Technical any issues with H and H flatheads?

This is NOT a flame post because I know Mike is highly known and recommended in the flatty world, but I sent a short block to him back in December and and have had really poor communication/updates from him/them. Enough emails have gone unanswered and phone messages have not been returned that even though he's high profile, I'm feeling a little nervous.
The last time I spoke with him was back in March when he told me "it should be done in a week or two", and I've heard nothing since. I've been trying to give him space because I know he's a busy guy, but fuck... a very small amount of communication goes a very long way! Is this type of thing normal from H and H? Should a short block normally take 5-6 months?
Thanx.

 

The pandemic is still happening and this state is not yet fully reopened.

LA county only recently started lifting business restrictions.

 

I have no personal experience with H&H, I have just seen some of their fine work.
But I do have experience with a few very good machine shops over here: The scenario is mostly like this: boss and staff are usually working their butts off as they are overwhelmed with work. They don´t get the easy stuff, all the race guys, tuners, and old car guys with their cracked an rusty crap that want to go fast are there. A friend of mine only answers his shop phone between 8-9 a.m. because he just cant get away from his work every three minutes. They have a stash of V10 Lambo blocks that need steel sleeves next to some cracked flatheads and what not. Obviously we cracked flatty guys don´t pay what the Lambo guy does, so they are first.My way of dealing with them during the last 20 years was: drop it off, wait til they call. I don´t hassle them ever. Heating and welding all the cracks in an 8ba, setting 8 sleeves, valve seats and guides ,decking all surfaces and aling honing was just short of a year with them, cost was just short of 4k € and took about a year. He still has two blocks of mine that need one sleeve each and an overbore. He had them since Jan ´20 and I have not heard of him yet. That´s fine. I told him I don´t need them soon.
With H&H my guess is, they are just busy with guys inquiring from all over the world...and they are craftsmen... their real job is not communication.

 

I don't care how busy your business is, they should at least respond to the emails of their customers who have entrusted them with their stuff. Spending 25 seconds on a 4 word email would go a long ways.

 

That's 25 seconds and 4 words x 100+ times a day. I'm not saying it's a good excuse. But I understand how hard it is to get a good days work in, and communicate with everyone that calls, emails, texts, or private messages on places like here or Instagram.

As far as for the OP's question... I've heard this is common.

 

My feeling is if a company is so busy that can’t return an email or call, maybe they should hire a young person, pay them min wage for a few hours a day to do so. The owner can write down a standard response for the person to use.

 

I ran a successful company in the 80's and 90's. Our FIRST priority was customer relations. It was a good rule then, and it's a good rule now. I can only think of one reason why you would want to "duck" customer inquiries and it ain't a good one.

There seems to be a lot of unjustified "hero worship" these days.

 

Are you sure this is what you mean?

 

No, just edited it to “can”.

12 hour night shifts getting the best of me

 

Labor shortage?

 

Simple solution, go pick up your parts and have someone else do the work.

 

I have a H&H flathead in my V8 A and I'm impressed with it. However I also had problems getting information during the build, there was a posting on here of people complaining about being able to contact them. I think it's pretty much a one man shop and he's hard to contact.

 

H&H so well known, as stated, and overwhelmed with work to get done even if seemingly basic - just like car builder shops where work takes months or years to get done

 

Thanks guys,
Mike got back to me this AM after an email expressing my concern and worry. He sent pictures and explained my project just kept getting pushed back. I understand all the things about Covid, and being a "one man shop". I'm just glad I've been updated.

 

Even at minimum wage, $15.00 per hr, = $150 a week for two hours a day 5 days a week. That would be paid by you the purchaser in your estimate and not absorbed by the company. Not the entire $150 but there would have to be more of a mark up on their work. Yes, a canned "common" response could be programmed but that takes away from the "personnel" touch.

 

I understand about covid and the effects it can have on business.
I also have seen these same complaints way before covid reared its ugly head.
If these same successful businesses were hurting for work they would make it
their priority to return inquiries. There is no viable excuse for these practices.
Not wanting to start a debate here, just my humble opinion.

 

I have spent a small fortune with HandH and I have learned 2 valuable lessons that help in dealing with them;
1. Make sure your wallet is full and your charge cards paid down
2. Have a lot of patience

 

Let’s look at this for a bit.
If you’re a “one man operation” then you are doing it all, from paying for overhead, ordering parts, going through the parts when they arrive, keeping customers informed, etc. all that takes time.
That time could be spent doing what you really want to do, and turn out engines (in this case).
It also eliminates some of the stress out of the job at hand if someone is taking care of the admin work.
If your business has grown to the point that it takes months to get back to a customer (as an example) you need help.

