So I have been doing A LOT of shopping ....Tis the Season, for my MINI.
Growing up I always thought it was ALWAYS cheaper to purchase parts from the Manufacture than a second hand dealer you know markup and all. We, well most of us know ALTA makes great stuff, but after having every order messed up by them I decided to find another dealer. Just for kicks I opened "toeoutperformance.com" AND OMG ALTA catback for $659.00. The Darn manufacturer ALTA sells it for 729.00.
My point is WHY ALTA ARE YOU SO EXPENSIVE? Your competition is hookin us up WAY cheaper?
Alta direct, out of Hillsboro Oregon quoted 165 dollars to ship my exhaust In the end JSCSPEED.com hooked me up with a price match AND 35 dollar shipping. My 3in exhaust cost me 680.
I am not affiliated with ANY of these speed shops, Im simply sharing my experience with these shops. ANY APO, AE (postal code) person should shop JSCSPEED, they price match , theyll ship to your APO ,they will get you the parts FAST and cheap!!!!!! PS just for fun compare side by side toeoutperformance.com and altaminiperformance.com. Then order from JSCSPEED.COM.... Alta you need to quite rippin off the public

 

Hey! I have NO issue with the info in your post, but I honestly think the title to the thread is a bit overstated. We have ALWAYS admitted that the APO's are hard for us to ship to. There are some rules that other people are willing to bend and we can't.

HOWEVER, with all that said I am VERY happy to got the parts you wanted at the price you wanted.

In the future if you have a question or concern and feel that the CSR's didn't help you fully, PLEASE let me know. I am on here what seems like all the time. Shoot me a PM, email to taft.adam@gmail.com or adam@altaminiperformance.com

Again THANK YOU for your business! If I can help now or in the future PLEASE let me know!

 

As stated TREMENDOUS STUFF!!!!! I think everyone should outfit with ALTA, I think you can be a bit more wallet friendly like the comp. Customer service taking 4 days to answer purchase questions and warehouse issues not shipping correct stuff on multiple orders, and my CAI cost me 300 dollars from ALTA Shipping included. These are all factors causing US to look else where. Im sure people will have an issue with the post, but ADAM ,understand its NOT ABOUT the Quality,the quality is superb!!!! There is no aftermarket part on my car that IS NOT labelled ALTA on my MINI. When shipping APO is not an issue anymore and you are willing to PRICE MATCH you can have my money. Heck the shop is just down the road from my US home and its still cheaper to order online

 

Matt - I think you don't understand that alta gets your money either way - when a reseller sells alta parts, alta has made money on the part already by selling it to the dealer. Yes, it's a smaller profit margin than they would make should the customer buy directly from them at MSRP, but one of the reasons the MSRP is always higher than the street price is to give end customers an incentive to support/buy from authorized resellers. After all - if there was no price incentive, why would you buy it from another place vs. directly from alta?

For example - I'm upgrading with mostly alta parts as well, but I'm buying my stuff from NAMotoring. Why? Because the price is a bit lower and there's the side benefit of supporting another vendor that directly sponsors this site. With no vendors to support this site, what happens? No NAM for anyone :0( (well, at least not in the sense we know/love it).

 

Well worded, however in the world of transcontinetal business transactions I have you beat. Alta of course gets the profit, never would I bash them, I love the parts they put out for us to chose from, its the direct price they charge. Log on price the exhausts and CAI just for a few examples. toeoutperformance vs. ALTA, My point was I save greatly by doing business this way, I wrote the message to save others $$ too. If you dont like saving money I dont know what to say. What you say could have value, but in my life the Factory was always cheaper. Like NIKE heck I pay 40 dollars for jordans at the NIKE employee store, you pay $190 at FT. locker. factory vs. second hand retail.

 

Matt,

I am still a bit lost. Again, I am happy you got the ALTA products, but I think the statement that we are "rippin off the public" is still a bit extreme. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and as such is the case here with yours.

I honestly think this is solely related to the APO address. As I mentioned above, feel free to contact me OR Ken.jubb@altaminiperformance.com He is our new retail sales manager and was hired specifically to help with the demands of our increase in retail sales. So PLEASE feel free to chat with him as well for future orders.

With that being said, JSC and NAM are both great online vendors, and is AWESOME they were able to help you out. There are advantages from buying direct and from buying from an authorized dealers. Each client has to chose what is best for them.

Finally, (and I am not totally sure what you meant) we employ several hispanic employees that live in Hillsboro. I don't think ANY of them would have appreciated the comment you made in your original post. Please clarify that comment.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE BUSINESS AND THE INTEREST IN ALTA!

Happy Holidays!

 

One thing I'm surprised hasn't been touched on is shipping. If your given location is current and you're in Delaware, of course purchasing from JSC Speed in Pennsylvania is going to yield far cheaper charges than ordering from ALTA who is on the other side of the country (literally) in Oregon. I don't know any aftermarket company that doesn't charge more based on the recipient's location.

