Mark's Model A Service...Still in business?????
- Thread starter bcronk
- Start date
So I too have a problem with Mark. I took a 28-29 Steering colume to Mark over a year ago. He told me he would order the parts right away and get it rebuilt and I could pick it up shortly. So now after a year I bet I have called him 25 times, Been to his house 3 times (600 mile round trip from where I live) 1800 miles now. Sent him several emails and have heard nothing at all, was there last week with no one around other than the sherriff who showed up looking for him also. My truck is ready other than the steering colume. Needless to say I am getting Very Pissed!!! Can't believe this guy can't return a phone call or email. Guess I will go to the next resort.
Flathead
Well-known member
Synchro909
Well-known member
A sad comment on the demographics of our movement. The big problem is they are not making many of the new ones interested.
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
I have been in this Model-A hobby for over 60 years now with about 56 of them being in and around a Model-A club. There is just as many "new ones" as there has always been from my vantage point. It has always been a hobby where someone middle-age or older buys a Model-A and becomes a hobbyist until (s)he ages-out and then they sell it to a younger middle-age or older hobbyist. When that Model-A owner reaches a certain age, they age-out and sell their beloved Model-A where the process starts all over yet again. I've seen it over and over for decades. In all those years, there always seems to be someone that wants to buy an old Model-A.
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
Again, if history keeps proving itself over and over, I don't believe what you are thinking is true. As I stated above, I have seen the trends first-hand for over 50 years, and the "high tech" technology is not something new to hobbyists. How many 60+ y.o. Model-A hobbyists today have seen "high tech" evolve ...and how many have embraced it while still desiring to be involved in restoring/maintaining Model-As?? Think about it for a sec. For us that were born 1970 and before, we have seen "high tech" things come along like microwave cooking, wireless telephones, smart phones, computers, web forums instead of books, Google research, engines with fuel injection instead of carburetors, electronic ignitions instead of points on our vehicles, Bluetooth apps controlling our lifestyle, etc., etc. ....yet many of these same people still like the simplicity of the Model-A/T enough that they own one. So, when you truly look around at who is participating on social media sites and YouTube asking questions about Model-As and Model-Ts, the demographics of hobbyists today look very similar to what I have seen in decades past. 'High tech' advances has not been a deterrent for people wanting to own a Model-A.
The only real thing that I see different now is many hobbyists no longer choose to do the work on their vehicles themselves. They tend to look for the easier way out and many have the funds to hire that work done instead of spending late nights in their garage doing that work. Also, it used to be that 40+ years ago hobbyists attended swap meets to find spare original parts to restore/rebuild/refurbish each part themselves. Today's hobbyist tends to look for the easier way out for themselves and just purchase a reproduction component to replace the worn original component. Maybe liken this trend to a house. Going back 100+ years ago, a man built his own house that he would live in to raise his family. Today that family man chooses to have a home builder do the work for him. Both family men still desire to own their home, just a different mindset on how they want to get it built.
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Brent,
I know what you mean. I am 70 years old , Got my first Model A when I was 14 and have owned at least 30 Model A's over the years plus many other brands including 1910 T, 11 T, 13 T, 22T, Guessing 6-7 Flathead V-8s, Corvettes, GTOs, 2-442s and many others. And at 70 I still work fulltime as a Independent Rep for 15 Farm Equipment Manufactures. As I write this I am 150 miles North of Toronto. I live in Montana. Since the first of September I have been to Orlando, Charleston, California and Kansas. I have done everything on this pickup myself and Mark is the only person that I have ask to do anything on this truck. If I did business this way I wouldn't have any customers. I just expect when someone tells me they are going to do something then I expect them to do it! To me there is no reason that Mark can't pickup the phone and make a 2 minute phone call and let me know whats going on. If I am wrong then so be it. I did talk to one of his fellow club members 2 weeks ago who said Mark was at their club meeting last month and looked fine to them. I just don't get it!
,
I know what you mean. I am 70 years old , Got my first Model A when I was 14 and have owned at least 30 Model A's over the years plus many other brands including 1910 T, 11 T, 13 T, 22T, Guessing 6-7 Flathead V-8s, Corvettes, GTOs, 2-442s and many others. And at 70 I still work fulltime as a Independent Rep for 15 Farm Equipment Manufactures. As I write this I am 150 miles North of Toronto. I live in Montana. Since the first of September I have been to Orlando, Charleston, California and Kansas. I have done everything on this pickup myself and Mark is the only person that I have ask to do anything on this truck. If I did business this way I wouldn't have any customers. I just expect when someone tells me they are going to do something then I expect them to do it! To me there is no reason that Mark can't pickup the phone and make a 2 minute phone call and let me know whats going on. If I am wrong then so be it. I did talk to one of his fellow club members 2 weeks ago who said Mark was at their club meeting last month and looked fine to them. I just don't get it!
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This is my point, the hobbyists are going away. We now have automobile purchasers that want a Model A
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
Brent,
You don't need to apologize to me. You didn't hurt my feelings. I'am just saying customer service sucks these days. I will bet You take care of Your customers like they should be taken care of as do I take care of mine. Just don't understand why a guy won't call me back, Text me back, Or email me back. I'am a real understanding guy. (My wife says to understanding) If the guy has a problem, JUST TELL ME! My dad taught me 50 years ago to always be up front, NEVER LIE to a customer. Being truthful to people and being up front has always paid off for me. I am now in the Toronto airport waiting to fly to Salt Lake and then back to Montana returning emails and phone calls taking care of my customers.
