Parts

I ordered a bucketload of parts from 3 different vendors two weeks ago Monday. This is for my 64 Riviera.

A transmission filler tube and chrome coil from Jegs was shipped the same day as ordering and came 2 days later.

I got email with a tracking number.

Rubber A Arm covers from Rubber the Right Way was shipped a day later and while some of the parts we back ordered, they are keeping me up to date via email.

A Washer bottle and other parts were ordered from another vendor and not a word. No tracking number, no parts have arrived. My card was charged the same day and I think it has shipped because there was an 8 dollar charge on my card 2 days ago.

Why cant all vendors provide tracking numbers and be able to ship in a reasonable amount of time ? Thats not asking too much is it ? You areable to charge my card quickly, you have my email address because I get mail from you.

Is it asking too much to give basic customer service ?

Nice timing, Bill. The vendor was fine. Look what the USPS did when they got it in their hands for 6 days:

Its the corn syrup in the breakfast cereal.

Bernie

Looks like it went from Rhode Island to Houston, then back to NY. That's crazy.

Three days each way.

I think they are connected with the same guvermint that would like to charge to sniff my tailpipe for emissions. What's the carbon footprint for that little jaunt?

Oh, what's that saying from the '60's?...........Duh.

They also "lost" one of four individually boxed 1933 Essex brake drums during a 12 day stay at a Pennsylvania distribution center. Maybe they swept it up with shredded letters from the sorting machine.

Bernie

The United States Postal Service is without any doubt one of the most mismanaged organizations on the face of the planet. I recently sent a small package to Des Moines, Iowa. Instead of going to Kansas City and on up to Iowa, OH NO, it had to go South to Dallas. What a bunch of idiots. And folks wonder why they operate under a billion or so dollar deficit. I never miss a chance to tell these bozos at the local post office window that when the day comes that UPS starts taking letters that's where I'm going. Mr. Stoneberg, in the future when you order anything from anybody, YOU tell THEM how YOU want it shipped to you. This is your right - after all you are paying for it. Been there done that. Who was that person who said "I feel your pain?"

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

Its not who is shipping the package, its the vendor who took a week and a 1/2 to fill my order and send it out the door that I have issues with.

When you can get almost anything you want from Amazon in 2 days, why do they take so long ?

I dont care how it is shipped after that as they are all similar. UPS will let it sit in a truck someplace cause they do do anything on the weekends.

Obviously USPS has its issues too. But a parts vendor who lets your order sit for 7 or 8 working days needs to hire some more help to get his product out the door.

Terry, I somewhat concur with the "mismanagement" comment. Carbon Footprint for the "extended trip"? Probably nil as there were other items on that "route", too, not just that one item.

Not to disparage the smaller (in reality) vendors, but they might not be set up with a "freight consolidator wholesaler" for shipping. That means their actual cost to ship is less than for "normal people". Such vendors probably just make their shipping labels and take the package to the shipper's locale, rather than building the labels in the particular shipper's website (even USPS has this now!), which generates the tracking number "right then". Probably don't have a software program to interface the tracking number with an email client?

Perhaps a rule of thumb might be to not do business with a vendor that can't/won't send tracking numbers in a "It's shipped . . . " email to the purchaser?

Obviously, as in other businesses . . . "Customer Service" is delivered as the vendor desires, not delivered to the level of execution which the customer might desire, by observation, in this post-2008 economy.

Just some thoughts . . .

NTX5467

NEWS.. I got an email with a tracking number from the vendor last night saying he has shipped my product. ONLY 10 business days after I ordered it. And they wonder why they are the vendor of last choice for me. Its coming Priority mail as they said they know how much I need my parts. Thank goodness my car isn't seriously broken someplace far from home.

Makes sense . . . no shipment, no tracking number.