Now I can't comment on why ALTA charges more than re-sellers for their product and doesn't price match. I originally found that a bit strange as well. However, bottom line is quite a few re-sellers are out there. So I just order from JSC Speed (they're local to me, so although North American Motorsports offers better retail prices, I save a good bit by picking my parts up) and call it a day. ALTA still makes a profit, JSC speed (whom I personally appreciate supporting) makes a profit and I'm happy because I saved money and got an awesome part.

Now if you were local to ALTA I could understand the frustration better, as you'd be forced to order from a re-seller that's further away when you could just pick up locally. But you're not, so I honestly don't see the huge issue here... ALTA charges a bit more (for one reason or another) so you order their part(s) from someone else. Easy enough.

 

Why this is odd for anyone I don't understand. Direct MSRP has ALWAYS BEEN MORE EXPENSIVE than other resellers. This isn't localized to the MINI performance market... From electronics to just about anything else, buying from the manufacturer is always going to be more expensive. Go look on Sony's website then look on amazon and see if Sony is cheaper .

And yes, for those that didn't know, shipping something 3100 miles costs more than shipping the same item 130 miles. Welcome to economics .

 

Alta, it doesn't seem to be (only) related to the APO. He clearly wrote "ALTA catback for $659.00. The Darn manufacturer ALTA sells it for 729.00."

That price has nothing to do with shipping to an APO. I am curious of these price differences as well, as a potential customer and of course I hold the same sentiment as virtually everyone else of these boards and that is that I absolutely love the Alta products and your customer service.

 

People people people....... The fact is you all most likely will purchase from JSCspeed.com who price matches or toeoutperformance.com even pending geograpical location Its just simply cheaper. Heck if I was Adam, Id buy from these companies too. To clarify an APO is a American Address not an over seas address. The retailer only ships to another state where Uncle Sam picks up the tab from there. The only people who'd complain about this post is those who dont like saving money. Adam I dont know why you are so confused, Supply and Demand.....You cant Supply APO so I did the leg work for Us in APO territory and it just so happened to save us Hundreds.

 

"He clearly wrote "ALTA catback for $659.00. The Darn manufacturer ALTA sells it for 729.00."

This is a good question and doesn't have an easy answer. Our distribution contracts are such that we won't directly advertise against an authorized dealer. However, this may have to change.

Clients are wanting to purchase direct (again for a variety of reasons) and we are beginning to do that far more frequently than in years past. The market has simply changed and the clients want factory direct customer service and technical support. As I mentioned above the hire of Ken Jubb was one of our first steps to making this transition more harmonious. He is solely dedicated to the support and service of YOU the retail client.

We will continue to support "value" added dealers and some select online retailers, but we are working such that advertised prices will be the same in all situations. Value added can be like mentioned above “they are right down the street”, or has in house tuning, or dyno, or carries complimentary products, etc. etc. Our staff is working toward “factory training” installation facilities / authorized dealers around the country and ultimately around the world. This will all be to the benefit of YOU the end user.

By protecting the prices offered on ALTA products, insures that the ALTA dealer makes the money they deserve without fear of undercutting by the manufacturer or another dealer. Plus with the training provided to the brick n mortar dealers local walk-in clients can be assured the highest level of customer service and technical ability.

In the meantime I have authorized Ken to match the online prices of any authorized ALTA retailer on like products. He can be reached directly at 503-222-MINI xt 114 or ken.jubb@altaminiperformance.com, also, for current dealers and people wanting to become an authorized ALTA dealer, contact john.leitl@altaminiperformance.com to discuss new pricing structures and MAP policies.

I hope this helps the NAM community understand that ALTA is dedicated to the highest levels of customer service, product quality, dealer participation and profit protection. As the owner I always appreciate the feedback from clients the world round. I continually make myself VERY available to anyone who needs my assistance. (Many of you that have my personal cell phone, have benefited from help with late night and weekend installations, can attest to this ;-) I vow to never change that as long as I am in this position. I LOVE this community, the clients and of course the cars!

Chat soon and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

I agree! If a dealer has "value added" by taking care of an APO that is AWESOME! We simply have an issue bending the rules. (My understanding, not saying this is 100% accurate, is that unless we are related I can't send you an item valued at over $300. Of course we could lie, but that isn't our nature. Plus there are size restrictions and I am very surprised that the R56 exhaust is actually able to be shipped by anyone family member or not.) Combined with that, the major carriers UPS, FedEx and DHL don't ship to APO's. It is difficult from a staffing position to send an employee to the post office. We simply don't have enough APO demand to do that on a day to day basis. Again, the ALTA reseller has value added and certainly DESERVES the sale. But that isn't t say that ALTA is a rip off either.

