I'm NO LONGER a Jack Williams fan....
 

Not sure if anybody here knows this franchise. I always had good dealings with them for tires, especially when I was doing home visits with patients and really going through a lot of miles.
They have a store near me that does all the usual mods, with a decent reputation. They quoted me a much higher price for a PA body lift, shocks, etc., than what I found online. They also quoted me how much to put all that on.
Okay, so I buy the PA online, and the Bilsteins online, decent prices. I call Jack Williams today, ask for the quote to put these mods on since they're coming in the mail soon.
The tech tells me that they can't put anything on that they didn't bring in themselves, due to liability! WTF?! I said, listen, they're new in package, unopened, with receipts directly shipped to me. They're in the same condition and packaging that they would be if they came to your store. You're not doing this because of liability, it's to make a big profit on the parts as well as service. If I have the same thing you are going to get, where's the liability?
He couldn't answer that, just kinda let it slide on by....
That's sad. My wife, parents, and myself went to them all the time for tires and basic work. No more. Ya gotta vote with your wallet. My hospital gives a discount for a competitor, Kost, and I'll be taking advantage of that as soon as I go for my 30s or 31s...
At least be honest and tell your customers, sorry, we want more profit from the parts, so we're gonna only put in things that we can bring in at a higher price. The kicker is, I already have two other shops (first two I called) that have no problem with doing the install, and are happy to help out...and I did tell them everything's new in box...no problem!

I can see where they are coming from but I can also not understand why they want to make a couple hundred of dollars off ya. But alot of companys go by those same guidelines

i would have charged you more labor...

Quest- well, you wouldn't get the job then. Wow, is that what MECP Certified means?
I'm not stupid enough to not get some quotes from the shops near me....and I would do the same with you. I was only surprised that this place wanted so much for something that I could easily find out the price for on the internet. That's just too easy to figure out nowadays.
If somebody wants to cheat me for labor costs, that's gonna bite them in the ass. There's more than one shop around, like I said, and although I'm not going to try and get the cheapest deal around, I along with everybody else, don't want to be taken for a ride on labor or parts....

Its all business if I owned a shop I would want you to buy the stuff from me too. Unless it was slow as hell. The world revolves around $$$$

I remember when I bought a Flowmaster muffler for my old white truck...I bought it for half the price the muffler shop wanted to sell me one for. I took it to the muffler guy after I bought it and he was NOT happy that I didn't buy it from him. But he put it on anyway, thankfully.

thats cool i would just charge the next guy. maybe you should install it yourself. now thats a novel idea.
maybe you could get on a forum that could help you. that would be a novel idea.

If it was my shop I would have installed it for you no matter where you bought it from. I would have installed it with the same labor charge as if you would've bought it from me. Its customer service like that that will keep shops in business. Its better to make a little profit than to make none at all.

Sears Automotive is the same way. Never shop at sear's automotive. I USED to work there. They now have "guaranteed lowest prices and will beat any competitor 10% if you find a lower/same price" but their labor makes up for the difference!!! They will not install any parts unless they themself go and get it from a certain parts shop. Even if the customer goes and buys the correct part from that SAME parts shop, they still won't install it.

Ok. Well I understand where your coming from. It's kind of crappy that they don't put on parts they don't buy. To me, that just seems like a bad policy because most places I've dealt with make most of their money simply off labor anyway.

But you going off on the Tech is somewhat uncalled for. Just because he's a Tech at the place, that doesn't mean he makes or understands company policies. He is simply following something the company has passed down as not to get himself canned. To me, you are at fault there.

Thanks Ryan, good to know there's some decent guys out there in the business.
Quest, I feel sad for you. I imagine you don't have any mirrors in your house cause I don't see how you can look at yourself with that attitude.
Apparently you think I'm not very bright since I can't put the BL on myself (I have only minimal parking at my house. Most days and eves and nights find me in one of two hospitals working on traumas, codes, putting together ventilators and such- yeah, you called it right, I'm not very BL-smart, so I'm worth being looked down on by rip-off techs like you. You just jumped right in this post throwing bragging rights out about over-charging your customers...yep, you're a good guy)....sorry, man, but that makes you wrong and you know it...and you're proud of it.
Hey, ya wanna see how smart these guys are- they can't even do the basic simple math. Here's a breakdown: my father's getting 4 new tires for his Crown Vic (yeah, he's an old guy...); my wife's always gone to Jack Williams (she only goes cause I go there); my brother will be going there right after winter's over. I just told that same Jack Williams I was looking at 31s (five of them). So, they would make an extra 90.00 for the BL, extra 15-20 for the shocks, for a total of about 170.00.
My 31 BFGs, five of them, would be around 700 or 750 mounted. They just lost that entire sale, along with my wife and father's business. Three customers right off the bat, just to make that extra 170 now.
Yep, that's what passes as business sense to some guys nowadays...

welcome to retail...i am in corporate again, but i get a fat discount