Nope I'm going to be on him like a Mississippi Leg hound

That sounds like a family tree issue ( one branch maybe) , not a performance or customer service issue.


Rog

Ok, I'll pipe in here again, and this is not an attack on Mickey, but just my observations of about 14 years of being on the net on ATV sites, and chat rooms. Mickey does put out generally a decent product, but I have heard many many reports over the years of failures, and extremely poor customer service.

I have heard some real horror stories over the years How Mickey has been downright offensive and insulting to his customers and refused to stand by his work. If it was just one or two instances I could understand that, but I have heard of many myself directly from the people involved and have read about numerous others.

The way I see it, after 14+ years of reading about him, is he is very good at marketing, by getting products to magazine editors who get the stuff free. They write about his stuff in the magazines, and sells a lot of product to a lot of the people reading those magazines. The Problem comes in when you have problems. He is not so good about standing behind his product and providing good service to his customers. I had not read about him on Kawie riders before snickers brought it up in this thread, but reading it did not surprise me at all, I have seen it repeated time and time again in various ATV forums, and discussed ad nauseum in chat rooms over the years.

Based on what I have heard, I would not take my chances with his products, They might be OK, they might be great. The problem is I don't know that he would stand behind his products, and I am not willing to risk my hard earned money on that chance. If he gave me a free motor for my Teryx I might consider it, since I would not be risking my own money

See this is where I have a problem. I stand behind my stuff better then anyone in the industry. I bend over backwards for people to help them even when it's not my problem. Having said that when you don't give someone what they think they should get,then there is a problem. I have a even bigger problem with liers and cheats. I don't care how much it hurts my business I will not be lied about on the net. I don't care who it is aftermarket or MFG.s you guys can just pop on the net and say what ever you want right or wrong and think it's OK. I see it all the time from someone saying brand X tires are junk cause they didn't last as long as stockers to this or that quad is junk because it ran out of gas too quick. It doesn't matter what it is some of the stupidest people come on these forums and just go into a rant.The problem is I am on here, you don't see too many top players on here do you. The reason is most of them have told me they would say the samething as I do so they have to stay off. You guy lose because of this but it is what it is. What I am saying is because I stand up for what I believe is the truth, I know it can hurt my business but when I know I am right I don't back down. If you are the kind of person that doesn't like that then don't do business with me. If your the kind of person that gives me the time to help you,do your job right and give you good service then welcome. So if you read what I say and understand you work with me I'll work with you we will have no problem. Run your mouth on the net before coming to me like some have, we will have a problem.

Having said all that I have had motors blow, parts problem or just plain brain farts myself. When or if I do, like I said I stand behind everything better then anyone in the industry. To me it's really up to the customer how he gets treated, but oh my you don't want to think it is the customer that is wrong!

Mickey, In every case where I have heard from the person with the problem,was asking if they have contacted you. People had issues with never getting called back, or accused of misdeeds of causing damage to the motor, etc. It seemed to be pretty universal that people had trouble getting a solution from you, so they resorted to talking about the problem to others and see if there was others that knew what would work to get you to respond to their problems. With the explosion of the net, it gave people a way to come together and discover common problems with all sorts of companies. It helped expose companies that made shoddy products or had poor customer service. It gave the buyer a chance to see for themselves before they bought products if the company was reputable.

The net truly changed the dynamic for business/customer relationships, and now people Google companies and look for reviews or problems and then they are able to go in informed and educated before buying.

Are their liars and troublemakers out there? Sure, but as you mentioned you make mistakes, as do customers. When you see a pattern over a period of years, you are able to base an opinion on someone or some company. That is where I am coming from.

I feel you have issues with customer service and if I may be so blunt to say so, I think it is likely your personality than it is anything else. When you say if someone talks bad about you then you will be essentially in attack mode. Seems like a poor way to solve a problem. Of course, it's your business, and you can run it as you wish, but over time opinions and feedback will be heard by enough people and it will be archived in threads in vqarious forums and ot will be there for a very very long time and it will be hard to overcome those preconceived notions of poor service.

I have no ill will towards you, but my opinion over the past 14 years is that it is not worth risking my money to do business with you. Nothing more nothing less, just from the basis of what I have heard over the years. Take that for what it is worth.

