Unfortunate Pelican experience

[phigreg]

Although my previous experience has been positive, this interaction did not go so well.

I ordered a set of headers last Thursday for 911SC in anticipation of having them on the car for the Spring Mtn. time trial this weekend.

I called on Tuesday since the tracking info only said they were to be drop-shipped from Horse Power. On Tuesday the customer service representative called the vendor and then called back to say the part was being finished and shipped on Tuesday and should arrive in 1-2 days.

When I called back today to try and get a more precise time I was told that the part would be shipped tomorrow.
The vendor did not have it in stock and there was a delay in getting the materials to make the header until today.

The notification on Tuesday was reportedly a mistake and was about another order from Pelican, not my order.

Not the way things should work in my eyes. If the vendor had a delay, I should have been notified and given the option of canceling the order and/or looking for another option

Or am I expecting too much??

Greg Phillips

[Fast Corners]

I'm not trying to be too confrontational here but I would have a couple of things to offer:

1) If you believe you have an issue with them... I would recommend dealing with it in a more private manner...not in a public forum on their own web site. They are good folks and in my experience do a great job in customer service.

2) Ordering parts for the car with just over 1 week prior to the event shows that planning is not your strong suit.

[rvanderpyl]

Yep, Pelican occasionally makes a mistake. My experience is that they try to do their best to fix anything that has gone wrong, and that in that, they are far better than a lot of companys I have dealt with, both on, and off the internet. So yes, you have a legitimate beef, but I certainly wouldn't consider it to have reached the point of publicy blowing it up on this forum.

[Craig]

Greg,

I gotta agree with FastCorners on point #1. This public forum is not the place to air complaints, especially if you have not tried to get resolution from Pelican first.
I have found them to be pretty fair at helping out customers with issues.

Personally, I would have talked to Pelican to see if you could work out a deal on overnight delivery instead of bad-mouthing on a public forum.

Just my 2 cents...
Craig

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Pelican's customer service is among the best I've ever seen in any business - especially the oft-sleazy world of car parts. I'm sure if you call them up and explain the situation in detail they'll live up to their reputation as industry leaders in this area.

Yes they're human and occasionally make mistakes, but they bend over backwards to fix them when they do (speaking from personal experience here). They are extremely accommodating and easy to deal with. Give them a call and work it out. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[rluciano]

I had a similar problem with a different item ordered from Pelican and drop shipped. Pelican can only do so much, the situation is under the supplier's control. In the end Pelican refunded my shipping charges. Talk to them; they aren't perfect; they don't have complete control on drop-shipped items; but in my experience Pelican is more than fair.
YMMV as always.

[mb911]

I can only speak on a vendors behalf as I am for pelican and several other mail order companies. In this economic time No one wants a bunch of inventory as it is money just sitting me included. when the product is drop shipped what can happen is something very similar to what happened to me this week. I had four orders come in monday for 1 specific part. I had 2 on the shelf which typically will last 6 weeks give or take. So now its a rush to fill those other 2 orders and build a couple more for stock. I then have to ship the orders in the order they were placed so if pelican called early in the day to inquire about stock and then 3 orders were placed before they placed there order well then its a scramble to make it happen. not sure if this is what happened for you as I have no idea whom horse power is but maybe the issue. I hope you get it resolved. Out of all the companies I deal with pelican is one of the best for customer service

[FinallyGotOne]

Pelican is an awesome host, and they are great guys! ***** happens. c est le vie

[tangerine911S]

It sounds to me that the problem is not with Pelican Parts but rather with the company producing the part that Pelican sells. I agree with all of the comments above.

[Jakester1168]

I've never had an issue with Pelican...I feel very comfortable ordering parts from them and have always had a great customer service experience with them...

Unfortunatley s_h_*_t happens....it's a numbers game, if 5,000 orders are taken, eventually a small percentage of those orders are not going to be on time because something fell through the cracks....

Next time try to order parts like you would reserve an airline ticket...the farther out the better...

[Rouxzy]

Anybody can and do sell automobile parts but what makes them different is the service. Pelican Parts is unquestionably the best I have experienced in service. I could save a couple of bucks on some parts ordering somewhere else but after dealing with a vendor or two who is just terrible, it just isn't worth it. Pelican will do everything possible to make it right.
Tom

[Joe Bob]

Pelican is only as good as the supplier. Stocking parts in an economy such as today's can lead to an excess of $$ in sitting inventory. Drop shipping is the answer....however, when a manufacturer cuts back on material and their stock...stuff happens.

