BamaChips apology to my customers...

[Doug904]

Hey guys,

I've just needed to talk to everyone and truly say I'm sorry for the way my business has been over the few months. I wanted to give you a explanation of a few things and let you all know where I've been, what's been going on and why things are the way they are at Bamachips for now. I'm not a person that tells much, if anything, about my personal life, especially on a public forum, so please bear with me here, this is hard for me.

First, it all started when my wife felt neglected because of all the time I was spending on the business and announced that if things didn't change she was going to leave me. To make more time with her I hired a few guys to help but even with that I was still overwhelmed with business. I would work all day either on the phone or dyno and then afterwords come in and start on emails and other projects. We had discussed my time at the business for a bit and she understood the way I was, if I couldn't be a major part of it then I couldn't run it. My point has always been the only way one can control the quality of the work is to do it yourself. Even with the help I had, they didn't understand what I did or truly weren't as interested as much as I was in refining the tunes, especially the automatic's. Most of them were here to do the 9-5 thing and leave. Caleb was by far my best but he had to leave in midsummer to start college.

Then the bottom fell out, she took my son one day and just up and left. We did some arguing on the phone and the legal battle was something else. I got my six year old son back but I was doing a tremendous amount of travel going from dyno day to dyno day. The judge and courts saw it more fitting for her to have him then me. That was a huge blow to me but I do want what's best for my son so, for now, that’s the way it is. I do still see him on weekends and holidays, but I miss him very much.

The sheer exhaustion from dealing with court, lawyers, and the business was tremendous so I hired in another employee that I thought would be the answer because he had worked for me before. The first time he worked for me he just up and left though, so I had talked with him about that and he knew It was on my mind. He did seem to be different and had just been laid off of his job so I figured he'd be a good choice because he was familiar with the software and tuning already. He also had a 2001 Cobra that was on it's last leg with a dead misses on a few cylinders. I agreed to help him with that too. We swapped in a 3v from a 2007 GT and got it all going very nicely. This was using my garage and tools completely, I stuck my neck out for him with a few vendors, Chris@BBR mainly, and got him some prototype parts that were needed for this swap to be done. I paid for most of the parts while we worked out payment either from his paycheck a little at a time or some other things around the shop like computer work and such. Got his car running really well and I thought he would appreciate my effort, but he split faster than spilt milk, taking a few parts and owing me some money. When I got back to doing everything myself again I found missed emails and general bad stuff that he had done. I've had to sell quite a few things and even move out of our office back into my home office to help catch things back up to normal. Unfortunately this includes my prize 05' Roush Mustang but hopefully things will be better again and I'll get another when they do.

Guys, I promise I'm working on catching everything up.

Finally, I had gotten a call in late July from my Mom telling me we needed to talk. I go see her and she tells me that she has breast cancer and has had it for a while. She says that they are talking about surgery and have to start with Chemotherapy beforehand. Each time I go to see her she starts giving me things out of her house like she's expecting the worst. I'm trying to keep her spirits up. She's had a few sessions now and each time I have to go to her place and help her with her life and normal dealings. She and my dad split when I was young and she's never remarried so it's just her, me and my younger sister, who has had her own problems. I've been paying my mom's bills including her internet service so I can answer emails while I'm there from time to time. She's scheduled for surgery soon, I truly hope all goes well so she'll be good for the holidays. Please be sure to support any pink ribbon services, you don’t know how hard it can affect you until it hits you. Our pastor has been very supportive and helped me alot to come to grips with things. I'd appreciate everyone's prayers for my mom and our family.

In short, all these personal problems haven't had any effect on the quality of my products but have had a major impact on my overall quality of service. That's what my business was built on, my customer service. Sure, I may not have a huge building or sell 100's of products, but I always try to treat every customer the way I would want to be treated if I were buying something. I'm truly sorry for the delay in filling orders but even more so the poor customer response I've been giving. I know everyone out there works as hard as I do to support their family and their lives and my business is nothing more than a accessory on an already great product, that is, anything from Ford.

So many of your have been so patient and understanding, even when you didn't know why my service was slipping. All I can say is thank you for your support and that my service will be outstanding again, starting now.

Douglas Studdard

[armycook1981]

to sum up my thoughts .. understood... shit happens.. theres always two sides ( coming from other forums where this was put out in the open by matt) ....

hope for the best with with your business DOUG

[popeye010]

Doug thankyou for be so increadibly candid. My heart goes out to you. It's rare someone can make a living at the very thing they would do if they didn't make a dime at it. The work you have done for the entire motorsports community is amazing. Good luck with moving on. Maybe you should put an ad in craigslist for a woman with automotive software tuning experience, must have own programer. Send picture of programer. Good luck.

