Peeved at Paughco

I give Paughco two thumbs down.

Ok, I've been holding this in for a while now and I just can't take it anymore. Four months ago I went to my friend Brian at JEM Cycle to order some tank shells from Paughco. I am not a Paughco dealer, but Brian is and he treats me well so there was no immediate reason for me to become a dealer at the time. The below is a re-enactment of the conversations that have gone on with a Paughco sales rep over the last few months.

Brian- "Hey, how are you (blank), I need to find out if you have item # (blank) in stock."

Paughco- "Yes we have 25 in stock right now, how many do you want?"

Brian- "I'll take 20 of them."

Paughco - "Okay"

A little while later that day.

Ring-a-ling

Brian- "Hello, JEM Cycle."

Paughco- "Brian, This is (blank), we're only going to ship you 10 of those tank shells."

Brian- "Why's that? You have 25 in stock and I'd like to order 20. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to sell something you have in stock."

Paughco- "Well, we don't want to run out of them. We'll be getting another shipment soon, we can ship you the remaining 10 shells when that comes in."

Brian- "I still don't understand, I want 20 but I'll take 10 right now."

Five or more phone calls/voicemails to Paughco over the next 3 months resulted in either non-returned calls or no clear answer to whether they could send us the remaining 10 tank shells... until 2 weeks ago.

Ring-a-ling

Paughco- "Hello Paughco, (blank) speaking."

Brian- "Hello, this is Brian at JEM Cycle. Could I please speak to (blank)."

Paughco- "Yes, just a minute"

(blank) @ Paughco- "Hi Brian, what can I do for you today?"

Brian- "I'd like to get those 10 tank shells that you wouldn't ship me 4 months ago."

Paughco- "We have them in stock, I'll send you the 10 you need."

Brian- "Thank you."

later that week

Ring-a-ling

Brian- "Hello, JEM Cycle."

Paughco- "Brian, I'm going to send you 5 tank shells."

Brian- "Why, you said you had enough in stock to send me 10?"

Paughco- "Well, we don't have enough in stock now to send you 10."



Ok, long story short. Paughco calls back and said they only have 2 in stock and offered no specific reason why they hadn't shipped the remaining 10 shells at the time they had them in stock. My theory is that Paughco wants to sell 1 or 2 shells to a customer for full catalog pricing plus a ridiculous shipping charge rather than sell multiples at the discounted price, with free shipping to a dealer. I am through dealing with this company. I specifically wanted to deal with them because of what they stood for, what they've done for the custom motorcycle industry, and their motorcycle parts lineage. Much of their products are marked as being "Made in USA", which means a lot to me... but the tank shells are punched out overseas just like every other company. I am currently investigating another tank shell connection and will never recommend or buy another Paughco product... ever.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that Paughco may be holding onto shells for the making of their own complete tanks. This I understand, but just let the customers and dealers know how many they can order when they ask about stock availability. Paughco product has always been top notch, I just wish their communication skills were the same.