Progress RSB for GE8- the Truth About Availability

[manxman]

I placed my order for the Progress Rear Anti-Sway Bar for the 2009 Fit six months ago. This was the first order placed, and their salesperson Melanie actually made up the part number for the as-yet not in production bar. After seeing a vendor- "Assaultech", advertising a "group- buy" on this product on fitfreak.net, I called the Progress Inside Sales Mgr., Joey Berry, about 6 weeks ago and gave him my credit card info. as payment, and asked when it would ship. I was told "about 3 weeks". Since twice that amount of time has now passed, I sent a message to Joey through the Progress web site, and asked again about shipment schedule. He replied right away. Said that they were bringing "another 2009 Fit into the shop TODAY for a test fit". If the tests go well, THEN the bars will go into production. So when "Assaultech" tells the fitfreak group buy people that "the bars will ship any day now"- THEY ARE LYING. When will they ship? WTF knows. In fairness, if this interminable delay is being caused because there are problems with the prototype RSB, I do not want to buy a problem, and will wait until all problems are removed. But vendors should not lie to build up sales numbers, or avoid posting the truth to their buyers. Also, "Assaultech" is NOT a dealer for products made by The Progress Group, so they are buying these products from a middleman. How good can the "group buy" prices be?

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[OMG THE GOGGLES]

I will vouch for Assaultech. They are a very good company and seller here, timely responses, no bs transactions etc. I am sure if Assaultech started a group buy they are just relaying the information told to them from the manufacturer. They have been one of the better dealers I have dealt with here on honda-tech.

About the dealer comment, a lot of companies drop ship items, if you are not familiar, it means they sell a product, but do not have (or want to pay for) a large warehouse, who does right?, so orders get processed through the dealer, which then go direct to manufacturer where they are shipped direct to customer. It avoids having to wait for product to get to the dealer, then ship out to you, esp on brand new products, new release products, etc.

Also another possibility is if someone is not already a dealer, and they setup a group buy for a company, that is how they become a dealer. For most companies, you have to purchase a min amount of product, usually in a tier of dollar amount to be accepted. I have friends who will make a large order, sell the parts for a good discount the first time around to thank the people who purchased as without them, they would never get the contract with the particular company. If Assaultech is not a registered dealer, i'm sure you can bet they will be after a successful groupbuy to meet the Progress Buy in for dealers.

Just figured I would add my 2 cents here, and hey, it may help people be a little bit more understanding too.

[manxman]

Originally Posted by OMG THE GOGGLES

I will vouch for Assaultech. They are a very good company and seller here, timely responses, no bs transactions etc. I am sure if Assaultech started a group buy they are just relaying the information told to them from the manufacturer. They have been one of the better dealers I have dealt with here on honda-tech.

About the dealer comment, a lot of companies drop ship items, if you are not familiar, it means they sell a product, but do not have (or want to pay for) a large warehouse, who does right?, so orders get processed through the dealer, which then go direct to manufacturer where they are shipped direct to customer. It avoids having to wait for product to get to the dealer, then ship out to you, esp on brand new products, new release products, etc.

Also another possibility is if someone is not already a dealer, and they setup a group buy for a company, that is how they become a dealer. For most companies, you have to purchase a min amount of product, usually in a tier of dollar amount to be accepted. I have friends who will make a large order, sell the parts for a good discount the first time around to thank the people who purchased as without them, they would never get the contract with the particular company. If Assaultech is not a registered dealer, i'm sure you can bet they will be after a successful groupbuy to meet the Progress Buy in for dealers.

Just figured I would add my 2 cents here, and hey, it may help people be a little bit more understanding too.

I understand all of your statements supporting this vendor. The suspicious thing about their posts on the previously mentioned "other Fit forum" is their DAILY posts that urge more people to call up and place an order for this product, but in answer to buyers asking "when are these things going to ship?", they merely say "All PM's replied to- will ship any day now". Apparently, Assaultech has not bothered to contact Progress to get the real story on the release of this product, or if they have, are not willing to post the real story for their buyers.

Obviously from the current news from The Progress Group, "any day now" actually means at least a month or more (since production has not even been started on this product).

[OMG THE GOGGLES]

Originally Posted by manxman

I understand all of your statements supporting this vendor. The suspicious thing about their posts on the previously mentioned "other Fit forum" is their DAILY posts that urge more people to call up and place an order for this product, but in answer to buyers asking "when are these things going to ship?", they merely say "All PM's replied to- will ship any day now". Apparently, Assaultech has not bothered to contact Progress to get the real story on the release of this product, or if they have, are not willing to post the real story for their buyers.

Obviously from the current news from The Progress Group, "any day now" actually means at least a month or more (since production has not even been started on this product).

I just contacted Assaultech reguarding this issue, I figured it was my duty since they have done me right in the past. I was told that they are going to contact Progress reguarding this issue. I have a feeling its just what they are being told my manufacturer. It is probably hard to keep up with not only each manufacturer, but each type of part, for each type of part for individual vehicles etc. I am sure they will get down to the bottom of this soon and get you the most up to date info.

[claymore]

Yea NOW they will check ...... after manxman started a fire under them. Good thing manxman did his own work and got the real scoop.

