I am not sure if I am venting or looking for a possible solution to this situation. I have bounced from one hobby to another - racing mountain bikes, racing Ironman triathlon, scuba diving, auto restoration, etc... And even own a scuba shop on the side but I have never run into the trouble, incompetance and lack of customer service that I have found in the restoration automotive parts industry. Now maybe this is because of the fact that everyone drop ships their products or what but this is out of hand.

Now one of the companies that I am most frustrated with is a big sponsor of this site so I won't name names or go into detail (unless they fail to send me the spindles that I paid for tomorrow) but I think it is time to hold these guys up to a higher standard.

The worst offender was a certain company who advertised a labor day sale IN OUR FORUMS and then failed to deliver their product. In fact, if they don't have the part in stock, they simply cancel the order! Nevermind that you have already paid for the part in a package price!!!

Last time I checked, there are over 30,000 members registered on this side. For these companies, member = customer. We need to do something about this! I am so incredibly frustrated with getting 200 metric bolts shipped to me rather than the '67 disk brake spindles that I ordered and PAID FOR!

Somebody - give me an opinion and get these sharp objects away from me!!!

Bill

Bill you are bringing up some really valid issues. I'd like to keep from making this disappear for vendor bashing so toss out the non objectivity caused by frustration and lets keep going.

The issues you speak of happen daily in almost any form of business I can think of. One thing that has changed for me since re-entering the hobby about 10 years ago is the boom of mailorder and decline of over teh counter store fronts. When I bought a lens for a camera or a regulator when I wascertified to dive or parts for my Mountain bikes or cars back then I did so over the counter with the merchant or his employee. On top of that, merchants kept almost everything I ever went after in stock. Today that's completely different and the days of me handling the product before plunking down my duckets and having final say or sending the clerk back to the stock room are almost gone. Even if it's a local store they have to get the part from the warehouse or order it. Mail order means mixed up shipments and almost the right part being shipped... :eek:

Do we realistically think a business owner wants you to receive 200 metric bolts when you ordered something else? Does Taco Bell really want you to get back to the office and find onions all over your burrito when you said hold the onions? People make mistakes and the only way to resolve that is deal with the company's management. As a consumer it is frustrating.

We can talk about it in forums like this but we will not resolve any issues through strength in numbers if we all just accept and don't let the management of the companys we are doing business with know.