One of our more popular vendors shorted one of my orders this week. I had already ordered several hundred dollars worth of stuff before my car ever even saw my house for the first time, and plan many more hundreds in the future, maybe thousands.

Now, what was missing? A set of lock knobs and ferules... a 9.00 part. I called to ask what could be done. The service person said that she would have to call the warehouse and see if their inventory was off by one part, and that would tell her if it was in the box or not. I have already ordered over 1000.00 dollars worth of small parts for this car, and I have taken great care to make sure I am accounting for every part and every dollar. I have an Excel spreadsheet that has catalogued every part, every shipping charge and every dollar spent on gas to get me to parts places that are out of town. I'm not anal, just keeping track of my expenditures.

Now, I am frankly a little insulted that this person is making me wait a few days while she gets to the bottom of this. Sure, I can see how they could lose money if every guy did this, but is it worth them driving me to another vendor (god knows there are enough of them out there) over a 9.00 part that I never received.

I am sure they will accomodate me, but taking care of minor issues assures me that if/when there is a big problem, I can be reasonably sure they will take care of me.

Maybe I'm being petty, but I have owned my own business for 16 years, and I would never pull this on a customer. Feedback is welcome. And yes, I do see their side. :)

Customer service is huge. The saying that "the customer is always right" may not be 100% true, but you still have to do whatever you can to accomodate them because a little snafu over a $9 part can cause them to lose your business. And we all know what that can add up to in a restoration. I finished business college in Wal-Mart country a couple years ago, and I would say one of, if not the, main emphasis was on customer service.

Just last week I was shorted on an order from So-Cal Speed Shop. The thing missing was just a catalog, but I called them, and they sent one out immediately, that day. Didnt even look up my order or anything and it was to me in a few days. It's a little thing, but service like that makes a very favorable impression on me, and will lead to future business.

My .02
dave

I wouldn't get too sideways on this? I have bought over $100,000 in parts from mail/catalog and web sites over the last few years from just about everyone.

It happens all the time (some are better than others) and I think it depends on the power of the employee that you talk to as well to get it resolved. Most people can't just pull inventory out of the system without a reason or authority to do it. While small businesses would just walk back and take one off the shelf (and fight paperwork or headscratching later to figure out why it isn't there)....larger ones have innert customer service removed from doing such and the computer inventory won't like it, nor allow it.

Plus, it's been my experience that I have made as many mistakes as they have either finding it later in packing materials, didn't order it, or whatever. So, the CS rep on the other end just can't accept willy-nilly just send it to anyone who pops up with report of a missing part IMO. And while we usually like the prices of big companies such as Summit because they are efficient and enjoy buying power, but comes with this the "automation" of the system that makes them so efficient and thus limits what the CS provider can do.

IMO, I don't see the big deal of checking into it to get it resolved first.

I wouldn't get too sideways on this? I have bought over $100,000 in parts from mail/catalog and web sites over the last few years from just about everyone.

IMO, I don't see the big deal of checking into it to get it resolved first.

I should mention that I'm not claiming to be a big spender, or that my previous orders afford me any special consideration over anyone else. Now I will readily admit that I am not the smartest guy in the group, but if I hadn't taken all the steps to ensure that I had not actually received the part, I would not have called them.

I'm not too upset about the part or the cost. I just don't like it when the vendor takes the position that this somehow must be my fault, and that I must sit idly by while "they" figure out what happened.

Will I buy from them again, most likely. Will I buy from them if I can get the same parts cheaper from the other guy, I doubt it, at least in the short term. LIke you said, I'll probably get over it. :)

I know how you feel. I ordered from a website rather than call from one of the larger companies that I have ordered several thousand in parts from. This was Sunday night because I was in a hurry to get the parts. They should have arrived Wed/Thurs. (This is how it was when I called and I thought it would be the same over the Web). Anyway I got an E-mail on Thurs. afternoon that one or more of the parts I had ordered was in backorder and they would ship as soon as it was available, I have no idea which parts. As of Today, Sat. I have still not received anything. Guess I'll call next time.

Well in my weekly order the guy taking my order pressed 11 instead of 1 for the quantity. I now have 11 bags of screws for the door panels. They will be going back this week.

I recently placed a $1800.00 order with a well known vendor and I was short a part costing about $135.00. Needless to say I was right on the phone and was told basically the same thing about checking into it first. What ticked me off was the person I spoke with told me "We don't make mistakes like that with Items that cost $135.00" (so I'm lying right!). Anyway after two months I finally and reluctantly got my part. I was told it was being done as a courtesy! The sweetest part of the story is that 6 months later I ordered a (one) $185.00 tach and guess what I got? Yep, eleven of them! (seems they got my order mixed up with a reseller they deal with) But I was only billed for one. Seeing how this was a very costly error on their part I called to explain. Guess who I spoke to? Yep the same person who 6 months ago told me that "we don't make mistakes like that". I explained to her that "AS A COURTESY", I would send the extra $1850.00 worth of tachs back if she would apologise for her attitude during our last encounter, admit It was their fault the last time, and pay for the shipping.
I reluctantly got my apologie.
Revenge is sweet!
Jim

I have one rule about such matters- if the vender ever offends me; I simply do no more business with them. If I have to pay more somewhere else, so be it. I want the good people to flourish and survive, not just the cheapest. Continuing to do business with such as described here only make bad attitudes more common place.

