Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:00:36 -0800
Reply-To: Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Subject: Re: Problems with shipping, vendor
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0607101937460.21962@kenneke.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Jon,
I sympathize with you on poor service from vendors. All items being shipped and especially fragile items like radiators need to be over packed to protect them from shipping damage. Working in a dealership I see freight every day and it is a wonder that more of it is not damaged on arrival.
I personally have never had a freight damage issue with my vanagon parts orders, my issue has been with one vendors policies on shipping. Earlier this year I placed orders on the same day with two different vendors and requested to use my own UPS account number, one said sure no problem. The other first said it was against their owners policy then when asked to confirm this reported that their computer system would not allow them to do this. I cancelled said order and have not placed an order with them since. There is no legitimate reason that I can think of for them to not allow me to use my UPS account number and as long as there are vendors that will allow it I plan on making my purchases elsewhere.
The vendor that I did purchase from had the order to me within a few days which is perfectly acceptable considering my needs at the time and the distance involved.
Mark in AK
Assistant Parts Manager
Continental Auto LLC
----- Original Message -----
From: jon <jon@KENNEKE.COM>
Date: Monday, July 10, 2006 7:04 pm
Subject: Problems with shipping, vendor
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Pardon my bad attitude, but I've got to vent about a recent VW
> parts vendor transaction. Yes, I am more than a bit irritated.
> But, this
> is more about my stupidity than bashing this unnamed vendor.
>
> Recently, the radiator in my van developed a leak. So, I ordered a new
> one. I placed the order on June 23rd, and contacted the vendor on July
> 7th inquiring about the status. They informed me it was shipped
> prioritymail on the 6th. I suppose this falls into the "7 to 10
> *business*days" for shipping policy.
>
> To my surprise, I received the radiator today (July 10th). So, 17
> days to
> receive the item...slow, annoying, but could be worse. I had a
> transactionwith this same vendor that took around a month to
> complete this winter. I
> had only received part of an order, and kept waiting and waiting.
> Finallycontacted them, and was told "ooops, we forget". (Yes, I
> should have
> learned then to go somewhere else). On with the story.....
>
> After installing the radiator, I noticed a hole in it, and another
> dentnext to it (yes, I should have inspected it before
> installation). A lot of
> work, and $$$ for a piece of junk.
>
> My immediate response was "$#@$#@@$#, how did I do that?". Well, I
> didn't.
> I still had the box that it was shipped it, and found two holes in
> the box
> corresponding to the hole and dent in the radiator. The radiator was
> poorly packed (those things are fragile, and only newspaper!!!???
> Heck,Harbor Freight packs better than that) with only a cardboard
> box and
> newspaper. This vendor has a reputation (and my experience) with poor
> packing.
>
> Since it clearly is not my fault the radiator was 1) poorly packed
> and 2)
> damaged in shipment, I feel it's up to the vendor to make this
> right. Of
> course, I have contacted them about this. In all fairness, I will
> reportthe outcome of this, good or bad.
>
> I had yet another transaction with that vendor where they came
> back and
> said "ooops, the price on the item went up, do you want to split the
> difference?". I did, but I would expect advertised prices to be
> honored.
> Ok, I feel a bit better. Still have a broken van, though.
>
> Jon
>
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