You don't need to apologize to me. You didn't hurt my feelings. I'am just saying customer service sucks these days. I will bet You take care of Your customers like they should be taken care of as do I take care of mine. Just don't understand why a guy won't call me back, Text me back, Or email me back. I'am a real understanding guy. (My wife says to understanding) If the guy has a problem, JUST TELL ME! My dad taught me 50 years ago to always be up front, NEVER LIE to a customer. Being truthful to people and being up front has always paid off for me. I am now in the Toronto airport waiting to fly to Salt Lake and then back to Montana returning emails and phone calls taking care of my customers.
alexiskai
Well-known member
Seems to me like the willingness to trawl swap meets has a lot to do with the cost/reward ratio involved. There was a wave of guys in the '70s and '80s driving around the country collecting parts, socking them away in leaky garages, attics, warehouses. Every month I see an ad for somebody with a lifetime collection of original parts, mostly rusted out, trying to sell it all at one price. Have they been at the swap meets all along, vainly trying to pass on those precious original parts, or did they just take them off the market decades ago?
rotorwrench
Well-known member
After a person clears 40+ years of career and family raising, we find that we may have more bumps in the road of good health. If a person has a heart or other bodily malfunction then that tends to rearrange our priorities. If Mark had a significant malfunction then it would explain his business slow down. If he's a one man shop then there will be a customer relation problem but what can a person do? The only recourse is to visit the man in person and either recover your property or take the chance this fellow may have more health problems ahead. No one can for complete certainty say that they won't up and keel over tomorrow. Every day above the dirt is a good one but it may not always be a productive one.
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
The reality is ...I DO NOT take care of customers like I should because I do not have time to do it. It was never like this before the pandemic but it is not getting any better. Just so you know, my workday started here at the shop at 6:30 this AM, and it is almost 7:30PM my time and I am just now going to go eat my lunch, -and dinner, then home to clean-up and do it all over again tomorrow. There are 13 messages on the answering machine with no telling which are telemarketers, which are customers, and others asking questions. I am exhausted and do not feel like screening calls right now. It goes like this for me 6 and sometimes 7 days a week. As far as lying, ...intentions are always pure however when I tell a customer "I don't know." that is not good enough when they have heard that for the last few calls. People are downright rude too. It makes us not even want to return a call. In my situation, we are overbooked, understaffed, continually struggling to get supplies, parts, parts for machines, and delivery of goods. I am just about to the end and am ready to throw in the towel. The ironic thing is, two collision shops that I am friends with the owners are in the same boat and have said they are about ready to call it quits. They cannot get parts or materials for customer's cars. The insurance company stops paying for rental cars before the parts are in to repair the wreck. They also are struggling to find employees that will come to work.
I have vented enough, but this is a real mess for every small business owner I know, and it ain't getting better for them. It is very easy to criticize someone like me, or Mark, or whomever for our lack of customer service but reality for many is when the service trades industry of this hobby becomes extinct, it is likely that we will see this particular hobby dwindle away. I doubt it will be from lack of hobbyist interest of owning a Model-A but more about lack of enough qualified trades people able to meet the needs of those hobbyists.
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BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
Good question Colin. I can only answer from the experiences of my father from the late 1950s thru the 80s when he collected most of his stuff. Because he was a hobbyist Model-A restorer and not a 'replacer', often times he collected multiples of everything for multiple projects. Also, attending swap meets and reading Hemmings, he would collect something that was better quality than what he had on his car as an effort to upgrade. Dad would sell/trade to others who needed something he had simply as a way of helping a local hobbyist. This was common by many local club members. On occasion, Dad would sell a few items to be seed money for a larger purchase (i.e.: more expensive item) however like most hobbyists back in the day, they were not in the Model-A hobby as a side hustle. It was strictly a hobby for them to better their skills and as a passtime.
As for trying to unload everything, I think slowly age crept up on many hobbyists where moving the massive amounts of parts became too difficult to do. For many, it also was a lifestyle in which they had enjoyment looking at what they had amassed and the story of the hunt in which they were able to collect that item. In their final years, those items were some of the few things they had left that still brought joy in ownership. Probably not a good excuse for how some took care of their collection, but it is what it is at this point I suppose.
w.michael
Senior Member
I haven't had any response, either. I would just like to have my speedometer back, as I believe it to be original to my car, and the mileage shown to be original. No questions, asked, and no blame to anyone--just the speedometer. I'll gladly pay for shipping. Is there anyone in the area who can help, WITHOUT calling the sheriff?
W. Michael
W. Michael
Jeff/Illinois
Well-known member
Might be cheaper in the long haul to bite the bullet, write this off as a loss, forget about it, and get another speedometer.
You're not going to get any satisfaction from this guy.
600 miles of traveling at even 25 MPG is 24 gallons at $3.50 a gallon comes in at 84 bucks. Plus your time and wear and tear on your vehicle and the frustration.
Ain't worth pursuing any longer brudder.
McMimmcs
Well-known member
Quite possibly it’s time to get law enforcement involved. Call the responsible police department. Wayne.