Pelican Parts

[Radioactive]

Is it me or does anybody else have a problem ordering parts that have to come from Germany?

Placed order 5/15/07
Called to inquire 6/8/07
Invoice created 6/8/07
Credit Card Billed 6/11/07
Parts arrived 6/30/07

Placed order 10/3/07
Called to inquire 10/22/07
Invoice created 10/22/07
Credit Card Billed 10/22/07
Parts arrive ?

It appears they order your parts when you call to inquire.

Maybe I should call to inquire after a couple of days after I place my order.

[Wayne 962]

When you add the part to your shopping cart, the following message appears:

NOTE: Since January 1, 2007, Porsche has been moving a lot of their older replacement parts from the United States to their main warehouse in Germany. There is a chance that this special Porsche-only part that you have selected may only be available in Germany, which requires longer shipping times and an additional "Germany shipping" surcharge. If this is the case, we will contact you prior to processing and shipping your order.

Please also note that many of these Porsche OEM parts are getting very difficult to obtain from our usual sources. Unfortunately, we do not have real-time access to Porsche's current stock data. Approximately 95% or more of the OEM parts we have listed are indeed currently available, but occasionally there are some exceptions. We will let you know if this part is one of those rare cases, and we apologize in advance if the part is unavailable.

Porsche is slowing screwing all of the older car owners by moving all of their older car parts to be sourced in Germany. This means a 20% shipping premium on the parts (that is what we are charged). As a company, we have a choice as to whether or not to procure these difficult-to-find parts for our customers, or just let them hang in the breeze. Instead we have chosen to support the older cars and our customers, as we know that providing this service brings repeat business back to Pelican. It's a huge PIA to order this stuff from Germany, and the markups hardly make it worth the effort. My staff has discussed abandoning the Germany parts program altogether, but I have vetoed that each time. It's important for Pelican to support the cars in all ways possible - even if it takes us an extended amount of time to procure the parts from Germany.

I understand that it's frustrating - I'm dealing with a long lead time on some Germany-only 959 parts right now.

Thanks for your patience and continued support.

-Wayne

[Jeff Alton]

Well, if it is out of stock or not that common of a part it has to come from somewhere doesn't it?

I highly doubt that they wait until you complain to fill your order.....

Consider asking how long you should expect to wait when you are ordering and then decide if it is acceptable.


Cheers

[Radioactive]

I am not complaining.
It is what it is.
It gets here when it gets here.

I was just just wondering what everybody's experience was.

And Wayne, I appreciate your effort to keep us supplied with parts.

[dtw]

I haven't been ordering many OEM parts lately. About a year ago I finished ordering parts for my '72 coupe - there's now pretty much an entire car sitting on my shelves in lots of expensive little plastic baggies that have neato "PORSCHE" scripts on them. If my car ever comes home from its 3-year paint job, I'll get to use 'em. Did I dodge a bullet? How much worse has it gotten over the last 12 months? Any speculation as to why they've moved so much inventory back overseas?

If anyone has any insider info as to what Porsche is thinking, I'd love to hear it. Even the normal replacement parts I've been buying lately for my 'new' '76 have been shockingly expensive. Clutch kits, seals, starters, oil lines, etc. Even stuff coming from Worldpac is off the chart.

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by dtw

If anyone has any insider info as to what Porsche is thinking, I'd love to hear it. Even the normal replacement parts I've been buying lately for my 'new' '76 have been shockingly expensive. Clutch kits, seals, starters, oil lines, etc. Even stuff coming from Worldpac is off the chart.

Let's put it into perspective. Pelican buys a *lot* of parts from Porsche, yet if you added up all the parts that bought, it would be less than the cost of 2 Carrera GTs. So, the point is that the "classic" parts business is quite small for Porsche, considering the amount of volume that they currently do with the cars they are selling in the dealerships. Frankly, I'm surprised that they have been so good at supporting the cars in the past. Companies like Ferrari have been much worse.

