Date:         Thu, 13 Apr 2000 18:34:14 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject:      Re: Bus depot? (no vanagon)
In-Reply-To:  <38F61CA2.6C89354@enteract.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> I had a friend call looking for brake parts for his 1965 bus, he talked
> to Brian who was very unmotivated to help, talked about him doing the
> research, and wasting time on the long distance phone bill. He also
> cursed the incoming phone calls in his ear. (THIS DAMN PHONE!)

We installed a new "high tech" phone system yesterday, which is
intermittantly breaking up and feeding back into our employees' ears,
resulting in very short tempers and damaged eardrums until we find out why
it's happening.  My apologies for the short tempers and bad connections. It
may continue for another day or two, I don't know.  The phone company
insists it shouldn't be happening now but it is.

> I'm sorry for using the list to get a hold of you Ron, but I was very
> embarrassed by how my friend was treated after I INSISTED he call you.

If you wanted to get a hold of me all you had to do was email
busdepot@email.com.  As I have said repeatedly, this address goes directly
to me.  I am not the least bit hard to reach by email.  It is completely
unneccessary to use the list to get a hold of me.

> Ron he needed all wheel cylinders, shoes, soft lines for a 65 kombi.
> Brian asked for part numbers, said he had no way of looking them up and
> he can't get them any way for over two weeks.

I'd be surprised if Brian said he could not look these items up.  Some of
the brake lines perhaps, but certainly not the shoes and wheel cylinders.
In fact I believe he did look up the German wheel cylinders, because he
asked me if they were in stock and I was the one who told him they'd be out
of stock for a few days.  Regarding the brake lines, some of them do take a
week or two as we do not stock them all.  Remember, we tell you to allow
7-10 working days for all orders except next-day-air etc. (which would be
unrealistically expensive on something like brake shoes, which are heavy but
not expensive).  If you need a part tomorrow, that's what the local NAPA is
for, although I doubt they can supply comparable quality for a comparable
price.  I have learned the hard way to quote people very conservative
delivery time frames.  If I tell someone delivery will take "a few days or a
week", you can bet money that three days later they are griping to the list
or one of my employees that I swore the part would be in their hand within a
few days.  I've told everybody at the shop to quote very conservatively.
I'd rather tell you two weeks and have the part show up in one, than the
other day around.

> The last three times I have called, I have been told that they can't find
"X" part that I need without
> a part number. I think they are trying to move away from reselling
dealership parts, which they
> probably don't make much profit on, and stick to their own specialized OEM
parts.

There's some truth to that.  My online database includes about 10,000 parts,
including the more commonly needed "dealer-only" ones.  If the part you need
isn't there, odds are it's not only dealer-only but also something I don't
get much call for.  It can take a long time to find a dealer-only part on
the fiche and then look up a price, and often it turns out the price is
ridiculously high anyway (thanks to a VW monopoly), and that's why nobody's
bought it from me before.  So as often as not, the guy who calls for prices
on off-the-wall dealer-only parts ends up not buying them anyway because he
doesn't like the price.  So we spend twenty minutes researching a part only
to have the person say thanks anyway and hang up, while meanwhile two people
with firm orders sat on hold.  Frankly, this is business I'd just as soon
give the dealer.  If I don't have it on file, but you have a part number,
I'll be happy to get it for you and save you maybe 10 or 15% off the
dealer's price.  And maybe you'll be lucky and it will turn out I can get it
aftermarket, so the discount might end up being 40 or 50 percent instead.  I
have a ton of dealer-only part numbers on the website now, along with my
prices, and will have more in my upcoming print catalog. But I just can't
sell at the minimal markups I sell at, and also pay an employee $5 worth of
salary to look up a part that I'll only make $3 or $4 on _if_ the person
buys it.  If I had to subsidize that, everybody else's prices would have to
go up in order to pay for the small minority who requests that service.

The fact is, the more people who look up the part numbers on my website (or
my upcoming print catalog, or the Rocky Mountain Motoreworks catalog, or off
their old part, or wherever) before they call, the cheaper everyone's parts
will be, because I can pay fewer people to do it on my end.  The more I have
to do for you, the more it costs you. Time is money.  Overhead is money.
Every single dollar I spend, whether it's on manpower, advertising, packing,
or anything else, is a dollar more I have to charge my customers in the end.
My goal is to get you best quality parts I can, at the lowest prices I can.
I'm not trying to match the customer service that your local dealer can give
you, because frankly if he were selling at my markup he couldn't do it
either.   If you want/need that level of customer service, go to the dealer
or your local FLAPS.  That's what he's there for.  If you want better deals,
come to me.  It's your hard-earned money and ultimately your choice.

On that note, within a week or two, I'll have a toll-free number.  This
number will be _strictly_ for my customers who order by part number.  The
people who man those lines will know nothing about VW parts, but they can
take your order if you know just what you want.  If you do the legwork and
look up the part numbers on the website or in the upcoming catalog, you'll
get to call on my dime. It's cheaper for me to pay for your phone call than
to pay someone to look up part numbers for you, particularly on part numbers
that are readily available  (which make up over 90% of our business).  So
this will be a win/win situation for people who do order by part number.
The rest can always use the regular long-distance number as before, which
will continue to be answered by people who can look up part numbers and
answer product questions.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  http://www.busdepot.com
  (215) 234-VWVW