Vendor Accountability Thread

ryanp

Vendor
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Location
Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK
TDI
Arosa CR - 550hp - 9.7 @ 150mph 1/4 Mile, Citigo 4x4 CR TDi - 340hp, Caddy 2.0 CR 4x4 TDI - 300+hp, Golf Mk2 Van 1.9 TDI - was 290hp, Mk5 Ibiza 2.0 FR TDi - 270hp, BMW 135d - 360hp, BMW 330d - 335hp, BMW 335d - 380hp + a few more ........
i've locked a few of my older topics so they cant get bumped back up!
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
OK so there is an issue with vendors having multiple active threads.

On the first page of the forums as of right now, we have:

4ringking (2)
onlyn8v (1)
VailPowder (4)
shortysclimbin (1)
ChubsAuto (1)
DrivenMotorsLLC (1)
gerwazy (4)
ECS Tuning (8)
VAD@HPA (1)
ryanp (5)
brownlinemetalworks (1)
MJM Autohaus (3)
vancity (1)
Whitbread (1)
Newzboys (1)
JettaSportTDI (1)
RevoTechnik (1)
hevster1 (1)
jimbote (1)
BleachedBora (1)
red golf tdi (1)
The Bug Dash (2)
TheTDIWagonGuy (1)
Franko6 (1)
Malone (1)
cevans (1)

Remember that what we do for one we also have to do for all.

Unpleasant chore to fix after the fact. Arbitrarily combining those threads would make a nasty useless frustrating mess. I don't want to do that.

There isn't really a hard and fast rule concerning how many threads a vendor can start but it ought to be "reasonable".

Spot check on the vendor with the highest number of posts on the front page as of right now, which is ECS, finds the dates of post #1 in each thread as follows.

02-02-10 (Can't help it if TDIclub's own responses to the thread keep it going this long!)
11-29-11
11-23-11 (ok, those two are a bit marginal)
12-21-11
12-22-11
12-20-11
12-19-11 (those four are darn close ...)
and I've missed one but I don't see which right now.

PM sent to ECS. I see that the vendor with the second-most open threads (ryanp) is dealing with it himself.
 

thebigarniedog

Master of the Obvious
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Location
Fail Command (Central Ohio)
TDI
1998 Jetta tdi
Most of us know what a particular vendor is about (ie their typical product line). If I want something in particular, then I know where to look for it. Now if a vendor is running a special or a new product, then it is worthwhile to let us know with another thread. Multiple threads from the same vendor, absent a new product or special are therefore worthless.

My concern is that the vendors seem to be advocating a one thread storefront rule too address what they seem to think is a problem with a few vendors. I think that if that becomes the rule, then those with a new product/special will not be able to advertise the same to the membership. Stated concisely, a twenty page thread is too diluted to find a new product or special. Someone like me typically skips those threads altogether. Please be careful what you are asking for here .......
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
I see what you're saying... I think the issue here is that you see one thread for mk4 headlight covers, one for mk5 headlight covers, one for mk6 covers..... ALL from the same brand/seller...
 

cevans

TDIClub Enthusiast, TDI Parts Ninja Vendor , w/Bus
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
Location
Hingham, MA
TDI
2015 Beetle Conv. TDI 6-Speed & 2006 E320 CDI
I too get confused with multiple threads for the lenses - it took way to much searching to find which thread had my stuff in it, poor titles too. Product was great though.

VWVortex has limits on how many new threads for venders in a certain timeframe. Its much, much more liberal as the VWVortex classifieds move so fast. On the 'tex ECS tuning posts an average amount, far from abusive. But that average amount overloads small forums like ours.

The one thread per store doesn't really work. Its like if we had only one thread for "ALH Issues". On the other hand Chris @ Langhorne VW manages to keep one thread going for a very long time - and that is appreciated.
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
If a vendor has just one product or service, is there any thought on how often they could bump it up?

Take the Bug Dash guy as an example. If his thread didn't get any traffic it would work it's way down, so he could bump it up daily but that would be abusive. But what about weekly, or maybe monthly? (I only mention him because he has just one product that I know of, but I may be wrong on that.)
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
All of the above is why I don't want to either create or enforce a hard-and-fast rule.

One new thread every day for 4 days is a bit much. Having one thread visible on the front page of the forums is acceptable (but stops working when there are more active vendors than the number of lines of posts per page).

I've sent ECS a PM politely requesting them to consolidate whenever practical. At this point I would like to leave it at that.
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
All of the above is why I don't want to either create or enforce a hard-and-fast rule.

One new thread every day for 4 days is a bit much. Having one thread visible on the front page of the forums is acceptable (but stops working when there are more active vendors than the number of lines of posts per page).