[RichF]

This is ridiculus! I don't see Wayne on HIS FORUM paid for with HIS MONEY when a customer stiffs him.

Your expecting to much.

[dshepp806]

Originally Posted by Fast Corners

I'm not trying to be too confrontational here but I would have a couple of things to offer:

1) If you believe you have an issue with them... I would recommend dealing with it in a more private manner...not in a public forum on their own web site. They are good folks and in my experience do a great job in customer service.

2) Ordering parts for the car with just over 1 week prior to the event shows that planning is not your strong suit.

+1.

Doyle

[Wayne 962]

I don't mind answering issues like these on the forum.

One of our goals at Pelican is to provide our customers with the largest selection of products available on the planet. In order to accommodate this, we need to rely on a network of outside suppliers to maintain dropship (they ship directly to our customers) relationships so that we can carry more than 4 million unique part numbers, but not maintain a warehouse the size of the Pentagon. There are some trade offs in operating like this - we do not have full control over 100% of our distribution network.

We do stock and ship a lot of parts out of our SoCal warehouse - those parts are easy to control because we know exactly what we have on hand and can supply quickly. In the shopping cart, we offer our customers a shipping estimator. We specifically state that this is an "estimate" on the shipping times. Sometimes due to circumstances beyond our control, shipments are delayed. On the flipside, sometimes the estimator is too conservative, and items arrive days prior to when they are supposed to (a good thing).

We're normally very, very good at estimating our deliveries, and I'd say about 95-98% of the time the estimator is correct. So, unfortunately, when things get delayed, we often get compared to ourselves, in terms of how our performance was in the past. Because we're so reliably predictable so much of the time, people are surprised if there is ever a problem or a delay. I'll be honest, it's a bit frustrating sometimes because occasionally it's simply beyond our control.

I just called over to our vendor (HorsePower Engineering), and we can have it sent out to you next-day air for Saturday delivery. I will call you to verify that this is okay.

-Wayne

[bourgeois911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I just called over to our vendor (HorsePower Engineering), and we can have it sent out to you next-day air for Saturday delivery. I will call you to verify that this is okay.

-Wayne

Now I remember why I'm a Pelican customer!

[Rot 911]

Good on Wayne, but did you try calling Pelican first? And did you pay for quick shipping. When I need something the next day I ask if they can do it and am willing to pay for it.

[Geronimo '74]

Wayne,

Once more it goes to show what a fine businessman you are and why you have so many satisfied customers en Pelicanmembers.
Respect for that!
Once in a while things don't go the way they're supposed to, such is life.

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by bourgeois911

Now I remember why I'm a Pelican customer!

I've never forgotten!

Randy

[phigreg]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I don't mind answering issues like these on the forum.

One of our goals at Pelican is to provide our customers with the largest selection of products available on the planet. In order to accommodate this, we need to rely on a network of outside suppliers to maintain dropship (they ship directly to our customers) relationships so that we can carry more than 4 million unique part numbers, but not maintain a warehouse the size of the Pentagon. There are some trade offs in operating like this - we do not have full control over 100% of our distribution network.

We do stock and ship a lot of parts out of our SoCal warehouse - those parts are easy to control because we know exactly what we have on hand and can supply quickly. In the shopping cart, we offer our customers a shipping estimator. We specifically state that this is an "estimate" on the shipping times. Sometimes due to circumstances beyond our control, shipments are delayed. On the flipside, sometimes the estimator is too conservative, and items arrive days prior to when they are supposed to (a good thing).

We're normally very, very good at estimating our deliveries, and I'd say about 95-98% of the time the estimator is correct. So, unfortunately, when things get delayed, we often get compared to ourselves, in terms of how our performance was in the past. Because we're so reliably predictable so much of the time, people are surprised if there is ever a problem or a delay. I'll be honest, it's a bit frustrating sometimes because occasionally it's simply beyond our control.

I just called over to our vendor (HorsePower Engineering), and we can have it sent out to you next-day air for Saturday delivery. I will call you to verify that this is okay.

-Wayne

Thanks for the response and call.

It looks like the consensus is I was expecting too much

It is good to see the response from satisfied customers who are passionate about a company and is reassuring.

I do disagree with those that feel only good news about Pelican should go up on the Pelican BBS. It needs to be an open forum.

As to customer service, I had spoken with them on Tuesday morning (and unfortunately got the wrong information) and again this morning to discuss the situation.

I did recognize the the shipping estimate was just an estimate, but when I was informed that the part was to be shipped on Tuesday and arrive in 1-2 days, I had a different expectation.

Thanks for the feedback from other members

Greg Phillips