Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 18:22:35 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: ?Where Do I Get Good Frt. Whl. Bearings?
In-Reply-To: <7c.1b278d48.28ca7319@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Tim suggested contacting the vendor and Eric said to return the junk
> to from where it came. I will attempt both.
It is generally considered appropriate to contact the vendor directly FIRST,
and then the list SECOND only if the vendor fails to make a reasonable
attempt to solve the problem, rather than the other way around. I think
virtually everyone on the list would concur with this, as it has been
repeated on this list many, many times.
> About a year ago, I replaced a front wheel bearing with the kit from,
> dare I say it, the BusDepot. When the parts arrived, the first sign of
trouble
> was that the kit lacked one of the seals. After a call to BusDepot and a
5 day delay,
> the missing seal was in my hands.
At that time, we had received a shipment of factory-sealed Febi kits that
were missing one seal. You were one of a couple of people who got one,
before we discovered the problem. (Since the boxes were factory sealed, we
had no way of knowing they had been shipped "short" until the first couple
of people reported it.) We quickly sent the additional seals to the people
who had not received them, and inspected the rest of the boxes.
> when I removed the protective wrap from the bearing to discover that
> it was made in frigging Spain, not Germany! Calling BusDepot again
> revealed that, unlike I was told, unlike what was proffered on their
> website, unlike for what I had paid, the bearings USED to be made in
> Germany, but now were coming from Spain. Of course, if I were not
> satisfied, I could return it for a refund or credit.
Unfortunately, this is a fact of life, with today's global economy. All of
the German manufacturers source from a number of countries, and indeed they
do periodically move manufacturing from one to another, either temporarily
or permanently. So while we do try to ship only top-name brands such as
Febi, SKF, and FAG, it is simply impossible to predict when even a German
company may change sourcing on a particular part (as was the case in this
example, where Febi put a Spanish bearing in a box marked Germany). Neither
Febi, SKF, FAG, or Volkswagen themselves source 100% of their bearings from
Germany anymore.
Frankly the only way to be absolutely positive that the bearing you get is
actually made in Germany, will probably be to buy it locally and literally
open the box and read the writing on the bearing before you pay for it (and
be prepared to try again somewhere else if it is not). Even if you get a
mail-order dealer to look at one for you, this doesn't neccessarily ensure
that the one that ends up in your order will also be German, unless they are
so small a vendor that they only stock one or two (and therefore can be sure
that the one they look at is the one that will be picked out of the bin when
they assemble your particular order.)
And even if it is made in Germany, this will not neccessarily mean that it
is any different quality from one made in another factory. You're dealing
with name brands here, and generally the quality is quite good regardless.
On the other hand, even German products can be defective sometimes; to wit,
we just sent back a bad batch of coolant tanks - made in Germany.
> The bearing has been chirpping from time to time for the past
> 3 months. At first, I thought it had to be a hinky caliper hanging up
> once in a while because it just couldn't be the new bearing. Guess
> what? There is now enough wobble in the bearing to prove it to be
> junk.
This will be the first one I have EVER taken back, out of many, many sold,
so your experience is FAR from usual. As you may be aware, a number of
factors can lead to premature bearing failure, such as improper installation
or use of excess grease. You could call Febi's product "junk" in an email
to 1000 people, as you have, or, conversely, I could perhaps question the
quality of your installation, but I think that either would be equally
rash. And neither would serve the purpose of resolving the problem at hand.
So, the bottom line is, regardless of the cause, if it has been less than
one year we will be happy to exchange the part under warranty. So that you
don't have to be "bearingless" in the meantime, I can sell you a
replacement, and then refund you (minus shipping) upon return of the
defective one in the box from the new one. Just let me know if that's what
you want me to do.
See, wasn't that easy? This could have been handled very easily off-list to
begin with.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
(215) 234-VWVW
www.busdepot.com
_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders Only: 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
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