with how long it takes some of these businesses to process and ship your order?

I hate to make my first legitimate post here a whiney one BUT...

I'm not going to mention any names in the hopes that these establishments read this thread and clean up their act. -BUT- My god, it's like pulling teeth sometimes to just get your hands on certain things.

Delaying items under the guise of "that's the price you pay for cheap shipping" is just plain ridiculous and lazy. There, I said it.

There are too many shipping organizations out there just chomping at the bit to beat their competitors prices for the aforementioned statement to make any sense what so ever. And, since when is $6 cheap postage on an envelope?

Furthermore, it's a bit convenient that the very day I call to complain (two times now) is the exact day that my items "showed up" at their doorstep to be shipped "tomorrow". I must be F'ing psychic or something.

Look, I've been on both sides. I've been the man in charge of shipping and the one running the business that receives and then ships the items forward to the customer. I understand how hectic the retailing and wholesaling of items can be. And I know first hand that it's all too easy to blame your own laziness on the shipping department or the shipping department of the manufacturer.

I've had all manner of vehicles darkening my driveway through the years and I've NEVER had the shipping issues I've had since purchasing the Mini. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, if I can have obscure antique car parts delivered to my door from the East Coast -OR- the UK, in a matter of days (with reasonable shipping prices I might add) why should I have to wait two to three weeks and wade through vague emails and talk on the phone with an overly uninterested customer service rep just to get some "pretties" for my Mini?

It all makes no sense and WILL color my purchasing decisions in the future, even if I have to make this crap myself.

Sorry for the rant guys!

 

Frustration is easy to understand and appreciate but there are always two sides to view. One of the better suppliers of 'pretties' finally had enough negative feedback and quit producing much to the dismay of many of his loyal customers, me included. A few loud complainers discouraged his efforts. What they didn't understand was that he was a one horse, no dog operation. He could spend his time making custom product and shipping as soon as he could or sit on the phone explaining his throughput. Besides all that, he also had walk in customers that he was glad to personally install for. You don't, to your credit, name 'they who offend you' but you might do a little investigation and find out whether they are located in XYZ industrial park with high school dropouts for shipping clearks or sweating away in mom's basement and what their expected throughput happens to be. I think we'd all be surprised as to how many of the MINI specific vendors are pretty small home grown operations.

 

Ha ! (sarcastic) I recently purchased a couple of John Cooper signature stickers from a company less than 100 miles from my home.

Eight days later, nothing received, no shipping notification. Emailed the company, couple days later I get a reply. "they were sent first class mail which I can't track. I do that to save you shipping".

Took 12 days for them to arrive. I was charged $3.50 to ship them and the envelope was maked for $1.95 in postage. Appears he wasn't saving ME postage.

Told him he could have placed them in an envolope, stuck a postage stamp on them, and spent $0.45. Told him he could have made even more on shipping costs and I would have had them in 2 days instead of 12.

Man, terrible customer service really irritates me. Can you tell ?

 

what you mention is, in my experience, a risk of placing a web order. If I'm not familiar with the source I usually call in the order and "when will it ship" is a question I ask b4 I order. Many small time operations are not stocking anything but simply order from a source when they get YOUR order . .

I think we'd all be surprised as to how many of the MINI specific vendors are pretty small home grown operations.

no surprise here, being a MINI guy since buying an early 02 off the lot I've seen a NUMBER of 'pretty thing' vendors die on the vine.

 

Duly noted. I can totally respect the one man shop aspect. 'Been there my self. However, one of the nameless I mentioned presents itself on the internet as a larger entity that I suppose it actually is. Judging from the website design, these guys look the business. But , that's regardless.

And just playing devil's advocate here. That kind of mentality is expected from the "classifieds" section of the website but not from a link followed from the advertiser's thumbnail on this page.

A couple of loud customer complaints has never driven anyone out of business. Poor business practices however have.

 

I've only worked with OutMotoring here on the forums and they've been a breeze to deal with. I placed an order for a Forge BOV adapter, a decal, and an intake system. Turns out I clicked the wrong item (had a bunch of tabs open to compare) for purchase. I emailed them and they modified the order, sent me a refund, and shipped out the modified order within a day.

Sorry to hear you're not being taken care of but I'm sure it's no easy feat.

 

The road to successful retail is paved with pitfalls, sharp thingies, land mines and really hard things you can't see 'till too late. Hope you get your issues taken care of and some of the vendors pay heed to these occasional postings and do what they can to smooth out that road. MINIs like smooth roads regardless of straight or crooked.

 

I am not annoyed. Life's too short.

 

hey all new to NAM looking for ppl to talk to about my build