-Wayne

[equality72521]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Let's put it into perspective. Pelican buys a *lot* of parts from Porsche, yet if you added up all the parts that bought, it would be less than the cost of 2 Carrera GTs. So, the point is that the "classic" parts business is quite small for Porsche, considering the amount of volume that they currently do with the cars they are selling in the dealerships. Frankly, I'm surprised that they have been so good at supporting the cars in the past. Companies like Ferrari have been much worse.

-Wayne

WOW, good point. Way to put it into perspective.

[dtw]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Let's put it into perspective.

snip

Companies like Ferrari have been much worse.

-Wayne

You misinterpret my post - I'm quite appreciative that I've been able to find as part numbers as I have for my '72, and at what could be seen as 'reasonable' prices considering all the factors/circumstances. It is the trend toward much higher prices and much lower availability that has many alarmed.

I briefly pondered restoring an '83 308 QV. It didn't need many parts at all, but just a brief investigation into parts availability and pricing shut the door on that idea...

[Vereeken]

Be patient. I see Waynes frustration. Hell I like Porsche but not necessarily the company. Their bloody factory is 500km away from my door but I order most of my stuff at Pelican. So imagine that, they first ship it 9000km to Pelican and then they ship it back to me
I always have the impression that they could not care less on what happens with their older cars. Frakking Ceylons.
Praise the Dollar/Euro conversion.

You should see how companies like Bosch or Porsche try to rip us off in Belgium. Part prices are sometimes 50% more expensive over here then what Pelican advertises. Either its Porsche taking a niece premium or its the go-between...in any case I wish I was a petrol head living in the US instead of Belgium, even with delays for german only parts.

Hey Wayne why don't you ship your new toy to me and I'll see if I can drive it to the factory to pick up the pieces...I'll do it free of charge ofcourse.

Michel

[CurtEgerer]

It could be worse. You could be ordering parts from Audi for an Ur Quattro - the car that saved/made their company!! They are simply NLA and Audi could care less.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea, I ran into that issue trying to order chrome '74 door handles recently. Not Pelican's fault - it's Porsche. My local dealership gave me the same story, so did two other places.

I actually feel a bit guilty about this (I prefer to support Wayne and his business here) but if they'd simply called me and said "the parts are only available from Germany and will be 4-6 weeks, do you still want them?" I'd have said yes in this instance. However the automated system that's used for ordering here is maybe TOO automated - it simply canceled the order for those two pieces (I ordered a bunch of other stuff, which I received) and refunded my money. No way to override it or "click here if it's okay to order from Germany" or anything like that. So I took the refund and placed the order through Sunset Porsche (who was actually cheaper for these particular pieces - although not by much).

I love Pelican and will continue to use this as my first choice, but as a customer, I go to: (1) whoever has what I want, in stock, right then, (2) whoever can get it or whoever is willing to do the extra work to get it. I'm not the least bit dissatisfied with Pelican (I appreciate their being so forthright about it rather than simply tying up my money for weeks), but they also lost a sale they otherwise would have gotten had they given me the option to tell them "yes, go ahead and order from Germany". Just a free bit of advice on how to make the site better. . .

[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

I am not complaining.
It is what it is.
It gets here when it gets here.

I was just just wondering what everybody's experience was.

And Wayne, I appreciate your effort to keep us supplied with parts.

Sorry, it just looked like from your first post that you were suggesting they do not order until you call and inquire about your order status....


Cheers

[Steve@Rennsport]

I'd concur with Wayne on this.

I've been in this business for 33+ years and for the first time, aquiring parts for the air-cooled cars has gotten extremely challenging at times. Most items are no longer stock in the US any longer and we wait for almost everything. Further, more and more items come up NLA.

Its simply the reality of 2007 and together with the additional shipping costs and dollar/Euro valuations, nothing is inexpensive.

