I ordered a rear main seal from TA last Tuesday. The lady on the phone told me it would be shipped UPS 2 day ground. So I check Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Still no seal. After not seeing it on Monday I decide to call and the say since I live in CA, they shipped it regular mail and to give it another day. A little irritated at this point, I give them another day. I rush home today to check the mailbox, still no f'in seal:af: ! I call them back trying to get an answer, they tell me there is nothing they can do. I offer to buy another seal, if they would pay for overnight shipping. THey wouldn't do it. THey said that I should have asked for 2 day shipping. I say, "you told me it would be 2 day." They basically say, "Go pound sand." So here I am week later, the Wag is incapacitated in the driveway, no seal and no idea when it will get here. I was just asking for a little customer service, especially for a new customer. I guess when the motor goes in the old girl it's gonna be replaced by a bow tie.
I know what you're going through. I went and ordered an electric water pump from TA and I was told they have to fill out an order of so many waterpumps before they receive them. The worst part is that TA has no idea when they'll receive the item, so I might have to wait a year for all I know. Well, I called Summit and to my surprise the guy called Meziere and told me it would be a week and a half wait till they would be able to get one. Now, I know people must be waiting longer than that for TA to get electric waterpumps in and Summit went out of there way to individually serve me as they appreciate my business. Not every parts seller will go call the manufacturer to see how long a part will take to come in like Summit. It's pretty bad when a parts seller that doesn't specialize in Buicks can get parts in faster than a company that does.
It all has to do with volume business transactions. TA is a relatively small operation when you compare them to someone like Summit. OF COURSE Summit can get it quicker, they've got a hell of a lot more pull with a mfgr than a little 'ole Buick supplier... A mfgr will give someone like Summit a huge discount any time of year in most any quantity, while TA likely needs to take orders to add up to make it feasible to place the mfgr's required minimum order qty. I have first hand experience with such a situation. We are a relatively small Ag distributor, selling mostly in a 3 state region, though we do ship nationwide. Locally, we have to compete with a couple of huge nationwide chain hardware stores, that frequently will advertise some of the same products that we sell to the Ag market, both to dealers and end users. They often are advertising sales prices that are only about $5 above our COST on a $400-$500 item! How can we compete with that?
snail mail your problem may just be plain old snail mail . twice i have mailed letters to california from detroit and it has taken 10 calendar days to arrive . go figure ..
Alex, When you ordered your part, get the tracking id number. That way there is no way of any BS to start. Dave, Welcome to the world of large volume, low margin business. This is the same philosophy that Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart use. You just can not compete on price when those firms are buying 30-50 tractor trailers full of a particular item and you are buying a pick-up truck full. You will never, ever compete on price. You better have great service to make the sale! Good Luck!
I guess I will just always have to get the name of the person helping me and demand tracking #'s on everything. I just figure that if they tell me it's going UPS that's the it will be sent. I checked their website and it states that ALL orders are shipped UPS. ANd when they screw up, by putting it snail mail, and I offer to buy a new one, the least they can do is foot the bill to get it to me next day. I don't think that is too much to ask.
Alex, if you haven't already, you should talk to Dave or Mike at TA and explain the situation. They have been very good to deal with for many of us. Dave is also a member on this board.
Its been over a week and still no part. I was really hoping it would be there today when I got home. I guess I'll take my business elsewhere. I'll send the TA part back and let them deal with my credit card company for payment. I've got one lines up elsewhere and their going to get it to me overnight.