Vote with you feet!

LDR

Guys, I've found asking for a supervisor or shop manager the best place to start with order problems. Typically the phone rep doesn't have the clout to just grant a refund or send out a replacement part without getting a part back in return first. The phone rep has to deal with hundreds of customers every week and may have developed a bit of an attitude or perception that isn't helping the company without realizing it. It shows in insulting comments back to the customer and is fortified when the customer confronts the rep about it. Save your breath for the boss and be sure to let inform them about the way you were treated. You may feel better posting here and that's ok but it doesn't get either problem taken care of.


The manager is there to put out fires and if you have problems with him/her escalate it to the next in line. It shouldn't matter if it's a $500 part or a $10 part if you didn't get it they owe it to you. If you are getting lip service so are other customers and a boss isn't going to know inless he hears it from the customer...

I explained to her that "AS A COURTESY", I would send the extra $1850.00 worth of tachs back if she would apologise for her attitude during our last encounter, admit It was their fault the last time, and pay for the shipping.
I reluctantly got my apologie.
Revenge is sweet!
Jim
That is sweet. I'm a pretty frugal (translated- cheap) person by nature but I'll deal with vendors that provide better service. I like a paticular local hardware store the best, you walk in, they help you find the parts and you’re out the door. I try to deal with online and phone order places the same. If I don't have a good experience with them, good possibility I won't deal with them again.

I kind of agree with most of the comments made here, BUT I don't want to take my business to someone else because of one employee or maybe somebody having a bad day. I'll ask for the Boss and after that if I don't get treated right the next time, I'll go somewhere else.
Jim

I kind of agree with most of the comments made here, BUT I don't want to take my business to someone else because of one employee or maybe somebody having a bad day. I'll ask for the Boss and after that if I don't get treated right the next time, I'll go somewhere else.
Jim

I am definitley going to let the process run its course. If they say they sent it, and refuse to replace it, I'll deal with it. I am not the kind of guy that throws up my hands and storms out of the store if my butt isn't properly kissed. I will admit however that had this been a more expensive part, I may have persued it harder. That isn't to say that it isn't important, but I also must consider how much effort I want to put into pursuing a 9.00 part. I am a man of principle to be sure, but I also consider myself to be of average intelligence, and chasing a 9.00 part all the way to the owner of the company isn't going to happen. I made one phone call, and I don't have the time to talk to each "higher up" with subsequent phone calls. This issue should be, and could be handled by the lowest person on the ladder.

If I say I was shorted an order of fries at the local hamburger joint, the high school kid behind the counter simply gets me an order of fries and I go away. I think this is similar.

I don't think the oversight was intentional, and I have always had good luck with them in the past. I left out their company name because my goal is not to hurt them. I was just curious about why they didn't just send the new one out and be done with it. I like to pay a little more when I know the service is better than the next guy. This experience won't make me stop shopping there, but if I can get the parts for a nickle cheaper somewhere else, I probably will.

I am definitley going to let the process run its course. If they say they sent it, and refuse to replace it, I'll deal with it. I am not the kind of guy that throws up my hands and storms out of the store if my butt isn't properly kissed. I will admit however that had this been a more expensive part, I may have persued it harder. That isn't to say that it isn't important, but I also must consider how much effort I want to put into pursuing a 9.00 part. I am a man of principle to be sure, but I also consider myself to be of average intelligence, and chasing a 9.00 part all the way to the owner of the company isn't going to happen. I made one phone call, and I don't have the time to talk to each "higher up" with subsequent phone calls. This issue should be, and could be handled by the lowest person on the ladder.

If I say I was shorted an order of fries at the local hamburger joint, the high school kid behind the counter simply gets me an order of fries and I go away. I think this is similar.

I don't think the oversight was intentional, and I have always had good luck with them in the past. I left out their company name because my goal is not to hurt them. I was just curious about why they didn't just send the new one out and be done with it. I like to pay a little more when I know the service is better than the next guy. This experience won't make me stop shopping there, but if I can get the parts for a nickle cheaper somewhere else, I probably will.

Must be different where you live than here. Mc D's requires you to talk to the corp office and sends you coupons for more food to make up for the wrong order... I know some of it has to do with the language barrier of their employees but a lot of it is to defer the complaint and save the company money. My personal experiences with most larger business these days is the workers tasks are defined so anyone that can read can do the job. Anything that requires a decision to be made that's not on the flowchart is mgnt.

As for chasing the $9 part, I understand there is a point of deminished returns. My personal approach is a single call, if the phone rep can't deal with the problem then I ask for the mgr. If the mgr can't come to the phone I get his name and number and insist on a return call from him. If the mgr can't help me, I go up from there but usually just to inform the owner, gm or highest person I can contact that a $9 deal just cost them my future business and that I have lots of projects that could have brought me back to their store!

Good luck with the follow up...