 

I have 30 employees and have 25 jobs going in different stages of completion. If you manage your time, it can be done.....I also start at 4:00 AM if needed.....

 

Owning and operating a small business is hard, that's why most fail. Especially when one man wears all the hats. Communication begins to seem like a burden, especially when you have to continually tell people that you aren't going to keep your promises.

The key is setting customer expectations up front. I once dealt with a taxidermist who was known as cranky, cheap, slow and good. When I called him about stuffing my fish, he did a great job of laying out the conditions. He said: "I do them in the order they come in. I have a big backlog. It's going to take a long time. I don't know how long. And I don't want to be pestered, it takes me away from working. I'll call you when it's done. If you call me, it goes to the end of the list. If that works for you, I'll do your fish." I left it with him, and wondered about it occasionally but didn't call him. 14 months later he called. It was done, it was awesome, and it was cheap.
More people should be that brutally honest, but they are scared they won't get the sale, or they are way to optimistic on what they can accomplish.

 

I'd say it is damned if I do, damned if I don't as far as it goes for Mike. He keeps the shop small so he has full control over the work that he turns out. That causes a backlog .
Just deleting about 400 emails this morning it eats up a lot of time for someone to go though emails to see what needs to be answered and what needs to be deleted. Plus you can bet that for every "How's my engine coming" one there are 50 wanting to know if he can do it cheaper and faster than someone else or wanting him to diagnose their engine via email.
As far as someone to answer emails or the phone, unless they really know what is going on in the shop so they can give honest answers that isn't going to work well. A generic and maybe lame answer is worse than no answer.

 

Let me play this out for you.
xxxx- “Hi, thanks for calling “xxxx”
Customer “ I’d like to find out the status of my engine”
xxxx - “ He’s busy is the shop right now, I can call you back next week on Monday with an update”

Now during that week info is exchanged with the guy in the shop and the fella answering the phone

Next Monday the fella calls the person back and relays the info he was told.

May not be the information the customer was expecting or wanting, maybe it will be, who knows, but the customer just got needed information, maybe the customer now has to reset his expectations, or maybe not. Thing is he wasn’t ignored for several months wondering what the heck is going on.

It’s known as Customer Service.

For years and years I worked for SemiConductor industry in a few different Field Service jobs. What you learn early on is you may not be able to fix the machines immediately, or really have an idea how long it will take you to fix it, but one thing you can always do is “fix the Customer “.
By that I mean tell them what you’re going to do to test, how long it will take to get the results, etc. so immediately you just set the expectation that it’s going to be X amount of time before the next update.
Now we dealt in hours, not months, but it’s really the same thing don’t ya think?

 

@mctim64 runs his own machine shop. he knocks out everything from flatties to yblocks to Cat industrial engines. Never a huge wait and you never see these types of threads about him.

 

Don't take work you can't get to in a timely manner, problem solved.

 

I think some of these guys consider themselves artistes and not businessmen. If you can tale the drama, then go ahead by all means.

With this kind of money at stake, I'd rather deal with a businessman.

 

Your work keeps getting pushed back. Not ''the backlog still has me buried''
That says it ALL.
Something that came in after yours got done first. Probably more than once. If you're current on money this should not happen.

 

I ran a business for 40 plus years. There is no excuse to ignore your paying customers--I don't care who the hell you are. You can sit at your computer after work with a beer in your hand and answer the damn e-mails--how hard is that?

 

Everybody has heard of H and H. Can you imagine how many e mails he gets. I am self employed and don`t have e mail. Saves time. I am a one man shop. I don`t receive texts either. I tell people this. I tell people I have a backlog. Not sure when I can get to it or when it will be done. Does this make me a bad person. Jobs are done as they come in. Ya. After being in business for 30 years, I`m still trying to figure this out.---- For example, you can`t put off an oil change for 12 months. While I do complete motor rebuilds. I`m not a mechanic by the way.

 

You might be considered to be a “nobody”. When a “somebody” comes in...your screwed. Bad for business but H&H has plenty so It probably doesn’t matter to them if your engine wasn’t even there.
The machine shop I’ve used for 40 years puts work in order. First in first out. I’ve brought him my GMC blocks for years and they are a lot more cumbersome than a SBC but it didn’t matter to him and still doesn’t. I’m sorry for your wait.