Parts yard

[dlcoop]

I do not know if this is allowed here, but here goes. This is a rant on a wrecking yard. I had the misfortune of dealing with a place called Billions & Trillions in Oklahoma. After calling and ordering a hard to find part, I waited for 2 weeks for delivery. When I called about my order I was informed that the studs broke off upon removal and that they were sent in for repair. Was told it would take about 2 weeks.  I called today to check and now was informed that they were never sent in for repair. I was also informed that my money was refunded 3 weeks ago.  (that is O.K. by me)  My rant is there was never a return call to inform me.  I am just wondering if they are in business to sell parts what ever happened to customer service. The person was very rude and obnoxious. Makes me wonder how they even stay in business. Now I will have to spend more time researching for the part I need. I found the part from someone else, but was priced way out of affordability. 

 

That's my rant and I'm sticking to it

[NTX5467]

Seems like the two different explanations were from different operatives?  Not sure which one might be correct.  In many cases, if the studs had broken off, they wouldn't "send it out for repair", they would have chunked it in the pile and looked for another one instead.  OR they could have shipped that part to you, then let YOU get the repairs done at your expense.  IF you didn't like that, then it would have been return shipping on your dime and then you wait for a refund.  That they did refund your money is good, just that they offered no explanation about that.  Gets back to "communication", it seems. 

 

I will concur that "rudeness" to a customer is not good, but then you (on the other end of the phone line) have NO idea what they might have been dealing with on their side of things (stresses involved), with your phone call happening to the situation at that point in time -- two sides of things, as always.  Not everybody has been schooled in good customer relations.  IF that representative is already in a stressful situation, then a disgruntled (or worse) customer calls, to add to the mix, "tripping points" might be reached, unfortunately. 

 

Perhaps there was another employee that didn't do what they were supposed to do, which caused this whole situation?  That the parts puller might have used better tools to do the removal, costing the company that sale?  Then tried to cover it up, knowing that it would pop up again later?  Not good for anybody, especially some place that relies on volume to make money.  

 

What many of these people don't fully understand, even IF they are the only source for the desired part, is "Customers have options" and can/will exercise them if desired.  The other thing is "Don't make somebody mad who's wanting to give you money."

 

What type of part were you seeking?

 

NTX5467

[dlcoop]

The wildcat emblems for my 64.  Mount on the roof sides.

[SpecialEducation]

I’ve rarely found that salvage yards and customer service belong in the same sentence together. There are exceptions, but especially when dealing with rare parts, they seem to know they don’t have to try, because it’s not like you can just visit the competition across the street & get the same thing. 

 

I recently bought a “large console” out of a ‘94 Roady from a self service yard that was clearly an armrest, not a console. Menu price for a large console was about double that of an armrest. I would have let them keep it, if this hadn’t been the first one I’d seen in years that wasn’t broken. 

[NTX5467]

Salvage yards and used car lots are in similar situations.  You can't always cross-shop as there are few "identical" items elsewhere.  Similar, but not identical.  So, if it's what you want, possibly some negotiations, but probably not much price reduction.  It's "their game", typically.  Unlike a used car lot, though, prices can be more variable.  Their "menu price" helps keep things more consistent, though.

 

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[NTX5467]

Re-checking the desired items in this whole deal, the C-pillar emblems, most of them were installed with retainers that grabbed onto the cast-in studs for retention.  Even for people who knew how to remove them, back then, there was the possibility that they might break off when removed.  Kind of a "one way" situation . . . works for installation, not sure about removal later.  So, some communication from the yard to the customer would have been needed.  Pictures could have been emailed, too.  But that would have taken time and effort to make happen by a person that was probably being paid hourly and needed to "make progress" in order to ensure the daily profits for the business.  Having somebody that might be able to do that might be an issue too, other than an employee that would do it for the company.

 

Considering how those emblems are retained to the vehicle, the question would become  "Would the customer have been able to use them with the studs broken, using another retention method?"

 

Unfortunately, many higher volume Internet-aided businesses seem to need just the easy sales they can make happen.  If it doesn't work, refund the money and move on?  Having to do better customer service activities can complicate their production schedule, sometimes.

 

I know that many vintage car owners seek to order "an exterior trim ornament".  All they might see of know about is what they see on the outside of the car.  No knowledge of how it might attach to the vehicle.  Those push-in clips were used almost universally by everybody in the industry, for decades.  But unless you've investigated how to remove them, many might not understand how it all works OR that removal might be difficult and break the studs on the back of the item, if not break the item itself, when removal is attempted.

 

Thank goodness we now have "molding tape"!

