Not chip related, but I want people to know---

I just thought everyone here should hear about what happened to me so that it doesn't happen to anyone else. I placed an online order for 4 Edelbrock IAS shocks on 8/3. After a week of requesting a tracking number, the company finally responded that they had the product shipped directly from Edelbrock and had finally gotten a tracking number for me...but for only 2 of the shocks which were shipped on the 7th!! And that the other 2 were shipped on the 9th!! Due to being backordered. I asked if they were going to upgrade my shipping and they said no because I paid for Ground. I feel that they did not respond to me right away because they were stalling me until the products were shipped so I would not order from someone else. I think this is unacceptable and that I should have been given the choice to cancel the order. Today is the 10th and I still have no tracking number for the second two shocks. The moral of my story...be careful if you decide to shop from www.central4wd.com!!! I know I won't be using them again!!!

 

All I can suggest is refuse the order when it gets to you and order from someone else. Any place that treats their customers in that fashion does not deserve the business. I have to eat freight all the time to get stuff to people because something was backordered in my warehouse, that is just part of doing business. The great thing is this, if they did a good job you may have told a couple of people and that would be it, because they did an awful job everyone on the board know about it now. Good luck in dealing with them.

 

Hi jjboods,

Sorry to hear you're not happy!

In all honesty, I don't think it's a huge deal that they had to ship the other 2 shocks to you just 2 days later, I wouldn't be concerned about that at all, 2 days is just not a big deal. If it had been a matter of weeks, or a month etc., that would be more of a concern of course! But since it's only 2 days, I wouldn't worry about it, life is just too short.

I can certainly understand your frustration at not being able to get that tracking number in a timely manner, but we have to understand the nature of the type of Vendor you're probably dealing with, and I'll explain a bit.................

Most of those online vendors like that (and I should quickly point out that I know nothing about that particular company, so this may or may not apply to them), who have large web sites with many different parts for many different vehicles do not actually stock much, if anything, that they sell. The vast majority of them are Internet/telephone marketing companies, and they have agreements with manufacturers or other larger companies to actually ship the products directly to the end user, so that the company that is actually selling them to the end user may never even touch those parts! What that means is that you usually have at least a few days of additional delay before shipping, and another couple of days to get a tracking number back, as it has to go thru a few "layers" & multiple people to actually get that number. The seller has to check with who their supplier is, and then they have to get the tracking number from their shipping department, and then get that info back to the company that sold them to you, and all of that adds delay and takes time. I know that was probably very frustrating for you, and I can certainly understand that.

That's normally how it works at many of those online "stores".

That doesn't mean that they're "bad" companies, or that they're doing anything that isn't ethical, it's just the nature of the beast, so to speak, when you deal with some of those larger mail-order/Internet operations.

Of course, I don't know about this particular company, so I could be wrong, but many of them operate that way these days, so that may well be what's going on here.

I wouldn't be too terribly upset over such a simple matter of them shipping the other 2 shocks just 2 days later, or at their refusal to ship them quicker at their expense because you had to wait 2 days. Just so you'll know in case you might not be familiar with shipping costs, etc., those shocks are heavy parts, and the additional shipping costs would be considerable to ship them quicker than Ground. With the very slim profit margins in those Edelbrock IAS shocks, I can understand this, since this is only a difference of 2 days that we're talking about here.

Could you have been treated better? In all honesty I really don't know, as I wasn't there of course, so perhaps they could have treated you "better". But overall, since there isn't a substantial delay, just 2 days, I don't think I would let this upset me too much; of course, you may feel differently. I know there have been oplenty of times when I was waiting on a part or partts that arrived late, and it's never fun or what you expect, I totally understand.

I hope this all works out for you in the end jjboods, so you can enjoy the shocks. I it dosn't work out, and you decide that you want to find another vendor for those parts, the F-150 Online Store right here carries those shocks as well. If you don't see them listed here in the F-150 Online Store for your vehicle, you can always call them directly, it's run by Lemere Enterprises, and you can reach them at 916-361-2510.

