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Valve collar replacement fiasco...need to vent

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Flinkly

Jedi Trainee
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ok, so i made a recent order to a company due to a huge sale and needed a small valve spring collar piece to finish my engine rebuild.

the gt6 has a one piece valve spring collar for the upper intake and a two piece design for the exhaust. When the shop was finishing my engine, one of the inside rings broke on the exhaust, so i needed to get a new one.

So fast foreward to last friday when i finally got my order after some other ordeals only to find the inner upper exhaust piece i had ordered was the one piece intake piece. i checked my paper manual and online and they both used the same number for both parts, although i never noticed. turns out they "superseeded" the two piece inner upper valve collar with the one piece.

HOW?!?! IT'S NOT EVEN THE SAME THING!

that's like superseeding a lever arm shock with a new shock and not saying anything. it's close to the same thing, but sure doesn't work where i want it.

why wouldn't you just put unavailable, since the part obviously is in the UK. i could have finished my engine two months ago by ordering from spitbits, but i figured i'd slap the collar on this order. well, 20 dollars and two months wasted, and back to where i started. service wasn't spectacular either and they semeed to have charged me twice on my visa bill although they say they didn't...grrrrr. ordering from spitbits seperatly would have been cheaper anyways, and faster, and correct.

p.s. i'm not trying to bad mouth anyone, they offer alot of parts you can't get elsewhere and they have a spectacular parts number system, i just wish communication was tons better...and i needed to vent.

i'm done...for now. thanks for the vent.
 
We feel your pain brother LBC.
 
I fully understand Basil's position but this forum would be far more valuable if we had some way of rating vendors.

I do not believe trashing is justified but an honest rating system would benefit responsible vendors and help avoid the pitfalls of the stinkers.

At least we can talk freely about these things at car shows and other events.
 
I totally agree. I understand Basil's position on this testy item. But really, isn't that is one of the things the forum is good for.If the venders had concerns for "customer no service" they would monitor these car forums and try to help their business.

Views above are an editorial and do not state managements position on this.
 
In a perfect world, where litigation is a four-letter-word, it might be OK. However, rightly or wrongly, Basil is the one with the "deep pockets" that a vendor who feels compromised by comments here will go after. We really need to honor his policy, folks.

Mickey
 
i didn't cross any lines, did i?

the rest of the 690 dollars of parts i ordered were great (not perfect, but i'm picky since i'm an engineer/perfectionist).
 
i didn't cross any lines, did i?

You didn't name names.
 
No harm done - we just have to protect the Emperor! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Speaking of $690, I just paid almost $200 to ship some stuff over from the Mother Country - not the company's fault, but DANG!
 
It is beginning to sound like the NORMAL
condition of these TRs is up on jack stands
waiting for parts to arrive.

d
 
His car is a GT6, not a TR6. They have their own down-time rating system. Please do not confuse the two.
 
I have been critical of a major parts supplier a few times on their own forum, fully expecting a whipping. Instead, they have publicly announced how they are trying to address some problems, ask for suggestions concerning others or tried to make it right in other ways. All publicly on their own forum, not privately and trying to hush it up. It seems that they have some good people moderating their forum that actually get it when it comes to serving the customer. Seems to be much more effective than complaining to someone on the phone and it has IMPROVED my feelings about the company.

I do not want anyone to think that actions on their forum would be viewed the same way here though. There is still a good chance that it wouldn't. Best to play it safe and follow Basil's rules here.
 
Dale.................

I'm getting negative vibes again..........

Let's get a bit more positive. Crypty will be running well by this time next week.
 
Waiting for parts is a standard line, it seems, when talking about working on LBC's. I have been working on my TR-3 and buying parts for it for about 5 years. My experience with all of the vendors has been great but , and there is always a but, I also had my share of wrong parts, lousy parts and back ordered parts. Part of the deal I say, and whenever I call whatever vendor, they have bent over backwards to help me out. I am very happy just to have the parts availability that we have. First car I ever did a frame off restoration on was on a 1927 LeSalle. Tough to even find anyone who knew what it was, much less get parts for it! I really think we need to count our blessigs and enjoy the availability of parts.

Sorry, through preaching.
Tinkerman
 
DNK said:
Shawn- Do all venders have forums?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Tnkerman brings up a good point though. Overall positive experiences still outweigh the negatives. But as the old marketing saying goes... After a positive experience you might tell one person but after a negative experience you are more likely to tell ten people. And that was before electronic communication. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/computer.gif
 
Speaking of waiting for parts, TRF sent me a replacement TO bearing for my new Magic Clutch kit. Blue Label, two day delivery no charge and with an apology. Can't beat that.
 
Moss Europe overnight-ed me a cast aluminum valve cover once on their dime. They charged me for the part and the shipping of the part but the box that arrived measured 9X12X6 so I knew there was no valve cover. I think the shipping they paid was more than I paid for the valve cover. Mightily impressed me, that one did.
 
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