 

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[dmfconsult]

There is quite an extensive thread on these guys over on V8Buick.   You will find some of the content offensive (in a "I want to burn my eyes" way), so proceed at your own risk! 

http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/anyone-have-reviews-on-billions-and-trillions-inc-located-in-tulsa-oklahoma.328108/

[Beemon]

2 hours ago, dmfconsult said:

There is quite an extensive thread on these guys over on V8Buick.   You will find some of the content offensive (in a "I want to burn my eyes" way), so proceed at your own risk! 

http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/anyone-have-reviews-on-billions-and-trillions-inc-located-in-tulsa-oklahoma.328108/

 

If you're from the Seattle area, it's nothing you won't be used to.

[NTX5467]

Not reading the linked item, the general problem is that we generally have to rely upon salvage yard vendors for parts.  And, they are usually not in our immediate region.  So we can be their "pawns" of sorts, at their mercy, etc. to get the parts we might need.  Finding the "good ones" is trial and error as each of us can have different orientations and tolerances in what we get and whom we deal with to get it.  As with the local auto supply vendors, building a good relationship always works best, if possible.  In many cases, few of us would have enough volume to really gain their attention in the short or medium term, so our desired "valued customer" status might take a while to establish.

 

Many customer relations programs advocate treating a first-time customer as a valued customer to start with, then continue to do so as things progress.  But, there are some segments of the auto parts industry that haven't gotten "that memo".  They possibly perceive they've got enough business that they might not need to take the extra effort (compared to "no effort") to motivate the customer to "come back next time" by how they act toward the customer.  Yet, refunding payment for a part that couldn't be delivered is something that some kind of forget to do, unless asked about such.  Be that as it may.  In general, such higher-level things only take seconds to orchestrate and it takes the same amount of  time to talk nice to a customer  as it does to make them mad.  So, in many ways, not that much extra time taken to keep a potential future customer as to do otherwise, ONCE you learn how to do it.

 

The other thing is that many providers tend to key on the attitude of the customers before them.  As with any "argument", once one side raises their voice and makes certain statements, the other side will do similar.  Sometimes, having very low expectations of things can keep this from happening.  When they provide you with a nicer part, be sure to thank them and smile (if you're on-site)!  When you prove you're not going to be one of those "troublesome customers", I've noticed that things work better, on both sides of things.  My theory is that as the providers also have expectations of how they might prefer to be treated by others, if their head is in the right place, they'll realize how you might feel negative about the poorly-done situation.  Then, they might seek to make some amends, if they can.  

 

In the case of the original post, the first inquiry might have resulted in a person reading what was on a computer screen, then not knowing what the part was that the studs got broken off of, might have suspected it was a part with replaceable studs, hence the "sent out for repair" reply.  Second inquiry would have yielded the "refund made on _____ due to broken studs" reply.  In each case, they were reading what was on the computer screen for the particular customer's order.  Such tracking information is very good, but if interpreted incorrectly, might not be good.  Be that as it may.

 

On their side of things, they were doing "good customer service" by relaying the information on the order.  That the two inquiries yielded different information to the customer is the issue, to me.  Perhaps information hadn't been fully updated when the first inquiry was made?  Not sure.  So, "good customer service" can depend upon what side of the counter one might be on AND their ultimate expectations of how things can be.  Dispute resolution can play a part, too, in some cases.  Which gets to "It's not that you made a mistake, but how it's dealt with a fixed."

 

I also know that as we age, our tolerance for "poor situations made worse" seems to diminish.  We get our hearts set on something and when it doesn't happen, we get mad and voices can tend to be raised, as "oil pressure" also can elevate.  Later, we might wonder why we were so fixated on that particular thing, although it might have been justified at the time, when there were others who might have similar things in better shape . . . and possibly with "better prices for better parts".  As the old saying goes, "When one door slams shut in your face, others will open."  Knowing that your initial desires might "kaput", for whatever reason, then when they do, a disappointment, but one that was kind of expected.d

 

Sometimes, it's best to have "low or no" expectations, then be happily surprised when what happens is at least what you might have hoped to happen, thanking those that made it happen.

 

When that first door slams shut, be resilient enough to look for other ways to achieve what you desired.  That might be a different route to get there, but it can be more fun and better in the long run.

 

Happy Trails!

NTX5467

[JohnD1956]

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 6:35 PM, dmfconsult said:

There is quite an extensive thread on these guys over on V8Buick.   You will find some of the content offensive (in a "I want to burn my eyes" way), so proceed at your own risk! 

http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/anyone-have-reviews-on-billions-and-trillions-inc-located-in-tulsa-oklahoma.328108/

 

Thanks Doug.  I deleted my post just in case anyone may possibly think I remotely supported this operation.