Here’s to Donuts: The Bizrate Circle of Excellence

The Caterham Seven is a very good car, chosen by autocross enthusiasts worldwide for its acceleration and lightweight handling prowess (and chosen by us as a Dream Car).  It runs in very tight circles.  In fact, it currently holds the world record for number of consecutive donuts: 566.

We here at Streetside also run in tight circles.  As of last week, we can count the Bizrate Circle of Excellence among them.  The Circle of Excellence is a prestigious annual award, rather like the Oscars of online business.  Very few are given out every year, and we’re honored.

Now, we don’t like to brag, so instead we’ll say thanks, because you voted us in.  Bizrate is an online service that allows you, the consumer, to evaluate the web-based businesses you use based on several criteria.  Over 5,000 online businesses subscribe to Bizrate, among them companies like Dell, Buy.com, and Ticketmaster; and this year only 84 of us were welcomed into the Circle of Excellence.

So this award isn’t really from Bizrate.  It’s from you.  The Circle of Excellence really is quite a distinction within the online retailing community, and we want to say, from the oil pans of our hearts, thank you.  We’ll keep the great deals and customer service flowing, and you keep letting us know how we’re doing.

Perhaps the men in charge say it best:

“We are honored to be recognized with Bizrate’s Circle of Excellence award this year.  Bizrate recognized less than 2% of North American online retailers with this award, which is based on actual customer feedback.  We view the award as an expression of appreciation by our customers and want our customers to know that we are extremely thankful for their business and will continue to work hard to exceed their expectations.”
– Craig Schmutzler, General Manager

“We are extremely proud to have received the Bizrate Circle of Excellence award for 2011, as it confirms the commitment to great service that we live by every day here at StreetSide Auto.  Only 84 businesses across the internet were selected this year, and to be a part of that elite group is truly an honor.  I really believe a secret to our success is the fact that virtually every member of the StreetSide team is an automotive enthusiast of some kind, which lets us bring our passion to work every day.  Kind of the classic “working in a candy store” scenario, and thanks to our customers we can continue to work with, talk about and in a small way be involved in every automotive project that they bring our way.”
– Jon Wyly, Vice President

We owe it all to you, and we’re glad to run in your circles.  Here’s to donuts.