[LisaJ429]

i hope things get better for you Doug and sorry you've hit a rough patch

as for your mom..my mom is a 5 year cancer survivor and i too was afraid that things were going to be a lot worse than how they turned out. medicine and treatment for breast cancer has come a long way and as long as she keeps positive, keeps appointments, etc..she too will be a survivor.

the hardest thing for me was the day she called and asked me to come and shave her head because when she woke up that morning her hair was coming out in clumps. i cried until she made some funny remark and felt that if she could laugh and joke about it then i shouldn't be crying...after that i always kept myself positive for her as well.

[Mr. Ugly]

Really sorry to hear all the rough events that you've been going through.

I hope that things come together for you. You deserve better.

I know what you mean about work and what it takes to make your business and career a success. I admire your work and all you've done for us Mustang folks.

Wishing all the best for you, Doug.

[freakatthewheel]

Hey Doug, I'm real sorry to hear the troubles befalling you as of late.
I'll be praying for your mother and you. There's a part of you in my Mustang
that makes her full of fire and force. I'll never forget you letting me drive
to your home on a Sunday to resolve a tune install issue, in which you gave
me your SCT tuner that you used personally for your Roush, so that we could
get my tunes installed properly in Luci. That is a level of customer service
unparalleled by any other experience I have had. Thank you for sharing your
personal situation with us.

[TexasBlownV6]

This kind of stuff (business vs family) only happens to those who really care about their business and customers. It can be extremely hard to balance between your business on one end and family on the other. Having run a small business or two, it is very very stressful on the family as a whole and even more on you as you try to satisfy all the burdens you've taken on. Sooner or later, something has to give.

When hiring help doesn't work out for your, well, then that just makes matters worse. You've put your company's reputation on the line. Someone told me once: "hire people who are better than you". That's not always possible, so you end up taking a risk on hopefully-qualified people, who most likely do not share your complete devotion to your business. Then when things go wrong, people don't put in as much effort, etc., it disrupts everything.

While I have not yet done business with you, Doug, I know a lot of people who have and they are very happy with the results. You do care and take the time to do what is right, obviously at your own personal expense.

By coming forward and explaining, I think this really shows the kind of person you are, how much you really care about your business and what you do. There are not a lot of people like us around.

I salute you, sir!


As far as your family situation, I pray for the best. Keep your mom's spirits up. Stay close to your son; you'll see the resulting respect and love after they grow up.

I'm sure there's people who would be happy to help you out without taking advantage of you, but they are hard to find.

Good luck.

[ranebowcyxx]

Doug,

I wish you and you're family all the best. I can relate to a lot of what you are going through with a divorce and you mother too.

I think I can speak for all of us here to say we are behind you and will be here if you need us.

On a positive note, you trans tune helped roll out 13.6s NA on my V6 - I made sure everyone knows it too.

I am sticking this thread to support Doug.

[Sniper308]

Oh, Doug... Doug, Doug, Doug. Man. I appreciate what it took for you to lay all this out. Wasn't easy to sit down and tackle, I'm sure, but I hope it got easier as you typed and that it possibly turned out to be some kind of a step forward in healing... or at least, uncorking all the things you've been keeping bottled up. Internalizing isn't a good way to go; it just ends up ruining your health, no one knows what's going on with you (which often pisses them off because they care and you don't want to share "personal things), and in the end you and everything around you gets destroyed. I'm glad you thought enough of us to share... and to apologize. Your candor, honesty, and sincerity are tremendously appreciated and taken to heart.

It's hard to recover from such things as you've described... and you've obviously been getting a pretty hard sample of "life" lately. I'm glad you've been talking to a man of the cloth about it -- that's a good way to get a grip. I hope you don't bail out on doing that when things start going your way a bit, again; I hope you stick with talking to him. It'll do you more good than, right now, you could possibly know.

May you find some measure of comfort and peace by your act of opening up, Doug.

Godspeed, sir.

Russ

[Brumby]

Originally Posted by ranebowcyxx

Doug,

I wish you and you're family all the best. I can relate to a lot of what you are going through with a divorce and you mother too.

I think I can speak for all of us here to say we are behind you and will be here if you need us.

On a positive note, you trans tune helped roll out 13.6s NA on my V6 - I made sure everyone knows it too.

I am sticking this thread to support Doug.

I too wish you and your family all the best.
I too have been thru divorce, twice and married her again.


All the best to you. Things WILL get better.

Susan and I have been married for 17years and my ex-wife (twice over) is one of OUR best friends.

Things do have a way to turn around.

Keep Up The Faith....

Bob & Susan