Ok, I ordered some parts for the CRX Tuesday night (12/28).

Parts ordered: Water Pump, Water Pump Gasket, Timing Belt, and thermostat.

I was concerned about them arriving on time for the car to be worked on over the holiday weekend, so I chose to have them 2 day Fedex'ed, as it was the fastest option. They didn't arrive Thursday, Friday was a holiday, then they obviously weren't going to come in over the weekend.

I called the company today, and was told that they hadn't shipped yet, that they were "on the conveyor belt, will ship today". I was a bit ticked off, but didn't get angry to the guy on the phone. I told him I was a bit upset that the parts weren't shipped the next business day (12/29) and he said one of the parts had to come from Honda. Basically at that point he shut down, wouldn't respond to my suggestion that I be refunded my $$$ for express shipping; his only response was to ask if I wanted to cancel the order.

Am I justified in being a bit hot about this, or am I expecting too much?

 

They should have no qualms about changing the shipping, considering they haven't shipped anything yet...no?

 

that's why i deal with LEN.....len gets me my parts!!! period!

 

let me guess... majestic honda?

 

Speaking of Friday being a holiday.

Ground Control shipped out our AD's 2-day delivery for Friday. UPS was open and their air packages were being delivered. Our driver arbitrality decided though that the shop was closed and didn't even bother dropping them off. No note, nothing. Bastard!

Called this morning and they refunded the $50 shipping charges at least.

-Tom

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RacerBowie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">am I expecting too much? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't think so. I buy my BMW repair parts from a guy in New Jersey. He sends them UPS ground and I get them the next day in Maryland. Why should it take any longer? Joisy is 3 hr drive from where I live.

I think you need to find another supplier.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RacerBowie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Am I justified in being a bit hot about this, or am I expecting too much? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, your expectations are a little optimistic. This weekend was a holiday, most companies are closed 1 or 2 days, with 99% of them closed on Friday the 29th. When you select 2-day shipping on some web site, it does not mean you will receive your items 48hrs from the time you press the submit button, but that they will pay FedEx/UPS/etc to deliver your package with 2-day service. Considering the fact that you placed your order the night before a holiday weekend and they had to get parts from Honda (over a holiday weekend) and still managed to ship your order today, is very commendable and probably the fastest they could get your order turned around without a time machine.

Now, the attitude of the guy may be a little off, he should at least offer to ship your items regular ground since they have not already shipped. Though he may not have taken a liking to you if you called up with some bad attitude.

I have managed several e-commerce sites and here is my advice.
* Understand that 2-day air does not mean delivery in 48hrs after you push submit
* Check the web site info for they published turn around time
* Call them to make sure stuff will ship when you think
* Factor in holidays. Transit times for delivery companies are in business days, not calendar days.

 

I agree with SPiFF,

If you expect it to ship the next business day, and they don't have it written anywhere on the website that they ship orders the next business day, then don't expect it. Especially if you just fill out the online form and submit the purchase.

First, if you order it Tues night, don't expect it to ship the next day even if they say "we ship next business day" since they wont even be able to process it until the morning.

If you want parts fast, I always:

1) Source it locally
2) Call them on the phone and find out when it will ship.

If you read the fine print, it may say that order processing might take 1-2 days.

 

Any online parts house worth their salt should have the ability to tell you if they have the parts you want and when it will ship. 2-day shipping isn't usually a problem, but if they don't ship out for a week because of a back-order, that doesn't help you.

Always try to talk to someone on the phone instead of using a web site to order stuff. That way you can ask if it's in stock and when it'll ship. If you know beforehand what to expect, it saves everyone headaches.

$.02

 

Ok, so it sounds like I was being a bit optimistic about when the parts would come in.

I was assuming that the parts I needed were normal enough that they would have them in stock, and they would ship the next day. Even with that ***-u-mption I knew I was pushing it a bit. I guess what bugged me was no notice from them (Majestic, by the way) that the parts were not in stock and it would take longer.

I do feel like I should have been handled better on the phone, as I remained polite throughout the conversation, and was not confrontational, nor did I have any attitude even when he blew off my suggestion that I not get charged for 2-day shipping.

Thanks for the replies, guys. In the future I will, of course, try to plan farther ahead, and modify my expectations. That said, Majestic has lost a customer due to the way I was handled on the phone. I am sure they do enough business not to care, but I will take my money elsewhere. I guess I just get such good service for anything to do with the race car that I have gotten spoiled.

 

I've gotta plug Trussville Mazda's Parts dept. (www.trussvillemazda.com) here.
Excellent service, great prices on OEM Mazda parts, and turn around time to Atlanta that will make your head spin.
I ordered a clutch kit, rear seal, front seal, gaskets, bushings, and shift boots at 3pm Thursday before Christmas, and it was on my door 10am Friday (next day) and that was UPS ground. (free shipping was a "Christmas present")

Of course, that meant that I was under the car changing the f$%ing clutch all weekend.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
When you select 2-day shipping on some web site, it does not mean you will receive your items 48hrs from the time you press the submit button, but that they will pay FedEx/UPS/etc to deliver your package with 2-day service.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree with this, but I don't believe most consumers think of it like that. I order a lot of stuff online, but rarely have to use rush/2-day shipping. What I do like is that most of the vendors I deal with will give an estimation of when the items will leave their location, even if it's just a blanket statement like "all orders processed within 48 hours." In my experience, almost all of them beat their estimations.

As a purchaser (and hopefully soon a retailer), I will be sure to keep my eyes open for that, or at least ask if I call in an order.