I don't like it anymore than my clientel does, but until the manufacture of such items finds its way to the US, its not going to change as Porsche's business plan excludes the air-cooled models. The Chinese-made replacements are unsatisfactory to me and we'll not use or buy them.

[perryb]

I ordered the little cruise control dash sticker for my 83 and they notified me by e-mail that it would have to come from Germany and there would be a 20 percent mark-up. I never had to call to inquire.

[Scott at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I actually feel a bit guilty about this (I prefer to support Wayne and his business here) but if they'd simply called me and said "the parts are only available from Germany and will be 4-6 weeks, do you still want them?" I'd have said yes in this instance. However the automated system that's used for ordering here is maybe TOO automated - it simply canceled the order for those two pieces (I ordered a bunch of other stuff, which I received) and refunded my money. No way to override it or "click here if it's okay to order from Germany" or anything like that.

Jeff,
I looked into your order and it appears that our customer service rep dropped the ball on this one. Our policy is to contact the customer to give him the choice to have us order the part from Germany (like we did with perryb), but for some reason, we failed to do that on your order. I'm sorry about that.

[euro911sc]

Not only is it more troublesome, but it is impossible to resolve things when they get it wrong... I need 3 replacement perimeter studs to put my case back together... local dealer parts guy has been on the phone to ATL about 10 times because they keep sending the wrong part in a bag marked with the right part number (we all concur on the right part number, including the Pelican catalog). Its now running on 4+ months since initial order... All the other studs that came were correct.

When I'm at Rennsport I'm going to cozy up to my friend from PCNA and see if he might send the word up the food chain that this is really becoming a problem for us classic car owners (My '82 is NOW a classic! how cool is that! ). He is very new there, but it might work... *shrug*

Best regards,

Michael

[RWebb]

Sure - try that.

I blame all this on Wienie-King and am counting the days until he retires. Thanks for "saving the company," Wendy!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

No problem Scott - I certainly don't want to get anyone in trouble - your guys are great every time I deal with them! It's just one of those things where if there had been either a call to me or an automated message of some sort that said "do you still want us to proceed with obtaining this part?", you guys would have kept the sale. I just figured when it kicked the refund back to me that was pretty much the final word (as in "I guess Pelican can't get the parts").

No biggie - like I said, you guys are my favorite and I'll definitely be back - it's nothing like that. I know there probably isn't much demand for 34-year-old door handles. Just as a customer, when I see something listed in someone's catalog, I expect them to either have it or be able to get it. The automated message that popped up explaining that certain things might be backordered was informative and is appreciated though.

Don't fret - I'm working up the nerve to plop down another few C-notes on a Wevo shift kit. You'll be seeing more from me soon enough!

[dweymer]

Originally Posted by dtw

- there's now pretty much an entire car sitting on my shelves in lots of expensive little plastic baggies that have neato "PORSCHE" scripts on them.

I thought that was an investment strategy

[mkossler]

Well, this one is going to get me skewered, but here goes...

I have been buying hard-to-find parts for European automobiles for a pretty long time, at least since 1975. In those days I went to Schnitzel brothers and Max Hoffman. The price wasn't always the lowest, but I knew that they had done the analysis, and if a part was consumed once a year, they kept one in stock. They had their own formulas to calculate the right inventory as demand rose. Sometimes those parts were pretty dusty, but I VERY rarely waited for the " 'cross the pond" shipment delay.

Yes, this approach impacts the "just in time" philosophy taken by non-brick and mortar outlets so prevalent today. But I believe there is a balance between price, availability, and customer loyalty that has been lost in the modern approach.

Also, what about obtaining and offering used parts that are listed as NLA? I would think that Pelican has excellent resources available as things like this become available. I would be glad to use PP to get these things, given the incredible value already provided by Wayne free of charge in the form of this community. Hell man, I'll buy your first beer anytime we're at the same event!

There must be more answers than "wait for the shipment from across the pond". A community like this, and a great company like this, is exactly the place to come up with a better answer.

Love you guys, I swear (even as new as I am)!