Hope that helps. I understand your concern. I also mentioned to Ken that he needs to keep a list of ALTA dealers that specialize in APO sales and shipments, so when another client like yourself calls, he can send them to the right way. So lesson learned and helps the next guy.

FINALLY: I would really appreciate some clarification on your "hillsburrito" comment in the OP. Many of us question the motivation and intent of that comment. Please at least clarify what you meant to keep this thread on track.

 

matty125: Just noticed that you "edited" your OP and removed the "Hillsburrito" comment instead of answering the question as to why it was placed there. Damage was already done, even though you have now removed it. Please clarify to my staff and other residents of Hillsboro, what that comment meant. I feel you owe it to this community as well as to any other person affected.

 

Match Pricing will do wonders. Thank YOU!!!! Its about the end $$$ not the shipping Adam.

 

Well this whole thread seems pretty pointless to me; to bash Alta when you want to buy their products?! ....doesn't make much sense. Complaining about buying directly from Alta being too expensive goes no where as doing so gives you personal customer/technical service that is NOT offered anywhere....no other company comes close. I recall a chilly evening installing my Alta intercooler and running into a problem at like 11pm, next thing I know, I'm on the phone with Adam talking me through what to do; and of course everything turned out fine....And the fact that Alta is online discussing this topic online right now shows the customer service they have....And really, it's more expensive to ship something across the country than to ship to a neighboring state, what a shocker .......If some people want to buy from a vendor that's reselling the Alta parts to try and save a little money, go ahead; I'd gladly pay a little more and receive AWESOME personal(as in I can call Adam whenever, PM all Alta employees online, or call Alta directly) customer service....besides, Alta offers discounts on shipping and on products all the time. They're the first to the market with the BEST products, so why would you wanna bash them, when you want their products?.........and matty125, let's keep the racist comments off of NAM.

 

Im quarter S. American dont tell me about racism, english is my second language. And by the way Adam WE are American...not Hispanic. Hispanic is a term coined by the US immigration department. I am just as equal as anyone else. You can squash ANY race issue now. This is about saving money. Scott48 you are dumb. If you cant figurehow to install something then yes you might need the assistance. HOWEVER check online toeoutperformance.com and ALTA and compare exhaust prices, the difference is 162 dollars thats significant,more so when you add 165 dollars for shipping!!!!!!! you could of had your parts installed professionally for that. If you dont see the significant reasoning, You are beyond help. either or, this is my last post to this, Adam you fix the problem because you knew you where wrong and loosing business. Lets leave Race out of this because it has nothing to do with the bottom line....price gouging.

 

This entire thread should be removed. Manufacturers (ALTA) set a MSRP (manufactures suggested retail price) on their products to be sold at retail stores. There is a margin that the retailer is permitted to discount which is where the price difference comes from. If alta is selling at retail prices this makes it extremely difficult for smaller retail companies (like myself) to sell product.

I think this thread is pointless and doing far more damage than is needed.

 

You're the one who brought up "Hillsburrito" to obviously imply something and then edited it out of your original post, hmmmm I wonder why . Interesting how I'm apparently dumb because, like it's not possible to run into a random problem that requires assistance....and yeah I've heard of dumb mechanical engineers before .....keep buying from companies that resell Alta products, that just means Alta is selling more product to those companies .........only 65 posts and already starting trouble, nice job

 

I did not start this post for trouble........... REWIND back to beginning...... This post was for ANYONE wanting to save money. PERIOD

 

I don't get it... if a tuner sells a larger product volume to vendors for a lower price than direct to the public. That vendor marks those items down, hoping to make money via more sales with a smaller mark-up... what's the problem? That's basic free trade economics. If it didn't work for the vendors, they would raise prices. If it didn't work for the manufacturer, they would fix prices across the board (read: Apple). I would challenge you to find any consumer product where that doesn't occurr (and Apple doesn't count, I gave you that one!).

 

microsoft

 

so, you are saying that if one shops around for a price, chances are they'll find a better one than if they just bought direct or from the first place they looked? Brilliant advice!! /sarcasm

 

....I know, who would of guessed

 

Hey all,
I just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and to let everyone know that if ever you have a question or need anything just let me know. My team and I will do our best to provide quality service and assistance when called upon. Additionally I just talked with Adam and as he mentioned above I can match any authorized ALTA retailer’s current price. Please if anyone has questions or concerns just let me know.

I look forward to talking with you all over the coming months and years.

Happy Holidays

Ken

Ken Jubb
Sales
ALTA MINI Performance™
AIM: altaperrinsales4
1-503-693-1702 Ex. 113
ken.jubb@altaminiperformance.com

 

It's nice that Nike has an employee store and offers their workers a discount. Tell us what you think about the prices at their online store at nike.com.

As for the race issue, Adam's reaction was perfectly understandable. What would YOU think if you were reading on the web and saw someone call Hillsboro "Hillsburrito"?