Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 14:51:58 EDT
Reply-To: JKrevnov@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Problems with THE BUS DEPOT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 9/15/00 12:17:23 PM, colincarmichael@YAHOO.COM writes:
<< Has anyone else had problems with these? I called The
Bus Depot today and the are refusing to take them
back. >>
Colin,
The problem is not with the struts, it is with the Bus Depot. I have bought
stuff from them a half dozen times and EVERY item was sort of right but never
exactly. By their listing of the parts with what appear to be VW item
numbers, the impression is that these are equivalent to the original parts.
They are equivalent only in the manner that one pair of brown shoes is the
equivalent of another regardless of the size.
One particularly irksome purchase was a front wheel bearing kit for my
Syncro. Hopefully, someone can interpret this for me:
"Front Wheel Bearing & Seal Kit (contains bearings and seals for one wheel),
84-91 Vanagon Syncro, German!; Price-79.95; Retail-$91.99; Item-251 407 625K"
This is taken from the parts listings on the Bus Depot web site. Now, please
help me here, does the use of the word "seals" imply that more than ONE seal
is in the kit? Also, regarding the exclamation, German!, does that mean
these parts are made in Germany or is that a typo which should read
"germane"?
Because of my experience with the Parts Pla . . . I mean, Bus Depot and not
wanting to talk to some clueless newbie thereby risking the receipt of a
wrong part, I used the non-tollfree telephone number to order this item.
That way, I thought surely one of their crack experts would speed the correct
order on its way. Between thumbing her way through their catalogue and
saying," Hey, Ron...", the clueless newbie to whom I DID speak told me that
the bearings were, in fact, made in Germany and the kit included both inner
and outer wheel seals, a circlip and an axle nut. Since I had no reason to
think she was full of it (after all, remember she kept calling out,"Hey,
Ron...") I eventually tired of underwriting her training session with my
phone bill and placed the order.
Well, surprise, surprise! The kit had only ONE seal and the bearing is made
in Spain. Sure, the BOX said Germany and the Bust Depot did send me another
seal a few days later; what good is that? They also would have taken back
the bearing but, my van had been apart far longer than it should have, my
life was moving on and it was no time to seek out another vendor.
As far as hatch struts go, find a VW-particular parts store near you. It is
likely that they get parts from the same wholesale distributors as the Bus
Depot. Last week, I got a pair made by Sachs in GERMANY for $16 a piece. I
really do not like them since they seem to be the HD ones. Replacing only
one was more than enough to hold the hatch. I am starting to wonder how much
load that 8mm ball joint can tolerate.
Rich
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