What is wrong with american part sellers?

"Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction" (rustholes-are-weight-reduction)
06/14/2016 at 08:09 • Filed to: None

A month ago, I ordered parts for the Bel Air.
It was the second time I ordered parts from the US.

First time, I ordered a clutch and a complete rebuild kit for my RX-8, about a year ago. I had ordered a kit for the 6-port engine. which has some different gaskets and that costs a bit more than the 4-port kit. I hadn’t checked the parts upon receiving, and had started rebuilding my engine when I noticed that they had sent the wrong parts. I made it work since I didn’t need all the parts, and I could re-use some of the metal gaskets using special sealant. But I wrote them an email asking at least for a refund to match the price of the parts I got. They asked me to send them the parts back, which I couldn’t, since I had used half of it. They ignored my further requests.

Second time was a bit over a month ago, when I ordered weatherstrips and windlaces for the Bel Air. Yesterday, I sent them an email asking if they could send me a tracking number, since I hadn’t received the parts yet. They answered that they didn’t have the winlaces in stock and had to reorder them. Thanks for the info, I guess. They could have at least sent me an email before I have to ask for info.

Is that normal business in the US? Or have I picked the wrong sellers?

Doritos for your time:

DISCUSSION (18)

Sam > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:15

Sounds like you are just dealing with a shitty company. It may be an international issue as well, maybe they prioritize domestic business or something silly?

Dave the car guy , still here > Sam
06/14/2016 at 08:23

I agree totally on shitty company. On another level it doesn’t matter if its international, we even see it on a local level. If you are from across town or state it can happen too. The other thought is they may have dumped that kit on him knowing its unlikely to be returned.

Chinny Raccoon > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:23

Most european countries have much stronger consumer protection laws than the US, so maybe that encourages a better service.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:27

My experience has been that any company that uses drop shipping (which is incredibly common for large items like auto parts) may hide their shitty inventory practices behind it. It’s one reason RockAuto is so popular...as long as their prices are in the neighborhood and their selection is in the neighborhood, the fact that they will actually send you your parts in reasonable time and give you things that are normal in any other business like tracking numbers is a big plus.

While I don’t know if they have what you ordered, RockAuto does have way more ‘60 Bel Air parts than I expected they would.

Invinciblejets > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:30

Where did you order parts for the rx8?

If it wasn’t Atkins or racing beat or mazdatrix your doing it wrong.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > Aaron M - MasoFiST
06/14/2016 at 08:30

I plan to order the next parts there. They actually have all I need (for now), I just didn’t take the time to search everything thoroughly.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > Invinciblejets
06/14/2016 at 08:34

It was Atkins, other than the mixup everything was fine, it was just how it was handled that wasn’t OK.

VonBootWilly - Likes Toyota, but it's still complicated. > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:34

I’ve received an $800+ racing oil cooler by mistake in a $300 mundane parts order too. Some companies have such poor service, you can tell nobody cares. I’ll usually let the first mistake go, but the second mistake is ban for life.

I even tried to return the $800+ part, and they seemed to have no idea they were missing one and didn’t even get back to me. I still don’t order from them anymore even after that windfall of stupidity.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > Chinny Raccoon
06/14/2016 at 08:36

Maybe, I have experienced shitty service in Europe too, it’s just that I had 2 bad experiences in 2 tries.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > VonBootWilly - Likes Toyota, but it's still complicated.
06/14/2016 at 08:39

Wow, but did you get your mundane parts at least? And whet did you do with the oil cooler in the end?

yamahog > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 08:58

I’ve never ordered car parts from outside the US, Summit Racing has been great for us at least.

VonBootWilly - Likes Toyota, but it's still complicated. > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 09:16

Yeah, I got the correct parts as well.

I ended up having to sell it locally, it was overkill for any project I would ever need it for.

jariten1781 > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 09:28

No major issues here. Shipping is sometimes slow and, with smaller guys they’ll screw up sometimes, but I’ve always had satisfactory resolution. Granted, if I make a choice to order rather than sourcing locally in my mind I’ve essentially back burnered the project for 3-5 weeks so little time sinks don’t matter. I’ve never ordered a need now kind of thing.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 09:36

The problem is the inventory management system and the kind of employees the company hires. When you pay rock-bottom wages but don’t have a sophisticated inventory system to catch mistakes, those mistakes make it out the door and to the customer. The more complicated the system, the more common the errors since your workers aren’t sophisticated enough (or don’t care enough) to catch mistakes and fix them.

It's part of the reason we stopped going to Sonic drive-in. The menu is complicated, the workers are usually young and inexperienced (and usually don't give a damn), and the end result is a burger with mayo instead of mustard.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > yamahog
06/14/2016 at 09:47

Werd. Summit 4 lyfe

BigBlock440 > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 10:24

Poor communication on the back-ordered one, not that common though. The one asking for a refund is probably common, I’ve never tried to return something I bought online though.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 10:39

You are using the wrong sellers.

Needmoargarage > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
06/14/2016 at 11:01

Hmm...I really haven’t had a problem with online orders. Don’t get me started on the local parts stores though. I usually do quite a bit of research before ordering with an unknown company however. Enough forum posts knocking a particular seller and I stay far away.