A friend of mine Cain who works for DirtWheels Magazine knows Mickey and speaks highly about him. We were just talking about him yesteday.
I think public forums are 50/50, 50% truth and 50% lies.:smokin

Yes it is my personality, I am a hard ass when I am wronged. That however does not make me a bad business man IMO. I have been in business 20 years now, if my product were no good and my business practices were shady then I don't care who you are you wouldn't be in business. I don't even mind post like this because it lets people see what I am like, like it or not. To tell you the truth the people that don't like the way I am it is better they don't buy from me. I know that sounds harsh but really it's best for both parties that way in the end.

I knew my ears were burning. That reminds me I need to talk with him about our 900 v-force motor in the Rhino project I should have had for him 4 months ago.

Sounds like people are not building the engine right or not breaking them in right and when they abuse them and they blow, they expect a freebie due to their inability to do mechanical work properly. Also sounds like people who always try to get just one more "little" discount, or a free hat or T-shirt. Those people are a pain in the butt and you end up spending hours on the phone with them when you could be getting work done.

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Hatfield-McCoys Rider
Piney Rider

Well yes there are some like that but for the most part I try and talk to them enough to find out if they should even have a performance motor in the first place. When I first left Powroll I was building full out race motor like people wanted but they didn't know how to run them or take care of them and it caused problems. Now I have gone back more like Powroll, keeping everthing on the safe side but still giving the best bang for the buck.

Of COURSE they think highly of him. They get free bikes from the manufacturer, then the get free products to bling it out and then they get this kickass super fast motor built for free by Mickey. They write an article about how awesome the motor is, and people read it and buy motors from Mickey, and mickey buys ads in the magazine. I also have friends in the magazine industry, and I know the score too. Its great getting free product, but personally I think it clouds what you have to say about the product and company.

The problem with that is that when you come down on a person and treat them poorly they are going to tell 10 of their friends, and with the net, it gets passed around even more, so in the long run, that will cost you business. I guess if you have enough business that you can afford to burn bridges with your customers, that's great for you, but over time it will hurt you and your reputation. Its very hard to add up business that wouldn't even bother to call you because of what they have heard about you. :shrug:

You are one of those guys I just talked about. I hate it when people say stuff like this because it is not true. I hear guys say Polaris doesn't pay as much in ads so they get a bad rap. No they get a bad rap if it's a pile of crap. Trust me if they didn't like my stuff you would either never read about it again or like has happen a few time they will say what they don't like.Listen close the editors don't get paid any different no matter what they say or don't say. Most of the time they don't even care who advertizes. To make a statement like you did wrong because it's not true and if freind does that then he is wrong. I am will to bet he's not really like that but if you want to tell his name and who he works for or any other facts I would be more then willing to debate this with you. JMO. These are my freind and I deal with them alot and not only on my stuff but I give them tech stuff too so I take it personally when someone say untrue stuff like you just did.

OK...Now let it drop. I wouldn't kick a dead horse this long. Your foot has to hurt by now. You probably own a Honda and having power envy.

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Hatfield-McCoys Rider
Piney Rider

Well, I'm tired of this crap already. I say what I feel also. No need to come on this forum and talk crap. this forum has been great for info for all of us. I say go back where you came from

Well, I'm tired of this crap already. I say what I feel also. No need to come on this forum and talk crap. this forum has been great for info for all of us. I say go back where you came from

To each their own. They don't call him manic mick for nothing.

What did I say that was untrue? That's how the business works. Has any of the magazines written a bad article about you? Sure they will mention the occasional negative thing about a product, but not very often and it is usually a very mildly worded negative. Its the nature of the business, if a magazine says your product is crap, you aren't going to advertise in it. You can get more information with Google than you can reading most magazines. Some are better than others. Some are nothing more than books with lots of ads, with articles that point to those ads. It's not a secret.

As far as names, Sorry, I'm not going to bite on that one, I would not betray friends confidences, especially when it could affect their jobs. So I guess if you don't believe me, that's fine, I don't really care, but I do know and understand the business and I will leave it at that.

I guess I am a bad guy because I point out the obvious? Again, you said I was saying untruths, what was it that I said that was untrue?

Just having a conversation, who died and made you god?

Oh, and yes, I do own 3 Honda's and 2 Kawi's. Power Envy? Nah, not here.