I've sent ECS a PM politely requesting them to consolidate whenever practical. At this point I would like to leave it at that.
I agree. One-size fits all causes more troubles than they fix. Case-by-case is usually best and the mods here use very good judgement.
 

ECS Tuning

Vendor
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Location
Wadsworth, OH
TDI
Volkswagen
All of the above is why I don't want to either create or enforce a hard-and-fast rule.

One new thread every day for 4 days is a bit much. Having one thread visible on the front page of the forums is acceptable (but stops working when there are more active vendors than the number of lines of posts per page).

I've sent ECS a PM politely requesting them to consolidate whenever practical. At this point I would like to leave it at that.

Thanks for helping out and cleaning up all our old threads from the Holiday Sale. I will PM you back if I find anymore or other threads that we can used joined as one.

Thanks again,

Andy
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
I just got screwed by ECS....

Thanks for the f'ing phone call....You sent an email late in the day on Friday to a shop...Like I'm in front of the computer all day....

So you didn't/won't send my $450 order for a TB kit on a job I promised done Monday. Well F-U.....Just because the order/billing address are different. There is no amount of foul language I can toss in your general direction right now to describe the level of pi**ed off I am.

I will bad mouth your business to everyone I know. Plus the ones I've sent your way. There is no excuse....None. There are reasons I use other vendors on a daily basis. Just the simple fact you said you had this kit for a car I normally don't work on in stock.....

Pissing off someone that buys $350K plus a year in parts is not a good idea.
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
No good results. Still shipped to the mailing address not the shop. Guess The billing dept rules the roost. No more orders from me.....Took the BS in spite of the BS. Needed the parts. Can't wait another day or I'd say f' it.

Thanks....Seriously. THANKS!

Never again. I'll make sure the rest of my customers know this as well. I'd say you conservatively cost yourself oh...$50K a year. Good prices. Bad policy handling. Good luck with that.

I won't retract nor concede in my statements. The truth hurts.
 

manual_tranny

Smyth Performance- Intern
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Location
New Bedford, MA
TDI
2001 Golf @182K; 2000 Jetta @290K
No good results. Still shipped to the mailing address not the shop. Guess The billing dept rules the roost. No more orders from me.....Took the BS in spite of the BS. Needed the parts. Can't wait another day or I'd say f' it.

Thanks....Seriously. THANKS!

Never again. I'll make sure the rest of my customers know this as well. I'd say you conservatively cost yourself oh...$50K a year. Good prices. Bad policy handling. Good luck with that.

I won't retract nor concede in my statements. The truth hurts.
I've been warning people against ECS for a while now. It's a mixed bag. Some of their custom stuff is neat stuff and might arrive on time.

If you're a mechanic/vendor doing lots of regular work, the best scenario is to start stockpiling your own parts. Even our best vendors are not magicians. It's tricky keeping track of such large inventories.
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
I do not and will not stock parts I don't see that often. An Audi 04' 2.7TQ is a rare enough car to not stock parts. I search for vendors with kits in stock if I need them in short order. My mistake....
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
I understand the vendor wanting the billing and shipping addy to match. While I understand your frustration, getting burned by CC fraud a few times makes me sympatheticn to the policy. That being said, they should have called right away, or made that policy clear much much earlier.
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
I'd get it if it was XYZ individual but a shop? And one that is known to them. well...not their billing dept but the simple fact remains if the card is good then ship the damn product. And I have ordered before but its been a few years. They apparently purge their system.

Billing and sales need to come together. Period. Otherwise its a fast-track to killing business. I've done business with two other companies for things other than TDI stuff that had/have this policy. BOTH made it VERY evident UP FRONT that was the deal. Thus it wasn't a big deal. I have to take an hour and a half out of my day to drive home and get this stuff mid-day or in this case WAIT at HOME for it since they won't leave it. Lets see.....if they shipped it right I could be here 4-7 hours of unproductive time. At $75 an hour that adds up and makes me work even later into the eve than I normally do. Am I whining? YEP! But it's your fault.

So, THANKS ECS. THANKS.....Way to ruin Valentines day for my wife since I now have to work late to catch up.

I'm finished....unless the order is wrong.
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
Yes, it is. It's just a matter of so many hours in the day and when this happens well....And it was 3 hours late. So much for priority overnight. At least the kit was complete.
 

AARodriguez Corp.

TDIClub Enthusiast, Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Location
South East USA
TDI
2009 JSW and Golf 2004 TDI
Compared to the previous episode, that is nothing. I believe it was decided that a vendor could post an amount of threads accordingly to the size of their company.