 

I'm with johng on this one. With the technology available, I expect items to ship same-or-next-day unless told otherwise. In this case, items ordered on a Tues night, shipped Wednesday AM, and arriving on Friday.

Holiday season always brings delays. Any company with half a brain places disclaimers all over their site. No warnings posted - I still expect service-as-normal.

And I really f--king hate when delivery guys decide to skip my house or office because it's inconvenient. They get paid a good union wage to deliver stuff on time and in good condition - anything less is just crap.

 

I ordered my dad something for his Vette from Eckler's on Monday before Xmas. They charged a $3.50 RUSH fee that guaranteed the product got shipped same day, otherwise it was a first-come, first-shipped process. Not sure if it was a hype charge but my product showed up 48 hours later (FL-NC) via UPS Ground.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> In this case, items ordered on a Tues night, shipped Wednesday AM, and arriving on Friday. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haven't done much online shopping huh? I think you will find this to be very rare.

 

This becomes an in-stock question and my sense is that if we shop based solely on price, we often end up with the retailer who keeps prices low by not stocking anything.

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Haven't done much online shopping huh? I think you will find this to be very rare.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Righto .. (though the web sites I manage run like this, but logistically it is hard to pull off.)

In this case, think about Majestic Honda, they are probably your avg Honda dealer with an avg parts dept. Since they do online parts sales, they may have more parts then others, but I wouldn't hold them to it.

Now you can order any super widget for any model year Honda sold in the US from their site. To think that they can ship any random parts the next day from an order placed overnight is asking for a little too much. Maybe if they were local to a Honda parts distro (like Acura Carland is) it might be possible.

As for common parts, how old is that CRX now? 15+ years old. Out of production for 10+ years.

Looking at their site, they are lacking a bit though. They don't say how long it takes order to ship or when order cut off time is. This alone would make me call them if I needed something in a hurry.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Haven't done much online shopping huh? I think you will find this to be very rare.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Blue Nile (jewelry) gives accurate estimates. They even beat estimates one week prior to the holidays.

Vulcan Tire gives accurate estimates. Mid-autumn shipment to residential address was on time.

Amazon explicitly states 1-2 business days for normal items to ship and lists back-ordered/out-of-stock items. LLBean is similar. Both regularly beat the 1-2 day estimate for leaving the warehouse.

Short of an estimate/disclaimer indicating otherwise, I expect shipment to be same or next day. As I said previously, with the technology available today, it is inexcusable for a company to be unable to provide accurate inventory status.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Short of an estimate/disclaimer indicating otherwise, I expect shipment to be same or next day. As I said previously, with the technology available today, it is inexcusable for a company to be unable to provide accurate inventory status.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Even though some can do it, I would never expect it unless its a well organized and well financed company.

To me, just having good communication is the key. Always keeping the customer informed and not misleading them.

I have purchased from many places and some process and ship quickly and others are real slow and have taken up to a week to ship.

Heck, Dell which has such a huge database and enough computers to do whatever the hell they want wont ship your order in less than two days, from my experience from doing several purchases from them.

 

We try to get orders out within 2 days, but it`s never guaranteed. You never know when you`ll get slammed, computers will go down, multiple people call in sick on the same day, etc etc.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
In this case, think about Majestic Honda, they are probably your avg Honda dealer with an avg parts dept. Since they do online parts sales, they may have more parts then others, but I wouldn't hold them to it.

Now you can order any super widget for any model year Honda sold in the US from their site. To think that they can ship any random parts the next day from an order placed overnight is asking for a little too much. Maybe if they were local to a Honda parts distro (like Acura Carland is) it might be possible.

As for common parts, how old is that CRX now? 15+ years old. Out of production for 10+ years.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was hoping that the claim of: "over $1,000,000.00 in on-site inventory (plus, more than $40,000,000.00 worth of inventory in our warehouse)" would give me a pretty good chance of getting what I needed. It obviously didn't. That is fine. I am now a more knowledgable consumer.

This was not meant to be a bash thread, I was just seeing if I had too high expectations. Apparently I did.

The customer service I didn't receive is enough reason for me to shop elsewhere in the future, regardless of reasonableness of what I want.

If I had just thought to call up O-man in the first place, it wouldn't have mattered, but I got blindsided by my buddy not having his source for parts anymore, and went with what I thought would give me a chance to get them in time.

 

underpromise and overdeliver.

I have been in atlanta for a few weeks now, and I have just given up on anyone giving a **** about anything in any kind of service position or setting any kind of expectations whatsoever, because they will probably not be met no matter how low I set them, as thats just an exercise in futility that has the fun side effect of driving my blood pressure through the roof. &lt;/rant&gt;

 

was it a site sponsor ? there are several on here that would of been a good choice and very inexpensive.

 

Order early to get stuff from majestic, I've learned that as well.. I still use them, I always get what I ask, just takes awile.

I go to a dealer and pay extra money for must have parts.

 

I have had good experiences with Majestic, with the following expectations:
- common items are usually in stock (fuel filter, valve cover gasket, etc) and will ship the next day
- they quote a price "less than fedex 2day" but usually ship USPS priority if size allows.
- "rare" items will take another 2-4 extra business days to get to them.
- I often forget to put something in my order, and i call them and have them add it to the box - saves on shipping charges, they've been good about this.
- their phone customer service is ok at best. Still WAY better than the local dealership customer service.
- their prices can't be beat.

If you want outstanding customer service, online, try Pegasus. Their site tells you if the items are in stock. You can also check the status of your order online. I have placed orders, and seen the status go from "processing" to "packed and ready to ship" in about 2 hours time.
They can be pricey, but they are my favorite "race stuff" suppliers.