[manxman]

Originally Posted by OMG THE GOGGLES

I just contacted Assaultech reguarding this issue, I figured it was my duty since they have done me right in the past. I was told that they are going to contact Progress reguarding this issue. I have a feeling its just what they are being told my manufacturer. It is probably hard to keep up with not only each manufacturer, but each type of part, for each type of part for individual vehicles etc. I am sure they will get down to the bottom of this soon and get you the most up to date info.

I am sure that the fitfreaks appreciate you "doing your duty" by contacting Assaultech to ask them to do the followup that any responsible vendor would do automatically. If that vendor is using the group buy to set themselves up as a dealer for Progress parts for the Honda Fit, your excuses for their lack of truthful information do not work. For a group buy on any part for any car, a vendor needs to answer the buyer's questions without delay.

It's great that you were happy with your past purchases from them. Other people are not, and understandably so. I contacted Progress in November of '09 and asked them to make this bar. I don't need to wait for some unofficial dealer to tell me the status of delivery. Having ordered and paid for the first '09 Fit RSB, I will get the info. without help from others.

[manxman]

From my last conversation with Joey Berry at Progress, the new target ship "date" is the first week of October- probably week of 10/5.

[manxman]

Originally Posted by OMG THE GOGGLES

I just contacted Assaultech reguarding this issue, I figured it was my duty since they have done me right in the past. I was told that they are going to contact Progress reguarding this issue. I have a feeling its just what they are being told my manufacturer. It is probably hard to keep up with not only each manufacturer, but each type of part, for each type of part for individual vehicles etc. I am sure they will get down to the bottom of this soon and get you the most up to date info.

Wow! Your contact sure did a lot of good. Assaultech did post more bullshit and empty promises on fitfreak.net, and even said that they would call Progress to get accurate information. But that was two weeks ago. No information yet. How hard can it be to tell the truth?

[manxman]

Some Progress RSB's shipped today. I got a UPS tracking number for my bar by email today. Should have it by Wednesday, and on my GE8 by Thursday. My order was number one. Other buyers should receive tracking numbers over the next few days.

[manxman]

My RSB did arrive today, and it was shipped with button-head bolts. I did not have any spring squeak problems with the GD3 bar, but so many fitfreaks cried and wet their pants about spring squeaks (and using off-brand lowering springs), that it is probably a good idea for Progress to supply these bolts.

[manxman]

If the fitfreak Assaultech-ad group buyers had ordered the GE8 bar directly from Progress, as I did, they would either have the bar right now or it would be in transit to their home right now.

The next time you want something for your Fit, you should pick your vendor more carefully!

Congratulations to the people who are now asking for refunds and order cancellations. Order direct from Progress, or from Tony D at newedgeperformance.com. DO IT NOW! Once accurate reviews are on the street for a few days, the first production run will sell out. This bar will sell by the thousands.

The rear suspension on your GE8 Fit is loose, sloppy, and unstable. YOu don't believe that now, but you will once you make it stable, and remove the looseness and sloppiness by installing your own Progress RSB. This thread is written by the first buyer of the original Fit GD3 bar, and the first buyer of the new Fit GE8 bar.

[AssaulTECH]

Originally Posted by manxman

If the fitfreak Assaultech-ad group buyers had ordered the GE8 bar directly from Progress, as I did, they would either have the bar right now or it would be in transit to their home right now.

The next time you want something for your Fit, you should pick your vendor more carefully!

Congratulations to the people who are now asking for refunds and order cancellations. Order direct from Progress, or from Tony D at newedgeperformance.com. DO IT NOW! Once accurate reviews are on the street for a few days, the first production run will sell out. This bar will sell by the thousands.

The rear suspension on your GE8 Fit is loose, sloppy, and unstable. YOu don't believe that now, but you will once you make it stable, and remove the looseness and sloppiness by installing your own Progress RSB. This thread is written by the first buyer of the original Fit GD3 bar, and the first buyer of the new Fit GE8 bar.

Wanted to stop in and give my apologies to anyone who we owe one. We in NO WAY were lying to anyone. We were told a bunch of BS every time we talked to Progress. One time they would tell us they already shipped, but then when I call two days later, they would say 2 more weeks. This went on back and forth for about 6-8 weeks. They originally told us 2-4 weeks in the beginning.

We were not trying to stock pile orders for $140, that is a ridiculous thought. We do 100s of thousands of dollars in sales, I promise that we DO NOT enjoy or have any reason to hold onto peoples money without sending product. We finally got our shipment in last week and have filled all orders that we had for the product. We have a few more coming in early next week, if anyone wants some... hit us up. They are only $140 shipped, $150 shipped with overnight.

Again, very sorry for the hassle we may have caused anyone. "OMG THE GOGGLES" thank you for the kind words. Anyone who knows us and has done business with us knows we are not sneaky and we are not here to lie to anyone. We do honest business and always try to do it in the most timely fashion. We even recommended refunding people after we got tired of dealing with Progress' BS. We have gone ahead and called everyone and let them know they are ACTUALLY here and ready to roll as well.



Also as far as being direct, there are reasons we are NOT direct with Progress. Things like being 4-6 weeks late on their delivery and making us look like asses is one of those reasons

Everyone take care!