Paid for my new 6 inch silencer and got a cheque to them early last week which was cashed etc in no time. Called MK and they said I should have the can for the weekend. Brill I thought - but didnt hold my breath.

Rung today to see what was happening as no delivery to find out it should be shipped tomorrow!

WTF? This type of thing really annoys me. Why say I will have it for the weekend. It really bugs me when people set expectations and can never deliver on them. To be told the item was in stock and available to dispatch makes it worse, I would understand if it was made to order etc.

Is this usual of MK or am I the unlucky one.

Lucky for me the weather is terrible and i have no track time booked, but if it was summer time and I booked a late notice track spot for say a weeks time, I would be really let down!

mini rant over lol

to be honest, i had the same problem with a few things for my first kit, i hope theyve sorted it this time, cause i was getting fairly peed off...
its a bit of a shame, cause theyve got an awesome product!

No your not the only one.

I ordered some small parts for my Indy in early december (3rd to be exact). The cheque was cashed on the 10th and I still hadn't recieved them on the 18th so I called them up and they told me that they were shipped on the previous day. I had the following 2 weeks off so was happy that I'd probably have them before xmas and be able to fit them on my holiday.

Still hadn't recieved them at the new year so on the friday 2nd I called them and I was told 'we're not open today, I'm just working on my car. Call back on monday.' So I called back monday to be told that they hadn't been posted yet and will ship them this afternoon.

Eventually I recieved my items over a month later on the 7th of Jan.

MK's customer service sucks ass and I won't be placing any more orders with them unless I absolutly have to.

I feel that I must add though, that even though they can't work out how to reply to an email or post parts....

... They all seem to be nice blokes.

I've had similar. Ordered a fuel tank. Was told the end of the week. Then told the the next week it was ready and going that day. Told end of that week they couldn't ge t the hose to connect to fuel cap and were waiting for that. I don't mind the delays just being told its going out that day when it wasn't is a tad annoying. OK it wasn't thier fault that their supplier went under, but poor communications with customers after doesn't do them any good.

In the end I just went over there and picked it up. They found an old 90 degree hose and gave me it as a freebie which made up for the hassle quite a bit.

To be fair though, its pretty much common place with this industry being lots of small companies dealing with near hobbiests.

Yeah I ordered the manifold from them a while back and was given a time frame. I can't remember it as it was well and truly reached and breached. They said that they had another fella making them and he had a back log (passed the buck). I finished by ringing every few days in the end.
I've had parts from GTS, Luego and MK on my build. GTS were outstandingly bad and MK and Luego were both about equally bad. Apart from Luego were a lot ruder!

Edited to add I've also had parts from MNR which had excellent customer service and the Luego ownership before this one had great service too.

[Edited on 13/1/09 by mistergrumpy]

i think its terrible that even during there difficult economic times customer service does not improve. I was going to place order with mk at a show event last year but there service to me was so terrible i took my money else where. Shame on any company that supplies a bad service. There is simply no excuse.

quote:

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Originally posted by mistergrumpy
Yeah I ordered the manifold from them a while back and was given a time frame. I can't remember it as it was well and truly reached and breached. They said that they had another fella making them and he had a back log (passed the buck).
[Edited on 13/1/09 by mistergrumpy]

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Nah it wasn't. MK Engineering told me that they don't make manifolds, which I later found out to be untrue. I was told the manifold was made by some other fella, I can't remember who he was though.

I experienced various similar problems, and not only poor service but quality being a bit off (currently having the worst time of it trying to get my exhaust to bolt onto the car securely - nothing too major, but it's the sort of thing that;s holding my SVA application up as I don't know if I'll end up sending the car off to an engineering firm to fettle it properly)

In fairness though, I've had a similar experience with Mac#1 and have heard far worse tales about other companies.

The guys who run these places are really friendly and generally know what they;re doing, but the customer serice side of things is always somewhat lacking.

On the other hand, I've used Caterham parts a lot and made a lot of kit enquiries over the last few years and the level of service is second to none, but the friendliness just isn;t there at all. Wesfield have been the best compromise so far for quality parts and having a bit of a personality when you speak to them.

Stevie. Does your exhaust have different length branches by any chance? Meaning that one or two'll go on tightly and the others are bolted under extreme duress? That's what mine's like.

Never had any parts from any of them but have to say that I bet the guys who usually turn up to defend GTS are PI**ing their pant with laughter now
Swings and roundabouts
Swings and roundabouts.

surely if the exhausts are too big you can just cut down the longer ones? or am i missing somehting?

I couldn't cut the ends down as they had a flange welded/brazed on and it means I'd have to have these re done. Easier to just nail it in agony and let the heat cure it

My length is fine ( ), it's the single offset tab that the exhasut is to be mounted by thats the problem.

Basically, if I tighten all the exhaust clamps fully, and mount the silencer to the car, a bit of pressure on the tailpipe can roate the whole system. I think the problem is hat the joint between the downpipe and the intermediate pipe is a bit, well, $hit.

To resolve, I'm having to get a different bracket welded onto the silencer to hold it both side (so it can't twist so easily) and will have to use gun gum or similar to get a decent se on the joints (though a frind has uggested a bit of copperslip has never failed him and is easier to get off).

Basically, for what I paid for the exhaust system, I feel I'm doing an awul lot of work to make it work. If I end up having to go to a specialist fabricator to get it fettled properly for a quality resul, it's going to set me back £35 and hour plus materials and VAT. Nice.

i fully understand what most of you are saying , but you must remember the whole kit car industry is a cottage industry one up from a man in a shed .most of the parts eg tanks exhausts etc are made by another man in a shed get my drift .so if man 2 is ill man number 1 promise to his customer fails. ive built 3 kit cars now and soon to start no 4 but not till i have all the parts. i have over the years dealt with a large section of the industry and supplies and its all the same. the morrell of this storey is plan as far ahead as possible !

I think the main problem is the cottage industry roots couples with the modern sportscar business prices.

I don't care what the industry is based on or where it's come from - when I pay good money I demand good products and services.

Hi

"the morrell of this storey is plan as far ahead as possible !"

The morel of this story is surely deal with a company that actualy knows what it is doing in the first place and provides quality products.

Cheers Matt

[Edited on 15/1/09 by procomp]

i think that the problems that people have had with MK and delivery times is that they have no office bod, in that i mean every time ive been to see them someone will answer the phone with a welder in one hand and a rivet gun in the other and say yes my friend, no problem we'll get that item straight out to you, hang up the phone and carry on welding and building cars, so no one seems to have the job of dealing with general stuff ,
but saying all that doesnt mean there not a bunch a nice guys