ALSO, signals I see are that they are the only ones with that part (which they know) and had to get it from a vendor (for them) as it was not in stock. Which brings up another issue . . . "Do we tell the customer of the fact that we're getting the part or wait to advise the shipment when we get the part?" lest the customer do research to see where WE get the part and purchase it direct (if possible)? Depending upon when they that vendor charged the credit card might indicate if THEY wanted the money in hand before THEY ordered the part in the first place (several different orientations for this action).

About 15 years ago, I needed some new KONI shocks for my Camaro. I got a sports car-oriented magazine and made some calls. When the rep told me they didn't have them in stock, that it would take (a while) to get them, that told me they would order the shocks from their supplier and have them drop-shipped to me. When I found a place that said "We have them in stock, we can ship them on ______", then I got out the credit card and we did business. If it had been some niche vehicle, then I might have understood and not continued my search, but to me, this indicates the difference between a "broker" and a "vendor/supplier" . . . which might or might not have been the case with Mr. Stoneberg's item.

The non-communication, up front, might also indicate a certain degree of paranoia on the vendor's part, that the customer will call and cancel anything that might backorder, BUT if other vendors don't offer that particular part, such paranoia of losing the sale might be decreased. Perhaps, a more pro-active approach might be for the customer to check with the vendor, to "touch base" to "check status" of their order a few days after submission. This way, it's the customer who's "driving that train" rather than the vendor? NOT via email, but with a phone call (which can have variable results, give the customer some "signals" as to how the call is treated, AND give the vendor a chance to have a good customer contact, which can possibly increase customer confidence in the vendor . . . not possible with an email exchange).

This can also get into a "inventory control" issue too, for the vendor. Plus indicate if it's a part they "issue an order to build" as needed rather than investing in keeping a few on the shelf, otherwise. This can open a whole new case of worms, too.

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

I'm guessing that it's those obnoxious New Jersey boys again...

NO, NO, I am thinking, SEQUIN, TX. hehe.....

Just kidding, having fun, FUN IS GOOD!

Dale in Indy

Bill,

Your lucky you don't live in Australia.

We pay exorbitant postage rates, generally priority post as deemed necessary by eBay and then still wait 4 or 5 weeks for the package to arrive.

I have noticed some USPS Priority Post packages are delivered via FedEx. They invariably travel from anywhere in the USA to a FEDEX facility I think Florida, then to Alaska, then to Shanghai China, then to Singapore and on down to Perth Western Australia. THIS TENDS TO BE THE FAST ROUTE!!

If you want a really good package delivery story ask Mr Earl about one I sent him from within the USA last year. Not all their fault ( I put the wrong address on it ) but Mr Earl tracked it down by the tracking number and they wouldn't deliver it to him.

USPS and FedEx have been sharing some delivery items for several years now. General with the USPS being the "last mile" deliverer, as I understand it.

USPS and UPS each have their own rules and such, which must NOT be altered or violated. About 10 years ago, I ordered two items from a small dealer in MI. Our dealership street address is a 4-digit number, but the guy at the dealership omitted one of the center digits. When the driver tried to deliver to that shortened address, there was nothing there, so it went back to the sender in MI. Sad thing is that the driver drove PAST the dealership both times, not keying on the recipient's name, just the noted street address. After I hadn't seen the parts about a week later, he seemed a little miffed that he'd gotten them back, until I verified the shipping address and also said "I still want them and will pay any freight charges incurred with the first failed shipment". I had the parts, at the correct address, a few days later. Sometimes, doing things "by the book" can cause more problems than otherwise . . . like getting a supervisor involved before spending money and time to "return to sender/ undeliverable" when the fix would be easy to make happen.

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

Bill,

Your lucky you don't live in Australia.

We pay exorbitant postage rates, generally priority post as deemed necessary by eBay and then still wait 4 or 5 weeks for the package to arrive.

I have noticed some USPS Priority Post packages are delivered via FedEx. They invariably travel from anywhere in the USA to a FEDEX facility I think Florida, then to Alaska, then to Shanghai China, then to Singapore and on down to Perth Western Australia. THIS TENDS TO BE THE FAST ROUTE!!

