As many of you know, the race car took its 2nd serious shot to the front, this time in Karl's hands at VIR last month. The car isn't "bent" but panels were mangled so I decided to replace all of them except the hood.

Karl scored a couple of excellent fenders and a bumper cover, thus fulfilling his "You broke it you fix it" obligation. I could not find a good bumper support or filler panel (the little piece that fits in between the bumper and the hood) locally, so I looked into aftermarket stuff.

Certi-fit won't ship to me, so I ended up going with a place called auto-bodyparts.com. Prices are very similar to Certi-fit, and they ship for a reasonable fee. I ordered both the filler panel and bumper from them.

Bumper showed up first. Looked good and fit just fine. Not quite OEM quality but for $60 I was happy.

Then the filler panel showed up... Wrong part. I ordered the part for the '91 Hatch, and my Invoice SAYS its the part for the '91 Hatch, but its actually a Sedan part. The sedan part is completely different and doesn't fit the hatch.

So I call them. The first thing they have me do is email them a picture of the part. Why? Well because according to their records they sent me the correct thing. Yeah, according to MY records they sent me the right thing. Problem is that they didn't.
So I sent a picture. I called and the nice young man (Luke) told me he'd have to check some stuff and call me back.

So 2 days later I called Luke back. He apologized and made an excuse of some sort for not calling me. Said if I'd just send that part back they'd credit me and send me the correct one. I asked how he wanted to handle the shipping costs and he said "Just ship it and we'll credit you."
Uhhhh... No. This is an oversize part. The minimum shipping charge I could find was $35. I only paid $45 for it in the first place.
So I tell him I'll gladly ship it back if THEY arrange pick-up. He says he'll call me back.

So 2 days later I call him back (see a trend here?).
He apologizes again and tells me to just keep the part. They've decided its too expensive to ship it back.
"Just keep the part and we'll send you another one."
Because I saw a trend developing I asked him to email me the tracking number when it shipped. He said "No problem."

Altogether now...
2 DAYS LATER...
Still no tracking number. So I called back.
"We don't have the correct part in stock."
He says he's working on finding one and he'll call me back.

Guess. Just guess...
2 days later I call him back. Still no part.
I ask for a refund (pretty reasonable at this point I think) and he says he needs to talk to his manager and call me back. I say "no thanks, you go talk to your manager now. I'll just wait here on the line."
He comes back a few minutes later and says they'll credit my Visa.
I verify that they don't want the wrong part back, and he says "My manager said to just keep it."

So... 4 days later (I switched things up for luck).
Still no credit on my Visa account.
I call back and ask to talk to the manager. This is excellent, I promise... Ready???
He says they'll gladly refund my money but they are WAITING FOR MY RETURN OF THE WRONG PART.
See, I told you it was good.
Now I start to lose my temper, and I'd been a very good boy up to this point.
Rehashed the whole thing, he put me on hold and came back apologizing and saying I'd have my refund within 48 hours. I verified one last time that they aren't going to pick up the bad part and he says "No. Keep it."

Guess what?
Its 2 days (48 hours) later and I still don't have a credit on my account.
My plan now is to bash them all over the internet and call them and bother them daily until I get my money back. Its their mistake, and $45 is $45.

How do people operate like this and stay in business?
Its baffling.

 

Try filing a claim through the better business bureau. Once they hear they have a claim they will be much more cooperative.

Worked for me when I was having to deal with a small company out of california who sold me a wrong part and caused damage to my car. All I asked for was a replacement part that was right and they didn't even want to do that.

 

If you paid by CC, dispute the charge with the CC company and short pay your CC bill.

 

just goes to show that when you find a supplier that can get you the correct goods, on time, and not give you crap about THEIR mistakes, they're worth their weight in gold.

i guess with the comparative abilities of 'net shopping it's easy to look for the lowest price--something that i've fallen prey to many a time--but in the end service is worth an extra couple of bucks.

good luck with the dispute.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Grumpy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you paid by CC, dispute the charge with the CC company and short pay your CC bill.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I second this, I had a similiar problem and when I sent in the dispute to MBNA suddenly the $100.00 credit found its way onto my statement. They have folks for this and know how to deal with these people. The dispute form is on the back of your bill, make a photo copy fill it out and send it in.

 

The refund did come through today.
Finally.

Its stuff like this that really really makes you appreciate the places that go the extra mile to make you happy. When I find those places I always stick with them, even if there's somebody else thats cheaper.
I guess I need to keep searching for a body part supplier.

 

you have PM

 

A little CC info. Kinda funny how a sale transaction goes through immediately but a credit/refund takes 3-7 business days depending on the bank your CC is through.