would still have me done by 3:30 pm. What a roller coaster of emotions. About 3:00 pm they came out and asked me if I wanted to mock up the brakes with them so I knew how they went on. I went out to their shop and he did one side while I did the other. They had to drill out the stud holes in my rotors for my oversized lug studs. By 3:45 pm it was back in my truck fully assembled. I went to pay the bill and it was $685. They only charged me $35 for the super nice flanges and nothing else. The mounting surface width was perfect. I tried to give them a generous tip and they refused it. The roads had melted off by then. That's my story what's yours? Thank you for your time