If you want a really good package delivery story ask Mr Earl about one I sent him from within the USA last year. Not all their fault ( I put the wrong address on it ) but Mr Earl tracked it down by the tracking number and they wouldn't deliver it to him.

I agree that costs for shipping to Australia has become a real problem.

I guess I have been lucky with shipping as I haven't had any long delays (except for one from NJ).

The average time with USPS has been 7 days and FedEx 5 days or less.

I once ordered a part from Jegs and it arrived at my doorstep in Kilmore Australia in 2 days via Fedex!!

A big problem for us here is that US suppliers tend to ship a small part in a large box and fill up the space with packing material. It adds to our cost big time especially if they don't utilize USPS flat rate boxes.

FINALLY, the parts were at my door yesterday when I got home. Lets see, I ordered the morning of the 3rd, my credit card was charged accordingly the same day. October the 10th they shipped Priority Mail from NewJersey to Texas and I got it on the 16th.

I will buy JUST ONCE from any that charge and DON'T ship that day.

Let's see, 6-days in transit, one would think it would have been, a day to get to the airport, a few hours to fly, a day to sort, and a day to deliver. That's 3-4 days, as I see it. But WHO AM I?

Dale in Indy

I agree about vendors who charge you and then **** 7 days later. But, there are items from this vendor I cant find elsewhere unfortunatly. Thats the ONLY reason I deal with them.

If there's a tracking number, you can see where it was and WHEN and HOW LONG . . . on that "leisurely" journey. With some shippers, if their "standard of service" is not met, for what was paid for, they refund the difference between what it normally would have been?

On the box size subject . . . one reason for the "oversize box" is that, as I was told many decades ago, it's harder for a big box to get lost than a smaller one. With the more modern automated "knocker"/pusher style of sort machines on the conveyor belt, having that larger box can be a plus . . . provided the box size does not meet the criteria for "oversize" with the shipper.

Just some thoughts . . .

NTX5467

Earlier this year, I sent a package to Canada, via USPS.

The package left Birmingham Alabama. Went SOUTH to Miami Florida. Spent three days in customs. Then north to Canada

I'd rather get something through USPS / Canada Post than UPS or Fedex as they charge exorbitant fees for clearing through customs.

I'd rather get something through USPS / Canada Post than UPS or Fedex as they charge exorbitant fees for clearing through customs.

I have been told this fact many times by my ebay customers and some of the racing stuff I sold to canada . Described as hostage package .

Bill,

Your lucky you don't live in Australia.

We pay exorbitant postage rates, generally priority post as deemed necessary by eBay and then still wait 4 or 5 weeks for the package to arrive.

I have noticed some USPS Priority Post packages are delivered via FedEx. They invariably travel from anywhere in the USA to a FEDEX facility I think Florida, then to Alaska, then to Shanghai China, then to Singapore and on down to Perth Western Australia. THIS TENDS TO BE THE FAST ROUTE!!

If you want a really good package delivery story ask Mr Earl about one I sent him from within the USA last year. Not all their fault ( I put the wrong address on it ) but Mr Earl tracked it down by the tracking number and they wouldn't deliver it to him.

I have sent maybe 20 things to Australia heaviest a 9" ford ring and pinion with pinion support , was asked to make it work in a usps mailing box because that way it has true tracking #'s . This was 6 years ago , now the flate rate boxes have gone up in price (again) getting time to start making boxes again here in US .

I used a UPS store to ship one of the small sized porcelain Mobil Pegasus signs. I packaged it well. The drop off point told me I had to pay an extra fee because it would have to be hand carried around the automatic processing "machine". It arrived at the buyers location with the wing folded over from getting caught in the "machine" and the porcelain ruined.

I refunded the costs and had it shipped back to me. According to UPS anything I just wrote is a fantasy and I made it all up in my head. Maybe they are right. I never have been able to find my way back to their store.

Do you think any upper level management at the USPS or UPS has an old car? I wonder if they got back from Hershey yet.

Bernie