Best of luck jj!

 

Mike I wish I was as easy going as you, it is just that I see this type of stuff too often. I have had to send several packages out Red Label to keep a customer happy, some by request and some just because I know we dopped the ball, and I eat the difference. I know it is different from what I do, but service is service. We are the largest dist. in the country with the lines we have and we have became that by providing service above and beyond the call of duty. I know this is my "youth" in the business coming out, but there is not one product out there right now that someone can't get somewhere else if they want and if you don't provide service then what sets you apart? Besides, as great as you guys are at customer service, why are you defending something like this...just kidding. Man, I must be having a bad day because I am in a really confrontational mood...sorry Mike . Can we still be buddies??LOL .

 

Hi 12vRep,

We all have our own points of view, but I think you may have made an incorrect assumption; it takes a rather large leap of logic to think that we're trying to somehow defend them, We 're*not* in any way "defending" them, as I clearly pointed out in my initial response.

Yes, they *should* have told him that there was going to be a delay up front, so he would know, I agree.

And yes, we do give far better service than those types of companies, as you know from dealing with us yourself, we go far above and beyond the call of duty, as we feel should be done, to take care of the customer and let them know that they are the entire reason for our existence, and we're here to serve them.

My point was simply to try and familiarize him with how those types of companies usually operate, so he would understand *why* what transpired happened, as with those types of companies, it's pretty common, and to also give him another option. The vast majority of people have no idea that many of those companies are basically telephone & Internet drop-ship operations with little to no inventory. Again, this may or may not be the case with that particular company, I don't know. The point being, this may help him to decide whether or not he wants to deal with that type of company again.

Yes, it's true, I do not feel that a 2-day delay on 2 of the shocks is much more than a relatively minor inconvenience in the overall scheme of things in life, but that does not in any way mean that I think that is the way to deal with people, nor does that correlate in any way to the leap in logic required to assume that I am somehow "defending" their actions; that's beyond absurd, and my feelings are just the opposite.

Neither you nor I really know anything about that company in any detail, so we don't know if they work their hearts out every day just like you and I do for our customers and someone just made a mistake (as you and I and everyone else on the face of this planet do from time to time), or if they're actually just a sloppy organization that gives poor service, we just do not have that knowledge about them.

There are things you just have to accept when you decide to deal with one of the large, faceless Internet drop-ship operations, but it sure helps to know how they operate, and that was the point, to make him familiar with some of what comes along as the nature of the beast, so to speak, when dealing with that type of operation. In those types of operations, it takes a week to get a tracking number, for example, and that is something I find frustrating, too.

Again, understand that I am not defending them, just trying to explain to him how they operate, as well as give him another quality resource to try should he decide to not deal with them, in other words, trying to HELP him. By virtue of the fact that most of them drop-ship everything, that automatically inserts numerous additional layers and deparments into the mix, so that just to get a tracking number, where for us it would take 30 seconds to look it up, for them it takes 3-7 days to get several people at 2 different companies involved to get that info. And explaining that to him may well help him to decide if he wants to deal with that kind of company in the future, which was our purpose, to simply try to fill him in on the potential reasons why this occurred and give him another option. That isn't "defending" them, it's trying to help the consumer. It's very easy to get angry and frustrated, and it sometimes helps to know the "why's" behind the actions, and so hence our response, and I can only hope that he finds it helpful in some small way.

And yes, of course we're still buddies, always, & thanks for the humor, I needed that! We all have ourt own opinions, etc. and in addition to that, sometimes the written word just cannot convey the intended perspective, or at least, I find that a limitation when I write, but then, I'm not a very good writer.

 

Boy Mike, your long winded, must be slow over there. If you would have just spent a fraction of the time speaking to me and doing your customer service, maybe you would be believable. Why don"t you practice what you preach?
Terry

 

terry,

Take this offline and contact Mike directly about the problems you are having. Any further posts like this will be deleted and if you continue in this vein your posting rights will be revoked.

Steve