IMHO, no harm no foul at the moment.
 

kooyajerms

grocery getter
Joined
May 5, 2004
Location
Pomona, Southern California
TDI
97 B4V (mine), 11 x5 35d (hers) 04 V10 (that one you want), 2014 Q7 (mom's) 74 Shasta 1400
So if Apple was a vendor and had one TDI app, they could spam the vendor forum till kingdom come.
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
I placed an order from ECS Tuning on a Monday morning. I found the items I wanted on their website and called and ordered on the phone, confirmed that the pieces I needed were in stock and would ship out same day as I needed them by that weekend.

One of the items I wanted to order showed "Ships in 1-3 days", so ordering on Monday, needing it by Thursday shouldn't be a problem I thought. Come to find out, ships in 1-3 days means that it takes ~3 days for ECS to get the part and then another 2-3 days before it actually gets to me. Feeling a bit mislead and a little frustrated, the sales person was helpful and changed the order to a different brand that they had in stock (though double the cost) so I could get them by the weekend. The other items were "in stock" and I was told that everything would ship out that day (Monday)

Being a first order, they would not ship them to the shop doing the work since it was not the same address as was on my credit card. The person I spoke to could not/would not explain this policy, just that it was their policy. Frustrating again, but those are their rules. Since ordering on Monday, there was time for me to receive it by Thursday and take it to the shop myself on Friday so not a deal breaker, but still frustrating.

Both the sales person and the accounting person I spoke to knew of my need to have the items delivered by Thursday and why I called my order in (vs using the website) to make sure all went smoothly.

I check my e-mail on Tuesday night (not an account I check regularly) and an e-mail from ECS mid-day Tuesday says that one of the items that I ordered is on back order from the supplier with no ETA, but there is another one available that is not on their site and that brand is not listed on their site either, but they could ship the order out today (Tuesday) if I was ok with the other part. What happened to being in stock and shipping out on Monday?

Talk to them on Wednesday and am told that "the computer lied about our inventory". Is it on backorder from the supplier or not in stock like you said it was? Do you actually stock these items? More frustration, but regardless, they don't have the item I ordered weather they said they did or not.

I explain that I ordered these items and confirmed that they were in stock on Monday so I would have them by Thursday (since they wouldn't ship to the shop). It's now Wednesday and I still need them by Thursday. I was told that they could ship them next day air for an extra ~$60 my cost. My frustration is starting to build at this point....I tell them to cancel the back ordered items, ship what you claim to have in stock today and I'll have to figure out what to do about the parts you don't have. The sales person stepped up and decided to ship the order directly to the shop since the $ amount was less now that I cancelled one of the parts and I would still get them where I needed (the shop) when I needed (Friday). In hindsight I probably should have taken the alternate item instead of cancelling it, but then they probably wouldn't have shipped it since the total $ amount of the order would have been too high.

Overall it was a frustrating experience - in the end ECS did step up and ship the parts to the shop against their policy so I would have some of the parts I needed on time which I appreciate. The sales person was always nice to deal with and was as helpful as they could be (they can't make parts appear out of thin air). The majority of the frustration in dealing with them could have been easily avoided though with accurate inventory and timely communication.

I might give ECS another shot if I need parts from them in the future as I understand that an inventory mistake can happen, however they won't be the first place I'll look.


On contrast - I called IDParts and placed an order with them on the same Monday morning as well. The parts I ordered (twice as many) showed up on Thursday as scheduled, no hassles, no silly policies, no gimics - parts were in stock, shipped same day, received on time. About as un-frustrating as it gets. The only frustrating thing (in hindsight) is that IDParts didn't sell the parts that ECS did.
 

CGDoig

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2010
Location
Sundre, AB
TDI
05 Jetta GLS MKIV
Being from Canada, ECS has crazy high shipping costs. So last year I took a trip to the border to pick up my items there. They let me use the border address as my shipping address and of course my CC had to be tied to my billing address. Had no problems though.
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
I usually order my VR6 clutch kits from ECS since they have by far the best price on a clutch/flywheel kit that will work with a stock to mildly modified car... So far I haven't had any issues with them with the clutch kits.. Sometimes it takes a few more days to arrive than what I anticipated but usually I order them to keep one in stock so it's not a big deal.. I never had an issue with shipping things to the shop when my CC address is the house, but I've ordered a ton of stuff over the years...

I had a few problems with inferior small parts in a audi 2.7T timing belt kit (one of which trashed an engine).. They have since been supplying better hardware for the tensioner so that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore..
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
I hope/want to believe that ECS is a good vendor and any one of the issues on their own wouldn't be a big problem, but I seemed to have more issues that I would expect in one order.

I'm glad to hear that others have had (and continue to have) good experience with them.
 
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